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verobatto · 5 years ago

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Destiel Chronicles

Vol. XLII

It was a love story from the very beginning.

Just You and Me

(9x06)

Hello My Friends!!! How are you? I'm here again with another meta from this series. This time is time for a very Destiel one, episode 9x06 Heaven can't wait.

I know is a very analyzed episode, well known by all the FANDOM, so I will be quick with some scenes, just mentioning things that we all know, and pointing mostly how the characters felt during the different scenes.

I want to say thank you to my friend @agusvedder , she made the gifs for this meta and discussed with me the episode. Thank you girl! 😘💕

Pain-Lost-Depression

I'm gonna start talking about the Rit Zien (in enochian means HANDS OF MERCY), this different class of angels assisted in the battlefield helping angels wounded to heal, and giving peace (by ending with them) to those who were past saving, wounded with emotional damage.

Let's swim now through his victims in this episode and why he chose Castiel like one of them.

The first victim was a man who had lost his wife, so, he was depressed, he couldn't handle his lost, the love of his life. He had a huge pain he even called to suicide line. The Rit Zien appeared a vanished him, into micro molecules, and the color was PINK.

You know pink represents Happiness, so, we could infer this angel tried to give the pain a relief. To transform it into happiness in Heaven.

The second victim was a girl, who had just break up to his boyfriend, and she was saying this exactly words .. pay attention...

GIRL He dumped me, Jace. (pause) In the cafeteria. In front of everyone. It's just like ... who does that, you know? Like, why couldn't he just dump me on Facebook like a normal person? (pause) I've been destroyed. Socially and romantically … totaled. (pause) I know. I'm just so embarrassed, Jace. I could just die.

She's recalling us to Castiel, and how Dean dumped him from the bunker. And she's describing her feelings, so we can think Cas is feeling dumped, destroyed and embarrassed.

So... Then... Cas must be very upset with Dean. As we will see in the next point, he is.

But now, when the Rit Zien heard her asking for death, he just gave her death, and happiness in Heaven, as we could see when he transformed that girl in pink color.

So, two cases about two people in love, one had lost his wife, and was deeply depressed, and the second one was dumped by her boyfriend, feeling embarrassed.

And if you pay attention too to Castiel's singing to the baby, the lyrics are very melancholic... Flying away in a wing and a prayer... He misses being an angel, he said it again while he was trying to calm the baby, touching his forehead...

After talking with the baby about how it felt being a human all of the sudden, he says...

CASTIEL: (...) You know, it wasn't that long ago when all I'd need to do to ease your pain was touch you.

So... This is melancholy, sadness...

But let's come back to the logic of the victims... As I said first one... Two cases related with lover lost, a girl dumped by his boyfriend...

Then... Castiel being the third victim, shouldn't surprise us at all...

CASTIEL: It's a fever, Ephraim. It will pass.

(Cas thought the angel had came for the baby)

ANGEL (EPHRAIM): You remember my name? I was just a nobody when we met, but you – you were a legend. You've been here before. This is my first time, and it's ... intense.

The Rit Zien remarked Cas was a legend, so he felt honored he could remember his name, but also, and this is very interesting, he's talking about being surrounded by humans, and Hyman's feelings SO INTENSE. I'm pointing this, because there's a scene in the car with Dean in which Case says everything is different, about feelings, about being a human. I just want you to keep this in mind for the next points.

CASTIEL: How'd you find me?

EPHRAIM: Because you're warded? The same way I find all my patients – I just followed the sound of your pain. You have no idea how loud it is. I could hear you for miles

This has to caught our attention. Castiel is in pain, huge pain. He's depressed. He lost his grace, he had to for through being homeless, starved, facing our most deep decadency. And then he had to suffered Dean's rejection. Castiel, who had learn now what his feelings were. As a human, he's sure now that strong feeling he had for Dean is LOVE, and being dumped by him, leaving him in the streets again, is a deep pain, a deep wound, just as painful like losing his grace. So, his pain was loud.

Cas is mad at Dean, and Dean wants see him desperately

Okay, now that we talked about the case, let's focus in Destiel.

Castiel called Dean for the case... And Dean noticed Cas was kind of... Weird, and maybe mad, this made him anxious, and he decided to go to that case ALONE, and find Cas, just in case...

But really, the conversation they had by the phone is hilarious. First of all, Dean stood up and walked away from Kevin and Sam, when he realized it was Cas. Looking for privacy??

DEAN: Hello?

CASTIEL (calling from the Gas'n'Sip) I may have a case for you. (CASTIEL is cleaning the slurpee machine while he talks.) Four missing in Rexford, Idaho. (DEAN stands up, walking away from the table.) Presumed dead, but no bodies have been released to loved ones. And, there were reports of a strange substance at the scenes.

Okay, we'll just stop here, notice how Dean says HELLO but Castiel doesn't, he just goes straight to the point of his call, this is the first sign that he's mad, he wouldn't call, but he has this case, so he had to. Not a nice thing to do for him, because he would prefer no to pass for this. Not to talk with the one that dumped him.

DEAN: Oh, well, hello to you too, Cas. How are you?

Dean noticed that too, and he insists with the HELLO, and he asks how Cas is doing. He knows Cas must be mad at him.

CASTIEL: I ... am busy.

Cas cut him. He was actually, nervously trying to... Do something with the smoothie machine.

DEAN shakes his head.

DEAN All right. So, how do you want to do this?You want to meet up at the latest scene? You want me to pick you up? What?

Dean is proposing see each other, he wants to work with him, Dean wants to see him.

CASTIEL's efforts with the Slushy machine are not going well. A flood of liquid blue slushy mix spills out over the machine and onto the floor. DEAN hears the trickling sound and looks puzzled.

CASTIEL Um … I've got my hands full over here. I just – um...

And this is when Cas gets flustered and the machine is a mess of blue liquid all over the floor. Is not coincidence that when Dean offered Cas an encounter, the mess with the blue fuold happened. Is a consequence of Castiel feeling nervous, an encounter with Dean is something that gets him flustered. Nervous. Anxious. Now that Castiel is a human, he understands clearly what happens in his heart with Dean. He knows that feeling is LOVE. So, isn't that easy, being dumped, get mad, and now calling him, and now seeing him again? Too intense.

DEAN Cas? Hello?

Dean is convinced now that Cas is mad at him, so he decided to go ALONE to see him.

He invented some excuses because Sam wanted to go with him, he tries to minimize the importance of the case, but that made it more suspicious, so Sam asks...

SAM: So, he said nothing about where he is or – or what he's been doing?

DEAN: This is Cas. In case you forgot, he's not exactly Chatty Cathy.

SAM (incredulously) And you're not even gonna see him when you're in Idaho?

DEAN: Well, like I said, as long as he's catnip for angels, he's keeping his distance.

DEAN turns to continue walking, now leaving the room.

SAM: So then, what's the point, Dean? I mean, it's barely even a case.

Sam couldn't understand why his brother was almost running to that "not case" so fast, answering all his questions with not very truly answers.

DEAN (from a balcony, talking down to the other two) That's why I'm just gonna go have a little look-see, and … we're not gonna waste a whole lot of manpower on a big pile of nada.

And then Kevin gave him the perfect excuse...

Dean must be thinking... Thanks Kevin, over there... Finally alone, just Cas and him.

Jilted Lover and pining boy

We know Misha Collins said producers asked him to play this scene like a jilted Lover, and he did it perfect.

We had this classic Destiel scene... Dean talking with Sam by the phone, outside the Impala, drinking a coffee, we don't see more... Till this happens...

Dean lowered his head, because he had it covered, he doesn't need his brother help, because he has Cas. And he wants to be alone with him, this gesture, he gets a little nervous over there, like... Anxious... Why? Because he's doing this... This is his cover...

This is pining, my friends, no friend stays out of the window CONTEMPLATING his handsome best friend working, like... If this isn't pining what is is then? Why he would stop by Castiel's work, watching him for so long?? He wasn't afraid, because when he finally made his dramatic entrance, he wasn't ashamed, so, he just does it because he wanted to contemplate him. Because he is pining for him. Because he contemplates the man he loves. People that are in love do that. Period.

When Dean appears in front of Cas, Castiel's fav is priceless. He's surprised, but it seems like of his heart just gave a jump! Like OMG! HE'S HERE! WHY?

Look at the deception in Dean's face, again Cas is not saying him hello. And he was waiting for a better response. But, okay, Cas is mad, some maybe not a good response, but at least a HI.

After this, Castiel gets mad again because Dean is disappointed to find him working there and not hunting. Cas names the whole situations he had to go through, because he can't believe Dean shows up as if dumping him from the bunker was nothing...

CASTIEL: My Grace is gone. What did you expect? Do you have any idea how hard it was? When I fell to earth, I didn't just lose my powers. I – I had nothing. Now... I'm a sales associate (proudly)

Castiel is proud, he's showing Dean LOOK HOW I GOT THIS WITHOUT YOUR HELP. I DID IT BY MYSELF.

But Dean doesn't want this for Cas and mostly, he needs him back with him, even if it has to be just for one case. So he will try to convince him, just like the old times.

Then... Nora enters in the scene. At first Dean made his wtf and jealous face when he sees the heart eyes. And then he plays the NO HOMO BUDDY right there.

Trying to get some info, and the result is Cas has a date!

Flirting

After recognize the case was about a Rit Zien, Dean wants him to be aboard with him to stop the angel... But Castiel says this...

CASTIEL: But he just got here. The ebb and flow of human emotion – Dean, I've been on earth for a few years, and I've only begun to grasp it. To him, pain is pain.

And then this...

That's why I said before keep in mind the INTENSE word about Human's feelings. Cas is getting now what is this all about. He's getting know the intensity of the feelings... Love, hate, pain, depression, sadness, joy. He is experiencing all of them. That's why I truly believe he understood what he felt for Dean.

I readed once @amwritingmeta post about this scene here, and the second meaning of I NEED A RIDE and the face Dean made... And I laughed so hard, because she showed in that post the wishfully and lustful face Dean showed. Priceless. Pay attention... When Cas says I NEED A RIDE, Dean's imagination was... To... Where? Cas having a good ride? By whom? Him? Okay. Too hilarious, but Jensen did it. Jensen made that face in Dean's skin... Dirty pining boy for his ex hot angel.

Then he turned to Cas to see if he realized what he had just Sayed, and of course he doesn't!

So... Second meaning for flirting... Is not gonna work Dean...

Tony Manero

When Cas and Dean were in the car, and Castiel was about to get out on his date, Dean says this words that generally are used when someone who's in love with the person is about to having a date with a third one, says to stop him. And our hearts stopped right there... But Dean Winchester made it NO HOMO again, talking about the wardrobe.

Even Cas has a hint of hopes in his eyes, why Dean would choose those words right there? Because he was feeling like that, he was still flirting with him, he was jealous, and he didn't want to let the angel go. But his repressed feelings won't let him verbalize it. So... He plays it...

DEAN: Okay. Uh, lose the vest.

CASTIEL: What are you –

Even Cas doesn't get what Dean wants, not even Dean knows it either...

Okay this was very gay, very. And Dean drooling face calling his friend TONY MANERO like the pining boy he is for his gorgeous and hot ex angel friend.

Comparing Castiel with Tony Manero, Made us go to that movie immediately, and to one scene in the car between John Travolta (Tony Manero) and his friend, Stephanie. (Thanks to Agus for show me the scene and discuss with me this). And I know this had been talked largely in the fandom, the frames and the position of the actors were the same like Dean with Cas, but is very interesting the dialogue. Tony was helping Stephanie to move on into a new house with a married man who was using her. When Tony detects this, they both had a conversation in the car and Tony made a jealous scene. Asking for that man, saying her he was using her, and she breaks talking about how that man helped her, that she was alone. You don't know what I had to go through. Is a huge Cas parallel, when Dean starts to recriminate him about his job in the Gas'n sip. And a Jealous Tony is compared with jealous!Dean about Nora. And don't forget, Nora was using Castiel like baby-sitter.

So because Dean was jealous... He was acting like the best friend giving his buddy advices about the date. But he was being ambiguous, like half flirting and acting gay and half giving advices and no homo. The truth was, he was drooling for Cas, pining for him... Even my mom saw that!

But let's return again to Cas in his "date"...

We saw how Dean contemplates Castiel again while he was walking towards that door, collecting a rose, smiling like a dummie because Cas looks so cute doing that. And the writers showed us Cas sucking his finger because one spine hurted him? Like? Why show something so sexy while Dean is watching? Do I need to add more here?

