Added commentary to the posting A Progressive Call to Arms

Posted on 2016/11/17 by Marcus Ampe

1. Clarification

speaking at CPAC in Washington D.C. on February 10, 2011. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We love to clarify some expressions and make it clear what our thoughts are on the present subject of the Clinton-Trump matter.
It looks like the article A Progressive Call to Arms made some Hillary Clinton fans angry taking we are attacking her and in favour of Donald Trump. The other way round we also had reactions from people who found we attacked Donald Trump and where in favour of Hillary Clinton, gay marriages, paedophile acts, free sex, abortion a.o..

2. Ways of reaction

First of all, please do know that all who want to react on an article may do that straight onto the particular article and do not have to use the personal e-mail addresses of the authors of this site. All reactions shall be published as long as no abusive language is used, and for this above mentioned publication some heated minds used not such nice words, not to be presented in public. F- words and swearing can be censured and replaced by dots ….., but we would prefer not to have such words being used.

Normally we also do not like it when replies are given anonymously, and if so we shall answer them if we have the impression it is not spam or phishing. For those who become marked as Spam by the WordPress Spamfilter Askimet we do not bother to reply.

3. Concerning opinions of us and of the writers of the original blog article being reblogged by us

Please do find some words here to bring clarity on some reactions to us as well as on the article A Progressive Call to Arms presented.

On November 11 “No” reacted on the site of The independent thinker’s article A Progressive Call to Arms which seem some others might think the same of us.

You preach about love and acceptance, but you gloat about how happy you are that people who voted for Hillary are crying and upset about this election.

As editor of this site I noticed that out of the very good founded negative reactions, there where also ones where the accuser could not see the difference between what our writer wrote and what the writer of the reblog article wrote. Please always keep in mind that when we reblog an article and present the short overview of it, it does no have to offer our view, or we do not have to agree with everything what is written in the reblogged article.

4. Concerning the given links to other articles

We also want to make it clear that only the heading “Additional Reading” presents articles of which we mostly totally agree with, but when they have reblogs in it, the same applies like in this sites opinion, to present a view from someone else who does not have to have totally the same views as us.

Under the heading “Further related articles”, as the title indicates, we do want to give our readers a list of some interesting literature around the spoken off subject. Though that list may have contradicting articles in it. Because we do prefer to bring an objective overview of what is thought about the subject.

To be as objective as possible for all discussions we want to present different opinions. We do believe objectivity for selecting the articles is a necessity also to keep credibility and not to come over as biassed and brainwashing.

5. Our or/and my personal opinion

Hillary Rodham Clinton, January 2007 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is not because we do not like it that Donald Trump became president-elect that we would not present articles in favour of him. From my point of view he can well be a very dangerous candidate, or not the one who would be stabilising the country, but more the opposite, could bring more division in the United states of America, what the heated debates already proof. For those who follow my personal blog (or My space) and “Our World” it is also no secret I admire the work Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and if they would have read my opinions on different matters they also could know that Bernie Sanders would be some one whom I wanted in the running for president. Others break me off being a communist, though I would say to them I am more an Utopist who can live with social democrats.

6. Attacked from four sites

Funny though that, from the two sites we got criticism hating the particular person (Clinton and Trump) and people calling us names because we would be for abortion and other things they are against (homos). On the other hand we also got reactions from transgender who were not pleased with certain links we placed.
We understand that these might be people who are worried about their loved ones, worried about the future of their families, and their healthcare, and the state of their country. They also seem to give the impression to be worried about their rights, but then we do wonder if they are also worried about the rights of others. That is one facet we want to come up for, for all people their rights. Good people but also bad people have their rights … also criminals do have their rights (many seem to forget that, or not want to give them rights). But in the heated debate about the controversy around Trump-Clinton many seem to considers other citizens as criminals though they are not.

A lot of people also want to see the world in black and white and do forget that there are shades of grey. In a way have received remarks from the different camps to be in favour of the other camp might proof we were not so bad with our remarks, being somewhere in the middle, showing different aspects of one or the other group which should be under consideration.

7. LGBT, Transgender people versus Eunuchs and Androgynous persons and sexism

Violet Velvet has good reason to be upset with some writings in the articles we presented in our selection on the reblog A Progressive Call to Arms. Certainly when she looks at an article of Florence Selvan, who lives in Bangalore, India, who claims to like woman as a beautiful creation of God.

Though this Florece Selvan, writing “Perceptions” under Flo Sel on WordPress, when she writes over transgenders does have a weird look on such other creations of God. Where did she get it from to speak about eunuchs and having it about transgender people as if they are both the same, plus writing it in a very negative way?

The Kızlar Ağası, head of the black eunuchs of the Ottoman Imperial Harem. The title literally means “Chief of the Girls”.

Violet Velvet and others may not forget that though in their region there may not exist eunuchs any more, they still exist in the world. Though Florence Selvan and others should also know that transgenderism has nothing to do with eunuchs as such (except when you limit it to the idea of a man who has had his sexual organs removed, what some might do) or people taken away (like a castrate) deprived or losing the testes or external genitals, having made incapable of reproducing his species..

In this time and age people have to come aware that “Transgender persons” may include transsexuals, transgenderists (in one usage of the term, persons who gender-identify with the opposite sex but who choose not to undergo sex-reassignment surgery or hormone treatments), and androgynes (biologically or psychologically androgynous persons), among other groups. In its broader sense, transgender is closely related to the more-recent term genderqueer, which is self-applied by persons who are either transgender or who have no gender, a third (neither male nor female) gender, or a fluctuating gender, but which is a term which I would not prefer to use because they are not “queer“, though some of them might be eccentric, or unconventional. They might be odd in the eyes of many but have not to be unbalanced mentally and they too should have the right to live in our society.

LGBT publications, pride parades, and related events, such as this stage at Bologna Pride 2008 in Italy, increasingly drop the LGBT initialism instead of regularly adding new letters, and dealing with issues of placement of those letters within the new title.

Sel Flo wrote pehaps with good intention, under the heading “love Others”

There’s so much more to learn about eunuchs and LGBT, but for now, I choose not to ignore them but be nice to them whenever I get to see them and make them know their life is respected and valuable. {Love others – Transgenders}

but does not comprehends what a transgender really is and what such a person often has to endure. The same with several people in the United States being against those male and female people who find that they are not sitting in the right corps, and want to change that situation, transferring their (sexual) outlook. Though people who are feeling offended by her article should not take it so personal and perhaps better try to give that writer a better insight in transgenderism.

“No” in his/her reaction may think we are not in the knowledge

They’re worried about whether or not they could possibly be deported, or that they may die without access to health insurance. People who are afraid because of the racism and violence surrounding them, about what might happen to their children.

and asks

Are you pleased and proud when you read news stories today about little girls getting their pussies grabbed in school? People scrawling racist messages on people’s lockers in school, on the outside of buildings? Children being told by other children that now they’re going to “go back where they came from”? This is what makes you happy? This has made you smile for the last three days? Really?

By placing the link to the reblogged article and to the one on transgenders we did not want to hurt people, though we might have stepped on many toes (hence the name of this site).

The unknown reactor (who reacted on The independent thinker 2016 a progressive call to arms under the name “No”) like others who accused us for agreeing with the awful actions of Mr. Trump, should know that we detest such sexism from any person and do not find it acceptable in our civilised world. (In case they would have read our other articles that sexist attitude was one of the elements we put in the spotlight as one of the reasons not to vote for Trump.)

We are totally against the sexist attitude to value one or an other person of one or another sex as less valuable. But as such we also demand people to accept people who changed their sex or who have same sex relationships, as long as they do not harm others with it. We also complained that too many American voters seem to think that all homophiles or male gay are paedophiles, and that certain people think or find it justified that males in higher functions just can do whatever they like with people from the other sex. Those Americans who think transgender are people who have a psychosexual disorder which creates for them an obsession with children as sex objects and would have them to overt acts, including taking sexual explicit photographs, molesting children, and exposing one’s genitalia to children, have really no idea what transgenderism is and should be educated to understand such people.

Many also seem to overlook that those now having come in charge already passed laws making it legal for businesses to discriminate against members of the LBGT+ community and that Mike Pence passed laws discriminating against a woman’s right to choose.

8. More than one community targetted

Black Lives Matter die-in protesting alleged police brutality in Saint Paul, Minnesota, September 20, 2015

We also may not forget that Donald Trump has not limited his hate-speech to members of just one community. People may not think we would also be blind for several crimes done by people from the black community. We can understand the ex-schoolmaster who wrote

The problem is that certain segments of our society are in denial about some of the crimes committed in our country. For example, the Black Lives Matter supporters blame the police for the killing of a few black people some of whom had criminal records. But they ignore the fact that the greatest killers of black people are other black people. In Chicago, the murder rate of black on black is greater than the casualties we suffered in Afghanistan. So why doesn’t the Black Lives Matter supporters focus on the greatest killer of young black men? {A Progressive Anti-Trump View Point With My Rebuttal}

Though since Trump was chosen the extreme right parties and the KKK think they have again ground to stand up and to bring actions against coloured people. Just a few of the spate of racial incidents are given in the article The Great Divide Widens.

Even when there may have been blacks who voted for Trump they are warned that their votes do not matter. When in schools youngsters may find again on the toilet doors “Whites only,” “White America” and “Trump”, plus see everywhere slogans who should remind people to whom America (so called) belongs “#Go back to Africa” and “Make America great again,” the whole world should look in agony to that state which calls itself a free country. And for American Christians it should be reason enough to ring the alarm bell.

9. Rage against Jews, Marxists and communists

Camden41, the retired public school administrator who wrote

The inference here is the Nazis Party coming for the Socialists, etc. Well the word Nazis is an abbreviation for Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei. The translation is National Socialist German Workers Party. Notice the second word is Socialist and the forth word is Workers. If you read about Germany from 1917 to 1920 there were a host of new political parties competing for power in German. Street battles were fought between competing left wing groups and between competing left and right wing groups. In 1919 two Jewish Marxists, Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht, tried to overthrow the Weimar Government through violent revolution. It was brutally suppressed and Luxemburg and Liebknecht were executed. Because of this event and others, Hitler as a World War I soldier considered Marxists, Communists and Jews to be traitors. This is what fueled his rage against them. {A Progressive Anti-Trump View Point With My Rebuttal}

He should know that the ideology of the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP, the political party of the mass movement known as National Socialism was “own people first” and that their hate for Jews did not arose from the attempt to overthrow the Weimar Republic. The leadership of Adolf Hitler, brought a totalitarian regime in Germany in 1933 and its methods brought not only Europe but the whole world in turmoil until 1945 and even several years after World war II.

Some of us having remembrances of those years and we having been imprinted very much by our family how such attitude of mind could bring terror on a whole society, even having had family members also been victims of the camps, do know what agony such attitude of a dictator and of a swept away people can mean.

That we compare what is happening in America to that person is because we have felt it ourselves what happened so many years ago and saw how many people were blind or did not want to see it what was going on or what was going to happen.

The hate for the Jews had much deeper roots and in a bad economical situation in many countries those masters in finances always have been the easy target, because they mostly seemed to have it better than the poor locals.

Bijbelvorsers writing

In Europe we have seen the vitriol and hate spreading of Donald Trump and how he created division. As such we can understand people over there now are afraid of violence under a Trump presidency. {A Progressive Call to Arms}

is a general impression of many Europeans, but got the American reaction

What nonsense! You are either a victim of propaganda or ignorant of what is happening in this nation. {A Progressive Anti-Trump View Point With My Rebuttal}

It can well be w e do not know enough what is happening in the United States, but than that would come of not enough information or the wrong information reaching us. He writes

We have had a crime wave from illegal immigrants. Murders, rapes, etc. in such numbers that many Americans voted for Trump to stop the violence and return our nation to law and order. Fueling the crimes are the drugs flowing over our unprotected open southern border. Are you not aware that our Border Patrol police fully supported Trump? Are you not aware that police forces throughout the US supported Trump? Are you not aware that over 200 generals and admirals supported Trump? {A Progressive Anti-Trump View Point With My Rebuttal}

In case, like you say and like we know that many from the police-force voted for Trump, it also can mean that the U.S. of A. has become a police state, which should have us worrying as well.

That

Only the ignorant would associate the KKK with the Republicans. It was also Eisenhower, a Republican President, who used the law to enforce the integration of schools in the 1950s. {A Progressive Anti-Trump View Point With My Rebuttal}

is not taking into account, or even ignoring, that the weapon lobby and several racist groups and Neo-nazis as well as the Ku Klux Klan gave money to support the Republican Party candidate. In case police, other armed forces and KKK where so eager to vote for Trump that does tell a lot to us about the agenda of Trump in which those people could find themselves. for us in Europe even a more clear signal that we do have to be very careful about that person who became president elect recently.

10. Winners and losers

Obama-Biden Transition (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We accept that the American people have chosen and for a system (Electoral college) and for a person who by them could be nominated to be the next president of the United States of America. that we call all Americans to their senses and to respect the outcome of the voting, not going on the streets to fight for it, does not mean we agree how everything worked out or that we would stand behind one or the other without seriously taking into account what they want to accomplish and even more important How they want to accomplish something.

For the ones, like “No” who think we do not realize that the States has come into a difficult situation whereby many people are not just upset because their candidate lost, they should know we are very aware that their fear might be very legitimate and real. (They also should now that Trump never has been our candidate to become the president of such International important state.)

No writes

Most of these people just wanted to live in a place where they didn’t have to worry about being assaulted for their religion, or race, or gender. They do not deserve this condescension and smug attitude.

But than he totally goes wrong saying

They do not deserve to see people like yourself bragging about how they had this coming to them because they voted for Hillary, and this is their punishment.

We advised people not voting for Trump and if No would have read our material much better he would have seen that after Bernie Sanders was out we also advised his voters And republicans to go for the safety of the country and as such to voter for Hillary Clinton.

Many of these people, like myself, were Bernie supporters, trying to stop what they thought might be the end of their civil rights. They wanted to do the right thing. They wanted to see this country united in love, not in hate.

It makes me sick to see posts like your most recent one, gloating about people being upset with the election results. Have some empathy. Have some compassion for these people. They voted for a candidate that you didn’t like, but now many of them are suffering the consequences of seeing millions of racists emboldened because their candidate won. This is what you want? This fills you with joy?

For the record, as said above we have nothing at all against Hillary Clinton nor Bernie Sanders (we like him very much), and for the Republican lovers we have nothing against several party members and even could have found Carlson a good candidate.

But to say that those who vote for Hillary Clinton would be helping her with her criminal activities {Hillary is the only candidate with this record…} is to take short views. And to say because we advised to vote for the Democratic Party’s candidate Clinton does not mean we do not like many of Bernie Sanders his iedeas, which are more in line with my political thinking.

11. Time for additional parties in the United States of America

We are aware of the diversity within the Republic Party, also in the Democratic Party. We even would find it much better that several who are now still belonging to those parties would go out of those parties and create some new parties to give a better balance in the American politics, offering so much more choices for people to vote for, and having a better representation of the diversity in the population.

Do not think we are not aware of some other parties in the U.S.A. The liberals and Green party being the more usable acceptable political parties, but we also have seen the guy with his cowboy hat defending all the weapon carrying, and then also some girl (of which I forgot the parties name) who did not seem to live in a realistic political world. But please enlighten us and give an overview of all the political parities on which the American population can vote for a president, and tell us how the ones who have not enough money would be able ever to go for president candidate.

The retired public school administrator and history professor who taught Western Civilization, American Civil War, United States History, Economic History, Ancient & Medieval Foundations, American History Since 1945, commented

I can supply a list of people of different minorities who are Republicans and Republican supporters. Also are you aware that Elbert Guillory who is a Louisiana State African-American politician switched from being a Democrat to a Republican two years ago? When he was asked why he switched, he said, “I was tired of the same old false promises of helping my constituents by the Democrats. My constituents are worse off today than 50 years ago. The only thing the Democrats have done is given us a government plantation.”) {A Progressive Anti-Trump View Point With My Rebuttal}

It is also known and shown to Europeans that many Democrats after so many generations and years being for the one group went to the other camp wearing the Trump gadgets, proud to go for change. But is it not that many citizens just had to switch from the Democratic party to the Republicans because there was no other valuable alternative.

The U.S.A. like Great-Britain shall have to come to learn that countries in the present time may better be governed by more than two political parties. A legislative power vested in both the government and a chamber of parliament, Senate and a Chamber of Representatives, having a variety of parties making coalitions.

12. Workforce and Feeling for others

Camden 41 asks us

If Trump is so much a bigot why does he have so many minorities working for him even in executive positions {A Progressive Anti-Trump View Point With My Rebuttal}

In the lower echelons he used lots of people, he wants now to put out of the country, because they were cheap labour for him and he knew they would not protest, because then they would be nowhere. For the executive positions it would not surprise us that Mr. Trumps shall use any body as long as he or she is usable for him. It looks a person who is willing to go over corpses to get his goal. In the end it shall be a person who shall not show any compassion for anybody. At his campaign he showed already how he could make use of people and how he could abandon them.

For those who called us names and did find we do not have compassion for people, we want to assure them we just feel for others and try to have empathy with many.

If you truly cared about love and acceptance, and were a compassionate person, you would feel a sadness for these people, not happiness at their despair. {wrote No}

We are not at all

gleeful about the outcome of this election. {No}

Though No’s reaction may not be directed to us, but more to the writer of the reblogged article, I found it important to react to some of his words, because our readers coming to the reblogged article and coming to read further, should know clearly where we stand in all this, and what our opinion is.

13. Not spreading hate nor killing

We do not want spreading hate, but would like to shed light on the circumstances we all have to face. Only by open debate, willingness to listen to all parties involved, analysing all things said, and having the will to understand the way of thinking of the other, willing to show empathy, we shall be able to come to know more, to enrich one another and to come to live together in peace.

