Kingdom Come

Key precept: Humans are not action figures  –  the results of our actions reverberate through our world.

“For when we were yet without strength, in due time The Chosen One / Messiah / Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, The Chosen One / Messiah / Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” (Ro 5:6-9)

To understand how Messiah’s death saves us from sin, we need to understand what sin is, and what it had to do with death being imposed on humanity just because they ate the fruit.

Continue reading “7) Forgiveness of Sin”

Key precept: Freedom isn’t free.

Remission and atonement allows us to re-establish a relationship with God.  But what about that relationship humanity established with Satan when our ancestors sold themselves into slavery to sin? Human freedom, ownership and dominion had to be bought back, or redeemed, from the one to whom it was sold.

“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us…

• And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament [testimony, tangible proof, legal evidence of commitment to accomplish something, like a last will and testament]
• that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament [death as a consequence of transgressing God’s moral and physical law], they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. ” (Heb 9:12-15)

Continue reading “8) Redemption and Restoration”

Key precept: Freedom is won through the birth of a baby.

“And the LORD God said unto the serpent…I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise [slam down on] thy head [therefore destroy you], and thou shalt bruise his heel [slow down progress but not destroy].” (Genesis 3:15)

When God calls his Savior “the seed of the woman,” he is obviously leaving out the fatherhood. The meaning would have been perfectly clear to his audience.

Satan, Adam and his helpmeet would have understood that the woman would be a single parent.

After all, single parenting was the only known form of reproduction in the entire universe at this time. God alone had materialized himself as a host of spiritual sons of God and two humans.

“God created [the] man  [הָֽ-אָדָֽם, reading the Hebrew letters backwards, ha-adam] in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Genesis 1:27)

It is assumed from this reading that at the moment that God created “them”, one of them had male reproductive organs and the other had female reproductive organs. But is that correct? It is also possible, grammatically, to understand this sentence as meaning that God created each of them in his own image as male and female, i.e. as hermaphrodites.

Are you aghast at this idea? This actually has startling implications for understanding our current sexually chaotic social situation, so stick with me. You know the most effective lies have an element of truth. Do you want to cling to what is comfortable and familiar, or do you want to know the truth? Follow along as we study what the Bible says instead of assuming we, or our favorite denomination, already knows everything there is to know.

Think about it. Where did Eve get her femininity if not from God? 

“…in the image of God created he…female…” (Genesis 1:27)

Continue reading “9) The Seed of the Woman”

Key precept: How Satan fathers his children.

Every one of these posts is the product of ongoing current study during which I make myself available to the Holy Spirit to guide me into new understanding. Not automatic writing. A true teacher-student relationship, where I set my own opinions aside, set aside time to study, come prepared with the text and tools, and listen to the Holy Spirit speaking to me.

I experience this like a mental nudge, bringing to mind the Bible passages pertinent to the topic at hand. As any good teacher does,  the Holy Spirit builds an ever higher edifice of understanding on a foundation of existing knowledge, which in his case is the written word of God. I’m not given “new revelation.” A pattern develops connecting existing written revelation as the Holy Spirit brings to mind the word I’ve already hidden in my heart – memorized – and meditated upon. The rest of the process is a “connect the dots” picture fully revealing what had previously been a confused jumble of disconnected bits of information.

One example of the process of being guided by the Holy Spirit is the unraveling of the conundrum that came to my mind one day. How does Satan father the Antichrist and yet remain free?

Continue reading “10) The Seed of the Serpent”

Key precept: Freedom is the ability to choose one’s actions.

A state trooper once told me, with deep regret, how he had a stopped a young college student for speeding well over the limit. In fact, his driving was so reckless that the standard response called for taking away his license until he went to court for sentencing. However, it was a holiday weekend and the young man was on his way to join friends at the beach, he had no prior infractions, he was very respectful and remorseful, and he promised with great sincerity that he would keep to the speed limit for the rest of the way. The trooper, identifying with this young man’s zest for life and promising future, didn’t want to spoil his weekend or his driving record, most of all his college and work life with possible long-term loss of his license, so he let him go with just a warning. Within minutes he heard across his radio that this young man had crashed at high speed just a few miles down the road, and was killed instantly. The trooper couldn’t stop thinking that he should have arrested him. I ask you – was he to blame?

People are quick to blame God when things go bad, even faulting him for having the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden because, being omniscient, he knew full well that human beings would eat the fruit and become captive to sin.

The reality is that the tree gave us freedom – defined as “the power to determine action without restraint.”

• Freedom is not being able to do whatever you want.
• Freedom is being able not to do actions being forced on you.

Freedom is not being oppressed by evil, either from an outside authority or an inner uncontrollable drive to use drugs, overeat, rape, plunder and murder.

Without the opportunity to choose, provided by just one fruit tree, humans would have been drones, always controlled by God. But God doesn’t force anyone to submit to his control. In contrast to the bad guys, God isn’t a control freak.

Continue reading “11) God is Pro-Choice”

Key precept: Humans are intrinsically self-centered, we simply can’t stop ourselves from ruining essential relationships thus causing self-harm.

• “There is none right-eous [always doing the right thing], no, not one: 
• There is none that understandeth [always rational, we are often controlled by our emotions or physical desires despite awareness of negative consequences of actions],
• there is none that seeketh after God [wanting to be morally correct]. 
• They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable;
• there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 
• Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 
• Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 
• Their feet are swift to shed blood: 
• Destruction and misery are in their ways: 
• And the way of peace have they not known: 
• There is no fear of God before their eyes…
• For all have sinned…)” (Letter to the Romans 3:10-18, 23)

That word sin has become unpopular in current society, especially when applied to specific behaviors that are no longer illegal. I propose that we define sin as any behavior that an individual engages in, or fails to undertake, at the unjust expense of others. This is why any size group of individuals need laws, from as small a group of two with a safe word and process of conflict resolution, to the whole world, to safeguard and balance the rights and needs of individuals who depend on each other.

Continue reading “12) Sin City”

Key precept: Hyper-dimensional beings need human collaborators to express themselves in the lower four dimensions.

Noah 1056 AM – 2006 AM

“And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.” (Gen 6:13)

What characteristics of the pre-flood world brought about its end?  We need to know, because the end of our world will be brought about by the same catastrophic circumstances.

^“But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.” (Matthew 24:37)

Continue reading “13) Days of Noah”