This was a huge romantic Destiel scene, with reference to a romantic movie, and we were witness of that!

Good Bye

Another Destiel scene, and this will be the last, sorry for the extension of this meta, is the goodbye scene. We had Dean with a half I'm sorry (because he couldn't say the truth, and Cas being so sad.

Pay attention when Cas is leaving, Dean's painful expression, the guilt and the repressed feelings... He really wants to tell Cas everything and bring him home with him, desperately... But he can't, and is so painful to him. Castiel is sad too, their faces are... Just sadness and pain. They don't like to be apart from each other... Damn...

To Conclude:

Episode 9x06 was a very Destiel chapter. We had the reference to Castiel's depression for lost his grace and being dumped by Dean.

We had a desperate Dean to fix things with his angel, running at his first call, insisting for his help, desperate for having a hint just the two of them. Being jealous, flirty, and very in love with his ex angel buddy.

The car scene with the reference to Tony Manero (a bi vives character in one of the most famous romantic movies), and the two CONTEMPLATING THE LOVE OF MY LIFE scenes, marked this episode like one of the most romantic episode in the whole show.

I hope you like this meta, see you in the next!

Tagging @metafest @magnificent-winged-beast @emblue-sparks @weirddorkylittlediana @michyribeiro @whyjm @legendary-destiel @a-bit-of-influence @thatwitchydestielfan @misha-moose-dean-burger-lover @lykanyouko @evvvissticante @savannadarkbaby @trickster-archangel @dea-stiel @poorreputation @bre95611 @thewolfathedoor @charlottemanchmal @neii3n @deathswaywardson @followyourenergy @dean-is-bi-till-i-die @hekatelilith-blog @avidbkwrm @anarchiana @dickpuncher365 @vampyrosa @foxyroxe-art @authorsararayne @anonymoustitans @mybonsai1976 @love-neve-dies @wildligia @dustythewind @wayward-winchester67 @angelwithashotgunandtrenchcoat @trashblackrainbow @deeutdutdutdoh @destiel-is--endgame @destiel-shipper-11 @larrem88 @charmedbycastiel @ran-savant @little-crazy-misha-minion @samoosetheshipper

@shadows-and-padlocked-hearts @mishtho @dancingtuesdaymorning @nerditoutwithbooks @mikennacac73 @justmeand-myinsight @idontwantpeopletoknowmyname @tenshilover20 @teddybeardoctor @pepevons @helevetica

If you want to be tagged, just let me know.

If you want to read my previous metas about s9, you have the links here and here.

Buenos Aires, December 18th 2019 7:37 PM

#destiel #destiel chronicles #vol. XLII #destiel meta #supernatural meta #season 9 meta

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pilgrimbenham · 4 years ago

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Stop Being Embarrassed by the Wrath of God

What is the wrath of God?

Contrary to popular opinion, God’s wrath is not a concept that is hiding away like a random 9-volt battery in your junk drawer that you have to really search for to find (and why do you still have a television with a remote that uses 9-volts?). The wrath of God is a consistent and comprehensive Biblical truth!

Here's just a quick sample from almost every Biblical genre: Deuteronomy 9:7 | Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. Psalm 7:11 | God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. Nahum 1:2-6 | The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. Luke 12:5 | Fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him! Ephesians 5:6 | because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Revelation 19:15 | He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

I think one of the simplest and most straightforward definitions of God's wrath comes from Andrew Murray: “Wrath is the holy revulsion of God’s being against that which is the contradiction of his holiness.”

God's wrath is not like human anger. When we talk about the wrath of God, we don't mean God losing His temper, becoming a rage monster and punching the wall. God's wrath is not malicious, vindictive, or spiteful - the way human anger and rage is. In fact, what would you consider the opposite of God's wrath?

Many people would say the opposite of God's wrath is God's love. But on the contrary; the opposite of God's wrath is indifference or neutrality when it comes to evil. Mark Dever says, “If [God] were not wrathful against sin, we would question whether He is personally good. What would it mean for Him to say that He is committed to oppose evil if He refused to judge it?”

John Stott referred to God's wrath as His "holy hostility to evil". In Romans 1:18-25, we learn three important truths about the wrath of God. These are three reasons we should stop being embarrassed about - or ashamed of - the wrath of God:

1. God's wrath is divine.

Romans 1:18 tells us that God’s wrath is revealed 'from heaven'. What some may call earthly 'calamity', God calls divine justice. When we study the flood of Genesis 6, or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19), or the plagues on Egypt in the book of Exodus, we clearly see this has been directed from God Himself. Nothing in God's determined decree against evil is accidental or just allowed - as much as the open theists will try to make their silly case. His wrath is revealed from heaven and is divine.

2. God’s wrath is definitive.

It is ‘revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men’ (v.18). These two words Paul uses are very different - one describes sin against God - almost literally "godlessness”; whereas unrighteousness speaks of sin against our fellow man. When we look at the moral law of the ten commandments, we read the first four laws concerning our relationship with YHWH, and the other six in relationship with our fellow man. God's wrath is universally definitive because all have transgressed God's law by sinning against both God and man. God's wrath is not directed merely at a specific type of people, but universally against all wickedness. No one can escape His terrible justice.

3. God’s wrath is deserved.

As Paul goes on to prove - men have no excuse because God's attributes in creation have been clearly seen. Verse 19 says, “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.”

There are two ways that God has chosen to reveal Himself. The first is called General Revelation. General revelation is God's witness of Himself through creation to His creatures. Psalm 19:1-4 explains this: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.”

However, General revelation is limited. The ultimate end is that it leaves men without excuse for failing to recognize the nature of their Creator. But it doesn't show us how to be reconciled with our Creator. We cannot be saved by merely understanding general revelation. That's where the second idea comes in: Special Revelation. We believe that the Bible is God's special revelation to man, and it testifies of Jesus Christ, who is the express image of the invisible God. Jesus and the Scripture is the God's special revelation. All truth is given by revelation - so men are without excuse - what can be known about God is plain to them. Ever since the creation of the world, God's existence has been clearly seen through the general revelation of creation. Thus, God's wrath is deserved. It is definitive, and it is divine.

Sinclair Ferguson said, “God’s holy wrath is poured out on what He hates because it damages and destroys what He loves.” See, this is not just wrath in a vacuum - this is the wrath of God against men who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. It isn't that they reject the truth, ignore the truth, dismiss the truth, or avoid the truth. They suppress it. They try to hold it down - but something terrible happens when you suppress the truth. Do you remember what happened when you tried to hold on to an inflated beach ball and push it underwater? You as a cute little five-year old experienced what is called "buoyant force"! That submerged beach ball flipped you over, didn't it? It is neither natural nor easy to hold the beach ball underwater - nor is it natural or easy to suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness.

Doug Wilson says, “The sin starts with rebellion and ingratitude. That is the first step. God takes our head in both His hands and points it toward the greatness of His glory. We refuse to look at it because to do so would obligate us. We take the greatness of His glory and thrust it away from us, holding it under, suppressing our knowledge of it.”

We need not minimize - or apologize for - the rightness of God's wrath. Right out of the gate in Romans, Paul communicates the Gospel in the context of the wrath of God against sin. Too many times I fear when we share the Gospel with people, we only share God's love, and neglect God's law. The wrath of God is not something we need to be ashamed or embarrassed of. It is right and just. In light of lawless treason against His law, widespread sensual debauchery, lewdness and sexual immorality, child molestation, the murder and oppression of the innocent, rampant deception and corruption, political oppression and genocide, and the evil imaginations in the human heart - in light of the fallen condition of mankind, if God were to do nothing, that would be shameful!

Stephen T. Davis says, “Our only hope as human beings is the wrath of God...because it...shows us that right and wrong are objectively real, they are to be discovered, not created...(it) teaches us the moral significance of our deeds and shows us how life is to be lived.”

We must explain salvation in light of God's righteous wrath! The sad reality is that all have sinned - men and women are without excuse. Part of suppressing the truth in unrighteousness is man's prideful audacity to exchange not only glorious God for idolatry, Creator for creation, but also to swap attributes: man has the bravado to believe now that God is sinful and man is upright. "How could a loving God let the Holocaust happen?”, cries the unbeliever - while seeing his offensive against a holy God as minimal. Just as a faithful doctor would not allow someone to walk in with a WebMD print out of their own diagnosis and just confirm their fears (which I’m sure you or someone you know has done!), the faithful doctor is going to be responsible and make sure someone does not leave his or her office with an incorrect self-diagnosis.

John Stott says, “Our Christian duty is rather, through prayer and teaching, to bring people to accept the true diagnosis of their condition in the sight of God.” The sad reality is that you and I are sinners. The darkness of your sin, my sin - is the black velvet backdrop that helps to focus our eyes on what is truly beautiful - the mercy and grace of God in Christ. As you read this, in light of your sinfulness, will you embrace the undeserved mercy of Christ? If you are in Christ, let your hearts be lifted up that because of Jesus Christ, the awful wrath of God has been satisfied. As Paul would later say in chapter 5: “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”

Praise God for the mercies of God expressed to us in and through Christ, our Savior!

Pilgrim Benham

#sin #wrath #God's wrath #holiness #truth #Bible #Scripture #Romans #Gospel #Christ #Christianity #church #Christian

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writinanon · 6 years ago

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The Rook Head Canon

This is the long and short of the things that take place in the Rook’s story and if anyone has any questions or ideas feel free to suggest things.

Maria ‘Rook’ Seed is what is known as an Undying, someone that was supposed to die, was destined to die, but refused to die. Basically, her Soul rejected Death and fought its way back to the land of the living. This means that no mortal means can kill her, and several immortal ones are out of the picture as well because they rely on making her mortal and that’s physically impossible now. It is precisely because she is an Undying that Mephistopheles sought her out and used her to take the Throne of Hell. She became his Rook, the ace in the hole that could trump anything any opponent threw at him. As such she now goes by the name Rook, often preferring it to her given Name because she earned it.

She has the added bonus of being what’s known as a Mystic: someone that received visions and can actually speak directly to God but is not a prophet. She gets this from her biological father, Joseph Seed. She however doesn’t keep the channel open or try to actively commune with Heaven because they sentenced her to Death when she was born too early. She doesn’t blame Joseph for her death, she does blame him for forcefully converting people and all the other terrible things that the Cult does.

Because of both of these things her mother’s family abandons her not long after ‘weird’ things start to happen around her. All manner of Beings are drawn to someone that is Undying good, bad, indifferent all of them want to have an Undying in their good graces because Undying aren’t limited in the Realms they can travel. They are undead, they are alive, they are not bound by the chains of mortality any longer. Rook bounces from group homes and orphanages until a Demon with his eye on the Throne finally manages to pin her down.

Rook first starts to work for Mephistopheles when she’s roughly nine. He gives her a nice place to sleep, food, clothes, and any entertainment she wants for when she’s not working. She does odd jobs at first, running potions and grimoires back and forth more of an errand girl than someone that can take on legions of the damned. This changes after she starts to pick up tricks from the various witches, warlocks, demons, and denizens of the Underworld that she ferries items to and from. At thirteen she starts protecting Mephistopheles during his Deals and shortly thereafter, as she hits sixteen, she is the one sent on his behalf to grease the wheels, with charm or blood it doesn’t matter as long as she gets the results her boss is looking for. She doesn’t actually fight in a battle until she’s twenty, and when she does she decimates a legion of Demons at the command of Belphegor, taking out one of his arms at the same time. After that stunning display of power many who were opposed to Mephistopheles sang a different tune and it was her job to root out those that could be loyal with those that wanted to stab them both in the back.

The dust settled roughly eight months before the start of the game, around Rook’s 24th birthday. Mephistopheles sits on the Throne of Hell, the Angels that backed them and actually helped to get a Ruler in Hell (because the Chaos and anarchy that was reigning was causing massive problems for the boys upstairs) have gone back to trying to keep the world turning, and Rook is trying to reconcile her life.

She picked Hope County by instinct, her Mystic Blood seeking out its kin. She joined the Sheriff’s Department mostly because she had no college experience and a fake high school diploma and that was it. Deputy Sheriff was one of the only jobs that she could see herself doing given those factors. She went through the necessary training, breezing through it thanks to her previous employment. She was just starting to figure out that the Seeds that everyone was talking about were actually her biological relatives when the video of Joseph killing a man surfaced and everything tumbled out of control from there.