Not only racism is ingrained in several societies, also prejudice or partiality and short-sightedness create a lot of unnecessary problems in many countries and many societies. Everywhere people should come to understand that liberty and freedom can only be fully existing there where people are willing to respect the freedom and choices of others.

Progressives and Hillary supporters are hypocrites! On the one hand they say kill fully formed babies but spare murders the death penalty. They also support sparing animals from being killed for furs but kill babies. {A Progressive Anti-Trump View Point With My Rebuttal}

We, like many other Clinton supporters never said to kill fully formed babies. We are even not for abortion, but do defend those who would like to undergo an abortion.

In reaction to Make Religious Freedom Great Again I also expressed my self for myself and for my Christian community, saying that in a democracy, those who believe in the Most High Divine Creator should have full respect for their Maker as well as for the one God Who allows to be in charge of the nation.

Like Jesus taught his followers to have respect for the Caesar and the system which was ruling over them, we too should be humble and accept the vote of the majority. We also should know that real believers in God are the minority and that those who are children of God would have to follow their heart but also have to protect and come up for the weaker ones and for those who are at the marginal site of the society (tramps, transgender, psychopaths, criminals, the ill and poor). As Christians, i.e. following Jesus Christ we may not exclude any one, even not our worst enemy. For all people around us we should have an open hand, an open heart and a listening ear. For all around us we should be prepared to help and to be ready to come to be there for them.

Papapound and others, may think I would be ‘for’ abortion; Not at all.

We are against any necessary killing, be it plants, animals or people.

I am against abortion. But I do know that in certain cases choices can be made which we would not prefer. We always have to take into account the circumstances a person came into such situation, she has to make such a difficult choice … because do know often it is not such an easy choice. When a person is a victim of rape, who are we to going to decide that woman does not want any remembrance of her rapist facing her every day of her further life?
I know she could have taken the ‘morning after pill’, but that is by many also already considered ‘abortion’ or something ‘not to be done’. I my self would not like to see some needing or willing to take such a drug. Also a a contraceptive women do not have to use chemical medical drugs, but can use other preservatives or methods for not becoming pregnant (e.g. temperature methods). But in a society where there should be freedom of thought I should respect the choice of the other person. I have no right to decide over the body and/or mind of others. As such it is also not to me to judge those who are born in a body and afterwards do feel like it is not their body nor their personality. What right do have hetero’s to cast away gay, transgender and other people who are not like them and whom they often may not like?

The person going to lead the country should be there for all sorts of peoples and all sorts of men and women living in his nation. He should be the protective ‘father’ of all in the nation.

If a boy feels he is really a girl, wants to be recognised as a woman and finds in the medical world the solution to help him to get a body that feels like ‘her’, who I am or any body else, to forbid such a choice? The same for a girl who has the feeling she is a male being and wants to take part in the male activities as an equal?

God has given man talents and the medical profession is one of the higher goods God provided for man. In case the medical world can bring solutions for people who are not feeling right in their skin, why should they not have the free choice to get what they want with and for their body and mind?
Also those, who have part of their body male and part of it female, why should they stay excluded from a normal life in our present society? I do agree two centuries ago those people could only survive by acting in circuses and to be a rarity on fairs. Did we not come more civilised?
Have we no better feelings for such people who are confined in a tortured body and soul?

For homosexuals, transgender and other people, they should be able to go to places for care where there is no objection to their choice of being or against their longings, like having children and caring for a family. Many Christians in America seem to have lots of difficulties with that. Perhaps they better ask themselves what would Jesus do and what would Jesus expect me to do?

14. Political correctness and free choice

I am against a state pampering and overruling everything and everybody. Also the ‘overcorrection’ and absurdities like not allowing schools to use the word ‘mother’, ‘mom’, ‘mams’, dad’, papa’ is just absurd, the same as those who do not want that we use the word “zwarte piet” (black Pete) and may not have those helpers of Saint Nicolas have black painted faces.

But I also disagree with the state ruling that Catholic or Protestant hospitals have to do things against their faith. If people want to have something done to them of which we religious people would not agree to, they should have the right to go to other places where such things can be done to them. But for general state hospitals everybody from whatever religion or class should be helped in the way that person would love to be helped, and as such when an abortion is required in that state hospital or in any neutral clinic such people should receive help in this difficult matter.

The same for the uniforms in schools. I totally disagree with states who (like the Belgian government) forbid in state schools that children wear any religious symbol. That goes in against the freedom of choice and against the respect of man himself and of his religious choice. In a state or provincial school each pupil should be free to wear any religious symbol, be it a cross, a fish, a David star, a yarmulke, a headscarf, a long dress, cloths which cover arms and legs, decent shorts or trousers. But when a Muslim wants to go to a Christian school he or she can not complain about the uniform he or she has to wear and has to go swimming with both sexes in the same swimming pool (though I can accept they can demand separate clothing rooms for male and females). It is their free choice to go to whatever denominational or non-denominational school. When somebody goes to a Bible-school he or she can not complain that before classes start there is been read from the Bible and been said prayers and that even at times they have it about a three-headed god. Those who only want to worship The Only One True God (like me) should make their choice in such a way that the children are brought up in a Christian, Jewish or Islam way, respecting that Oneness of God.

Having religious/and/or ethic or liberal education an obligated subject, all schools in Belgium are obligated to offer 5 main religious denominations plus ethics or morals. I do know in the United States of America they still do not have such a provision, mainly because conservative Christians would be against such a system, but also one may find such education is not at all the task of the governement and that should be something each individual family should have to decide for themselves. But then this would create that children do not know about the other religions. Like in our country all children have to learn about the other religions and about the other philosophies, as such avoiding that the citizens would grow up with wrong ideas about the other religion, something which we can clearly see in the United states. In the U.S.A. lots of Americans have a totally wrong concept of the other Christian denominations and, even worse, about the other religious groups, in particular the Islam. Because in the States at school nobody was obliged to read the Bible nor the Quran they can not openly properly discuss with each other and see where certain groups claim things which are not written in those holy Scriptures.

15. Freedom and Knowledge safeguard for the future

Only knowledge can safeguard the future of a state and not like we can see the bad evolution now of many states (even the Belgian state) trying to keep their youngsters dumb and not thinking for themselves. A really dangerous evolution. (As a teacher I myself had the last ten years of my career, to lower the level of the courses each subsequent year and had to see the degradation of the bachelor, Licences and Masters degrees, not only until I retired, but saw it continuing and schools aiming for better evaluation marks and more people coming out with so called high cyphers but less knowledge.)

The freedom spoken off in the constitution of France, America and some other countries based on the French revolution was made to guarantee each individual’s freedom. Each citizen of a state should have the right to make his or her own choices concerning the own body and concerning himself or herself. If we want to belief in One True God, that should be our right. If we want to worship that Maker of the Universe, that should be our right. But others who want to worship a tri-une god, trees, planets or do find such things rubbish should have the right to worship those or not to worship anything.

Also for what people want to eat, all should have the freedom to eat and drink whatever they want, like for all things, as long they do not hinder other persons with it. If you want to eat pork meat or blood, that is your full right, but if a Jew, Christian, or Muslim does not want to eat pork that should be his or her right too, and nobody may force him or her to do so. The same for people like me, who prefer to eat more vegetables and prefer to eat natural non-tampered foods, we should have the right and the possibility to have vegetarian or vegan or kosher or halal meals. Also me not wanting to eat blood or having contributed blood, should be in the liberty not to have a blood-transfusion.

It looks like such allowances to others seems to be something very difficult to cope with by North Americans. When I hear certain Christians talk about the amendments and their freedom, they often only think about their own denomination and their own particular choices. A great example is the use of weapons. How can it be that a Christian would carry or would use weapons and even teach their children to use guns? Though those so called Christians living in the United states of America call it their inexorable law.

16. Right to kill or to wear weapons

The papist and editor of the WordPress blog The Good News in the reactions on his article Make Religious Freedom Great Again writes

“Carrying” a gun is NOT the issue in America. Of course hunting is not the issue. If caught killing in wanton waste, there are high fines. If it continues, you go to jail. We have laws for all your concerns. Not sure where you are getting your data on gun use and waste in America. {comment on the carrying of guns}

America has a different cultural heritage and Constitution than other cultures. I don’t believe that there is no hunting in Belgium. There is lots of hunting in America. Hunting is a big sport. That is the main purpose for the love of guns. Also it puts meat on the table (I eat meat–I used to be a vegetarian). Are guns used irresponsibly–every day. I put that mostly to lack of guidance from elders and the welfare state. {Good news now WordPress 2016/11/11/ Make religious freedom great again/#comment-3443}

In Belgium, like in other countries in Europe we do have hunting under strict laws, but that does not comprehend having people carrying weapons just like that or for their own defence.

In Belgium people also do eat meat of untamed animals or venison, brought on the table because there where hunters killing those animals. But those in charge of the hunt have to go through a selection and have to pass the exams for hunting. But when they are Christians they too should keep in mind what God expects from us how to treat the things we want to eat. We may not kill animals nor plants just for pleasure and may not waste food, as such only do it out of necessity and for necessity (e.g. keeping a balance).

But such weapon-carrying should never be for carrying it as a defence weapon or to use against human beings, and that is what many Christian Americans learn. In Europe we have seen lots of examples where the target when practising is a figure of a human being. We also hear enough of innocent killings in schools, because youngsters could have access easily to such deathly tools.

Christians always should promote life and should be ready for those who have problems concerning life matters. Anti-conception is also part of such life matters, to avoid worse decisions. Every civilised country should make it that there should be no reason to discuss abortion. The same every country should protect its citizens that no accidents or no crimes can be done by dangerous tools, like all sorts of guns.

Why should a citizens being able to buy war guns, or even pistols (which are not much use for hunting I think), but also why would people have to be allowed to wear certain knifes when they are not working on the field or in the wild or on hunt?
Certain knifes can well be accepted in certain occasions but not in others, the same for certain rifles.

But as Christians we should not carry guns at all. Even if you want to eat wild flesh, the hunting can be done by others, let them do it. Plants, animals, human beings are all creatures of God we should respect. We may not tamper with our food and may not spill or kill living things unnecessary or for fun.

All those American Christians should remember that

“Freedom means not limiting the freedom of others”

and that they themselves should also always keep to the teachings they so call promote. So often we hear Americans shouting to “Love the Lord” and saying that they are Christian and that others should become Christians. As such they and we, as Christians, should promote Life (and not death by the use of weapons or by medical tools) and should promote peace and respectfulness for all around us, even when they are not of the same opinion like us.

17. Conclusion

All are welcome to react on certain situations and certain sayings. Such reactions should always happen in a civilised way. What we see and hear happening in the United States of America, protestors not happy that Trump became the president elect, protesting in a violent way never can receive our approval. But certain sayings and action of that political figure who in the coming four years has to lead an enormous nation can’t receive our approbation either. Also us giving our fiat for one way of thinking does not have to mean we exclude all other ways of thinking of the counterpart.

Life is never build up on only two colours black and white. Luckily there may be lots of variations in shades and in colours but also in opinions. Having different opinions on different subjects can only enrich our society and make us to think continuously about those matters discussed. Together we all should construct a society where as many people as possible can live in peace.

People need to find ways to live with each other in a situation that can be pleasant for all parties involved. They should look for ways to be united, not divided.

I thank all people who took the time to read this article and who are willing to take time to read our other articles. I am also very grateful for those readers like papapound and camden41 who were willing to spend time in reading our material and to comment on it, at their own sites (though pity Camden 41 did not make our replies public on his site).

– Marcus Ampe
Founder and editor of Stepping Toes and From Guestwriters

Preceding articles

Islamophobia Must be Fought and Defeated

Stand Up

God Isn’t a Republican

American Christianity no longer resembles its Founder

A Progressive Call to Arms

Additional articles

+++

Further related articles

Save

Oratory Style

Posted on 2015/08/01 by Guestspeaker

All followers of Christ have received the call by Christ, Jeshua, the Son of God, to be worthy children of God, obeying God His commandments and making His Name be known all over the world.

We do have to be genuine children in the faith who love out of a pure heart, and a good consciousness, and unfeigned faith, knowing that the law is laid down not for the just one, but for the lawless and disorderly, for the profane and sinful, for the wicked and unholy, for the patricides and matricides, for manslayers, for fornicators, unchaste, man-stealers, liars, the perjured, and if there be any other thing opposed to sound doctrine. Though all having are little and bigger faults, we should try to live a righteous life in the eyes of God.

We may have many tasks to fulfil, like reading and studying the Word of God, one of doing good works of faith is spreading the Good News of the Kingdom of God, that we may testify to the truth like Jesus did without shame and without hesitance.
Let us not demur what Jesus is expecting from his followers but make use of every occasion to preach the Gospel.

Out of love we should be ready to let others know the truth and send them a message of love. It is only right that we do what we can to help others gain salvation and show no impartiality in trying to reach others with the Bible message, even when we may encounter on our road people who do not like us proclaiming the Word of God.

As long as Jehovah continues to be patient, we have the responsibility to give them the opportunity to “attain to repentance” and thus come in line for salvation. (2 Peter 3:9).
Let us share the good news with others regardless of their race, social status, or financial standing and thus give all who will listen an opportunity to hear and respond to the good news. (Romans 10:11-13).

++

Additional reading:

Frank risks taking

Evil Never Ceases

The work I do, let it be done good

Al-Fatiha [The Opening] Süra 1: 4-7 Merciful Lord of the Creation to show us the right path

The Acts Of The Sent Ones Chapter 1

The Right One to follow and to worship

Necessity of a revelation of creation 11 Believing and obeying the gospel of the Kingdom of God

Necessary to be known all over the earth

Silencing Women – Of God or Men ?

Writers needed to preach to non-believers

Sharing thoughts and philosophical writings

What Should I Preach ?

How should we preach?

+++

Related articles

Matthew 17:25

Sermo Dei: Higher Things Te Deum Friday Matins

Day of vengeance

Blog for Week of July 19, 2015

Sunday Encouragement

Question Authority

etsop95

Powerful preaching of the gospel is an attractive thing. Exactly what is meant
by that varies with the individual. What is generally in view is strong belief
in the word of God, forthrightly delivered, delivered passionately, and with
much confidence. With that being done, it is still possible for another to not
like that style of preaching; to them, it might sound arrogant, condescending,
or even bullying. However it might be interpreted, the point of emphasis for
God’s preacher is not in his delivery style, but the content of preaching
coupled with the life lived. Paul said, “For Christ did not send me to
baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of
Christ should be made of no effect” (1 Corinthians 1:17, NKJV). Paul said
he wanted to preach the gospel, with the power being in the gospel of the cross,
not the…

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Last Events of Old Testament – Right of Wrong?

Posted on 2014/11/06 by alsowritten

The books of Ezra/Nehemiah are the last history books of the Old Testament.

They are never quoted in the New Testament.

The moral judgments about the actions of Ezra and Nehemiah came from God via Zechariah and Malachi – His prophets of the time. And also from John the Baptist and Jesus, after a long period of “night without vision” as Micah 3 had foretold.

This article proposes that Ezra and Nehemiah were not acting rightly when they enforced separation from foreigners including divorcing wives and sending away children.

Their words are recorded for our learning in the same way as the words of Eliphaz to Job.

Job 15:5 “Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty.” (The incorrect opinion of Eliphaz)

When Ezra records that foreigners are “enemies” that is the opinion of the Jewish leaders – left for our learning. Zechariah disagreed. Jesus tell us that this Zechariah was murdered by his contemporaries. Matt. 23:35 “On you will come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.” The Old Testament ends with a murder mystery hidden by those professing to be “teachers of the Law”.

Background
– Ezra – Nehemiah were originally one book
It covered the period from approx 538 BC – 432BC

538 BC – Zerubbabel led 1^st return to Jerusalem – Ezra 2:2

520 BC – Haggai/Zechariah Prophesy

516 BC – Temple completed in Jerusalem – Ezra 6:15

6th year Darius Prophet Zechariah contemporary Ezra 6:15

486 BC – Letter written to Xerxes – Ezra 4:6

479 BC – Esther* made queen in Persia – Esther 2:16

465 BC – Artaxerxes King in Persia

457 BC – Ezra led a 2^nd return

444 BC – Nehemiah led a third return

432 BC – Last memoirs of Nehemiah

Prophet Malachi

*While the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem were declining offers from foreigners to help build the temple, and later forcing Jewish men to send away foreign wives and children (or else they would lose their land)…

Back in Persia

Esther the Jewish girl married a FOREIGN King and saved the nation!

(There are different opinions whether it was Xerxes or Artaxerxes Esther married. The description of the greatness of the Kingdom in Esther 1:1 would indicate it was Xerxes)

THE GREAT DIVORCE – under Ezra

Ezra 10:2.. “Now let us make a covenant before our God to send away all these (foreign) women and their children, in accordance with the counsel of my lord and of those who fear the commands of our God. Let it be done according to the Law….15 Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah, supported by Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite, opposed this.”

Consider the possibility that the group in verse 15 who opposed the great divorce are right to do so.

IT IS ALSO WRITTEN

Mal 3:16 “The man who hates and divorces his wife, ” says the Lord, the God of Israel, “does violence to the one he should protect,” says the Lord Almighty.”

Nehemiah’s FINAL REFORMS

Neh. 13:1-3 “On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God (from Deut. 23)…When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel ALL who were of foreign descent.”

“When the people heard THIS Law”

The people took one passage at face value and applied it wrongly.

IT IS ALSO WRITTEN – IN DEUT. 23…..

V 7-8 “You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you were an alien in his land. ⁸The children of the third generation born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord.”

NOT ALL FOREIGNERS WERE TO BE EXCLUDED.

ALSO – V 1 “No one who has been emasculated by crushing or cutting may enter the assembly of the Lord.” (a eunuch)

It seems likely that Nehemiah himself was a eunuch, also Daniel. (no mention of Nehemiah enforcing this law)

“It is Also Written”

European illustration of one of the “white eunuchs” of the Ottoman Sultan’s court (1749) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

FOREIGNERS & EUNUCHS

“Let no foreigner who is bound to the LORD say,
“The LORD will surely exclude me from his people.”
And let no eunuch complain,“I am only a dry tree.”” Isaiah 56.3-5

Note: Jesus applied the prophecies in Isaiah to His own day, not a distant kingdom age.

“Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for ALL nations’? But you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’ Mark 11:17 quoting Isaiah 56:7

“Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.” Exodus 22:21

PREVIOUSLY IN OLD TESTAMENT

– God Accepted Foreigners

CALEB – the Kenizzite Represented the tribe of Judah as one of the 12 spies

Moses wife – a Kennite

Absalom’s mother – Geshurite Princess

SAMSON – fell in love with a Philistine “from the Lord”

MELCHIZEDEK -King of Salem, Canaanite – Priest of God

Ittai – The Gittite – David said

“Go back…You are a foreigner”Ittai said “wherever my lord the king may be …there will your servant be.” 2 Sam 15:21

Obededom – The Gittite (FOREIGNER AS ABOVE) – Cared for the ark (as distinct from Obededom the son of Jeduthun/Levite) It could be that Obededom was given a place amongst the Levites – as Caleb the gentile had a place amongst the tribe of Judah – Or as Samuel an Ephraimite (1 Sam. 1:1) counted as a Levite according to the writer of 1 Chron. 6:16-28.

Ezekiel 47:23 “In whatever tribe a foreigner resides, there you are to give them their inheritance” (written to the house of Israel while in exile for them to contemplate)

RAHAB – a Canaanite

URIAH – The Hittite

RUTH – Moabitess

Asriel – descended from Manasseh through his Aramean concubine.

ASENATH – Egyptian – mother of Ephraim and Manasseh

Children of Jacob by ethnically ‘Arabic‘ servant girls

This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Jerusalem: Your ancestry and birth were in the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. Ezek. 16:3

Genealogy of Jesus includes: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth – mentions Uriah

Elijah & Elisha sent to Gentiles

“I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, …Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. (Lebanese)And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.” Luke 4:25

Previously in Old Testament – No Partiality

The Tabernacle – No separate court for Gentiles or Women

SACRIFICES – Numbers 15:14 “Native-born Israelites and foreigners are equal before the LORD and are subject to the same decrees. This is a permanent law for you, to be observed from generation to generation.”

PASSOVER – Exodus 12:48 “A foreigner residing among you who wants to celebrate the Lord’s Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land.”

FOREIGNERS in Ezra/Nehemiah

AS ENEMIES

Zerubbabel was supposed to lay the foundation and cap stone of the temple (be there at start & finish). His refusal to let foreigners help meant the project was delayed. He disappeared from history before the temple was finished.

Ezra 4:1-3 “When the enemies of Judah (from Ezra’s perspective) and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, “Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.”

But Zerubbabel, Joshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, “You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the Lord”

The rejected foreigners at this stage were Rehum (Persian governor of Samaria), Shimshai, the judges, officials, administrators over the deportees and the other people. (Ezra 4:9-10)

ELSEWHERE – FOREIGNERS AS FRIENDS

By contrast- David was the friend of foreigners and Solomon let gentiles help build the first temple.

2 Sam 5:11^”Now Hiram king of Tyre sent envoys to David, …they built a palace for David. Then David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom.”

1 Kings 5: 6“My men will work with yours, … You know that we have no one so skilled in felling timber as the Sidonians.”

When Hiram heard Solomon’s message, he was greatly pleased and said, “Praise be to the Lord today, for he has given David a wise son to rule over this great nation.”

REBUKE FROM ZECHARIAH DURING

COMPLETION OF TEMPLE

4^th Year of Darius

Zech. 7:9-12 ‘Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. Do not plot evil against each other.’

But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and covered their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets.

6^th Year of Darius

The temple was completed without the help offered by foreigners.

What became of the prophet
Zechariah Son of Berekiah ?

Jesus tells us – “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!… Upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.” Matt 23:35

UNSOLVED MYSTERY…WHICH TEACHERS OF THE LAW MURDERED ZECHARIAH approx 460-480 BC?

What did Zechariah say to anger the Jews so much they would kill him?

Perhaps it was his last prophesy- Zech 14:21

^{“On that day holy to the Lord will be inscribed on the bells of the horses, and the cooking pots in the Lord’s house will be like the sacred bowls in front of the altar. Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to}^{the Lord}^{Almighty, and all who come to sacrifice will take some of the pots and cook in them.”}

^{“Holy to the Lord” was previously reserved for the gold band worn on the high priests turban (Ex.28:36-38) but Zechariah was saying that every pot in Jerusalem and Judah would be “holy to the Lord” and FOREIGNERS would come and do their own sacrifices and cook in the pots themselves – holiness would no longer be just for the priests}

Everyone and thing on God’s Holy Hill will be Holy

Zechariah’s final verse ch. 14:21
“And on that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord Almighty^”

The distinction between Jew and foreigner will finally be gone. For those living the “kingdom life” it shouldn’t exist now.

Gal. 3:26-29 “So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Those who may dwell on God’s holy hill are the righteous regardless of race, gender, tribe

Psalm 15 “Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent? Who may live on your holy mountain? The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous,
who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander,
who does no wrong to a neighbour and casts no slur on others who despises a vile person but honours those who fear the Lord;
who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and does not change their mind; who lends money to the poor without interest; who does not accept a bribe against the innocent.”

Mystery of Zechariah’s Murder

The book of Ezra/Nememiah covered the history of Jerusalem during the period from approx 538 BC – 432BC but leaves out the murder of Zechariah Son of Berekiah, Son of Iddo, who was murdered in Jerusalem during that time.

Zechariah was a “young man” in 520 BC (Zech. 2:3)

As well as Jesus confirmation of this event in Matt. 23:35 “Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.” – There is also a reference to it in the Targum on Lamentations 2:20

“Is it right to kill priest and prophet in the Temple of the Lord, as when you killed Zechariah son of Iddo, the High Priest and faithful prophet in the Temple of the Lord on the Day of Atonement because he told you not to do evil before the Lord?” Cited with permission from English translation by C.M.M. Brady

Zechariah’s murder is a witness against those who carried it out – their house would be left desolate until they say ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’ (Matt. 23:38)

Gates shut or Open?

Nehemiah

Neh. 13:19 “When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. …Once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem. But I warned them and said, “Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will arrest you.”

Malachi/Isaiah

Mal. 1:10 “Among you the doors shall be shut, and one will not kindle the fire of mine altar for nothing, I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord Almighty, and I will not accept a sacrifice at your hands. 11 For from the rising of the sun even to the going down thereof my name has been glorified among the Gentiles; and in every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name IS great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord Almighty. ” (Septuagint)

Isaiah 60:10 “Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you…Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night,

Matt. 23:13 “You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.”

Zech. 8:16 “Speak truth every one with his neighbour; judge truth and peaceable judgment in your gates: and let none of you devise evil in his heart against his neighbour”

Nehemiah built physical walls
God cared about the spiritual ones

Ne. 1:3-4 “The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire. ” When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.”

COMPARE TO

Isaiah 58:5 “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter , when you see the naked, to clothe them?”

Ezek. 22:29 “They oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner, denying them justice.

I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.”

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN – AND WILL BE

Zech 2:4 ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of people and animals in it. And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will be its glory within.’

People Ezra & Nehemiah
Perceived as Enemies

Rehum the commanding officer (Governor Samaria), Shimshai the secretary, the rest of their associates -the judges, officials and administrators over the people from Persia, Uruk and Babylon, the Elamites of Susa, and the other people deported and settled in the city of Samaria. Ezra 4:9-10

Daughters of Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians and Amorites. Ezra 9:1

Sanballat the Horonite (Moabite), Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab. Neh. 2:19

The Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod. Neh. 4:7

Prophetess Noadiah and the other prophets. Neh. 6:15

The nobles of Judah who kept reporting the good deeds of Tobiah. Neh. 6:14

Those who could not find family records were considered unclean. Neh. 7:64

ALL FOREIGNERS Neh. 9:2

People from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem. Neh. 13:16

Foreign women Neh. 13:27

Son of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest who was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. Neh. 13:28

“Thus cleansed I them from all strangers” Neh. 13:30

WE ARE NOT TOLD THAT GOD REGARDED THESE PEOPLE AS ENEMIES and to do so contradicts other Bible teachings.

THE LORD’S TABLE

Nehamiah said the Lord’s table was defiled by foreigners –

Neh 13:6 Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib had done in providing Tobiah a room in the courts of the house of God. I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room. I gave orders to purify the rooms.”

BY CONTRAST – JESUS SAID “In my Father’s house are many rooms… I go to prepare a place for you” John 14:2

God said via Malachi

Mal 1:11 “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with YOU,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will accept no offering from your hands. YOU profane my name by saying, ‘The Lord’s table is defiled…my name is to be feared among the nations.”

David shared the shewbread with his men – the criteria- “being committed to God” – not whether they were foreigners. 1 Sam. 23:5

Examples of David’s men:

Uriah the Hittite, Ittai the Gittite, Zelek the Ammonite, Jebosthe (chief among the captains) the Chananite (Canaanite) 2 Sam 23:8 (Septuagint) Ithma the Moabite

Noadiah & The other Prophets
A Silent Witness

The book of Nehemiah is written from Nehemiah’s perspective. We are not told that his words and actions had God’s approval.

It’s the last history book of the Old Testament and the voice of God was silent in Israel for the next 430 years. Zechariah and Malachi – God’s prophets- condemn the actions of the time.

We don’t hear the silent voices of Noadiah and the other prophets who opposed Nehemiah. We only know that they, and many others objected to his actions and the actions of Ezra.

Neh. 6:14 “Remember also the prophetess Noadiah and how she and the rest of the prophets have been trying to intimidate me.”

Connection between Chronicles & Ezra/Nehemiah
There seems to be a commonality in these 3 books. All promote the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin and omit positive things about foreigners. All omit negative things about Jews. Ezra gives added emphasis that God dwells in Jerusalem in Judah.

END OF CHRONICLES

2 Chron. 36:22-23

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing: “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: “‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up, and may the Lord their God be with them.’”

BEGINNING OF EZRA

Ezra 1:1-3

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing: “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: “‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. ³Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them.”

Chronicles – A Comparison

2 Chron. 8:2 Hiram gave towns to Solomon

1 Kings 9:11 Solomon gave 20 towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre

I Chronicles 2 1:1 Satan incited David

2 Sam. 24:1 God incited David

1 Chron 17:5 “For I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel unto this day.”

2 Sam 7:6 “Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day.”

In omitting to say that Israel came out of Egypt, and adding that God dwells in Jerusalem (inferring it’s the only place He dwells) perhaps the Chronicler was trying to stress the connection of the Jews to the land of Canaan, rather than to let them appear as a foreign people who came from Egypt. This would be especially important in Nehemiah and Ezra’s time when they were excluding foreigners and forcing men to send away their foreign wives and children.

In Chronicles the kings of Israel in the North are barely mentioned. The kings of Judah are recorded with much of their “bad” history left out (eg. David’s sin with Bathsheba) The writer of Chronicles also excluded the lives of Elijah, Elisha and their gentile converts mentioned in Luke 4:25. Elijah’s only mention is via a letter after he was gone. By contrast, in the Book of Kings Elijah is mentioned over 60 times. Also his mission to the foreign widow of Lebanon.

Who beat and pulled hair out?

Isaiah 50:6 “I offered my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard”

Two people named in Old Testament who carried out this behaviour…

Ezra 9:3 “When I heard this, I tore my tunic and cloak, pulled hair from my head and beard and sat down appalled.”

Nehemiah 13:25 “I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled out their hair.”

Their descendants (Scribes and Pharisees) did the same thing to Jesus

Gentiles were to be Blessed

Isaiah 9:2 “In Galilee of the Gentiles,the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,
Upon them a light has shined.”

LEBANON BLESSED
“And I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon, till there is no room for them.” Zech. 10:10

Where did Sanballat Go?

“One of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. And I drove him away from me.” Neh. 13:28

He went with a group of priests, built a temple and woshipped God on Mt Gerizim.

FROM ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY

National Campus for Archaeology of Israel

“Today we can state with certainty that the first phase of the temple on Mount Gerizim was erected in the middle of the fifth century BCE by Sanballat the Horonite, a contemporary of Ezra and Nehemiah…
Sanballat the Horonite who was a governor of Samaria on behalf of the Persian Empire – decided to build a temple to a supreme god on Mount Gerizim, which was sacred to both the people of Samaria and the people of Judah, and thus severe all ties with Jerusalem and its temple.
He decided to wed his daughter to a scion of the high priesthood in Jerusalem thereby making all his descendants priests from the sect of the Jerusalem priesthood. It seems that along with the grandson of Eliashib the Priest other Judean priests came to Mount Gerizim where they built and sanctified the temple as a replica of the Jerusalem temple.”

WHERE WE WORSHIP

EZRA

Ezra focussed his worship on Jerusalem and the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and part of Levi. Ezra 1:3 “Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem”

JESUS

Jesus said the place of worship doesn’t matter, but HOW you worship.

John 4:20 “Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.” “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem…a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth”

Records Mattered to Jews
But Way of Worship mattered GOD

JEWS

Ezra 2:62 “These searched for their family records, but they could not find them and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean.”

– This is in contrast to the KINGDOM of Priests they could have been

Zechariah

Zech 6:15 “Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the Lord.”

THIS PROPHECY WAS CONDITIONAL

“This shall come to pass, if ye will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God.”

John the Baptist

Luke 3:8 “Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.”

A Conditional Promise
Nation of PRIESTS – not just males from tribe of Levi

TO NATURAL ISRAEL

Exodus 19:4 “Now IF you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession …you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

TO SPIRITUAL ISRAEL – Women & Gentiles included

1 Pet. 2:9 “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession”

PRIESTS FROM ALL NATIONS – MEN & WOMEN

Revelation 5:9 “Because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation.
You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

TRIBE, NATIONALITY, GENDER NO LONGER MATTER – THEY NEVER DID –What matters to God is the way we worship

God always approved of women prophets and judges – it was traditions of men which made them a minority.

Ezra’s Genealogy

Ez. 7:1-6 “Ezra son of Seraiah, the son of Azariah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Shallum, the son of Zadok, the son of Ahitub, the son of Amariah, the son of Azariah, the son of Meraioth, the son of Zerahiah, the son of Uzzi, the son of Bukki, the son of Abishua, the son of Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the chief priest— this Ezra came up from Babylon.

He was a teacher well versed in the Law of Moses”

Nicodemas was also a “Teacher of the Law” – Jesus said to him that genealogies of men don’t count – John 3:3 “No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again (from above).”

Elijah’s Genealogy

“Elijah the Tishbite who was of the sojourners of Gilead” -A voice in the wilderness

ELIJAH – The Stranger

1Kings 17:1 “And Elijah the Tishbite , who was of the inhabitants of Gilead”.

Inhabitant =“TOWSHAB”

Towshab – Occurs 14 times in Old Test.

Translated 13 times – sojourner/stranger/foreigner 1 time – inhabitant

STRANGERS IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY
ELIJAH the Tishbite, who was of the foreigners/sojourners of Gilead

ABRAHAM “made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country” Heb. 11:9

DAVID – “I am a foreigner to my own family, a stranger to my own mother’s children” Psalm 69:8

NEW TESTAMENT MESSAGE ABOUT ELIJAH

A remnant saved by grace

Romans 11:4 “God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.”

Elijah & Elisha sent to Gentiles

Even in Elijah’s time God’s message was given to the gentiles and those in Israel saved by grace – Not works of Law

THE GOD OF ELIJAH

Heb. 11:13-16 “They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth…Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

God was called the “God of Elijah” in 2 Kings 2:14

ELIJAH means “My God is Jehovah”

In a world of Baal worship – Elijah’s name proclaimed His worship of God

Not his lineage in natural Israel

LAST WORDS OF OLD TESTAMENT

Mal. 4:5-6 “I will send to you Elias the Thesbite, before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes; who shall turn again the heart of the father to the son, and the heart of a man to his neighbour” (Septuagint)

God also appeared to Elijah at Horeb , as He had to Moses. He was no longer in the earthquake wind and fire. He was with any who didn’t bow the knee to Baal, who came to Him in faith. He was now in the still small voice heard by Elijah and those of faith as He always had been – both Jews and Gentiles.

ELIJAH will “Turn again the heart of the father to the son, and the heart of a man to his neighbour” (Septuagint) Mal.4:5-6
“Who is my neighbour?” Luke 10:29

Jesus explained who a “neighbour” is in the parable of the good Samaritan – Ezra & Nehemiah did not consider Samaritans to be neighbours.

By contrast Jesus mixed with people others despised. He taught that barriers must come down and true righteousness be discerned. It’s not who we mix with that contaminates us but how we think and how we worship. Despising others is wrong worship. Loving your neighbour as yourself is right worship.

Zechariah told Joshua the priest and his associates that they were supposed to build a temple that was welcoming – they didn’t build such a place – but another is – “the Branch” (Jesus).

“In that day, says the Lord Almighty, you shall call together every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig-tree.” Zech. 3:10 (Septuagint)

Robin Jones from Blog

alsowritten.wordpress.com

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Magnificent bride for royal wedding

Posted on 2014/07/26 by Belgian Biblestudents - Belgische Bijbelstudenten

We have “The Lamb” whose marriage will be a cause for joy in heaven. That lamb of God is none other than Jesus Christ.