Rook is effectively mute; her vocal cords being damaged from being born too early as well as being smothered. This doesn’t mean she can’t get her point across. She uses American Sign Language as well as plant symbolism and straight actions to convey her meanings. However she can speak, but if you were to actually hear her speak it wouldn’t be pleasant because she speaks with the voice of a Demon and she doesn’t speak mortal tongues.

Rook doesn’t have her Wrath Tattoo yet, I’m debating on if she’ll actually get it or not because she doesn’t speak with words so having words on her skin would go against the grain for her and she wouldn’t sit still and allow John to tattoo her unless she was assured it would be something she approved of.

She does have several personal tattoos on her body. It should also be noted that all of her tattoos are magical, having been done by Witches (and one by Mephistopheles himself not that he’ll ever admit to it). Also, Rook is basically raised a few steps above Hell so an 11-year-old getting a tattoo? Not really a big deal to them (I want to reiterate that I do not condone getting tattoos without parent’s permission or being of the age of consent for your area)

On her shoulders she has witch-hazel intertwined with oak leaves, stinging nettles, and white heather they curl from her left bicep up over her shoulder, behind her neck, back across her right shoulder to curl around her right bicep.

It is a spell of protection and strength of life and death. (Witch-hazel = A Magic Spell, Oak Leaves = Strength, Stringing Nettles = life and Death, and White Heather = protection) This is her first set of tattoos, Mephistopheles insists she gets some form of protection in her skin since she refuses to wear armor. These are the tattoos he did himself. These are her only protective tattoos.

Creeping across the left side of her ribcage are rainflowers and rosemary in a nest of ivy. This is a promise of remembrance as well as repentance; her mother died because of her and she feels she has to make up for that. (Rainflower = I must atone for my sins, Ivy = Endurance, and Rosemary = Remembrance) These are her fourth set of tattoos after she’s old enough to handle finding out what happened to her birth family.

She has a laurel around her hips that are made up of ambrosia, mignonette, and cloves meaning that she is worthy of not only giving love but receiving it, eternally as hers is ‘undying’ Mephistopheles groaned when he noticed that the teenager had worked in a pun into the ink in her skin. (Ambrosia = Love is reciprocated, Clove = Undying love, and Mignonette = Worth) She gets these done at the same time as the ones on her ribcage and are her fifth tattoo.

Rook also has two cards from the Major Arcana on each of her arms, on her triceps she has Death on her left arm and the Wheel of Fortune on her right. Inside the crook of her elbow on her forearms she has the Chariot on her left arm and Strength on her right.

Death in Major Arcana doesn’t actually mean physical death. Typically, it does imply an end (a relationship, interest, or anything really, like a normal life) and implies an increased sense of self-awareness, a complete change of thinking from an old way into a new way. The deepest meaning of the card is that nothing and no one can stop change. This is her second tattoo but the first tattoo she gets on her own desire and is placed on her left tricep as that is the part of her arm that rests closest to her heart.

The Wheel of Fortune is the introduction of elements of change in the Seeker’s life (things like gaining wealth or losing it, having family or losing family, gaining the attention of a powerful Demon and being taken in and becoming much more than she was). On the top of the wheel is a sphinx, there to remind that staying stable amidst turmoil and using reasoning grants the power to change your life instead of staying at the mercy of chance. This is the third tattoo she gets, after she starts to protect Mephistopheles during his Deals and her life starts to become unbalanced and she needs to find a way to keep her feet steady.

The Chariot is about balance; the Seeker uses the energy provided from both positive and negative sources to balance and come to the correct path. If the Seeker is already balanced the Chariot calls for the Seeker to tread cautiously and wield their new power of clarity with discipline and care; reject the temptations of aggressions and look to the most peaceful route. This is the sixth and second to last tattoo she got she got it after the first big battle she was in, knowing that she would have to fight to survive but needing to remind herself that active pursuit of aggression would cause her more suffering.

Strength comes in the form of a Crowned Woman and a Lion. The Crown typically represents enlightenment and spiritual powers, with the lion representing animal passions and earthly cravings. The Woman is the balance between the two. This is her seventh and last tattoo Rook got, attempting to symbolize her reconciliation of her past and present into a peaceful future.

For the Demonic World she inhabits there are a few key things to know:

There are two levels to Demonic and Angelic, Upper and Lower. Lower Angelic and Upper Demonic are actually the same thing but don't tell Angels that (Lucifer, Azazel, Satan, and most of the Top 'Baddies' of Hell are former Angels), and so Upper Angelic sounds like indistinguishable chanting/singing, Lower Angelic/Upper Demonic sounds like harp/guitar depending on the tone used if it’s a calm and light tone it tends to be harp or light acoustic guitar but if its a harsh tone it’s heavy guitar or string stabs of a harp, and Lower Demonic sounds like animals screaming (depending on the person its a different sound Rook is a barn owl)

Rook mainly talks in Lower Demonic. Most of the Demons that she was raised around preferred to speak in Lower and not be seen as pretentious or didn’t want to invite the comparison to Angels. She does know both Upper Demonic and Upper Angelic because of some of her allies in the War for the Throne but she rarely uses them preferring to speak like her ‘Family’ does. It’s super distressing to Faith, John, and Joseph. Faith because she can almost understand without understanding and it worries her. Joseph because it’s Demonic and wouldn’t she prefer Angelic? And John because though her mouth forms words the only sound that comes out are the cries and calls of a Barn Owl and he just can’t wrap his head around it. (Rook trolls John by saying Yes like this once it’s established that she can speak it frightens and frustrates him to no end because how is he supposed to get her to confess and join the Cult so they can be Family if he can’t understand what she’s saying?) Jacob thinks she would sound cooler if it was howling and after the initial shock/unsettling sight of seeing her mouth forming words but only hearing piercing shrieks. Also if she teaches him will he sound like an owl or can he sound like a wolf? The short answer is no he won’t sound like a Wolf if Rook teaches him because her ‘accent’ as they call it comes from birds (Mephistopheles is a Peacock as would John be if he ever wanted to learn but he doesn’t, keep the Demon Tongue far away from him). However he agrees to have Rook teach him because his only option for Canine is Asmodeus, he is a Fox, and there is no way in hell he’s going to spend more time than he has to around Asmodeus. So Once he finally learns his accent is a Red Tailed Hawk.

Mephistopheles is the King of Hell, Ruler of Dis, and Chief of Destruction. Rook wasn’t the only one that helped to put him on the Throne but she was one of the things that tipped the scales heavily in his favor. This doesn’t mean that Mephistopheles is a bad guy, true he picked Rook up to use her for his own purposes but knew that kindness bred better loyalty than cruelty and set out to try and raise her. He is a Demon he doesn’t understand the basics for raising a human properly. However he does love her deeply and will kill anyone that tries to hurt her. He shows his love by letting her cuddle with him or by cuddling with her willingly. He also did the first tattoos on her body and wove a lot of protective magic into them, making her skin like light armor.

Mephistopheles doesn’t think he needs a human name but will allow people to call him ‘Phil’ if it helps the pathetic humans.

Amon is the Grand Master of Knowledge and Commander of 40 of Hell’s Legions. She’s the one that taught Rook everything she knows about magic as well as most of her knowledge of the Human World. A lot of it is outdated but it’s also more accurate than modern schooling. She tried to give Rook more human lessons but Berith and Asmodeus overrode her and pushed for more magic.

Amon currently doesn’t have a ‘Human’ name and any ideas for it would be welcomed.

Berith is the King of Wrath and General of Hell’s Armies after Mephistopheles takes over. She trained Rook and saw to it that she was strong and has a vast knowledge of combat. She is also the Master of Hounds and has a Pack of Hellhounds with her almost always.

In the Human World she goes by the name Hilda.

Asmodeus is Mephistopheles’ brother. He considers himself a dutiful uncle and tries to get Rook to loosen up and have a good time but when that fails he gives her tips on how to use her beauty to kill. He’s just kind of there and likes to hang around even though he doesn’t really do things. He likes spending time with Family though he’s loath to admit to this.

Asmodeus doesn’t have a 'Human’ name yet either so any help with him would be cool too. Remember it’s gotta be sexy and unisex because Asmodeus considered himself a him but is no opposed to taking a female form for a while and being a her.

#The Rook #Maria Seed #Some background information about her and the people/world she lives in

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writingwanderlust · 8 years ago

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Sunrise, winged-eyeliner, crybaby and because I'm a busybody, love 😂😬

YOU BROUGHT THIS ON YOURSELF

Sometimes I have a lot of words?

sunrise: pick a quote and describe what it means to you personally.

“The year of letting go, of understanding loss. Grace. Of the word ‘no’ and also being able to say ‘you are not kind’. The year of humanity/humility. When the whole world couldn’t get out of bed. Everyone I’ve met this year, says the same thing: ‘You are so easy to be around, how do you do that?’. The year I broke open and dug out all the rot with own hands. The year I learnt small talk. And how to smile at strangers. The year I understood that I am my best when I reach out and ask ‘do you want to be my friend?’ The year of sugar, everywhere. Softness. Sweetness. Honey honey. The year of being alone, and learning how much I like it. The year of hugging people I don’t know, because I want to know them. The year I made peace and love, right here.” Warsan Shire

I don’t know where to start? Not remotely? I’ve seen a lot of words, quotes, whispers of the fragility of a heart this year that strike a chord with me and how much I’ve changed but none of them quite like this one. This one is encapsulating and encompassing, this has been my story this year.

I’ve grown and broken, fallen and risen, more times than I knew I had in me this year. I’ve had to watch people I love with every part of my heart walk away more than once and not known how to begin again without them. I’ve made brief friends and friends for a lifetime. I’ve spent hours that accumulate to days reminding myself why it’s okay if it’s just me–why I do not need someone else to complete me. And I believe it, some days. I have laughed and cried with the people who mean the most to me, who I never imagined I would meet twelve months ago. I have been complimented, though rarely believing it, I’ve been sought after and sought myself, I’ve rejected and wordlessly been rejected, and it’s been hell and heaven in turn and I wouldn’t ask for this year to have gone any other way than this.

I am a world away from who I was twelve months ago, a simple 365 days, and I love who I am, who I know I can be. In this world away from who I was, from where I was, having met some of the most important people in my life, experienced things I never saw coming, and knowing that there’s a lifetime of this ahead of me if I just reach for it–I’m happy. I’m content. And I feel like this year has been the best decision of my life.

winged eyeliner: write a hundred word letter to your twelve year old self.

The funny part is that I don’t even remember where I was when I was twelve. Oh well.

Where do I start to describe what’s ahead of you? I can’t, really, because I’m scared to change a single thing that’s coming. You’re going to break your own heart over your best friend—but it won’t end you. You’re going to struggle when your path doesn’t match anyone else’s. You’re going to question why you’re even here, what is the point to you. And you’re going to make a decision that’s going to open up the world to you—a world that you belong in, with people who welcome you with open arms. Keep walking. There’s so much ahead.

cry baby: list the concerts you have been to and talk about how they make you feel.

YES MAYBE THIS WON’T NEED AN ESSAY OF AN ANSWER

I’ve really not been to many concerts at all? The two most recent were Owl City and Winter Jam.

Owl City was fun, we were in Seoul and I think it damaged my hearing a little, plus we were on a big Owl City kick at the time, but that’s really all I remember.

Winter Jam, however. I was crying. It was a collection of contemporary Christian artists and I went with a group out to see it and it was unlike anything else I’d ever experienced? I heard some of the songs that cut deep into my soul live by the artists and it brought me to my knees, in a metaphorical sense. I would love to be able to attend another concert like that one.

love: have you ever fallen in love? describe what it feels like to realize you’re in love.

At this point in my life, I don’t think I’ve ever been truly in love with someone. But, I can attempt to paint a picture as to what I think it feels like based on what I have experienced thus far.

Realizing you’re in love with someone is not the nosedive off a cliff that the movies and books make it out to be. It is a quieter, gentler turning point, when you blink and look at this person whose shoulder you have cried on, who you have laughed with and sung along with bad pop music in the car with, and you realize how important they are in your life.

I don’t see love as something that is madness, out of control, causing you to do crazy things that don’t make sense because–love is trusting. Love is relying. Love is sharing. Love is not caring that you’ve been crying for twenty minutes and normally you just burrow into a pile of blankets but you’d rather be with them instead. Love is getting pissed and walking away before you say something you don’t mean but stopping when they call your name. Love can also be letting go–knowing that you share the same kind of soul but knowing it’s too late for you to have a chance.