29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and he said: “See, the Lamb+ of God who takes away the sin+ of the world!+ (John 1:29)

Over the centuries, Christ has been preparing his future bride for the heavenly wedding. The apostle Paul explained that Christ

“loved the congregation and gave himself up for it, in order that he might sanctify it, cleansing it with the bath of water by means of the word, so that he might present the congregation to himself in its splendor, without a spot or a wrinkle or any of such things, but holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25-27)

Paul told the anointed Christians in ancient Corinth:

“I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I personally promised you in marriage to one husband that I might present you as a chaste virgin to the Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:2)

Anointed Christians are adopted as “children” of Jehovah.

15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery causing fear again, but you received a spirit of adoption as sons, by which spirit we cry out: “Abba,* Father!”+ 16 The spirit itself bears witness with our spirit+ that we are God’s children.+ 17 If, then, we are children, we are also heirs—heirs indeed of God, but joint heirs+ with Christ—provided we suffer together+ so that we may also be glorified together.+ (Romans 8:15-17)

Since they are to become a heavenly bride, the anointed are instructed:

“Forget your people and your [fleshly] father’s house.”

They are to keep their minds

“fixed on the things above, not on the things on the earth.”(Colossians 3:1-4).

42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised up in incorruption.+43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised up in glory.+ It is sown in weakness; it is raised up in power.+ (1 Corinthians 15:42, 43)

The Bridegroom-King Jesus Christ appreciates the spiritual “beauty” of his future bride. And the bride recognizes him as her “lord” and ‘bows down to him’ as her future husband. The future bride is addressed not only as “O daughter” but also as “the king’s daughter.”

13 Inside the palace* the king’s daughter is absolutely magnificent; Her clothing is adorned with* gold.(Psalm 45:13)

The bride is presented as “absolutely magnificent” for the royal wedding. At Revelation 21:2, the bride is compared to a city, New Jerusalem, and is “adorned for her husband.” This heavenly city has “the glory of God” and is radiant, “like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone shining crystal clear.”

10 So he carried me away in the power of the spirit to a great and lofty mountain, and he showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God+ 11 and having the glory of God.+ Its radiance was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone shining crystal clear.+ (Revelation 21:10, 11)

The resplendence of New Jerusalem is beautifully described in the book of Revelation.

18 Now the wall was made of jasper,+ and the city was pure gold like clear glass. 19 The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every sort of precious stone: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chal·ce′do·ny, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth sar·don′yx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrys′o·lite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrys′o·prase, the eleventh hyacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 Also, the 12 gates were 12 pearls; each one of the gates was made of one pearl. And the main street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. (Revelation 21:18-21)

No wonder the psalmist portrays the bride as “absolutely magnificent”! After all, the royal wedding is taking place in heaven.

The Messianic King has been preparing the bride, ‘cleansing her with the bath of water by means of the word.’ She is “holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:26, 27) His bride must also be fittingly attired for the occasion. And she is! Indeed, “her clothing is adorned with gold,” and “she will be brought to the king in richly woven garments.” For the marriage of the Lamb, “it has been granted to her to be clothed with bright, clean, fine linen—for the fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the holy ones.” (Revelation 19:8).

We shall have:

First, judgment which will be executed upon “the great prostitute,” Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion. (Revelation 17:1, 5, 16, 17; 19:1, 2)
Then, Christ will go forth to execute God’s judgments on the rest of Satan’s wicked system on earth by destroying it at Armageddon, “the war of the great day of God the Almighty.” (Revelation 16:14-16; 19:19-21)
Finally, the Warrior-King will complete his conquest by abyssing Satan and his demons, reducing them to a state of deathlike inactivity. (Revelation. 20:1-3).

After their marriage, Christ and his Kingdom associates will bestow untold blessings upon the inhabitants of the earth.

17 because the Lamb,+ who is in the midst* of the throne, will shepherd them+ and will guide them to springs* of waters of life.+ And God will wipe out every tear from their eyes.”+ (Revelation 7:17)

21 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth;+ for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away,+ and the sea+ is no more. 2 I also saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God+ and prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.+3 With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: “Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them.+4 And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes,+ and death will be no more,+ neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore.+ The former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:1-4.)

Find in this series:

Marriage of Jesus 1 Mary, John, Judas, Thomas and Brown

Marriage of Jesus 2 Standard writings about Jesus

Marriage of Jesus 3 Listening women

Marriage of Jesus 4 Place of the woman

Marriage of Jesus 5 Papyrus fragment in Egyptian Coptic

Marriage of Jesus 6 Jesus said to them “My wife”

Marriage of Jesus 7 Impaled

Marriage of Jesus 8 Wife of Yahweh

Marriage of Jesus 9 Reason for a new marriage

Marriage of Jesus 10 Old and New Covenant

The Bride New Jerusalem

A royal wedding due to take place

Reply to questions concerning The Bride of Christ

Bride of Christ (inspirationalchristiansfortoday.com)
If I do marry some day, I know it will be hard work (any relationship is after all), but a blessing given by the One who loves me most of all. Remember, He only gives good gifts! Furthermore, if He decides my present is a life of singleness, I will also rejoice and be glad. Why you ask? Because I believe He has my best interests at heart. I trust Him with my future and in the fact that He has equipped me to live a life best suited for His glory. Yes, I I trust God that much. He made me and therefore, He knows how I tick.
Let Us Rise For The Bride! (thejaggedword.com)
Rise my friend and adore what YOU look like in God’s eyes! What the church looks like. It is a truth we see by faith as we confess in the creed, “I believe in the holy Christian church!”
Redemption and Life for the Bride (newjerusalem12.wordpress.com)
In the Gospel of John, Christ is presented both as the Lamb and as the Bridegroom. John the Baptist declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (1:29). This verse clearly reveals that Christ came as the Lamb to take away the sin of the world. Later, John the Baptist also indicated that Christ is the Bridegroom. John said, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice” (3:29). Hence, in the Gospel of John, Christ is revealed both as the Lamb who came to take away sin and as the Bridegroom who came that He might have the bride.
+
through our entire Christian life, eternal life operates in us to make us the bride to match Christ in every way. The result is “New Jerusalem prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
New Jerusalem is the Eternal Marriage (6) (newjerusalem12.wordpress.com)
New Jerusalem as the eternal marriage is portrayed by Adam and Eve in Genesis 2. This marriage is touched by words in Exodus 20, Song of Songs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Hosea. In the New Testament we begin in the gospels.
+
In Matthew 25 the Lord spoke a parable about the wedding feast. He tells us that when He, the Bridegroom comes, all who are ready for Him will go with Him into the wedding feast. The coming of Jesus Christ as the Bridegroom will be His coming at the close of this age to receive all His believers to Himself (as in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).This wedding feast will bring us onward to the full reality of New Jerusalem in eternity.
Are all people called to marriage? // How is a Church wedding celebrated? (travismikhailblog.wordpress.com)
Many people who live alone suffer from loneliness, which they perceive only as a lack and a disadvantage. Yet a person who does not have to care for a spouse or a family also enjoys freedom and independence and has time to do meaningful and important things that a married person would never get to. Maybe it is God’s will that he should care for people for whom no one else cares. Not uncommonly God even calls such a person to be especially close to him. This is the case when one senses a desire to renounce marriage “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven”.
Jeremiah 3:14 I am married unto you. (lacykitkat.wordpress.com)
Christ Jesus is joined unto His people in marriage-union. In love He espoused His Church as a chaste virgin, long before she fell under the yoke of bondage. Full of burning affection He toiled, like Jacob for Rachel, until the whole of her purchase-money had been paid, and now, having sought her by His Spirit, and brought her to know and love Him, He awaits the glorious hour when their mutual bliss shall be consummated at the marriage-supper of the Lamb. Not yet hath the glorious Bridegroom presented His betrothed, perfected and complete, before the Majesty of heaven; not yet hath she actually entered upon the enjoyment of her dignities as His wife and queen: she is as yet a wanderer in a world of woe, a dweller in the tents of Kedar; but she is even now the bride, the spouse of Jesus, dear to His heart, precious in His sight, written on His hands, and united with His person.
Redemption and Life for the Bride (newjerusalem12.wordpress.com)
Christ, the Lamb of God who died, took away sin. Because of this, we can be born again and have eternal life (John 3:3, 5-7, 15-16). However, after we were born again, there were still many attitudes in us and actions by us that were not suitable for the bride of Christ. Nevertheless, through our entire Christian life, eternal life operates in us to make us the bride to match Christ in every way. The result is “New Jerusalem prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
Making Light of the Call of Light (firstthekingdom.wordpress.com)
the King’s call is to partake of the finished work of Christ; to be joined to him. I think you could rightly say the King gives invitations, not demands. You can choose to ignore the invitation, but you’ll be shut out of the Kingdom.
Wash With Care Ezekiel 16:8-14; John 3:22-30 June 8, 2014 (trccdoc.wordpress.com)
The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. For this reason my joy has been fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.” John the Baptist is the friend of the bridegroom. The Bridegroom is Christ, who fulfills our joy and causes great rejoicing. The bride is the Church, both as a body and individually as believers. As a believer, whether you’re a boy or a girl, Christianity says your soul is feminine—we all have feminine souls. The Hebrew word for soul—nephesh—and the Greek word for soul—sookay—are both feminine. Keep that in front of you as we look at these passages. These verses from John will form the lens through which we’ll see Ezekiel’s passage. Let’s take an in-depth look at the riches of Scripture, plumbing them for hidden meanings of baptism, which we have enacted today.
“I am married to you” Christ Jesus is joined unto his people in marriage-union. (tru3j0y.wordpress.com)
Death must sever the conjugal tie between the most loving mortals, but it cannot divide the links of this immortal marriage. In heaven they marry not, but are as the angels of God; yet there is this one marvellous exception to the rule, for in Heaven Christ and his Church shall celebrate their joyous nuptials. This affinity as it is more lasting, so is it more near than earthly wedlock. Let the love of husband be never so pure and fervent, it is but a faint picture of the flame which burns in the heart of Jesus. Passing all human union is that mystical cleaving unto the Church, for which Christ left his Father, and became one flesh with her.
Heaven’s Banquet (godshotspot.wordpress.com)
Heaven’s banquet takes place as metaphor of a wedding ceremony between Christ and Bride His Church. All washed White by Blood of Lamb Jesus. Heavenly people party happily as God wiped tears, sorrow replaced by life full of joy. So believers in heaven intercede with Christ for loved onesto be saved to make heaven in Jesus Name.

Marriage of Jesus 10 Old and New Covenant

Posted on 2014/06/10 by Marcus Ampe

Divinity Hall, Harvard Divinity School, view from Divinity Avenue (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Harvard Divinity School Professor Karen King agrees that the fragment, written in Coptic, she analysed,

“does not, however, provide evidence that the historical Jesus was married, nor does it prove that he was not married. The earliest reliable historical tradition is completely silent on that. So we’re in the same position we were before it was found. We don’t know if he was married or not.”

In the previous postings I mentioned already that when we look at the accounts of Jesus’ life in the Bible and the many non-religious writings of the early centuries, there is no mention of his marital status, while the accounts do mention Jesus’ mother, father and siblings.

Darrell Bock, a senior research professor of New Testament studies at Dallas Theological Seminar said:

“There’s no indication we have that Jesus was married. One could say the text is silent on Jesus’ marital status because there was nothing to say.”

Bock agreed with the notion that the text fragment shared similarities with the Gnostic Gospels and said the text could be referring to a gnostic rite of marriage but

“it’s a small text with very little context. We don’t know what’s wrapped around it to know what it’s saying.”

King writes:

“the importance of the ‘Gospel of Jesus’ Wife’ lies in supplying a new voice within the diverse chorus of early Christian traditions about Jesus that documents that some Christians depicted Jesus as married.”

In “Marriage of Jesus 8 Wife of Yahweh” and “Marriage of Jesus 9 Reason for a new marriage” I pointed out to the Wife of God, indicating the Book of books speaks about God being married to Israel, but this being spiritually talking about the relationship of Jehovah God with His Chosen People, Israel, or the Israelites, the religious Jews. From the Old Testament text we can understand that Jehovah God cast Israel off as a wife, and that it was impossible for Him to marry her as a “virgin” (Jeremiah 3:1-18; Ezekiel 16; Hosea 2; 3:1-5). We can see what faithless Israel has done and find God giving her the notice or her certificate of divorce and having sent her away because of all her adulteries.

“She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore.” (Jeremiah 3:8 ESV)

“Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.” And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him…” (Photo credit: -Reji)

God had made a promise to Abraham, that his seed would multiply and God would make a people for Him out of his descendants. God always keeps to His promises. One of them, at the beginning of human history,just after the foundation of the earth, was also that He would provide a solution for the sin the first man and woman (the 1° Adam and Eve) committed. There He indicated already His special relationship with the human beings, and planned for a son to whom He would give the throne to restore the paradise and bring to fulfilment the clean and safe Kingdom of God (the 2° Adam).

” And [Psa. 102:25-27 says “Thou, Yahweh/Adonay/Jehovah”], “Lord, in the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hand. (11) They will be destroyed, but you will remain. And they [i.e., the heavens and earth] will all wear out like an article of clothing. (12) And you will fold them up like a robe, and they will be changed like an article of clothing. But you will stay the same and your years will never end.” (13) But which one of the angels did God ever say [this] about [Psa. 110:1], “You should sit at my right side until I put your enemies [in full subjection] beneath your feet?”” (Heb 1:10-13 AUV)

“So [then], we [Christians] should pay closer attention to the things we have heard, so that we do not drift away from [believing and practicing] them. (2) For if the message spoken through angels proved to be binding [Note: This is a reference to the Law of Moses. See Acts 7:53; Gal. 3:19], and every violation [of it] and disobedience [to it] received a just penalty, (3) how will we escape [punishment] if we neglect such a great salvation? [For it was] first announced [to people] by the Lord and then confirmed to us [i.e., the writer and other Christians] by those who heard Him [i.e., the original apostles]. (4) God also testified, along with those people, by [giving them] both signs and wonders and various miracles, and by [supernatural] gifts distributed [to them] by the Holy Spirit, as He desired. (5) For God did not place the coming inhabited world [Note: “The coming inhabited world” here probably refers to the present Christian age. It was viewed as “coming” from the perspective of Old Testament times], under the control of angels [and] that is the world we are talking about.” (Heb 2:1-5 AUV)

With regards to which of the angelic messengers “emissaries”, none where invited tocome to sit next to God, but His son Jeshua (Jesus Christ), who was first lower than the angels (remember God is, was and always shall be the Most High) was placed higher after his resurrection and invited to come to sit at the right hand of God to become a mediator between God and man. In case Jesus was God he could not be sitting next to himself nor take on the duty of mediator or intermediary. His position as arbitrator for man and woman would be of no value either when he would have been God and the end judge of it all. The third party has to be someone other than the principals who are involved in a transaction. In the Bible is also written that he would hand over the Kingdom of God to his Father. In case he himself is the same person as the Father there is no use nor any possibility to hand over the Kingdom to himself.

But in the text in front of us we hear about the world to come: the New World. The angels are ministering spirits, servants, with no royal dignity; having a subordinate role of serving God. God’s concern is not with angels, but with us, and He accordingly sends those angels or messengers of God, to bring help to those who will inherit salvation.

“And if children, then also lawfully-allotted ones, lawfully-allotted ones surely of God, moreover, lawfully-allotted-with the Anointed One, if- we -wholly suffer-with Him, in order that, we may also be given splendor-with Him.” (Romans 8:17 AS )

In the Old Times God shared His passion with His people, who kept stubborn and did not want to recognise the Promised One, the Christos, or Christ the Messiah. God placed Jesus in a higher position than His angels and by doing this God’s glory becomes Christ’s glory and finally, in measure, our glory also, because in him, Jesus Christ, we can be saved and become part of the Body of Christ. The apostle Paul brings some ‘with’ words in his 8° letter to the Romans (8:1-39), that testify of what we are and what we do jointly with Christ. There it is said the Anointed One should be from-within us, being lawfully-allotted ones, joint-heirs with the Anointed, even when we ourselves still dare to groan inside ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the ransom of our body, we may find not such an adoption, becoming children of God, but also finding the redemption of the body we still have here on earth. (In this world.)

God did not spare His own son Jeshua, but delivered him up for us all. (Romans 8:32) This Jesus is raised up, and is actually at the right hand of God, and makes intercession for us. (Romans 8:34) In the Old World the angels were in charge.

” Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold, And see the reward of the wicked. (9) For thou, O Jehovah, art my refuge! Thou hast made the Most High thy habitation; (10) There shall no evil befall thee, Neither shall any plague come nigh thy tent. (11) For he will give his angels charge over thee, To keep thee in all thy ways. (12) They shall bear thee up in their hands, Lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.” (Psalm 91:8-12 ASV)

But now God choose a cornerstone in His son, to whom angels already came to minister him in his lifetime (Matthew 4:11; cp Matthew 26:53)

” You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, (8) putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. (9) But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” (Hebrews 2:7-9 ESV)

We all share in flesh and blood, the same as the son of God Jesus Christ partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the evil, the adversary of God. For ages God’s People where thrown through and fro and often did not make a proper choice. Because of His great dissatisfaction god was not inclined any more to keep the bond of His ‘marriage’ with them alone. Too many times the Israelites were ill-disposed to their Creator. They often behaved unlawful and that hurtled the Most High in such a way that He allowed His son to provide a New Covenant, to deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery (Hebrews 2:15).

God renewed His bond or covenant with His son and with the Spiritual Israel, which had to become the Church of God, the Body of Christ where the Nazarene Jeshua (Jesus) would be the cornerstone, to bring the lovers of God close to Him and to put down the adversaries or hostile ones, their necks under his foot.

Besides the heavenly Bride, the transfigured, translated, and risen Church, reigning over the earth with Christ, there is also the earthly bride, Israel, in the flesh, never yet divorced, though for a time separated, from her divine husband, who shall then be reunited to the Lord and be mother Church of the millennial earth, Christianized through her. Note, we ought, as Scripture does, restrict the language drawn from marriage—love to the Bride, the Church as a whole; not use it as individuals in our relation to Christ, as Rome does in the case of her nuns.” { All the Women of the Bible » Chapter 4. Symbolic and Representative Bible Women » The Bride, The Lamb’s Wife}

In his teaching period Jesus explained that some people may prefer to stay single “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:12). We should understand that by choosing celibacy to have more time to devote to proclaiming and living out God’s kingdom. They would find earthly responsibilities, such as those that go with marriage and parenting, a hindrance to their kingdom calling. This is similar to the situation of the disciples who were called away from their professions (fishermen, tax collectors, etc.) in order to follow Jesus with singular purpose. As I mentioned earlier such people consider themselves as married to Christ. They have taken Christ as their “bride“, like Jesus preferred to stay single and be the spouse or “wife of God“.

We always should remember that the Old Testament uses a lot of metaphors, and marriage is such one of them. Early Christians also used such metaphors to describe the relationship between celibate believers and Christ. Nuptial imagery is commonly used to describe salvation and heaven in the New Testament; and later Christian martyrs are sometimes called or portrayed as brides of Christ.

In the most difficult book of the bible, the apostle John describes in his vision the marriage scene in which the Bridegroom makes His Bride His wife. The ones who accept Christ as the son of God and their saviour may be glad and rejoice, and give honour now to him they wanted to follow and God raised out of the dead. He, the Lamb of God has now been taken up in heaven where the marriage of the Lamb took place. The ‘new’ wife of God or the wife for us in heaven has made herself ready in the presence of the one who is presented in fine linen, clean and white, like so many women their wedding dress. For the fine linen is the righteousness of saints, the ones who are set-apart from the world. The followers of Christ may become part of the new Israel, the new chosen people of God, though they might have been gentiles, they are now called righteous and also sons and daughters of God. We should know that blessed are they which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb, Jesus Messiah. We all better listen to the true sayings of God. We best remember what He has done for us and whom He provided for us and how we should worship that only One True God,the Father of Jesus, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

“Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; (8) it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. (9) And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.” (10) Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.” For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Revelation 19:7-10 ESV )

A woman, of course, only becomes a wife on the completion of her marriage to the man to whom she has been engaged or espoused. In this age of Grace, the church is the affianced Bride of Christ. At the marriage of the Lamb, she becomes His wedded wife (Ephesians 5:22, 23; 2 Corinthians 11:2). { All the Women of the Bible » Chapter 4. Symbolic and Representative Bible Women » The Bride, The Lamb’s Wife}

The “Gospel of Jesus’s Wife,” a papyrus written in Coptic and containing text that refers to Jesus being married, is looking more and more like it is not authentic, research is revealing.

Conclusion

Professor King has devoted much of her scholarly career to making a case that the early church falsely constructed an orthodox understanding of Jesus that minimized the role of women. Back in 2003 she released The Gospel of Mary of Magdala: Jesus and the First Woman Apostle, in which she argued that at least some ancient texts pointed to Mary Magdalene as an apostle. In 2012 she told the writer for Smithsonian: “You’re talking to someone who’s trying to integrate a whole set of ‘heretical’ literature into the standard history.” {It’s Back — The “Gospel of Jesus’s Wife” and the State of Modern Scholarship}

King saying

“it does not make sense that a forger with poor Coptic and scribal skills could also manage to acquire the right kind of papyrus and ink, and leave no ink out of place at the microscopic level.”

in her judgment may be right that “such a combination of bumbling and sophistication seems extremely unlikely” and that the world has a genuine old manuscript. But this does not mean it is a worthy “gospel” fragment or a sacred text.

King said.

“Is Jesus talking about a real wife, or the church, or a sister-wife? Who is the Mary—his mother, his wife, or some other Mary entirely?”

As I tried to explain in these 10 chapters is that we might understand it that when we would like to translate it with “wife” we should understand it to be a “woman” or female person in the bond of covenant-ship of being a pupil or follower of Christ.

What also might be important is that certain conservative ideas about the role of women in church herewith would be contradicted. If the papyrus fragment reflects religious writing copied from earlier texts, perhaps ones in the fourth century, it would speak to early Christian concerns about the role of the family in the early Church, which famously called upon its adherents to put aside family and civic loyalties, King suggests.

“This is not evidence that Jesus was married. We don’t know,”

Professor King originally interpreted the document as a debate about celibacy and had said:

“But early Christians were extremely interested in questions about whether they should be married or be celibate.”

Last month she added:

‘Now when I come back and read the fragment, it seems the major issue being talked about was that Jesus was affirming that wives and mothers can be his disciples,’ she said in an interview earlier this week.

The Harvard Divinity School writes:

If ancient, this tiny, damaged fragment provides tantalizing glimpses into issues about family, discipleship, and marriage that concerned ancient Christians. The main topic of the dialogue between Jesus and his disciples is one that deeply concerned early Christians, who were asked to put loyalty to Jesus before their natal families, as the New Testament gospels show. Christians were talking about themselves as a family, with God the Father, his son Jesus, and members as brothers and sisters. The particular focus in the Gospel of Jesus’s Wife, however, is on women: his mother, Mary, his wife, and a female disciple. The disciples discuss whether Mary is worthy, and Jesus states that “she can be my disciple.” These signs indicate some controversy over whether women who are sexually active (mothers and wives) can be disciples of Jesus. Other early Christian writings defend marriage and reproduction against fellow Christians who think virginity and celibacy are required for all, or who argue that “women are not worthy of life.”

This gospel fragment provides a reason to reconsider what we thought we knew by asking what role claims about Jesus’ marital status played historically in early Christian controversies over marriage, celibacy, and family. The Gospel of Jesus’s Wife makes it possible to say that some early Christians believed that Jesus was married. This conclusion potentially has significant implications for the history of ancient Christian attitudes toward marriage, sexuality, and reproduction.

I agree with professor King that the papyrus may show that there were early Christians for whom …

“sexual union in marriage could be an imitation of God’s creativity and it could be spiritually proper and appropriate.”

For her the so-called ‘Gospel of Jesus’ Wife’ may have been thrown out

“because the ideas it contained flowed so strongly against the ascetic currents of the tides in which Christian practices and understandings of marriage and sexual intercourse were surging.”

This representation of Jesus as a man with earthly passions and needs has not survived in the doctrines of the established churches, which emphasise celibacy and asceticism as a spiritual ideal. We as Christians should remember how Jesus preached equality between man and how we all had to love each other becoming one, united. Men and women equally united in the lord Christ Jesus, having the bride Jesus, him married to spiritual Israel, the Church.

The John papyrus fragment (right) comes from the same anonymous owner as the Gospel of Jesus’s wife and has the same line breaks as a papyrus transcribed in 1924 (shown on left). The papyrus and Gospel of Jesus’s Wife have similar ink and writing styles, suggesting the latter is a fake.

Find in this series:

Marriage of Jesus 1 Mary, John, Judas, Thomas and Brown

Marriage of Jesus 2 Standard writings about Jesus

Marriage of Jesus 3 Listening women

Marriage of Jesus 4 Place of the woman

Marriage of Jesus 5 Papyrus fragment in Egyptian Coptic

Marriage of Jesus 6 Jesus said to them “My wife”

Marriage of Jesus 7 Impaled

Marriage of Jesus 8 Wife of Yahweh

Marriage of Jesus 9 Reason for a new marriage

Marriage of Jesus 10 Old and New Covenant

To be continued with:

The Bride New Jerusalem

Additional reading:

Please find also of interest:

The ‘Gospel of Jesus’s Wife’ is Still as Big a Mystery as Ever
Given that King announced the discovery at a professional conference and immediately made preliminary test results and high-resolution photographs available to the world, it is difficult to know what she could have done differently. Certainly a more somber title—something in Latin perhaps—would have conveyed more nuance and garnered less attention, but getting attention for the discovery and the field was King’s aim. It used to be the case that papyrus discoveries were routinely announced on the front pages of the Times of London, but things have changed. It’s tough out there when you’re not a Kardashian, and a catchy title and clear message can go a long way. It’s rare for scholars to pass up the opportunity to reach a broader audience when the opportunity presents itself, even if that means giving up some precision.

It’s Back — The “Gospel of Jesus’s Wife” and the State of Modern Scholarship

Last week, the Harvard Theological Review released a much-delayed series of articles on the fragment. After a series of investigations undertaken by diverse scholars, the general judgment claimed by Professor King is that the fragment probably is not a forgery — or at least that it dates back to ancient times. The analysis suggested that the fragment dated from about four centuries later than Professor King had first suggested. This would place the fragment, if authentic, in the context of eighth-century Egypt — hundreds of years after the New Testament was written and completed.

The language used by the national media in reporting the story this time reveals the lack of confidence now placed in the fragment. The Boston Globe reported that the tests “have turned up no evidence of modern forgery,” but the reporter had to acknowledge that at least one of the scholars writing in the Harvard Theological Review insisted that the fragment is not only a forgery, but an amateurish effort. The New York Times ran a story that featured a headline announcing that the fragment “is more likely ancient than fake.” Note the uncertainty evident even in the headline.

“The Gospel of Jesus’ Wife? When Sensationalism Masquerades as Scholarship,”
One British newspaper notes that the claims about a married Jesus seem more worthy of fans of Dan Brown’s fictional work, The Da Vinci Code, than “real-life Harvard professors.” If the fragment is authenticated, the existence of this little document will be of interest to historians of the era, but it is insanity to make the claims now running through the media.

“No Evidence of Modern Forgery in Ancient Text Mentioning Jesus’s Wife,”
Specialists said, hypothetically, that a highly skilled modern forger could have obtained the right kind of ink and meticulously applied it to a blank piece of ancient papyrus.

Determining the age of the ink using conventional testing methods would destroy the tiny document, roughly the size of a business card. Groundbreaking work by Columbia University researchers may soon uncover a way to date the ink without harming the fragment, which would offer a more definitive verdict about its authenticity.

‘Gospel of Jesus’s Wife’ likely isn’t a modern forgery, scientists claim
The Vatican has previously said that the document is most likely a modern forgery, but scientists from Columbia University, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say their analysis strongly suggests that it is indeed part of an ancient manuscript and that it wasn’t edited or tampered with. The researchers used micro-Raman and infrared spectroscopy to analyze the composition of the ink, looking for clues as to whether it may have been applied after the original document was damaged.
“There is absolutely no evidence for that,” Timothy Swager, an MIT chemistry professor who worked on the project, tells the New York Times. “It would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible.” The researchers dated the fragment to between the sixth and ninth century AD, noting that it bears a strong resemblance to other texts from that era.

The ‘Gospel of Jesus’s Wife’ Is Real: What Now?
As with all scholarly work on the ancient world, it seems impossible to ever fully resolve disputes over the text and its interpretations. This isn’t the last word on the Gospel of Jesus’s Wife, but it is a fragment of understanding about how early Christians saw their savior.

No Forgery Evidence Seen in “Gospel of Jesus’s Wife” Papyrus
One report in the journal, by epigrapher Leo Depuydt of Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, claims grammatical errors dog the text and concludes, “The author of this analysis has not the slightest doubt that the document is a forgery, and not a very good one at that.”

Overall, he suggests that the papyrus was forged from a copy of the ancient Gospel of Thomas text, discovered less than a century ago in Egypt.

King refutes those criticisms in a response in the journal, arguing that the grammar errors are misinterpretations by Depuydt. She also argues that writings similar to the Gospel of Thomas were then prevalent in the eastern Mediterranean, so words from that gospel would not necessarily be a sign of forgery.
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In the journal reports, a chemistry team led by MIT’s Joseph Azzarelli concluded that the age of the papyrus scrap matches that of a verified Gospel of John papyrus from antiquity. The team relied on microspectroscopy of the papyrus, which found the fragment only slightly less oxidized—aged by exposure to air—than the verified gospel.

Likewise, Columbia University’s James Yardley and Alexis Hagadorn looked at the pigments in the ink on the fragment. They found it similar to “lamp black” ink used on other ancient texts.

‘Gospel of Jesus’s Wife’: Doubts Raised About Ancient Text
In an effort to confirm the origins of the papyrus and discover its history, Live Science went searching for more information about Laukamp and his descendents, business partners or friends.

Our findings indicate that Laukamp was a co-owner of the now-defunct ACMB-American Corporation for Milling and Boreworks in Venice, Fla. Documents filed in Sarasota County, Fla., show that Laukamp was based in Germany at the time of his death in 2002 and that a man named René Ernest was named as the representative of his estate in Sarasota County. [Proof of Jesus Christ? 7 Pieces of Evidence Debated]

In an exchange of emails in German, Ernest said that Laukamp did not collect antiquities, did not own this papyrus and, in fact, was living in West Berlin in 1963, so he couldn’t have crossed the Berlin Wall into Potsdam. Laukamp, he said, was a toolmaker and had no interest in old things. In fact, Ernest was astonished to hear that Laukamp’s name had been linked to this papyrus.

Is the ‘Gospel of Jesus’s Wife’ a fake after all? Fresh doubts cast over ancient papyrus that suggested Jesus was married after another in the collection with the Same handwriting is proved to be a forgery
Fresh questions over the authenticity of the ‘Gospel of Jesus’s Wife’ papyrus have been raised after a text from the same collection written in the same handwriting was proved to be a fake, experts say.
Debate over the fragment’s authenticity is set to continue as some will no doubt question these latest findings.
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Additional tests showed that the ink’s chemical composition is consistent with other inks used by the ancient Egyptians, while microscopic imaging found no suspicious ink pooling that critics of the papyrus said was evidence of the ink being applied in more recent times.

At the same time, other papyri from the collection were tested for means of comparison. One of those was a fragment from the canonical Gospel’ of John written in a rare ancient dialect of Coptic known as Lycopolitan. A Lycopolitan version of John, which was first published in 1924, is now available online.
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Many people over the centuries have tried to work out a ‘bloodline’ for possible descendants of Jesus and Mary Magdalene.

Many historians agree that there is no historical, biblical, archaeological or genetic evidence to support the idea.

New clues cast doubt on ‘Gospel of Jesus’ Wife’

Once we started carbon-dating papyrus, forgers started using authentically ancient papyrus. Once we discovered how to identify ancient ink by its chemical composition, forgers started creating precisely the same ink.

Like steroids in sports, it’s safe to assume that the best bad guys are always one step ahead of the science.

And yet, the dating of the papyrus and ink did shift the burden back on to the doubters. And just this past week, they seem to have discovered something as close to proof as we can really expect in cases like this.
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Add to this the fact that the carbon dating of the John papyrus puts it in the seventh to ninth centuries, but Lycopolitan died out as a language sometime before the sixth century. No one wrote anything in Lycopolitan in the period in which this text would have to be dated.
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This forgery was detected not through lab analysis but through good old-fashioned humanities-based detective work. This was Sherlock Holmes, not “CSI.”

‘Gospel of Jesus’s Wife’ Looks More and More Like a Fake

Just recently, Christian Askeland, a research associate with the Institut für Septuaginta-und biblische Textforschung in Wuppertal Germany, revealed new information that casts further doubt on the papyrus’ authenticity. His work is set to be published in the journal Tyndale Bulletin and is currently posted on a blog.

Askeland analyzed a second papyrus that, according to documents published in the Harvard Theological Review, was also purchased by the anonymous owner from Laukamp. It was presented to Harvard as a papyrus believed to be genuine.

This second papyrus, which has writing on two sides, includes text from the Gospel of John — and is a fake, writes Askeland, its lines being copied from a papyrus published in 1924. In addition, the researcher notes this papyrus has similar handwriting and ink to the Gospel of Jesus’s Wife, making it likely that the Jesus’s wife papyrus is also fake. [Proof of Jesus Christ? 7 Pieces of Evidence Debated]

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Centuries-Old Document Stirs Up Jesus Marriage Debate (fox8.com)
A newly revealed, centuries-old papyrus fragment suggests that some early Christians might have believed Jesus was married. The fragment, written in Coptic, a language used by Egyptian Christians, says in part, “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife …”Harvard Divinity School Professor Karen King announced the findings of the 1 1/2- by 3-inch honey-colored fragment on Tuesday in Rome at the International Association for Coptic Studies.
‘Gospel Of Jesus’ Wife’ Papyrus Is Ancient, Not Fake, Experts Say (huffingtonpost.com)
“The main topic of the fragment is to affirm that women who are mothers and wives can be disciples of Jesus — a topic that was hotly debated in early Christianity as celibate virginity increasingly became highly valued,” King, whose specialties include Coptic literature, Gnosticism and women in the Bible, said in a statement Thursday. “This gospel fragment provides a reason to reconsider what we thought we knew by asking what the role claims of Jesus’ marital status played historically in early Christian controversies over marriage, celibacy, and family.”The legible lines on the front of the artifact seem to form a broken conversation between Jesus and his disciples. The fourth line of the text says, “Jesus said to them, my wife.” Line 5 says “… she will be able to be my disciple,” while the line before the “wife” quote has Jesus saying “Mary is worthy of it” and line 7 says, “As for me, I dwell with her in order to …”
The Great Debate: Death and Taxes Matthew 22:15-33 (whatshotn.wordpress.com)
Jesus has boldly claimed authority as Israel’s Messiah by His triumphal entry, His cleansing of the temple, and His possession of the temple for His teaching and healing ministry (Matthew 21:1-17). It is while Jesus is ministering in the temple that His adversaries, the religious elite of Jerusalem choose to challenge Him publicly, demanding that He declare the source of His authority for all He has been doing (Matthew 21:23).
did jesus kill himself (or, maybe, have himself killed)? (unsettledchristianity.com)
Famously, some liberal theologians suggest Jesus only submitted to the cross after his example was wasted on the folk. Or, some suggest he was the first martyr. Neither of this, I think, does justice to what I am going to propose in my new dissertation. If we allow for the moment that devotio means, in its simplest form, “self-sacrifice,” then we can allow for an exploration of suicide as a form of devotio even if the proper term is not used.
The revelation of Jesus that John saw and heard (correctunderstandingofshinchonji.wordpress.com)
The revelation that John saw, heard, and recorded is the revelation of Jesus Christ (Rv 1:1). Anyone who learns this revelation of Jesus is not learning from mere men; he is learning from Jesus and the angels coming in his name (Jn 14:26; Rv 10). This revelation contains prophecies and their fulfillment (Jn 14:29; Rv 21:6). The prophecies record the events of betrayal, destruction, and salvation (2Thes 2:1-3). The fulfillment of Revelation includes battles and the handling down of judgment (Rv 13; Rv 12). Revelation describes the war between God and the devil, and the battle between God’s promised pastor and the pastors of the devil (Rv 12).
Psalm 2 (The coming reign of Jesus on Earth) (disciplesofhope.wordpress.com)
the scenario of Psalm 2:2 shows that the rulers of the earth are aware not just of God but also about Christ his anointed One. It means that the around that time (which will soon come) most people will have the Gospel preached to them as a witness. So there will be some rulers who will try to go against the Gospel teachings.
The Bible backs same-sex couples: Point by point, why conservatives are wrong (salon.com)
If the essence of marriage involves a covenant-keeping relationship of mutual self-giving, then two men or two women can fulfill that purpose as well as a man and a woman can. But is lifelong commitment between two adults sufficient for realizing a Christian basis for marriage? Or is there something unique about heterosexual relationships that prevents same-sex couples from truly illustrating Christ’s love for the church?
The Gospel of Jesus’ Wife ~ A Rogueclassicist Perspective (rogueclassicism.com)
We also saw some things from the Smithsonian, which may have added some gravitas to the story:
- The Inside Story of a Controversial New Text About Jesus (Smithsonian Magazine … very lengthy and interesting)
- What is the Gospel of Jesus’ Wife? (Video … different Gospels brought up)
… and it became apparent that this was connected to a documentary on the subject which was funded by the Smithsonian and which will appear on the Smithsonian Channel later this month.