Love looks and feels like so many things, I think it’s hard to capture it for what it is. But sometimes, love is just laying your head on a shoulder because you know you’re safe there. Love is wanting to cuss someone out because you can’t comprehend their behavior and then wanting to cry when they explain. Love is too loud music in a beat up truck on back trails with tears in both of your eyes. Love is that last hug, that last moment before they walk out of your life and you don’t know if you’re ever going to see them again.

(The chance of love is in a night you can’t believe was real, in a simple “I’ll talk to you later”, in a trust that shouldn’t make sense but you can’t help it. There’s a maybe there.)

F R I E N D.

It’s almost 1am. I’m just. Yeah. Here’s a lot of words.

Thank you

#asks #this heart #long post #friends #maggiemasons #amber

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woodworkingpastor · 4 years ago

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A heart for those who do not yet believe, Part 2 -- Romans 10:5-15 -- August 9, 2020

Romans chapters 9-11 are probably the most challenging sections of this letter to understand and to connect to our day. They are an extended discussion of a credibility problem Paul had in his proclamation of the Gospel: why haven’t his own people believed the Gospel? Last Sunday I drew an analogy to our day in the way that the church sometimes has a credibility problem with our younger generations, in that we can appear to be more interested in keeping the peace than in speaking the truth about some of the challenging circumstances of our times. This credibility problem makes it harder for some to hear the Gospel.

Since these chapters are one long extended argument, we will continue with the idea that in the Gospel we see Jesus meeting people where they are, without filter, without any real expectation. We will see that Paul’s earlier claim that “nothing will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord also applies to those who have not yet believed in Jesus.

Concern over rules and traditions (Romans 10:5)

We pick up the argument in the middle, with Paul once again making a reference to the Old Testament law. He does something that was very popular to do—he quotes Moses, who said that righteous people will be known by their obedience to the laws God handed down when the people had recently escaped from Egypt.

That’s a really big idea, and it goes a long way in explaining why people today get so upset when you talk about taking monuments of the 10 Commandments down from public places. It acknowledges that the foundation of what we believe as a people, the solid ground upon which we have based our living, did not originate among people on earth; our faith and our ethics has a foundation in things that were handed down from heaven.

When we go a step farther and look closely at the context of those rules—the condition of the people when the rules were given—we can begin to understand even more reasons why people held on to them so strongly.

The first is the Old Testament laws communicate that God will be honored through the manner of our living. That idea is consistent throughout the Scripture. Faith that exists simply as intellectual belief is incomplete. Distinctiveness matters. God’s people will be known by the fact that our lives are different from the winds of the prevailing culture. Sometimes this will be attractive, other times it will be controversial. But the laws that Paul refer to spelled out those differences.

The second is that people needed structure to their living so they could grow into this new way of living. This also continues to be true. Our Wednesday night study of Ephesians reminded us that “by speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Ephesians 4:16).

The difficulty was that the people who were rejecting Paul’s presentation of the Gospel had come to love the rules and traditions more than they loved the one to whom the rules and traditions were to honor and glorify.

Jesus encountered this problem all the time, of course. No one would be so brazen as to admit this out loud, but that was what was going on—the elevation of the laws over the lawgiver, as if the cold, rote ability to be a rule-follower is enough to demonstrate a transformed heart.

But it gets worse; we might not realize it, but most of Jesus’s arguments with the authorities of his day were not about the rules; the arguments were on the rules about the rules. Let me explain:

Sometime when I was 5 or 6 I got a bike. This being my first bike without training wheels, I wasn’t the best bike rider in the world—I fell off it a lot. Thankfully, the street in our neighborhood ended in a cul-du-sac, so there wasn’t much traffic. There was, however, a bit more traffic at the other end of the street. So my dad had a rule: I was not allowed to ride past the driveway closest to the stop sign. His rule kept me about 10 yards or so from the intersection. Being 6 or 7, I of course thought this was the dumbest, most oppressive thing you can imagine. All my friends, after all, could ride all the way to the stop sign. But not me.

Having raised three children, you might expect my perspective on some of this has changed. But it seems like my dad’s rule was more of a rule about a rule. He didn’t want me to ride near the intersection, so he made a rule that kept me far away from it. There was nothing special about this particular driveway that became a boundary, but I most assuredly would have had my bike taken away from me if I rode past it, even though the real danger was some distance ahead.

Kids on bikes are easy enough, so let me give you another example: the so-called “Billy Graham rule” which says that men should never be alone with a woman other than their wife. I get it. Sexual misconduct is terribly damaging in every context, especially so in the church. Allegations—or even hints—of sexual misconduct can do significant damage to someone’s credibility. And so I know pastors who follow the Billy Graham rule, and I get why they do.

But I also know that sometimes women in our congregation want to meet with me in the office to talk about things, and I have to be pastor to the women just as I am pastor to the men. So it’s why I don’t follow the Billy Graham rule. But it is why I have the Property Commission trim the shrubs outside my office window to the height they are, and it’s why I included this as an illustration this morning—it seems better to talk about these things openly than have a hard and fast rule.

I assume we can see how both of these illustrations give us examples of rules that are intended as good things that help us honor Jesus and respect one another. The danger is that we end up loving the rules and traditions more than we love the Lord. This is what has happened in Paul’s day, and it kept people from understanding how someone who came to faith outside the rules and traditions of the Old Testament law could ever be faithful.

Responding to Jesus (Romans 10:6-13)

Paul’s answer to this is to say, “Don’t look for righteousness and faithfulness in all these other ways and places. Our faith is not centered in obedience to a set of rules, it is centered on a person; a person who is as close as your lips and your heart.” All that is needed is confession and belief. Call out to Jesus for help for whatever circumstance you are in; because calling out for help implies a belief that the person coming to your rescue can help.

We learn a lot about God’s love for us though the interactions Jesus had with people who came near him. Sinners and Jesus were comfortable in one another’s presence. We might expect this to be different, but it’s not.

When we’re more in love with rules than we are the giver of the rules, then rule-breakers are a problem. If there was ever going to be a person who was offended by the life choices people make, you might think it would have been Jesus. The reverse is true, too. If there would ever be someone you wanted to avoid because of your life choices, then it would be Jesus.

But this isn’t what happened in the New Testament. Sinners flocked to Jesus, and Jesus sought them out. This happened so often that Jesus had the derogatory name, “friend of sinners.”

Jesus understood that the rules God gave were meant to show people how to live, not keep people from living. Once people saw that, following him became a much easier thing to do.

The gospel tells us that we have received more grace and mercy than we can possibly imagine; now we are to extend that grace and mercy to others and invite them to follow Jesus with us.

Modern day mission

The fancy way of describing this is to say that incarnation precedes proclamation. That’s a big phrase. It means that you have to be present to be heard. Jesus was with people, demonstrating that he cared about them, establishing a relationship with them, before he proclaimed grace and salvation. He made it so people were interested in hearing what he had to say.

What does it mean for us as a congregation of God’s people to be deeply focused on the concerns about a particular place, time, people, and circumstances? How can we practice an incarnational presence in people’s lives?

Last Sunday I asked you to consider those persons who either don’t have a relationship with the church, or used to but currently do not. Today I want to think about a slightly different group of people: your extended network of friends and neighbors. For my own prayer time, I recently wrote an extended version of the Lord’s prayer, that includes praying for God’s “kingdom to come, on earth as it is in heaven” in some specific places: in this neighborhood, in your neighborhoods, in the lives of our neighbors, friends, and coworkers. I would invite you to join me in this.

What would it look like if this happened in the life of a neighbor who is lonely, or struggling with anxiety? In the life of a couple whose marriage is failing? In the life of someone who is struggling financially? In the life of someone who has been deeply hurt by the actions of another and is struggling to forgive? In the life of someone battling an addiction, or dealing with discrimination in their workplace?

What would it look like for you and I to be incarnational in those places, to come alongside people wherever they are with whatever is going on in their life because we’ve built a relationship with them, and offer to pray for what is happening, or to invite them to become part of a church family? Can we see this as our part of proclaiming the Good News of Jesus, inviting people to come along side us and be transformed in his image?

Let us pray.

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reviewape-blog · 6 years ago

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Experience God! Receive God's Presence by Repentance with Joy!

https://www.reviewape.com/?p=5400 Experience God! Receive God's Presence by Repentance with Joy! - Product Name: Experience God! Receive God’s Presence by Repentance with Joy! Click here to get Experience God! Receive God’s Presence by Repentance with Joy! at discounted price while it’s still available… All orders are protected by SSL encryption – the highest industry standard for online security from trusted vendors. Experience God! Receive God’s Presence by Repentance with Joy! is backed with a 60 Day No Questions Asked Money Back Guarantee. If within the first 60 days of receipt you are not satisfied with Wake Up Lean™, you can request a refund by sending an email to the address given inside the product and we will immediately refund your entire purchase price, with no questions asked. Description: Want more videos? Click here. Taste Heaven Now Home Page Support Page on Facebook For eBooks click here Home of: Taste Heaven Ministries! 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THANK YOU SO SO MUCH.” Email from David in QLD Australia 3/09: “I have been heavily involved in ministry in my church…I love your site…your site makes sense…..and appears one of the most significant contributions to Christian literature I have encountered and I am reasonably well read…” Email from Yolande in S. Africa 7/09: “…I have been reading some deep and exciting books by people having heavenly encounters and was crying out in my heart for foundational teaching, for I wanted this so much and wanted it practical. During a long fast, I came across your website. I have purchased your books (can recommend to every hungry soul) and have shared with others who are purely delighted at the light you bring. You are a exceptional good teacher, a pure gift from heaven, practical, grounded in the Word, spiritual and sincere, and you lay a foundation so we as the church can get more out of the literature of pioneers and ground breakers…who wets our appetites for the deepest places in God.” You are not alone! During 2005 the average number of people on this website for each day was over 584. From 12/99 through Dec. 2005 there have been 1,074,786 views to pages on this website. That number almost doubled in 2004 and it almost doubled again in 2005. Pete gave s a great testimony about God’s presence 24/7. It is above — in case you missed it. 🙂 God’s Presence by Repentance with Joy! Receive and “abide” in the presence of God by understanding with your mind, AND by teaching your heart to think differently about earthly things and about your being able to freely receive the presence of God by believing He is drawing near, because of His grace! You Can Grow Even in Difficult Areas because You Can Taste Heaven Now! Of Definitions and a Deeper Christian Life This site shows HOW TO repent by training your heart to joyfully trade earthly dependencies for receiving God’s presence intensely by His grace. The principles you find here are effective for idolatry of the heart and unwanted behaviors! It is intended as a practical way for you to experience the deeper Christian life. Repentance is more than just what you do after you do something wrong. Repentance is a biblical practicean activity that describes something you can do for great personal growth and change. In biblical terms, repentance means to change your mind about sin and about God. More simply stated “repentance with joy” means to change how you think and to feel joy because of it. The word repentance is used most of the time where we are to change our mind after sin. But in my search I saw this verse: “…If you return to the Lord with all your heart, remove the foreign gods…from among you and direct your hearts to the Lord…He will deliver you…” (1 Sam. 7:3). To me, “directing our heart toward God,” sounds like a repentance where we “change our mind” about sin and about God, BEFORE we do something wrong. So on this website and in my books, I use the word “repentance” in a broad sense rather than the strict definition. I do that because repentance is the word that most accurately describes what you get when you try to fit everything together that the Bible says about growth toward God. It is in that sense that I am saying we should repent. The way I see it, we are to repent so as to remove the obstacles that keep us from abiding in Christ. Doing this, involves getting our heart to hear the truth of the scriptures so that God can use His word to change us from the inside out. Much with us has to change but thinking about repentance this way makes actually doing it realistic. Deep level change isn’t going to happen just because you know something in your head. Being effective at “changing your mind” requires taking steps to train your heart that it is right, good, and safe to turn and draw near to God. You have to take steps to calm your fears and build your faith. You have to become a teacher and your own heart has to become your student. By this, you can change from the inside out. Mostly, this site is for Christians who want to experience God’s presence more fully and intensely. It is for Christians who want to “abide in Christ” in a deeper way. But it is not just for Christians because the information here is practical for those who want freedom from unwanted behaviors. These principles are effective and work well. Repentance should be as important a practice to your Christian life as prayer or reading the Bible. It can help you just as much. The Benefits of Repentance The benefits of repentance are many. The Bible says, “…repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). The benefits of repentance are that you find freedom from unwanted and sinful behaviors, damaging pursuits, harmful reactions, long term addictions, co-dependence. You even find freedom from subtle sins of the heart. But that isn’t all. You also experience a “refreshing” from the “presence of the Lord.” By repenting so as to experience God’s presence, your single-hearted love and devotion toward God will increase greatly. Abiding in Christ becomes realistic. The deeper Christian life becomes practical. This site shows you how. When I talk about repentance it is always a repentance that is toward abiding in Christ. By “abiding” I believe the Bible means we are to stay inside the presence of God. Christians have Christ inside them but we are also told to “abide in Him.” I think this means we are to stay inside the radiant presence of Christ — 24 hours-a-day. By this we “…walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light…” (1John 1:7). To me, abiding in the presence of God is the same thing as abiding in the presence of the kingdom of God. We abide in Christ by repentance that removes obstacles so we can draw near to God, learn to stay there, and learn to let Him draw near and stay near to us. Understanding your thirsty desires for God and how to repent makes abiding in Christ realistic for anyone. Everything that I write is toward this end. On this website and in the ebooks I use the words “drinking from God” to also mean “feeding” on Him. To me drinking from God is the same thing as receiving His presence or letting God draw near to us. Learning to drink from God is important because without learning to actually receive His presence we can’t abide in Christ. It is by learning to keep on drinking like a branch on a tree that we abide inside the presence of God all the time. Doing this is realistic for you. On this website and in the ebooks I explain how we drink from earthly things and how you can reapply those same principles to God. I explain these things in practical ways so that you can do them. Why You Can Change We keep doing what we don’t want to do because of the “benefits” we gain from the behavior. Even though the behavior may hurt us greatly, it reassures us, makes us feel strong, or secure in some way. Repentance lets you trade earthly dependencies for God’s presence! The reason you can change is because of God’s abundant grace to draw near to you! When God’s presence pours through you, your longings are filled more deeply and more pleasurably than anything this life has to offer. Do you have a behavior you want to change? Repenting by turning to God as what reassures you and soothes you when you hurt. Doing so can help you grow even in areas that have been difficult for you to change! Are you a Christian who doesn’t have any major or obvious sins? This site can help you experience God’s presence more fully. It will help you understand and repent of the hidden idolatry of your heart. It is just that the benefits of deep level repentance are so great, that it corrects more obvious sins too. The Whole Thing in Three Sentences The repentance that I will help you with is the path to the deeper Christian life. It is a repentance that changes your behavior because it changes how you think in your heart. I will be teaching you how to joyously repent from seeking to receive earthly glory for yourself to a place of seeking and receiving the presence of God. I will be teach you practical ways of how you can actually receive the kingdom of God and abide in Christ here. Everything that I write about is “to the end that we…would be to the praise of His glory” (Eph 1:12). Doing that means that we first have to repent from living to the praise of OUR glory. Why You Need this Information You need the information on this site because it isn’t obvious how to direct your heart away from earthly sources and toward Godour fears, hurts, and disbelief are too great. Most Christians today are not even conscious of when they are working to fill their longing for God apart from Him. If you were aware, it is also likely that you would try to repent in ways that would be ineffective and damaging. I will show how you can be effective at removing the obstacles preventing you from turning and drawing near to God. It is time for radical change! You need instruction and you need the Heart-training the areas in your heart that need to be addressed are deep and well hidden. This site will show you how to turn to God in ways that are more complete than what you may have ever thought was even possible. You can enjoy a deeper Christian life! I give a lot of instruction here but I don’t give away the material that I call Heart-training. You will have to buy that. Are you in a country where online purchases are difficult or impossible? Then email me and I can give you the Heart-training for free. For the rest of you please support this ministry by purchasing the materials. Regardless of how you get the Heart-training please don’t dismiss the importance of the Heart-training in your pilgrimage with God. Why You Can Repent With Joy! Jesus endured the cross for the joy set before Him (Heb. 12:2). We should follow His example. Repent with joy because of God’s grace to draw near to you without His holding back! Rejoice your heart to believing that when you draw near to God, He will draw near to you (James 4:8)! More is realistic and possible! The practical reasons you can repent and turn more fully to God are because of His grace. The earthly substitutions we make for God are always close to us. You can repent because God wants to be God to you. He wants to be close to you, intensely! The Bible tells us, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). The faith that pleases God believes that when you come near to God, He rewards you with His presence by also drawing near to you! Earthly substitutions for God’s presence are totally unnecessary. You just need to learn how to work with your heart until you find freedom to act because of greater faith trust toward God. By applying the principles and using the tools given here, you can experience God’s presence flowing around and through you 24 hours-a-day! Don’t be alarmed by the amount of material you find on this site. Large portions of 3 eBooks are on these pages. If you get frustrated by not remembering what you have read and what you haven’t, you may find it easier to go to the books and materials page and down load this information in book form. It will take effort on your part to direct your heart toward God, but you can do it! I will show you how. You Can experience a deeper Christian life! Would you like me to teach at your church or gathering? Contact me by email. I would like to speak to your group about “How to Love God More.” [email protected] For eBooks click here New page added late 2014 about the mountain of God. 6 / 2015, a new update to the Heart-training is now available! = 3 )) || ((navigator.appName == "Microsoft Internet Explorer") && (parseInt(navigator.appVersion) >= 4 ))); function MSFPpreload(img) { var a=new Image(); a.src=img; return a; } // --> Email from Saningo, Kenya. 2015: “…your website-especially articles, why repent and how to repent my life completely changed after reading and ask God forgiveness. Im now converted believer and waiting Jesus to come. Please accept my heartfelt thanks for being a part of my life and leading me to know Jesus and received salvation assurance. Im sharing the articles with many here and hope eventually the message will bear fruits of repentance…” Email from Chrissy in Texas, USA 7/15: “I want to tell you that I think your website and the things taught here are absolutely wonderful biblical and incredible. It’s helping me very very much. This is so needed. I pray God will bless your ministry. it’s absolutely fantastic. You are on the right track. This message message of grace desperately needs to be heard. thank you.” Email from Tienie in S. Africa 10/08: “I have read most of the info on your website. It is very practical and easy to understand. In the past few years I have read a few books on the subject ”Living in the presence of God”. Those books all date back to the 1600 and 1700.Molinos(The Spiritual Guide) ,Guyon (Experiencing the depths of Jesus Christ), Brother Lawrence (Practicing His Presence). Your material is much more understandable and usable…” I am praying for the Lord’s abundant blessing on your efforts to direct your heart toward Him. Support Page on Facebook Repentance = change how your heart thinks Home page for how to do that! E-mail the Author… (C) Barry Hall 1999 Information on this site may be reproduced for personal or for instructional purposes if it is not being used for resale. If a page is distributed for instructional purposes, the web address must be included. Printed quotes must include the authors name and the web address. Quotes for use in publications intended for resale need the written permission of the author. All rights reserved. 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johnchiarello · 8 years ago

Text

Easter

EASTER-

John 14:6

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

https://youtu.be/EpD1y5avjJo Easter

https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2017/04/4-16-17-easter.zip

https://ccoutreach87.com/4-16-17-easter/

ON VIDEO-

.Laptop- Gas- Bathroom

. ‘Your own prophets convinced me!’

.Apologists- Historians too

.Josephus

.Are we the only exclusive religion?

.Pluralism

.3 world religions

.Why bunnies and eggs?

.Christmas too

.Rome in the 4th century

.Islam

.Christianity rooted in historical fact [not dreams or visions]

.The Turban

.Jesus coming ‘now’ and later

.Stephen Hawking

.Ex nihilo nihil fit

NEW- [Past teachings- verses below]

Today I covered the message from Church Unlimited- and shared some about Easter- Resurrection.

The thing that distinguishes Christianity from the other religions of the world- is Christianity is founded upon an historical event-

The actual resurrection of Jesus from the dead-

1Corinthians 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

1Corinthians 15:2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

1Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

1Corinthians 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

1Corinthians 15:5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:

1Corinthians 15:6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

This can be shown not only thru the testimony of scripture- but also from the historians that wrote at the time of Christ.

Josephus being one of the most notable.

In Christianity we do find supernatural things- visions- angels- God speaking to people thru dreams.

And yes- other religions claim their founders had those experiences too.

Yet- that is not the foundation of the church.

The foundation is Jesus being crucified- buried- and rising again on the 3rd day.

The apostle Paul even says-

Galatians 1:8

But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

Yes- Paul himself- who encountered Jesus on the Damascus road-

He saw the light shining on him and his companions-

Acts 9:3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

Acts 9:4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

Acts 9:5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

Acts 9:6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

Acts 9:7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.

There was the voice of the Lord speaking to him on that day.

He later would use this experience as proof of his apostleship- saying he too saw the Lord-

1 Corinthians 9:1

Am I am not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord?

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

This meeting on the Damascus road was a meeting with the risen Christ.

I also mentioned the various views Christians have on celebrating Easter- Christmas- etc.

Most of us realize these particular days were pagan- before the church ‘took them’.

For those who do not celebrate these days- for that reason- that’s fine.

Paul gave us grace in these areas-

Romans 14:5

One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

For those who do celebrate them- that’s fine too.

In a way- God ‘took’ those days from the pagan world- and 'redeemed’ them for us.

Yes- to me- that’s a God thing.

Either way- we as believers embrace the reality of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

And we await his appearing- the 2nd time.

Amen

PAST POSTS- [My past teachings that relate to bible books I quoted on today’s video- or subjects I mentioned]

https://ccoutreach87.com/john-complete-links-added/

https://ccoutreach87.com/galatians-links/

https://ccoutreach87.com/islam/

https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/04/18/acts-9/

https://ccoutreach87.com/hebrews-updated-2015/

https://ccoutreach87.com/james-2015/

https://ccoutreach87.com/overview-of-philosophy/

(1406) ‘Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him man. For he was a doer of wonderful works…this man was the Christ, and when Pilate had condemned him to the Cross, upon his impeachment by the principle man among us, those who had loved him from the first did not forsake him, for he appeared to them alive on the third day, the divine prophets haven spoken these and thousands of other wonderful things about him. And even now, the race of Christians, so named from him, has not died out’- Josephus, Antiquities, 18.3.3 [1st century historian] A few months ago while surfing the internet, I stumbled across an interesting apologetic ministry, I forget the brothers name but he had a well developed radio and on line ministry. They had lots of great tools for people who wanted to learn good teaching, historic stuff and all. But I also noticed that they were very anti charismatic, to the point where I felt they weren’t being honest with both scripture and church history in their view of non charismatic stuff, it was also the time of the Todd Bentley situation in Lakeland Fla. I mean they left him no room at all, he was branded an unbelieving heretic thru and thru [I personally had lots of problems with the Lakeland thing, but still pray for Todd and his situation]. Within a week or so of finding the site, the ministry folded and the main teacher got divorced, I thought it odd that they were up and running for many years, and I just happened to stumble across them at the end of their career. One of the things that I have found troubling over the years is the inability of certain believers to ‘judge righteous judgment’ the bible says of Jesus that he will not judge by outward appearances, but he sees the true motives. Often times the charismatic expression of Christianity will write off all reproof as ‘those unbelieving intellectuals’ they see that their critics willfully reject the portions of scripture that speak of supernatural stuff, and they simply think that all the critics are blind; they don’t ‘see’ the truth. Then at the same time when trying to deal with other real problems [like the unbalanced prosperity gospel] they too think the critics just don’t ‘see’ the truth about prosperity, so they write the critics off. In general this type of thing happens all the time in the Body of Christ. Josephus gave us an historical account of the reality of Jesus and his movement; he based his account on factual evidence, not fairy tales! Josephus was a true historian who had little gain from making up a story that could be proven false; it would damage his reputation among the Roman elites if he did that. But he, like many others, looked at the evidence and was open minded, he came to the conclusion that the historical resurrection did actually take place in time, though it was a supernatural event, yet it passed the smell test of historical inquiry. The above apologist seemed to be a good man, he left no room open for the possibility of certain charismatic gifts as being legitimate for our day, he rejected the supernatural aspect of the gifts of the Spirit. And many who hold to the reality of the gifts, these often have little education in the other areas that they are not focused on, they too leave the door wide open to much unbalanced stuff. As the historical people of God, a true worldwide movement that the historians look at, they will know we are Christians by our love; as we correct and reprove each other, we need to make sure that we are doing it in love.

[parts]

[1661] THE FIG TREE

Let’s do a little more on Eschatology [end times stuff] today. Over the last few weeks these things have been in the news because of the Harold Camping prediction and you have heard various news folk- as well as believers giving their slant to all the popular verses that deal with the subject.