We Are The Children Of God

Posted on 2014/04/08 by Guestspeaker

In this world we can see a lot of people who shed their own blood. We can find lots of people who misuse the name of God and use their so called faith, to fight against others. Several people can be found in this world who oppose those who formed them, those who fostered them, those who gave them a mind to think and a voice to speak. Lots may be found who transgress against their own kin and their neighbours.
It is a shame but in this world we can find parents who misuse their children and treat them badly. Many may have turned their hearts and got a cold soul because the struggles they have encountered in their life.

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But in this world we may also see a lot of good and be sure there are more people who take care of their own family and who want to stand ready to help their neighbours and even people who they do not know and do live far away.

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There may be found lots of people who try to do good in this world. They may believe in a Supreme Being, but also may not believe in any God. They all should know that behind everything they see around them there is a Master Hand, a Creator Who allows everything to happen. In His son all living in this world received the possibility to come close again with the Father of fathers. In Him we should trust and Him we should be made known to others, to bring more people to the awareness of the Father of it all.

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Related articles

Taming an Irascible Nature (saintlysages.wordpress.com)
“When you are surprised by anger on account of some misfortune, some injury, some wrong or affront, suppress it as soon as you discover it. You should not be angry about these things, which God permits for your good, to keep you detached from the world, confident in Him alone, and above all things humble. I say ‘as soon as you are aware of it,’ because so long as it is unintentional, however bad it may be, it is nevertheless not a sin. Then when it comes on you because you see offences offered to God, duties transgressed, virtue vilified, and you feel still more angry because these things have been done by those who are placed under your authority, be content to bridle it, that it may not in an unruly manner overpass the limits of what is just and right. . . . A just anger is a fire that is necessary to give warmth and life to our zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of our neighbour.”

Proverbs 31 Challenge ~ Chapter 28 (tapestrytreasures.wordpress.com)
The wicked flee when no man pursues them, but the [uncompromisingly] righteous are bold as a lion.

How to Deal With Workplace Enemies (unwalled.wordpress.com)
You will come under the fire of a person or persons who for some reason or the other do not like you, hold a grudge against you, or even hate you, and who will not hesitate to demonstrate this to you in some tangible way.

Hug a neighbour today (jamaica-gleaner.com)
A fact of life is that people who always expect the worst are seldom disappointed – they get what they expect. The converse is also true. Ever wonder why most positive persons are mostly happy? The behavioural scientists will explain.

Neighbours across cultures and beliefs (samlaidman.wordpress.com)
“Our neighbours become extended families,” she said of her homeland. “The community gets together and they help each other… Everybody gets together to get to know each other and enjoy each others company.”
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In the “mosaic society” we live in, we are supposed to touch but do not blend, maintaining cultural identity. This can lead some to feel isolated. Bain hopes “Visiting Neighbours” will bring faith communities together each taking turns to host dinner for the public, as a part of the Celebration of Faith in Diversity.
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“In all of the diversity, there is a very fundamental unity, which is the discovery of – Call it god, the spirits, the creator – Whatever word you use… The language may be different, but our realities are mostly the same,” said Father Don Savoie of the STU ministry. “Maybe I’m an agnostic, Maybe I’m an atheist, maybe I’m a believer, but we all have a bedrock in our experience that allows us to continue.”

Heavenly Patrol (dodaughters.wordpress.com)
For us not to witness evil in our nation, we need to rise up yet again and begin to intercede for our nation. We pray that the evil principality of bloodshed and war will not prosper in our country
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We pray that the Winds of Heaven patrol and uproot violence and kidnapping from the east and may God’s Spirit patrol the west and bring an end to bloodshed, ritual murders and political upheavals in Jesus name. By divine patrol let militancy be wiped out in the south of Nigeria in Jesus name. We decree an end to corruption and political unrest in Nigeria in Jesus name.

The Divine Conspiracy – Our Constant Pursuit To Be Whole (withoutrebuttal.wordpress.com)
“The Divine Conspiracy” is a manual on how we’re supposed to read and interpret the Bible and especially Jesus’s own words and teachings. Dallas Willard’s only focus is to unmask all of the theological nonsense used to read and interpret Jesus’s teachings so that the reader can, for the first time, get to know and understand who Jesus really was and what His intent was behind every word He said; the essence of His teachings and how they were received by His followers and listeners. And the essence of Jesus’s teachings are to live with wholeness in everything we do; to focus on our hearts while we always strive to live kingdom-minded.

What does the Bible say about lying? (writsofanusha.wordpress.com)
Isaiah 63:8, ”For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Saviour.”

The Essential Role of the Father (catholicgentleman.net)
Divorce rates skyrocketing; adultery rampant; non-married cohabitating couples; children abandoned by their fathers or mothers; “same-sex unions” adopting children and calling this the “modern family”; pornography invading homes, leading to powerful addictions and total alienation from other members of the family: all of this is a bird’s eye view of the family situation in the modern world.Nonetheless, followers of Jesus Christ lift up the banner with the word Hope. Hope is one of the three theological virtues that are infused in the soul in the moment of Baptism: Faith, Hope and Charity.
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if the earthly father has encountered God the Father in an intimate, personal, filial, and convincing way then he will be able to transmit this fatherhood to those whom God will place under his care.

Cleansing of the Soul (cherishingeverymoment1021.wordpress.com)
Christ came to redeem His people by bridging the chasm that lied between the Father and His beloved children.
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The Son will clothe His people in His blood-stained garments of grace so that His people may appear holy and blameless before the throne room of the Father. Jesus is the Intercessor of our faith; when the holy God looks upon His rebellious people who put their faith in Christ, He sees the righteousness of Christ dwelling in their souls.

Poem De Terre

Would you shed your own blood?
Then why do you shed other’s blood?
We are all the children of god.

Would you transgress against your kin?
Then why do you transgress against your neighbour?
We are all the children of god.

Would you rape your own daughter?
Then why do you rape another’s daughter?
We are all the children of god.
Why have your hearts turned cold?
Why have your souls filled with malice?
Don’t you remember our saviour’s sacrifice?
He died on the cross to free us of our sins.
Would you let him be crucified again?
Turn away from your sins brother,
Cast not an evil eye sister,
Our father in heaven awaits your repentance,
He will forgive you even at your last breath,
Because you are his child…

View original post

Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Galatians 3:26

Posted on 2014/03/18 by Christadelphians

The world has an abundance of religious groups. Lots of religions try to get people to their faith. Many of those religions also have plenty denominations and subdivisions.

In it all stand each individual who has to make his own choice, whom to follow, what to choose for. We can only hope they will find ways to improve their life and that they will find people in this world who want to show them the light to a better world. Those who believe in the offer and resurrection of the man sent by the Most High, who invites everybody to come to Him and to be a child of Him.

That those who believe in the Messiah shall find each other and shall accept each other as a brother and a sister, always prepared to stand in for each other, helping each-other to grow to become set apart (holy), and to make the goal to the Kingdom of God.

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Please do read also:

Fixing our attention

Breathing and growing with no heir

Fearing the right person

Not words of any organisation should bind you, but the Word of God

Priority to form a loving brotherhood

Parts of the body of Christ

What part of the Body am I?

The Christ, the anointed of God

What Jesus did: First things first

Our relationship with God, Jesus and each other

Disciple of Christ counting lives and friends dear to them

Followers with deepening

Follower of Jesus part of a cult or a Christian

Being Christian, following Jesus Christ

The Church, Body of Christ and remnant Israel synonymous

How we think shows through in how we act

Act as if everything you think, say and do determines your entire life

People should know what you stand for

Remember that who you’re being is just as important as what you’re doing

Quibbling siblings united or allied children of an organisation or a church

Helping eachother

Encouraging one another

Are you being swept along by the world

Let us not forget it was God who chose us

To whom do we want to be enslaved

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Additional literature:

Related articles

Are you a child of God? (don1tungate.wordpress.com)Do you count yourself among the weak, take heart for you are God’s child and the strong more mature follower of God is no more God’s child than you are!!!The prodigal was weak but became strong when he humbled himself and returned to the father and the brother was strong but self centered seeking his father’s possessions for himself which made him weak but the Father says to him in Luke 15:31

Placed Into Christ (inspirationalchristiansfortoday.com)
What happened to the old you at salvation? You died–not the physical you, of course, but that old inner self which was empowered by the old nature you inherited from Adam (Romans 6:2-6; Colossians 3:3). What was the method of execution? Crucifixion with Christ. Paul announced in Galatians 2:20: “I have been crucified with Christ.” And in Galatians 6:14, Paul disclaimed any right to boast “except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” At salvation you were placed into Christ, the one who died on the cross for your sin. Being in Christ, your old self died with Him there.

Death of the Old Self (inspirationalchristiansfortoday.com)
Thanks to the incredible redemptive work of Christ in your life, your old self has been replaced by a new self, governed by a new nature, which was not there before (2 Corinthians 5:17). Your old self was destroyed in the death of Christ and your new self sprang to life in the resurrection of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:20-22). The new life which characterizes your new self is nothing less than the life of Jesus Christ implanted in you (Galatians 2:20; Colossians 3:4).

Ye Are All One in Christ Jesus (loopyloo305.com)
Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.

All One (proverbs31teen.wordpress.com)
If you have accepted Jesus into your heart, you are a child of God. You are one of God’s children!!! Isn’t that amazing? God values you, just as he would a birth child. Sure, you’re adopted, but you were chosen. You are a chosen child of God! Isn’t it awesome to know that you are God’s kid, and that he picked you?

Confusion in Christiandom (colman583.wordpress.com)
The Book of Romans teaches precisely how God saves sinners. This Book is God’s great explanation of how salvation was accomplished.

Encouraging the Encourager: Cast Your Net One More Time (encouragementforeveryday.wordpress.com)
Sometimes as Christians, as ministers, as bloggers, and as witnesses for Christ we find ourselves a little discouraged and a little lost. When we read this part of scripture Wednesday night I thought about all the times that we witness for the Lord. As bloggers, how many times do we write about God’s love and get no response? As pastors, how many times do we stand in the pulpit and preach only to see no one at the altar. As fellow Christians, how many times do we witness for Christ, only to be laughed at or tuned out. We feel just as these disciples did that day. We fish all night and come up with empty nets.

A Fair Show Lookin Good For Jesus (mikemanuelblog.wordpress.com)
It is interesting that many churches embrace the gift of righteousness that comes through grace by faith in what was accomplished at the cross. Then, minimize the power of that same grace by stepping in with a list of handpicked, justifiable, works harvested from the Law.

Worthy of Jesus (thoughtforthedaydenny.wordpress.com)
How quickly we can forget our purpose in life. Words like these are often put on the back burner of our lives. But how can we when Jesus makes it so clear that if we don’t daily follow Jesus with our total existence that we are not worthy of Him.
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Jesus calls us to do the hard and dirty work even to the end. If any are setting on the sidelines waiting until things get better before you pick up that cross, let me once again remind you of Jesus words, “Anyone who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.”

Are You Walking in the Spirit or in the Flesh? (soldiersofchristenduringhardness.wordpress.com)“Christians are new creatures in Christ, indwelt by the Holy Spirit. They have been born again to new life and are to walk according to the spirit, not according to the flesh (Romans 6:4; Galatians 5:16). From the moment of salvation, Christians are in the process of sanctification, in which they have many opportunities to grow in faith and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sanctification involves the whole person, through the spirit, which is the deepest and most significant element of one’s existence.”- Martin and Deidre Bobgan

HE STILL SPEAKS!

The fatherhood of God is common to all his children. Ah! Little-faith, you have often said, “Oh that I had the courage of Great-heart, that I could wield his sword and be as valiant as he! But, alas, I stumble at every straw, and a shadow makes me afraid.” List thee, Little-faith. Great-heart is God’s child, and you are God’s child too; and Great-heart is not one whit more God’s child than you are. Peter and Paul, the highly- favoured apostles, were of the family of the Most High; and so are you also; the weak Christian is as much a child of God as the strong one.

“This cov’nant stands secure,

Though earth’s old pillars bow;

The strong, the feeble, and the weak,

Are one in Jesus now.”

All the names are in the same family register. One may have more grace than another, but God our heavenly Father…

View original post 163 more words

One Mind, One Accord

Posted on 2014/02/24 by Belgian Biblestudents - Belgische Bijbelstudenten

Like Jesus was one with his Father and we have to be one with Jesus and his Father, it shall not make us to be Jesus nor to be God, but like parents who are one with his children we should be one with the Most High and one with His children, our fellow brothers and sisters, who should be united under the one mediator between God and man, Jeshua, the Messiah or Jesus Christ.

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Adding to: A man from the North wanting to have control in Belgium & A man from the North wanting to have control in Belgium

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Find also:

One mediator

He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

Our relationship with God, Jesus and eachother

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love

Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience

We have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace

Not words of any organisation should bind you, but the Word of God

Congregate, to gather, to meet

Manifests for believers #5 Christian Union

What’s church for, anyway?

The Ecclesia

United people under Christ

Disciple of Christ counting lives and friends dear to them

Intentions of an Ecclesia

Fellowship

Integrity of the fellowship

Feeling-good, search for happiness and the church

The one who has not had a taste of love

Casual Christians

Certain people trying to stem freedom of speech

Six Reasons Young Christians Leave Church

Christianity is a love affair

The Law of Christ: Law of Love

What Jesus did: First things first

The first on the list of the concerns of the saint

The Greatest of These is Love

The task given to us to love each other

Agape, a love to share with others from the Fruit of the Spirit

Unarmed truth and unconditional love

Unconditional love

Compassion and Discipline

The Spirit of God imparts love,inspires hope, and gives liberty

Character transformed by the influence of our fellowships

Priority to form a loving brotherhood

Belonging to or being judged by

Possibility to live

Atonement And Fellowship 1/8

Atonement And Fellowship 2/8

Atonement And Fellowship 3/8

Missional hermeneutics 4/5

Prayer, important aspect in our life

Bread and Wine

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Don’t make the mistake of thinking Jesus is a religion. No, Jesus is the Living One who came to this earth to set you free from religion! Jesus came to set you free from laws, false dogma, and counterfeit doctrine that is man making God in his own ego’s image and imposing rules to make you conform to men’s ideas. “There is a way that seems right to a man but it leads to destruction” Proverbs 14:12
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Stop dividing humanity over religion! Stop looking to scripture to prove you are right and others are wrong. “You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me; yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from men. But I know that you have not the love of God in you. I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me” John 5:39-43

Jeshua via John Smallman: Do Not Hold On to the Anger that Some of these Shocking Disclosures of Infamy Arouse Within You (aquariusparadigm.com)
The end is in sight although that is possibly not very apparent to you, surrounded as you are by a large selection of nightmarish events that need to be resolved, and for which, at present, there seems to be little sign of that being possible.Your collective intent to send the energies of Love, healing, compassion, and a desire for reconciliation and peace to all on Earth is having very positive effects all across the world wherever conflict is raging. Please keep up your good work. Here in the spiritual realms we are supporting you powerfully in every moment, and your intent cannot fail because it is fully in alignment with God’s Will.
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Focus your attention on the wonderful and uplifting changes that are happening all across the world, because that strengthens your own energy fields and therefore the effects that they are having worldwide. Just keep reminding yourselves “We are all One!” And within that Oneness there is no room for anything that is not of Love because there is nothing real that is not of Love. Doing just that dissolves the illusion and brings all to awakening.

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Were it Simply A Matter of Resolve (wateringcanblog.com)
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How often do you find total agreement with other people? I often find myself in agreement with others, but not always for the same reason. There are times I can see someone else’s point of view, but I do not agree with their assessment. Just because people laugh at the same joke does not mean they find the same thing funny.