Some media people were quoting ‘no one knows when the last day will happen- not even the Son, only God’. Then you have had a few other popular verses seep into the flow. The main portions of the bible that deal with the end times are Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21. John’s gospel does not have an ‘end times’ discourse- possibly because he covers the subject in length in the book of Revelation.

The main gospel on the subject is Matthew- Mark’s gospel seems to be a shorter compilation possibly taken from Matthew. By ‘taken’ I mean Mark was a scribe/recorder- he was the personality we see in the book of Acts- John Mark. If you remember- he had a falling out with the Apostle Paul and Mark ‘went home’ while Paul took Silas and they embarked on the great missionary journeys of the Apostle.

You don’t hear that much about Mark after the ‘falling out’ but we know that Mark would later pen the 2nd gospel and he was also a recorder [secretary] for the Apostle Peter [might be important to remember this- if I get to it?]

So anyway mark seems to have borrowed from Matthew [some scholars think the familiarity between the gospels should be attributed to another unknown common source- referred to as Q- I prefer to simply see it as the writers being familiar with what the other writers were writing- and in the 1st century you did not have Plagiarism as we do today- where it would be illegal to copy something verbatim from another writer- that’s why Mark- who also probably penned 2nd Peter- not as a Plagiarist who used Pseud-epigraphy- writings by authors who pretended to be someone else- but as a scribe who was familiar with the other source documents of the time. 2nd Peter has come under scrutiny because chapter 2 seems to have borrowed heavily from the letter of Jude. At some spots it looks like a direct copy. But as Peter’s scribe- it would not have been out of the ordinary to have included- verbatim- a passage from Jude and to have attributed the entire letter to Peter. Or Peter might have simply been familiar with Jude's letter and it would not have been wrong according to 1st century writing standards to have done this. But skeptics in our day try to use this to say the bible is a forgery- so that’s why it’s important to be familiar with the debate and to have a good response.]

Okay-lets at least try and start a little end times stuff. Matthews 24 begins with Jesus and the disciples walking away from the Temple and Jesus says ‘see all these buildings- truly I tell you that there will not be left one stone on top of another’.

The disciples then ask Jesus ‘when will this happen- and what will be the sign of the end of the age/world, and the sign of your coming’. Now- this sets the stage for the entire scope of the answer. Jesus told them one thing ‘the temples coming down some day’ and they ask a few things.

Some scholars believe that the entire answer Jesus gives- about the end of the world and the coming tribulation- some teach that all these things did happen by A.D. 70- that’s when the Roman general Titus [future emperor] attacked the city of Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. Jesus prediction about ‘one stone not being left on another’ was fulfilled to the tee because the temple stones were overlaid with Gold and the looters burned the stones to melt the gold and in the process they literally laid every stone out.

In the Matthew discourse Jesus also warned the disciples that ‘when you see these things beginning to happen- let those in the city flee to the mountains’. As Titus made his way towards Jerusalem some early communities took his words literally and did use the mountains as a place for protection. The community at Qumran hid their writings in ‘the mountains’ that overlooked the Dead Sea- some 2 thousand years later these writings [scrolls] would be discovered- those are the Dead Sea Scrolls of today- one of the greatest archaeological finds of history.

And there were Jewish believers at Jerusalem who did indeed flee to the mountains and they escaped the slaughter. So there certainly were things that Jesus spoke about in his 'end times’ teaching that were fulfilled in the 1st century.

But what about the other famous portions? As various media persons were quoting a few famous parts of this discourse [this is the 4th famous discourse known as the Olivet discourse in Matthew- 5 famous long sections of Jesus’ teaching] it would help us to know the entire context of the discourse [which includes chapter 25 by the way].

One of the famous verses is ‘when you see the fig tree putting forth leaves- you know that summer is near- so when you see these signs you know the end is near’. In American evangelicalism this verse has been made popular by men like Hal Lindsay who teach that the fig tree is ALWAYS a symbol for the nation of Israel and therefore Jesus was saying that when Israel becomes a nation again [which happened in 1948] that within ‘a generation’ the end will happen.

This view uses a few other verses to come to this conclusion. Jesus famous ‘this generation will not pass away until all these things happen’ and a few other scriptures. Simply reading the chapter in context does not seem to be saying this at all. The parallel passage in Luke says ‘and all the trees’. It seems like Jesus is simply saying ‘just like when you see a tree blossom- so when you see these signs know that the time is near’.

There really is nothing in the actual text to indicate that this is speaking about 1948. But because of these verses having been used like this many preachers have tried to date the coming of Christ within ‘the generation’ from1948. Lindsey put out a book saying that 1988 was a ‘special time’ why 88? 1988 was 40 years [biblical generation] from 1948. Then some changed the biblical generation to 70 years- which makes this decade real important.

The problem with all these dates is there based on a faulty premise- that Jesus was saying that within a generation of the ‘fig tree blooming’ the 2nd coming will take place- he never said that. As far as I can tell 1948 plays no significant role. Of course Israel becoming a nation again at that time was a great thing- but as a date to begin setting off some type of spiritual clock- that’s not in the bible.

Okay- maybe I’ll do a few more of these over the next few days. Try and read these chapters the next few days and get a feel for the overall meaning [the context] when we become familiar with the overall meaning of the passage- it keeps us from getting lost in the Fig Tree ones.

www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com

[parts]

[1643] THE LAST MEAL-

Let’s try and cover the Passover story today. Being we are in Holy Week I thought the story- and what it means- would be helpful. In the Old Testament we read the story in the book of Exodus. Those of you who are not bible readers, just think of Charlton Hesston in the classic movie ‘the 10 commandments’.

The history is the Jewish people were living in Egypt for around 430 years and Pharaoh was oppressing them. They were in bondage- literally- they were the slave work force of the nation. The people cry out to God and God sends them a deliverer [savior]. Moses was ‘secretly’ a Jew- though brought up in Pharaohs house [like Jesus- many do not recognize his real identity- Messiah].

Moses is used by God to judge Egypt. God sends 10 plagues on the nation and the last plague was the worst. Moses told Pharaoh if you do not free the people God will cause all the 1st born children to die. The oldest son in each house would die- from Pharaohs house to the lowest slave. Now- how did the Jewish people escape this judgment? God told Moses to tell the people the night before the judgment- they were to take a lamb and kill it and eat it [not the blood] and put the blood over the door posts- sort of in the sign of the Cross- the blood went on top and on the 2 sides of the doorway. And when the Death Angel passes thru Egypt- when God sees the blood he will ‘pass over’ that house- Walla- that’s where the name Pass Over comes from.

Now- sure enough the plague happened and Pharaohs oldest died as well as the oldest child in all the Egyptian homes. Pharaoh calls Moses and they say ‘quick go- get the h-ll out- before we all die’. The bible says they urged them to go. Well you know the rest of the story.

Now after this great deliverance God tells the people to keep this event as an everlasting memorial- a holiday for the rest of their lives. So for over 3400 years [give or take a few] the Jewish people have kept this feast. Now, when Jesus came on the scene in the 1st century- as a good Jewish boy he too kept this feast. The Feast itself was called the Feast of Unleavened Bread- but it is also referred to as the Passover feast. Technically the Passover meal kicks off the Feast.

So Jesus arrives in the 1st century and John the Baptist recognizes that Jesus is the Messiah who was to come. John calls him The Lamb of God at his baptism in the Jordan. So Jesus carries out his Messianic ministry with his men and he does all these wonderful miracles- raising the dead- multiplying the loaves and fish- you know the story. But every now and then he drops these weird hints- things that totally confuse the disciples. One time he says ‘now I go to Jerusalem to be crucified as it was foretold’ and Peter says ‘no way Lord- God forbid it’. Jesus replies ‘get behind me satan- for you care more about the things of men then the things of God’.

It’s interesting to note that this rebuke of Peter came right after his great confession of Jesus as the Christ. So Jesus drops hints [and open messages!] that he will die for the nation/world. Even the Jewish high priest at the time said ‘it is expedient that one man die for the nation instead of the whole nation being judged’. This is recorded in John’s gospel and John says the priest was prophesying the truth- though the priest thought he was speaking politically- that the death of Jesus would get the heat off of them for the time being- yet the priest did not realize what he was truly saying.

So as the events of ‘Holy Week’ draw near- Jesus takes his men and they go to a special place to have one last meal with Jesus- the famous Passover meal. Jesus says he really looked forward to this meal with his men. Now, Jesus knows that he himself is the fulfillment of all the slain lambs that have come down thru the centuries. He sits with his men and takes the bread and says ‘this is my Body that is broken for you’ and he takes the cup of wine and says ‘This is my Blood’.

Now- today I want to share something I never heard taught before- so to all my blog readers you might get in on a cutting edge truth. In the Jewish religion they did not drink the blood- most bible teachers know why this is- the bible says the life of the flesh is in the blood. So when Jesus told them in John’s gospel ‘unless you drink my Blood and eat my flesh you have no life’ this was a highly offensive statement to the Jewish mind- many followers walked away at that point [John chapter 6]. So the significance of the Old Testament prohibition on drinking blood was in fact pointing to a future Lamb [Jesus] whose Blood you could drink- or it was saying in symbol form ‘look- the life is in the blood- therefore you will not have true life until the day comes when you will drink the blood of a Lamb- the Lamb of God’ got it? [note- most bible teachers know this- I just never read anyone make the connection that the reason blood was prohibited to drink was because there would be a future day when Blood would be accepted- the prohibition was to point to this very thing!]

So Jesus eats the Passover with his men and he readies himself for the Cross. Our Jewish friends [Pope Benedict refers to them as our elder brothers] celebrate this great meal to this day. Christians celebrate its fulfillment every Sunday as churches all across the world hold communion services. To my Catholic friends- this is what the priest quotes at every Mass. Around 3400 years ago Moses told the people if they put the blood on the door they would be saved- the judgment would Pass Over them- all these years later we still have the promise of the Blood of Jesus.

As this Holy Week progresses- many Christians will attend church this Sunday- some are like The Donald- they attend on Christmas and Easter- but still- thank God they go! Whatever group you are in- pay special attention to the communion meal- mediate on the importance of what the meal means- enter in to the reality of Jesus being our Pass Over sacrifice [1st Corinthians 5] and remember the words of Jesus in John chapter 6 ‘Moses did not give you the real bread of God from heaven- you ate the Manna under Moses- and died. Whoever eats my Body will live forever’ Hail to the King.

www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com

[parts]

CHAPTER 10:

‘For the law having a SHADOW of good things to come, AND NOT the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshipers once purged should have no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year’. Paul shows how the simple fact of ongoing sacrifices in and of itself testifies of the insufficiency of the law. The on going sacrifices were a reminder that the peoples sins were still there. If the sacrifices really worked, then why do it over and over again every year? He will contrast this with the singular sacrifice of Christ. The fact that Jesus did it once shows the superiority of his sacrifice over the law.

‘Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. THEN SAID HE, lo, I come to do thy will O God. ABOVE WHEN HE SAID sacrifice and offering…THEN HE SAID, lo, I come to do thy will O God. He taketh away the first that he may establish the second’ Here Paul uses the actual order of the verses in Psalms to prove that the Old law will pass away and a New covenant will replace it. The fact that David [Psalms] says ‘sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared for me’ in this order shows that God always planned on taking away the sacrificial system and replacing it with Christ [or fulfilling it!] So even in the simple prophetic order of these statements Paul sees the Old law passing away and a new one being instituted. Wow again!

‘By the which will we are sanctified thru the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all. And every high priest STANDETH daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, SAT DOWN on the right hand of God’ The comparison here is that the priests under the law stood, showing their sacrifices were never sufficient, they could never say ‘it is finished’. The fact that they stood while offering sacrifices showed the incompleteness of the system. Jesus sat down. This showed that his sacrifice was once and for all. Now, no where does scripture teach this concept between ‘sitting and standing’. Where does Paul get this stuff from? From ‘revelation’, that is God is supernaturally showing this stuff to Paul as he writes. This is the prophetic element of scripture. While we don’t ‘write scripture’ any more today, there are still lots of hidden meanings that we don’t fully see yet. It is the job of the Holy Spirit to ‘bring to our remembrance all the things that Jesus taught us’ [also all the things about Jesus!] So when you read the Old Testament, look for Jesus! He is there in more ways than you realize.

‘For by ONE offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us [of what? Of the singularity of Christ’s offering. The fact that the Holy Spirit thru Jeremiah prophesied that God would never remember our sins any more speaks to the truth of the one offering of Christ, we will read ‘if there is no more remembrance, then there is no more sacrifice’] this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin’. Do you see the point Paul is making? It is common for preachers and Christians to read these letters and to simply glean practical truths from them. That’s OK. But like I said in the introduction, when you see these things in context, then you can still make practical application, plus you are seeing the relevance behind the teaching. The practical part of this is ‘wow, God will not bring my sins back up into remembrance before his face!’ Now that’s practical!

‘Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest [true holy place, that is Gods presence in the throne room] by the BLOOD OF JESUS, by a new and living way[ the early Christians were at times called ‘the way’] which he hath consecrated for us, thru the veil, that is to say his flesh’ We now have total access to the Father thru the Son. This is the ONLY WAY man can have this access! It is common today to teach a type of pluralism that says ‘all religions will eventually lead us to God’ some will lead straight to hell! Sorry. The only way to the Father is thru the Son. God ordained it to be so. Don’t fight over it, God says ‘come freely’ those who don’t come, they will never GET THERE! Jesus flesh is called the ‘veil’. During the crucifixion the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom. Most believers know the significance of this. I would submit to you that when the scripture says ‘the veil was ripped’ that it was not only speaking of the actual veil that was in the temple on that day, but it was also prophetically speaking of the true veil, Jesus Body, that was being torn apart on the Cross.

The veil of the temple not only restricted access for man coming to God, but it also separated God from the true community of people. The tearing of the veil [Jesus body] not only allowed man to have access to Gods presence in heaven, but it also opened the door for the Spirit of God to tabernacle with men on the day of Pentecost. After the tearing of Jesus flesh [which Jesus is also called the door] it is like a door opened, both letting man into the presence of God, as well as ‘letting’ God tabernacle with men [note- Jesus ‘Emmanuel’ was ‘God with us’ so in a sense God was already tabernacling among men thru Christ, but at Pentecost God ‘spread’ this ‘tabernacling’ to a community with worldwide potential, as Christians would increase thru out the ages, so would Gods presence increase as he dwells in men. Thus the Kingdom starts small, like a little leaven, and before you know it the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of the Lord. It culminates at the second coming of Christ].

‘And having an high priest over the house of God [remember, even though in Hebrews Paul speaks of heaven itself as the tabernacle, yet he also told the Jews ‘who’s house are we, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end’] let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water [baptism]. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering [for he is faithful that promised] and let us provoke one another to love and good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another…’

A few things here. First, Paul is exhorting them to ‘get washed in pure water’ [baptism]. Remember, some of the recipients of this letter were believing in the message as Paul preached it as he traveled thru their cities, others were still on the edge. In this chapter it seems as if he is saying ‘some of you who have heard and seen all of these things, it’s time to make the decision to go all the way. Others have made a good profession, you too need to stick with the message’. Now, to those who would ‘revert’ back to the law, after they ‘received’ the truth, Paul says there is only judgment down the road. Even though they heard and the message reached them. Even though Paul presents the gospel in a way that says ‘you are all sanctified’ yet there was always the danger of apostasy. Those who believe you can lose your salvation [Arminians] take these verses and say ‘see, those who were once sanctified, if they sin, they face judgment’. I have actually viewed this chapter in different ways in the past. I never saw it as the Arminians, but I have debated over whether or not Paul was saying ‘now that you are believers, don’t think you can get away with sin, remember there is only one sacrifice, if you keep sinning God will judge you’ [not hell, but chastening]. But I have come to view it more along the lines of ‘those of you who are still in transition, you have made a good profession, Jesus blood has sanctified everyone [in a sense] so if you continue to sin [go back to the old system that taught that continual sin was part of the plan. Remember, the law made provision for continual sinning. This worldview of sin and judgment was unique to the Jewish community of the day.

It really should have been easier to convert Israel, they already had a ‘Jewish’ world view. But one of the dangers of this world view was they had provision for ongoing sin. The idea of ‘continuing to sin’ was engrained in their culture. Paul is warning them that in Christ the fact that there is only one sacrifice means you cant still live with the worldview of ‘I will continue to sin’] In essence Paul seems to be saying ‘if you continue to sin, and think that the Cross is like the old system, then you are fooling yourselves. The fact that the Cross happened only once means that it is sufficient to truly cleanse you once and for all from your sin’ to those who wanted to keep sinning, because it was fun, Paul says ‘watch out, judgment awaits’. So in keeping with what I showed you in chapter 6, I see this chapter continuing to appeal to Jews, some who have even made an initial profession, but he still had to warn them about going back to their old way of continuing to sin. Remember, there were many who were preaching that the law was still necessary for salvation, Paul is telling them it isn’t.

‘For if we sin willfully [something that was expected under the law, that’s why they had all the sacrifices!] after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries. He that despised Moses law died without mercy under 2 or 3 witnesses: of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?’ Once again Paul contrasts the severity of the law to the New Covenant. Remember how earlier Paul showed that those who ‘neglect so great a salvation’ have more to worry about than those who rejected ‘the word of angels’ [law] Here Paul again says ‘Those who disrespected the old system died without mercy, how much worse shall it be for those who disrespect the blood of the everlasting covenant’ I see this being directed at those who never fully convert to Christ.

While Gods discipline is also harsh on believers who continue to live in rebellion [Corinthians] this language is never used of believers. So Paul is saying ‘beware, if you decide to walk away from all that has been presented to you, you will bear a much harsher punishment than those who sinned under the law’. What was the punishment of those who sinned under law? They died. What is the punishment of those who reject so great salvation? Eternal judgment. Let me add a note about ‘not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together’. It is common to use this verse to defend ‘Sunday church’ a lot of times it is used in this way to fight against the house church movement. What is the context here? The Jews already met together regularly before they believed in Christ. They had both temple and synagogue. Paul is simply saying ‘after you convert, keep getting together’ this is not a verse for defending Sunday church! [It is OK to go to church on Sunday]. ‘For we know him that hath said, vengeance belongeth unto me…the Lord shall judge his people’ In context, remember how I already showed you that ‘his people’ and ‘holy brethren’ and other terms like this in Hebrews can be speaking of 1st century Israel in transition? They were still considered ‘his people’ at the time the gospel was presented to them. Ultimately when they rejected Christ they would lose that designation, but many of the terms in this letter speak to Israel this way. So ‘his people’ can most definitely describe believers. But in context in this letter it more than likely is saying ‘don’t forget Israel, God does judge his people. So don’t think that your natural heritage of ‘being his people’ will get you out of the crunch this time!’

The Jews were always appealing to their privileged position with God ‘we have Abraham as our father’ they would always appeal to their ‘pure’ orthodox heritage, here Paul says ‘God will judge all of us based on what we do with his Son, even ‘his people’! ‘For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods’ many of the Jews who were embracing Paul’s message did suffer persecution. Historically we know many of them were plundered. They lost their goods! It’s funny, Paul doesn’t say ‘get back what the enemy stole from you’ [though you can!] but he says ‘don’t worry about the loss of your wealth and stuff, you have a better inheritance of eternal things in heaven’. Most modern preaching doesn’t even think about this. We are so consumed with preaching a gospel that says ‘come to Jesus and you will be rich’ that we never even give a second thought to these verses. We will read in the next chapter how Moses ‘forsook the pleasures of Egypt so he could bear reproach with Gods people’. Now I know that when they fled God gave ‘the treasures back’ but the point was Moses went thru a period of leaving all of it behind for a higher calling. Don’t always tell people [to you preachers!] that the wealth of the world is waiting at your doorstep if you receive Christ. They might be on the verge of ‘getting their goods spoiled’ for a season knowing that in heaven they have a better and enduring substance.

‘NOW THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH, but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him’. In the original bible you didn’t have chapter divisions. Sometimes the divisions interfere with the meaning of the text. It is important to see that right before Hebrews 11, Paul makes this famous statement on justification by faith! He will go into chapter 11 with this theme in mind. We often read chapter 11 as believers and see the great stories in it of the heroes of the faith, but this is not the primary reason for the chapter. The main reason is for Paul to make the case of law versus grace. He has just spent 10 chapters explaining the superiority of grace over law. Now he will show Israel that all of the great heroes of the faith PLEASED GOD BY FAITH! He will be laying out a grand overview of the great Old Testament figures and be saying THEY ALL RECEIVED A GOOD REPORT [JUSTIFIED] BY FAITH.

It is real important for you to see this as we head into the chapter. When you read it with this in mind, then you begin to focus in on the statements of faith in a different way. While chapter 11 will give all believers a great boost in faith, the primary reason behind it is to say to Israel ‘look, all of our great forefathers [and fore mothers!] pleased God by faith, not the works of the law. Some of them were even law breakers! [Rahab, Samson] yet they were JUSTIFED [pleased God] by faith!’ Well, lets get into the chapter before I preach the whole thing right here.

CHAPTER 11: [see commentary on Acts 21]

‘Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, FOR BY IT THE ELDERS OBTAINED A GOOD REPORT [JUSTIFIED]’ This is the key verse to the chapter. Paul will go on to prove that all the Old Testament figures that ‘pleased God’ did it by faith, and not by works! ‘Through faith WE UNDERSTAND that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear’ Faith is not ‘blind’. It informs and gives understanding. This understanding is real! Let me show you what I mean. All of the universe and creation had a beginning point. Science did not always know or believe this. Today science teaches this. It is called ‘the point of singularity/density’. Science has traced back the origins of all things and has found scientific evidence to prove that all things had a ‘beginning point’. Now if you were to ask science ‘what did you have right before the beginning point’? They are stumped. Some of course believe in God and will boldly proclaim him at this point. To the others they can not answer this question. Why? Because they realize, thru science, that matter is not infinite.

Some have theorized that either all things always existed [which science has now disproved] or that at one point nothing existed [which science also teaches that if this were true then you would have nothing today. You can not get something from nothing!] So all true science has gone back to this ‘point of singularity’ and can not see what is right before ‘the point’. The Christian ‘sees’ God at this point! He ‘understands’ that by necessity there has to have been something that existed before creation, science teaches this. This something can not have been created also, because then where did the ‘being’ who created ‘it’ come from? So science teaches us that whoever got the ball rolling [Saint Thomas Aquinas calls this the ‘prime mover’] had to have been preexistent/ self existent in order to have done it. And we know that creation couldn’t have done it by itself, so therefore all reasoning and understanding leave us at the philosophical point of ‘there had to have been something/someone who existed forever in order for anything to be today’. So now you see how ‘by faith we understand that all things that now exist were brought into existence by someone who we can not see’. FAITH UNDERSTANDS!

As we go thru the rest of this chapter I want you to focus in on all the references of justification by faith. You will be surprised [I think?] on how many examples Paul gives to Israel from their own history [his too!] on God justifying people by faith. I will also try and show you [if I remember] how this chapter links the division between Paul’s epistles to the gentiles [Romans, Galatians] with James letter to the Jews. James was one of the lead Apostles at Jerusalem [Acts 15] and the Judaizers who were always accusing Paul of preaching grace in a way that justified sin, they came out of Jerusalem. James and Paul were rivals in a sense. James had the difficult job of overseeing the Church at Jerusalem, who had all the Pharisees who believed, while Paul was preaching this radical message of grace. This is why James’s letter [book of James] focused so much on faith and works. James was seeing the Genesis 22 account of Abraham’s justification when he offered Isaac on the altar. James will say ‘see how Abraham was justified by his works’. While in Paul’s letters he focuses on the Genesis 15 account of Abraham believing God and being made righteous. James was not contradicting Paul; he was showing the actual outcome of the life of a person who was previously justified by faith. James was saying ‘When God made Abraham righteous [Gen 15] he later actually became what God made him!’ [Gen. 22].

Now when Abraham would later do righteous things, he only did them because he previously had faith in Gods promise. But the fact still remains that when Abraham did a righteous act, God still justified him [in a sense, God has the prerogative to say ‘good job son, I am pleased with you’ so this can be described as an act/function of justification]. Well, now that I already showed you all this, I guess I wont have to remember telling it to you later. The point is in this chapter Paul will go down and show all these examples of Jewish leaders acting by faith and doing righteous deeds. This sort of bridges the gap between the strong emphasis on faith in Paul’s letters, with the strong emphasis on works in James letter. Paul is telling Israel ‘yes, all the old saints did do good works that pleased God, but they did them by faith!’ ‘Faith without works is dead’ [James]. So in a sense this single chapter bridges one of the key divisions in the early church between Jerusalem and Antioch [Acts 13 and 15]. Note; I believe all the chapter references above are correct, I write all this from memory so you might want to go back and double check the references. I know all the stories are right.