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View original post 432 more words

People Seeking for God 5 Bread of life

Posted on 2014/01/29 by Christadelphians

Water element of life. / Garden Tomb – sign (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In their search to live, people always had to take care to have enough to eat. Without food we can do not much. Water is the most important element of earth we need to survive. In the coming years that shall be the source where many countries shall fight for. But also the grain to make bread is going to become a problem with the global warming. Without bread people also seem not able to live.

About two thousand years ago there was a strange man, who could do special things and could talk like nobody else. Once that special preacher only had five loaves of bread and two fish but managed to feed a multitude of people. The Jews remembered that their fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and looked at this man who gave them bread from this world but where surprised there did not come an end of giving bread, like this time it also came out of heaven to eat. Jeshua, or Jesus like he is know better today, said unto them

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, It was not Moses that gave you the bread out of heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread out of heaven.” (John 6:32)

Port Charlotte,FL.,8/25/2004–Volunteers from Bread of Life load food and supplies for homeless into a truck following Hurricane Charley. FEMA Photo/Andrea Booher (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The people there where hungry like today we can still find many who are hungry and thirsty. Many of those who are in need of food are mostly concerned with their daily life and the natural elements around them. Not many of them are busy with the spiritual food.

We should know that just as natural food is vital to sustain physical health we do need even more spiritual food. Our being only exists because are brain is working. As soon as our brain does not function any more we are considered death. The region of our brain as such may be considered as the region of our being what we are. As soon as something goes wrong in the skull or a cerebral hemisphere is damaged, the person can become a total different being.

Mental training is very important for our brain. The food we do have to give it, is not as such material food. The brain-teasers, intellectual exercise is a necessary element for growing into the adult person who can think reasonably well. It does not only needs mathematics but also a daily intake of God’s word to ensure the growth of spiritual well being.

The Lord Jesus likened himself to life-giving bread:

“I am the bread of life…the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world…This is that bread which came down from heaven…he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever” (John 6:48, 51, 58).

It may sound strange to find something which came down from heaven, now not as manna or white flakes, but as somebody who could be seen, touched, bleed and have his bones broken. He spoke about his heavenly Father Who is a Spirit, can not be seen by man or they would die, has no flesh, blood or bones and Who is omnipotent. Somebody Who knows everything and can alow anything to exist or not to exist.

Egg, rye and multigrain bread loaves. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Those who heard that man telling the onlookers he was “the Bread of Life” and that their ancestors ate the manna bread in the desert and died, but that now they could see a Bread that truly came down out of heaven, made some cross. It looked madness when that man also said that anyone “eating this Bread will not die, ever”. But every decent man knew that we all shall die. So how could this man claim to be “the living Bread”! — “who came down out of heaven”?

What they did not know is that the worker’s son of Joseph and Miriam (Mary/Maria) was placed in a particular way in the womb of his mother. By the Force of God this man was born. It was decided in heaven by the Most High Creator that the young girl or virgin would be blessed with child, without intercourse. There he stood in the flesh and was speaking about presenting “bread” that came to the world so that people living in that world could eat and live of it and not die. He even saying that he is that bread that he will give to be his flesh, which he will give for the life of the world. At this, the Jews started fighting among themselves:

“How can this man serve up his flesh for a meal?”

But Jesus didn’t give an inch.

“Only insofar as you eat and drink flesh and blood, the flesh and blood of the Son of Man, do you have life within you. The one who brings a hearty appetite to this eating and drinking has eternal life and will be fit and ready for the Final Day.”

Only after he had died and was taken out of dead, his followers started to understand how the flesh of their rabbi is real food and how his blood is real drink. We to should come to understand that this man is the one who can get us to know his heavenly Father, who is the Only One God. By getting to know Christ Jesus and figuratively eating his flesh and drinking his blood we shall be able to enter into him and he into us. This becoming in Christ and like Christ shall not make us to be Christ like Jesus, who was in God was not God Himself, but stayed the son of God, Christ enabled us also to become the children of God and to be a son or a daughter of God.

In the same way that the fully alive Father sent Jeshua to the earth and Jesus lived because of Him, so the one who makes a meal of Jeshua (Jesus Christ) lives because of him and shall be able to come close to Jesus his Father, the Only One God. Jesus said such things while teaching in the meeting place in Capernaum. (see John 6:48-59)

These profound statements caused great consternation even among his followers, some of whom left, never to return. If only they had put aside their own prejudiced interpretation and listened to his simple explanation:

“The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63).

The Son of God was the figurative bread from heaven because he spoke the words of God that were the source of spiritual strength and health.

To Abraham a great nation was promised and initially only they were on the lookout for a Saviour sent by their God. Jesus at first, was sent only to the Jews, a fact confirmed by his conversation with the Canaanite woman:

“She came and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, It is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it to dogs. And she said, Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master’s table” (Matthew 15:22-27).

Remarkably, this Gentile recognized what the children of Israel had failed to see, that here was the antitypical manna. Nothing daunted, she humbly begged for just a few crumbs to fall her way.

The world today also does not recognise that meal for our life. The heavenly bread is not known by many, but those who got to know it should share it with others.

“Bread of Life Shop” sno-Balls and food to go window shop, Jackson Avenue, New Orleans. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The world should get to know the One Who is behind all what we see around us. In the things we can see and feel we should get to see and feel the Master-hand. All the beauty of nature which science tries to come to understand is incredibly put together in a very smart way people often can not understand.

In seeing all that beauty and recognising what we all may have around us, though we do not deserve it, should make us think. Is it not special that we can have all those things. By which mercy or grace do we earn it?

From the Old Books we get to know that people have made a mess of those things which were given in their hands. god had His Own chosen people, but they often riposted against their Creator. He was so patient with them and so willing to even adapt certain regulations, not having Him the one who changed but having Him changing things for the good of the people. Many lost a good relationship with the Most High Divine Creator. In God’s mercy the Gentiles now have the opportunity to enter into covenant relationship with this God of Abraham through the blood of His son, the Nazarene Jew Jeshua, Jesus Christ or the Messiah.

The essential factor being knowledge of His Will and Purpose and a dedicated attempt at obedience:

“And this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John. 17:3).

Yes it is important to come to know the Only True God. He also has given us many possibilities to get to know Him. There is His Word written down in the Bible or Holy Scriptures. He also has given His son who can bring us to him if we carefully listen to his words and follow his commandments. An unlimited supply of the bread of life is readily available to us but we must hungrily seek it in the word that has been miraculously preserved for our use. If we take the initiative, God immediately responds:

“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you” (James 4 :8)

Preceding articles:

Finding God amid all the religious externals

Seeing or not seeing and willingness to find God

People Seeking for God 1 Looking for answers

People Seeking for God 2 Human interpretations

People Seeking for God 3 Laws and directions

People Seeking for God 4 Biblical terms

To be continued: People Seeking for God 6 Strategy

Please find also to read:

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Wonder Bread (ponderingtheheartofjesus.com)
Have you ever heard of “Wonder Bread?” For a time it had disappeared from grocery stores, but it is back and making many a peanut butter and jelly sandwich to feed many people! Good news! Today, though, a different kind of “Wonder Bread” that feeds many people comes to my mind. It is said in our Father’s word that there was a believer in Jesus by the name of Stephen. He was a man full of God’s grace and power and he did great “wonders” and miraculous signs among the people.
Jesus as the Bread of Life in the Book of John (the-scarlet-thread.com)
Early Christians were often accused of practicing cannibalism because they talked about eating Christ’s flesh and drinking His blood. But this refers to our communion with Him by faith. This is symbolized in the bread we eat at the Lord’s Supper.Not only is bread a staple, but Jesus spoke of Himself in this way, as “the bread that came down from Heaven”, to draw His hearers’ minds back to the wandering in the wilderness; to the manna God fed to His people.
In a Manger (sherreesblog.wordpress.com)
We know that Mary gave birth in the quiet, dark stable and, having no other option, laid the baby in the manger used to feed the animals every day.
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The word ‘manger’ is from the French word meaning ‘to eat.’ In French Bibles, the word for manger is ‘mangeoir’ or a place for eating. What do you put in a manger? Food.It occurs to me that Jesus is, on some level, food. John quoted some of Jesus’ thoughts on this in John 6. Jesus said, “I am the Bread of life.” John 6:35

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Just as we take in food to sustain physical life, we must take in Jesus to sustain spiritual life. Feeding on Jesus, our daily bread, we fuel a life that will never die, a life that grows more abundant and blessed with every passing day and year.
A Prayer A Day – ‘The Bread of Life’ Is All We Need… 1/23/2014 (dailyprayerprayertogod.wordpress.com)
When I was in my late teens I loved to make bread. I would make cinnamon bread and cheese bread or just plain bread from scratch. I loved to knead the dough and I loved the smell of the dough with the yeast and it always amazed me when I would set it aside covered with a clean towel and come back later to find that it had risen and expanded and it smelled so good. There is nothing like the smell of bread in the oven baking. So the Lord brought all these memories to my mind this morning as I was awaking from sleep. Bread. When we look up the word bread we find that bread is nourishment, bread is provision and bread is sustenance. Bread is food or sustenance; livelihood.
Desire for Bread (levelupgeneration.wordpress.com)
Food are so important to us that we plan for it in advance. Some people buy in the market their food for one week and some for two weeks. When we get our wages, normally every 15th and 30th of the month, the first thing in our list of priorities is food.
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When typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) hit Leyte, Eastern Samar and some other part of the region, we are all witness of how important food and water is. People there is saying, money is worthless. For them everything is worthless but food and water. People there are willing to kill or be killed for the sake food to eat and water to drink.
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Jesus is saying, “I am the bread of life”. We should be hungry for Him everyday. We should desire for Him more than anything else.
A Bologna Sandwich or the Bread of Life? (easttexasaglow.net)
Sometimes I wonder if the Church has fed the world a lot of baloney (properly spelled bologna). In our efforts to be relevant to the culture in which we live, we have packaged Jesus as if He were just so much lunchmeat. We have dressed Him up, tried to make Him look cute, and diluted the Gospel. Sometimes we have even added processed cheese to enhance our presentation of Truth!
How many calories of the bread of Life are you consuming… (thewearypilgrim.typepad.com)
You see if we really want to feed on the bread of life, this Manna…first we need to pull out our maps and see how far we moved out of Egypt. Or have we just navigated lines across the page in our bibles, and in our minds convinced ourselves we’ve travelled a long way…when in reality we haven’t moved an inch.
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How much of my life, am I willing to sell? Do I really want the bread of life to be my daily diet…or is the biggest portion of my diet going to come from Egypt…while I get take out, manna, when I feel desperate. Maybe I’ll feel a twinge of guilt because the wardrobe I’ve dressed my life in won’t fit anymore…and I’ll try the God diet for a few weeks just to get them to fit again.
Jesus the bread of life (mommaandgirls13blog.wordpress.com)
Sometimes you read the bible feeling like you just read a foreign language other times it’s like woah, And just stunned all Gods done for us past present future.
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And feed on what’s eternal, not worldly!! Worldly pleasures only last a short lifetime if even that. We need to focus on our heavenly Fathers kingdom, out future home, our eternal home.
Bread of life (viktoriaveigas.wordpress.com)
My child, I sense your hunger to grow. No one who seeks My presence leaves empty. I will feed you, body, soul, and spirit. Come, sit at My feet daily, and we will share together. I’ve baked an abundance of delicious bread you’ve never even tasted. My manna is not of this world, but once you eat it, you will never be hungry again. I will fill you up with Myself.
The True Bread (cbcirwin.wordpress.com)
Jesus provided physical food supernaturally for those who were following Him and listening to His teachings.
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Jesus is the true bread. He told the crowd, “I am the Bread of Life.” (6:35) But, it requires spiritual eyes to see Him, the hidden manna. To those at Pergamus, Jesus offers the hidden manna to he who overcomes. And unlike the manna in the wilderness, His sustaining power will never cease. For all who come to Him will never hunger and he who believes in Him shall never thirst. (v. 35)

Seeing or not seeing and willingness to find God

Posted on 2014/01/21 by Christadelphians

Nearly 2 000 years ago

Nearly two thousand years ago a man preaching in the desert saw his cousin coming near. John the Baptist, perhaps not knowing so much about his cousin, understood how he came unto earth and what his position was.

English: John the Baptist baptizing Christ

John the Baptist baptizing Christ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

John seeing Jesus coming toward him yelled out

“Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world! This is the man I’ve been talking about, ‘the one who comes after me but is really ahead of me.’

(Jesus was born or came into existence after John the Baptist, but had his function already planned by God long before John the Baptist, Isaiah, Isaac and Abraham.) John the Baptist knew that his task was been to get Israel ready to recognize him as the God-Revealer.

” (29) On the next day Yoḥanan saw יהושע {Jehsua} coming toward him, and said, “See, the Lamb of Elohim who takes away the sin of the world!{1} {Footnote: 1Mt. 1:21, Titus 2:14, 1 John 3:5 & 8.} (30) “This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who has become before me, for He was before me.’ {1 Footnote: 1See v. 15.} (31) “And I did not know Him, but that He might be revealed to Yisra’ĕl, therefore I came immersing in water.” ” (John 1:29-31 The Scriptures 1998+)

Jesus was placed by God in the womb of Miriam (Mary/Maria) to come on earth as the fulfilment of the Word of God spoken in the garden of Eden, providing Adam and Eve a solution for what they had done.

Baptism with water and spirit

At that time in the river Jordan God Himself led His Voice be heard to all who stood around John the Baptist baptising Jesus. And the Voice made known that it was the son of God who stood there in the water. Still two thousand years later many do not want to accept that it was the “son of God” who stood there to start his official adult life of witnessing for God.

Jan Brueghel the Elder, John the Baptist preaching (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

John had come to baptise with water, giving the people a good bath and scrubbing sins from their life so they could get a fresh start with God. John clinched his witness that he watched the Spirit, like a dove flying down out of the sky, making himself at home in him, and that The One who authorized him to baptise with water told him, ‘The One on whom you see the Spirit come down and stay, this One will baptise with the Holy Spirit.’ As many prophets before him, Jesus was a man who was willing to give himself in the hands of the Creator God, who had told mankind that he was His son.

” (16) And having been immersed, יהושע {Jehsua} went up immediately from the water, and see, the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of Elohim descending like a dove and coming upon Him, (17) and see, a voice out of the heavens, saying, “This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I did delight.”” (Matthew 3:16-17 The Scriptures 1998+)

God’s Passover Lamb to be seen

The people could see the one who John the Baptist called “God’s Passover Lamb.” There were two disciples of John who heard him and went after Jesus. Jesus looked over his shoulder and said to them, “What are you after?” They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher“), “where are you staying?” He replied, “Come along and see for yourself.” They came, saw where he was living, and ended up staying with him for the day but also got to see what Jesus could mean for them. They believed they had found the “Messiah” (that is, “Christ“). (John 1:29-42) From that day onwards they kept their eyes on Jesus, and got to know more on the relation of Jesus and his Father the Only One True. they also came to understand that this rabbi could be the send one of God by whom they, and we, can come closer to God, the author and finisher of our faith. In Jesus they could find and can we find peace, forgiveness, rest, grace. They where willing to see what had happened and were going to see more incomprehensible thing the three years afterwards.

Second Adam also of flesh and blood

There may be many gods in the world, but there is only One True God Divine Creator, and That God is not comparable to any human being except to His son. God is Spirit (John 4:24) but His sons are human beings. His first son and daughter where the first Adam and Eve. But those first creations turned against their Creator. At that time, in the beginning of Creation, the Creator took care that a solution for their sin was given to the world. God was prepared to make a second Adam, who would bring salvation and as such would be called the “Christ” or “Messiah“. In him people could once again see that all people are created in the image of God. Though all children which came after the first Adam received the deficiencies from their forefathers. Being created straight ahead from the Source of Life, Jehovah God, the second Adam, would receive the opportunity to prove human kind that a human being could follow the Will of the Most High, and could stay pure and un-blamed.

Not able to be seen

God can not be seen by man or he would die, but Jesus could be seen by many. Jesus like any other man could be tempted, though God can not be tempted nor sin. Jesus could sin but did not.

” (20) But He said, “You are unable to see My face, for no man does see Me and live.”” (Exodus 33:20 The Scriptures 1998+)

” (18) No one has ever seen Elohim.1 The only brought-forth Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He did declare.2 Footnotes: 1See 5:37, 6:46, 1 John 4:12. 2The pre-existent Son declared, and was the One who appeared to men.” (John 1:18 The Scriptures 1998+)

” (24) “Elohim is Spirit, and those who worship Him need to worship in spirit and truth.”” (John 4:24 The Scriptures 1998+)

Revelation to be seen

What we can see is what God reveals to the world and let us to be seen. Jesus declared his Father and made Him clear for all to understand what He want from us and How He thinks and works. Jesus was prepared to listen to the Voice of his Father, his God and the God of Abraham, making this voice know all over the world.

” (24) and said, ‘See, יהוה {Jehovah} our Elohim has shown us His esteem and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. Today we have seen that Elohim speaks with man – and he lives!” (Deuteronomy 5:24 The Scriptures 1998+)

Flesh blood and bones, human and ghost or spirit

At the river Jordan people could see that God was in their midst and declared Jesus to be His son. Ghost has no flesh, blood nor bones, but Jesus had this all. That Jesus was no spirit, even not after he had died he proved to his disciples when he came under their midst and showed his wounds.

” (30) And it came to be, when He sat at the table with them, having taken the bread, He blessed, and having broken, He was giving it to them. (31) And their eyes were opened and they recognised Him. And He disappeared from their sight. (32) And they said to each other, “Was not our heart burning within us as He was speaking to us on the way, and as He was opening the Scriptures to us?” (33) And rising up that same hour they returned to Yerushalayim, and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, (34) saying, “The Master was truly raised, and has appeared to Shim?on!” (35) And they related what took place on the way, and how He was recognised by them in the breaking of the bread. (36) And as they were saying this, יהושע {Jehsua} Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, “Peace to you.” (37) And being startled and frightened, they thought they had seen a spirit. (38) And He said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? (39) “See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.” (40) And saying this, He showed them His hands and His feet. (41) And while they were still not believing for joy, and marvelling, He said to them, “Have you any food here?” (42) And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. (43) And taking it He ate in their presence. (44) And He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all have to be filled that were written in the Torah of Mosheh and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” (45) Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, (46) and said to them, “Thus it has been written, and so it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise again from the dead the third day, (47) and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His Name to all nations, beginning at Yerushalayim. (48) “And you are witnesses of these matters. (49) “And see, I am sending the Promise of My Father upon you, but you are to remain in the city of Yerushalayim until you are clothed with power from on high.” (50) And He led them out as far as Bĕyth Anyah, and lifting up His hands He blessed them. (51) And it came to be, while He was blessing them, that He was parted from them and was taken up into the heaven. (52) And they, having bowed down to Him, returned to Yerushalayim with great joy, (53) and were continually in the Set-apart Place praising and blessing Elohim. Amĕn.” (Luke 24:30-53 The Scriptures 1998+)

Those who have not seen the son of the Non-seen

After Jesus had died the apostles had seen him again. We never have seen him but we should believe those who have seen him and those who like us can not see God but did see the son of God, יהושע {Jehsua} Jesus, the one who is the Immanuel and Messiah. We also can get the Ghost God being part of us like it was being part of Christ. By letting Him enter ourselves we shall become transformed, but we shall never become God, like Jesus also was not God. We do have to become like Christ like Jesus was like God united one in spirit. Putting on the armour of Christ and the armour of God did not make the people in the old times God nor shall it make us to become Christ nor God.

After and of the flesh and dwelling within

In the world we can see many people who are after the flesh, do mind the things of the flesh. We who believe in Christ Jesus, to be the Saviour should be after the Spirit, do mind the things of the Spirit. Jesus did also things of the Spirit like we should do. He also told us to become worthy children of God, having God enter our hearts and to put away our carnally mind because that is death. We are assured that to be spiritually minded is life and peace; because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, because it cannot be. Jesus learned his followers that they who are in the flesh cannot please God. He also told many parables so people could easily understand what it mean to be in Christ or to be in God, to be with God, to be for God and to do the Will of God. Those who want to do like Christ, not his or their own will, but the Will of God, can receive the Holy Spirit and as such be not in the flesh, but in the spirit if the Spirit of God truly dwells within you. Jesus had the Spirit of God dwelling in him. We should have the Spirit of God dwelling in us likewise. This dwelling of the Spirit though shall not make us, like it did not with Christ, make us the God eternal. We shall stay man of flesh and blood like Jesus was a man of flesh and blood. We also shall not escape the penalty of the garden of Eden. Jesus also did not escape that death spoken out by His Father. Jesus really died whilst God can not die. It is only by accepting that Jesus was really a man of flesh and blood who really died,that we can give respectful notice to what Jesus really did; he gave his life for the sins of many, as a ransom. Those who take Jesus to God, who can not die, make a farce of his suffering and his death.

Having spirit of Christ

Now if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him. And if Christ is within you, the body is dead because of sin: but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of Him who raised our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead dwells within you, so He Who raised Jesus Christ from the dead will also quicken our mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwells within us. But therefore we do have to accept Jesus his anointment and offer as Lamb of God. We clearly have to see and understand the relationship between the Father and son, who now sits at the right hand of his Father to be a mediator between God and man.

Living in spirit

Those who have faith in the actions Jesus undertook and believe he was a messenger of the Most High are not indebted to the flesh to live after the flesh. For if we live after the flesh, we will die in flesh and totality: but if we, through the Spirit, subdue the deeds of the body, we shall live this life in spirit. It does not mean we shall not feel any pain, or we shall not have to face difficulties and temptations. Like Jesus encountered many difficulties and temptations, we also shall have to face them and the natural death. But allowing the Spirit to enter in our hearts we may count on it that He shall enable us to endure whatever we need to endure. Those who are led by the Spirit of God, are the sons of God, for they have not received the spirit of bondage, to be in fear again; but they have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby they can cry onto God like Christ called on his Father: “Abba“, “Avon”, “Father“, “our Father“. And this Spirit bears witness to our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Jesus Christ; so that if we suffer with him, we shall also be glorified with him.

” (5) For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the matters of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the matters of the Spirit. (6) For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace. (7) Because the mind of the flesh is enmity towards Elohim, for it does not subject itself1 to the Torah of Elohim2, neither indeed is it able, Footnotes: 1Or does not obey. 2John 15:5, 1 John 4:4, 1 John 3:9, 1 John 5:18. (8) and those who are in the flesh are unable to please Elohim. (9) But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of Elohim dwells in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Messiah, this one is not His. (10) And if Messiah is in you, the body is truly dead on account of sin, but the Spirit is life on account of righteousness. (11) And if the Spirit of Him who raised יהושע {Jehsua} from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Messiah from the dead shall also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit dwelling in you. (12) So then, brothers, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. (13) For if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you shall live. (14) For as many as are led by the Spirit of Elohim, these are sons of Elohim. (15) For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” (16) The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of Elohim, (17) and if children, also heirs – truly heirs of Elohim, and co-heirs with Messiah, if indeed we suffer with Him, in order that we also be exalted together.” (Romans 8:5-17 The Scriptures 1998+)

Presenting our body to allow God to enter in us, doing His Will

By the mercies of God we should present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, by means of reasonable service. Though we can not see Christ nor God, we should put faith in him who gave his soul (=his full being) to his Father who is also our Father to Whom we should pray. Jesus lived in this world but was not of this world, so we also should not imitate the way of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our minds, becoming as brothers and sisters in Christ, that you may discern what is that good and acceptable, and perfect will of God. As Christ also did not want to do his will, we also should only want to do God His Will.

” (10) let Your reign come, let Your desire be done on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10 The Scriptures 1998+)

” (41) And He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and falling on His knees He was praying, (42) saying, “Father, if it be Your counsel, remove this cup from Me. Yet not My desire, but let Yours be done.”” (Luke 22:41-42 The Scriptures 1998+)

” (34) יהושע {Jehsua} said to them, “My food is to do the desire of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work.” (John 4:34 The Scriptures 1998+)

” (30) “Of Myself I am unable to do any matter. As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own desire, but the desire of the Father who sent Me.” (John 5:30 The Scriptures 1998+)

” (38) “Because I have come down out of the heaven, not to do My own desire, but the desire of Him who sent Me.” (John 6:38 The Scriptures 1998+)

” (7) “Then I said, ‘See, I come – in the roll of the book it has been written concerning Me – to do Your desire, O Elohim.’ ” (8) Saying above, “Slaughter and meal offering, and burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor delighted in,” which are offered according to the Torah, (9) then He said, “See, I come to do Your desire, O Elohim.” He takes away the first to establish the second. (10) By that desire we have been set apart through the offering of the body of יהושע {Jehsua} Messiah once for all.” (Heb 10:7-10 The Scriptures 1998+)

To see and understand the sending of the son of God

We should see and understand the sending of the son of God, Jesus Christ, because we can see what is written about him in the Book of books. We should see the desire this man had and we should see the desires of his Father the Divine Creator God Who does not like to have pleasure in, sacrifices, offerings, burnt offerings, and sacrifices for sin’ (offerings regularly made under the Law). That God, whom Jesus considered to be his Father and our Father was willing to take the offering of this Nazarene Jew as the token of reconciliation. Because Jesus wanted and succeeded into doing the will of his Father the former sacrifices were set aside to be replaced by the latter, the offer of the son Jeshua, Jesus the Christ or Messiah. And it is in the fulfilment of the will of God that we have been purified by the sacrifice, once and for all, of the body of Jesus Christ.

See things and scrutinize everything

We should see all things and search them. We should come to see what is given to the apostles and followers of Jesus Christ, to all of us who are willing to follow the teachings of the rabbi Jesus, not to think of ourselves beyond what we ought to think; but to think soberly, every man according to the measure of faith which God has distributed to him. For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same function, So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Being in the body of Christ shall not make us Christ nor god or God. but being in the body of Christ we will be entrusted with many special gifts, differing according to the grace that is given to us; some have the gift of prophecy, according to the measure of faith, some have the gift of ministration, in his ministry; and some of teaching, in his teaching.

” (1) I call upon you, therefore, brothers, through the compassion of Elohim, to present your bodies a living offering – set-apart, well-pleasing to Elohim – your reasonable worship. (2) And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you prove what is that good and well-pleasing and perfect desire of Elohim. (3) For I say, through the favour which has been given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he should think, but to think soberly, as Elohim has given to each a measure of belief. (4) For as we have many members in one body, but all members do not have the same function, (5) so we, the many, are one body in Messiah, and members each one of one another. (6) Now having different gifts, according to the favour which was given to us, let us use them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of belief; (7) if serving, in the serving; or he who is teaching, in the teaching; (8) or he who encourages, in the encouragement; or he who is sharing, in sincerity; he who is leading, in diligence; he who shows compassion, joyously.” (Romans 12:1-8 The Scriptures 1998+)

A body with blood and a spirit without blood

We should come to learn to see that Body of Christ so that we can see the preparedness of others also willing to see the gift of God, His Grace and acceptance of the offer of His son Jesus Christ.

” (16) to be a servant of יהושע {Jehsua} Messiah to the gentiles, with the priestly duty of bringing the Good News of Elohim, so that the offering of the gentiles becomes acceptable, set apart by the Set-apart Spirit.” (Romans 15:16 The Scriptures 1998+)

The world should get to see those who are willing to see the Most High in their minds, according to the Spirit or Force of God. By willing to open our mind to God’s Force, the Holy Spirit shall be willing to enter in our soul (=our being) and will strengthen us in our faith in Christ, the son of God, making us partakers of his offering, being cleansed by his blood (the Blood of Christ).

Knowing that a Spirit has no blood, we are aware that it was really a man of blood and flesh and bones, who did not have his bones broken, but had his blood flown out of his body.

” (28) After this, יהושע {Jehsua}, knowing that all had been accomplished, in order that the Scripture might be accomplished, said, “I thirst!” (29) A bowl of sour wine stood there, and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and held it to His mouth. (30) So when יהושע {Jehsua} took the sour wine He said, “It has been accomplished!” And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit. (31) Therefore, since it was the Preparation Day, that the bodies should not remain on the stake on the Sabbath – for that Sabbath was a high one – the Yehuḏim asked Pilate to have their legs broken, and that they be taken away. (32) Therefore the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who was impaled with Him, (33) but when they came to יהושע {Jehsua} and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. (34) But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and instantly blood and water came out. (35) And he who has seen has witnessed, and his witness is true. And he knows that he is speaking the truth, in order that you might believe. (36) For this took place in order for the Scripture to be filled: “Not one of His bones shall be broken.” (37) And again another Scripture says, “They shall look on Him whom they pierced.”” (John 19:28-37 The Scriptures 1998+)

Acceptance step in the good direction

Let us look on him whom they pierced and believe who he was and what he did. By accepting Christ we are one step in the good direction to find God. Once we want to accept Jesus as the son of God who offered himself for our sins, we can continue on that path he prepared for us. Listening to the parables he told we can come to understand the way his Father thinks and handles.

God had poured out on the house of David the fulfilment of His Word that His Word could become reality and could come into the flesh (figuratively and in the person of His son Jesus Christ), and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication so that those who are willing to see and believe will look at him whom other humans have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn. (Zechariah 12:10, John 1:1)

To be able to find God we first have to open our mind and to be prepared to allow God His Spirit to enter in us. It is God Who calls, but we should allow Him to call us and be prepared to hear His Voice.

Preceding article: Finding God amid all the religious externals

Next: People Seeking for God

Please also do find to read:

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Additional reading:

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Preparing the Way (graceofourlord.com)
God, he tells them, can raise up children of Abraham from the stones present around them. In other words, it is not enough – God is not so impressed with their pedigree.
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Although baptism in some form did exist before John the Baptist received his calling from God, it was not a baptism of repentance, nor was it for the forgiveness of sins. There was no real forgiveness of sins under the Law of Moses because, as Paul said, “it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:1-4). There was washing for purification, as first implemented with Aaron and his sons (Exodus 29:4, Leviticus 16:23-24), and for remedy of defilement (Numbers 19). And at some point (though not Biblically required), baptism (immersion in water) was added to circumcision as a requirement for Gentile proselytes to be converted to Judaism.
He may be made known to Israel (twocatholicfriends.wordpress.com)
Each of the prophets who came before Christ came to fulfill a particular mission, they pointed to the coming of the messiah. Isaiah’s prophecy of the restoration of israel and salvation reaching the end of the earth links his time and that of John the baptist’s by its fulfillment because it was John the baptist who showed this light of God which would reach the end of the earth to the world. First, with his disciples, whom he fashioned their waiting for the messiah. He did not know who the messiah was, but God revealed it to him by the outpouring of the Holy spirit by the baptism of our Lord which we celebrated last sunday; this he used to testify to the crowd of the sonship of Jesus.
Jesus and John the Baptist (larrycourson.wordpress.com)
In Matthew 13 and 14 Jesus is rejected by the people of Nazareth where he grew up as no one special. They said he was just one of them.
John 1:29-42 – 19th January 2014 (rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com)
John the Baptist expected his listeners to recall pictures from the Old Testament; the lamb provided by God for Abraham to slaughter, the lamb of Isaiah 53, led to the slaughter for the sins of God’s people; the Passover Lamb from Exodus. The word “lamb,” for John’s listeners connected strongly with words like “sin” or “atonement” – the way in which we can be reconciled with God despite our wrongdoing.
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Lamb of God, Baptiser with the Spirit, Son of God, Messiah – John, the Gospel writer’s names for Jesus. John wants us to carry these names with us as we read his Gospel. It is as though he says to us, “You will only understand my message fully if you realise that this is what I want to show you. Here is the one who by his life and death fulfils these roles and in doing so brings hope.” As we read the Gospels let’s use these names to inform our reading and to help us understand for ourselves just who Jesus is: Lamb of God, Baptiser with the Spirit, Son of God, Messiah.
Engaging the Gospel – John 1:29-34 (ubiquelucet.wordpress.com)
By proclaiming Jesus as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” St. John the Baptist identifies him as the fulfillment of Scripture.

He “reveals that Jesus is at the same time the suffering Servant [prophesied by Isaiah] who silently allows himself to be led to the slaughter and who bears the sin of the multitudes, and also the Paschal Lamb, the symbol of Israel’s redemption at the first Passover” (Catechism paragraph 608).

Moreover, the Spirit’s coming upon Jesus is an explicit mark of the Messiah.
God Demands a Response to Jesus (barrierbreakingenterprises.com)
The fact of the matter is some of us are just too cautious about changing when clearly the time for change has come. We procrastinate just because procrastination is what we do. But when you meet Jesus, Jesus calls for action, immediate, swift, decisive action. Either you love him or you don’t but you can’t just sit around and think about it. This morning Jesus is looking for radical disciples, those who will throw caution to the wind and follow him with their whole hearts.
The Passover Lamb (james1948.wordpress.com)
When it was time for God to deliver the Israelites from bondage in Egypt, He established a way for the people to always memorialize their deliverance by instituting the Lord’s Passover. Each household was to shed the blood of a lamb that was without blemish and paint the blood on the doorposts of the home. Then, the lamb was to be roasted and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs by everyone in the home, as they stood, ready to evacuate Egypt. That night, God preserved the firstborn of every home who had observed the Passover and delivered the Israelites from bondage.

Jesus is the fulfillment of the Passover. He became what the Passover represented, God’s salvation through the shed blood of an innocent Lamb.
The Truth Through John Part 2 (soulfulcuriosity.wordpress.com)
God is very detailed…everything has a purpose…more than we will ever know this side of heaven.

Does studying God’s word bring you Joy? I sure hope it does.
Sunday Devotional: John 1:6-8 (journeythereandbackagain.wordpress.com)
Here we see John (the disciple) talk about John the Baptist. John the Baptist was a forerunner to Jesus. He was one who was sent by God to prepare the way for Jesus’ earthly ministry. That was his calling. He was to be a witness. He was to point others to the light (Jesus).
Pastor Karl’s Challenge (brentwoodbiblechurch.wordpress.com)
We must not think of Jesus, however, as the offspring of God the Father. Because according to Galatians 4:4, when the Father sent Jesus into the world, He already was the Son of God. The Father sent forth His Son! If He already was the Son of God, then He did not become the Son of God through conception and birth. Rather, the Son of God became a true human being in the conception.

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1. Clarification

2. Ways of reaction

3. Concerning opinions of us and of the writers of the original blog article being reblogged by us

4. Concerning the given links to other articles

5. Our or/and my personal opinion

6. Attacked from four sites

7. LGBT, Transgender people versus Eunuchs and Androgynous persons and sexism

8. More than one community targetted

9. Rage against Jews, Marxists and communists

10. Winners and losers

11. Time for additional parties in the United States of America

12. Workforce and Feeling for others

13. Not spreading hate nor killing

14. Political correctness and free choice

15. Freedom and Knowledge safeguard for the future

16. Right to kill or to wear weapons

17. Conclusion

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Conclusion

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Nearly 2 000 years ago

Baptism with water and spirit

God’s Passover Lamb to be seen

Second Adam also of flesh and blood

Not able to be seen

Revelation to be seen

Flesh blood and bones, human and ghost or spirit

Those who have not seen the son of the Non-seen

After and of the flesh and dwelling within

Having spirit of Christ

Living in spirit

Presenting our body to allow God to enter in us, doing His Will

To see and understand the sending of the son of God

See things and scrutinize everything

A body with blood and a spirit without blood

Acceptance step in the good direction

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