‘By FAITH Able offered …by which he obtained witness that he was RIGHTEOUS…by FAITH Enoch was translated…he had this testimony that he PLEASED GOD…without FAITH it is impossible to PLEASE HIM [all these ‘please him’ references are like saying ‘being justified’ when a person is justified by God, God sees him as acceptable, pleasing. ‘Thou art my beloved son in whom I am well PLEASED’ God to Jesus!] By faith Noah… prepared an ark to the SAVING of his house…and became heir to the RIGHTEOUSNESS WHICH IS BY FAITH [wow, he makes this one real plain] By faith Abraham…went out into a strange land…and sojourned’ interesting, both the aspect of ‘going out to a new land’ and ‘staying in it when you get there’ are both functions of faith. Let me throw in some practical stuff here. Over the years of ‘doing ministry’ I have seen and been a partaker of both of these experiences. Sometimes it takes an act of faith to uproot us from familiar territory and move on to the next level. And do you know what can happen next? The enemy will try to intimidate you once you get in the land of promise, and tell you ‘you cant stay here, look at all the people who hate you. Look at all the mistakes you made’ and it often takes an act of faith to STAY IN THE LAND. Don’t leave the land of your destiny; all true leaders will go thru both of these dealings.

‘For he looked for a city which hath foundations [Jesus is the foundation of this city!] whose builder and maker is God’ All of these great heroes of the faith were looking forward towards a future promise of being in Gods true church, the ‘City of God’ the Bride, the Lambs wife. Paul shows Israel that this 1st century appearing of Messiah was for the purpose of Israel coming into the ‘new land’ the Body of Christ. It is important to see this. There are many preachers today who are treating natural Israel as in if everything is just fine. It isn’t! They need Christ as much as the Muslim does. God was telling Israel ‘come into this new city’ [New Jerusalem versus Old Jerusalem] he wasn’t appealing for them to stay in ‘old Jerusalem’ and be a ‘completed Jew’. [I know this sounds harsh, but I want to emphasize to all my evangelical friends that Jews need Jesus, they play a special role in Gods plan, but ultimately they need Christ!]

‘Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed’ it takes faith to produce spiritual offspring! It might look impossible, but with God all things are possible. ‘Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky and the sand by the shore’ sometimes God will allow you to bring forth one ‘seed’ [person or act of ministry] and you will be surprised how much fruit can come forth from this singular effort. This is why it’s so important to simply hear and obey God. Often times in ministry we do tons of ‘leg work’ which is OK. But when God gives you an idea or mode of function that you weren’t even thinking of, go with it. These are usually the ‘little seeds’ that produce the great harvest! ‘THESE ALL DIED IN FAITH, NOT HAVING RECEIVED THE PROMISES’ I want to emphasize here that it is possible to live your whole life in faith without actually seeing the fulfillment of all that God has told you.

Now faith does obtain promises [verse 33] but sometimes we also see things many years down the road and we must realize that the measurement of faith is not whether or not you are currently getting the actual promise. In the above [and below] verse’s we see Abraham and Sara being told that their offspring would number in the millions. They believed these promises, but it is obvious that they didn’t live to see it fulfilled, but they sure knew that after they were gone it would come to pass. So I want to exhort you to believe to see certain things fulfilled in your life time, but have some greater goals that you initiate while here on earth, knowing that after you depart they will be fulfilled. ‘And truly if they had been MINDFUL of the country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned’ what is Paul saying here? The greatest threat to the gospel taking root in the Hebrew community was the desire to go back to old law and culture. How many believers ‘revert’ back to an older form of church simply because they missed the old culture and ‘feelings’ that they had when they were younger? Many of the Jews would not go all the way with the gospel because they were ‘mindful’ of the good old days of law and sacrifice.

I just watched a show the other day that told how even some gentile believers began celebrating certain feasts of Israel with their Jewish neighbors. While it is good to understand and see the significance of the feasts, yet we know Paul wrote the early believers and said ‘you observe days and times and feasts, and I am concerned about it’. So when we [or 1st century Israel] are ‘mindful’ of the ‘good old days’ then there is always a danger of going back! ‘By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac…of whom it was said in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure’ Abraham exhibited characteristics of the Father [God] as well as Isaac being a type of the Son [Jesus]. It’s interesting that these verses show that Abraham knew for a fact that God was going to give Isaac millions of children, Abraham also knew the voice of God so well that when he ‘thought’ he heard God say ‘offer up this boy’ that in the mind of Abraham, the only way these 2 things could be reconciled, is he came to the conclusion ‘I guess God will have to raise him up, being he has told me this boy will have millions of children, plus he is telling me to kill him’. Most of us would not have come to this conclusion! We would have doubted either the original promise, or said ‘surely this can’t be God telling me to offer Isaac’ [most likely we would have doubted the latter!].

There is a real important reason for Abraham to have been a real man of faith. God wanted this ‘picture’ of the offering up of Isaac for a type of the Cross and Resurrection. The only way he could have shown this example was to have had someone so radically filled with faith, that he would have come to this conclusion of ‘well, I guess God will just raise him’. It was necessary for the figure to have been truly fulfilled. It took Abraham many years of hearing and believing God before he would get to this stage. The part of Abraham’s mind that said ‘God will just have to raise him up’ was important for the figure to truly work. God knew he could only bring someone to this conclusion by arranging the whole scenario around a person of faith. It truly took a real person of faith to have come to the conclusion of resurrection as being inevitable! [For Abraham to fulfill the type of God, he had to have been convinced beyond all doubt that after he offered up his son, that he would be raised again. This is exactly what the Father [God] believed and knew about his own Sons death. So not only did Isaac fulfill the type of Jesus in this story, but Abraham also fulfilled a type of God!] [NOTE; Today is September 22, 2007. Israel’s Day of Atonement. I just heard a brother preach on the feasts of the Lord [I have done this also] but he preached it in a way that said ‘because God said you were to observe these feasts perpetually, therefore all gentile believers need to start observing these days’ he added ‘I know Paul taught the law passed and all, but these feasts are supposed to be forever because God said so’.

How are the feasts ‘perpetual’? Thru the fulfilling of them in Christ! Paul makes this plain all thru the New Testament [as well as this letter!] I was surprised to hear the brother preach that the first 2 feasts [out of the 3 main ones] were fulfilled and memorialized, but the 3rd one [Atonement/tabernacles] has yet to be fulfilled! What? Jesus fulfilled Passover and Pentecost for sure, and they are still being ‘fulfilled’ God is still bringing people in thru the blood of Christ and the Spirit is continually being poured out on people, and of course the ultimate reality of our atonement thru our high priest is a daily reality [he ever lives to make intercession] that is ‘fulfilled’ all the time[ I understand what the brother meant, that both Passover and Pentecost were fulfilled at the Cross and the day of Pentecost, and Tabernacles still has a future fulfillment. That Jesus will ‘ingather’ all peoples to himself at the end. The way he said it was in a way that he said Atonement, the beginning of Tabernacles/booths, still has to be fulfilled. It really came out badly!] I just thought it worth noting that today is natural Israel’s feast day, and we hold this feast in reality 24/7!]

‘By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of pharaohs daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward…by faith the harlot Rahab perished not…’ I want you to see that faith in Moses situation caused him to forsake great riches and leave a successful future. This is in keeping with all the times Jesus called people in the Gospels ‘forsake all and follow me’ mentality. We too often equate the ‘treasures of Egypt’ with following Jesus; the scripture puts a different spin on it! Also Rahab ‘perished not’ because she ‘believed’. Paul teaches in Corinthians that those who believe are ‘being saved’ and those who don’t believe are ‘perishing’. I want you to see that Paul is really making a theological argument for ‘being saved by faith’ in this chapter. Even a harlot can be saved! Wow. The law seemed to have no mercy on someone like that!

‘Who thru faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, stopped the mouths of lions…women received their dead raised to life…others were TORTURED not accepting deliverance…others had mocking and scourging and bonds and imprisonment, they were stoned, cut in half, were slain with the sword… being destitute, afflicted, tormented…they wandered in deserts and mountains and dens and caves of the earth, ALL THESE [both the ones who shut the mouths of lions as well as the one’s who were tortured without deliverance] OBTAINED A GOOD REPORT THRU FAITH, AND RECEIVED NOT THE PROMISE’ Faith does not always cause you to be better off in this life. I am very familiar with all the verses of God blessing us and providing for us ‘the blessing of the Lord it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow to it’. I believe and claim these verses just like the next guy. I also don’t want to tell people ‘give your life to Christ and all will go well’ did it go well for the ones who were tortured not getting delivered? Sure did. It went well the moment they saw the face of God. The same for those who were cut in half. It also went well for the women who received their dead raised to life. The point is ‘going well’ is not always defined by your outward circumstance.

We must see the overall biblical worldview of all things here being temporary, while all true spiritual riches are eternal. Moses actually was ‘less rich’ by the choice to follow Christ. But he was ‘more rich’ in that he fulfilled Gods purpose. It is important to see that many of these great heroes of the faith died without fully seeing the promise in this life. Now the last verse does say ‘that they without us should not be made perfect’ and this does show that the promise is now fulfilled thru Christ. We have all become recipients of eternal salvation thru Christ. The Old Testament patriarchs have ‘found that city’ in that we are all now members of the great ‘City that comes down from God out of heaven’ we are all in Christ today, even our Old Testament brothers who had faith. The point is don’t always measure a persons faith by their outward wealth and condition. James rebuked this idea in his epistle, he taught us not to show partiality to people who were rich while despising the poor.

When believers see faith only from the standpoint of outward things, they are missing the true riches. Jesus taught that all these outward things were not the true riches; I am surprised how many believers spend so much time hoarding and storing things that will all pass away some day. Let’s close this chapter on a good note. Paul has offered Israel all of their Old Testament heroes as an example of being justified by faith. He is saying ‘look, all the great fathers of the faith pleased God, just like you have said and taught for ages. I am declaring unto you they were all ‘justified/pleasing to God’ by faith, not law’. Therefore if you want to follow the example of Abraham and Moses and all the other wonderful fathers, then you too MUST BELIEVE!

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I mentioned Stephen Hawking on today’s video- here’s some past stuff I wrote on him-

-[1522] Wasn’t sure which way to go today; felt like refuting [or as Sarah Palin says ‘refudiating’!] the recent Stephen Hawking book- he’s basically saying nothing new, and what he is claiming has been shown to be ‘less than true’ [heck, you don’t want the call the man senile, though who knows?]. In a nutshell the book claims that Gravity itself needed no originator, that it created all things, even itself! Yikes! This is a complete violation of the Law of Non contradiction- which states ‘a thing cannot be and not be at the same time and in the same relationship’ for gravity to have created itself [which Hawking is saying!] then it had to ‘be, and not be’ at the same time- not only is this not good science, it is lunacy. For my new facebook readers I’ll try and post a few notes at the bottom. I also just walked passed my T.V. while going into the study, sure enough there was a television evangelist on the tube doing the whole money thing- man if I get into that it will be bad. So for today let me stick a few relevant posts at the bottom and lets all remember the fallen heroes of 9-1-2001. It’s there day for sure.

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[1566] HITCHENS’- STOCK GUYS- AND THE GRAND DESIGN- Let me talk a bit on how we, as human beings, allow ourselves to believe things- things that we know are wrong- but it makes us feel better to believe them- so we do. First- those of you who are stock/financial advisers- this post is not meant to undermine your field, but to reveal how we at times make decisions that are not in our best interest. A few years ago, before I retired from the fire dept., we had some company come in and offer us a supplemental investment thing- it basically was a 401k type thing- not our main retirement [one of the few fields that still have traditional retirements]. At the time I was the only person who invested and stuck the money in a guaranteed instrument- it was a C.D. type thing that guaranteed around 4 %- tax free. Everyone else followed the stock advice and eventually lost around half of their money- this was right before the market crash. Only one other friend did well- he followed my advice and put his money in the fixed account. Now- are all stocks bad? No. But if I were to tell you that I have this investment for you- it might make 6-10 % [which was about what you could make at the time] or you might lose it all- O-one more thing- this investment also rides heavily on THE WORDS A SINGLE MAN SPEAKS [Federal reserve chairman- Warren Buffet- the treasury secretary- etc. etc.] That is this investment can lose millions/billions in a single day- if the market interprets the words of this man in a negative way [yes- this has happened more than once]. Or you could invest in another instrument [heck- even a 10 year treasury note was yielding around 3.5 at the time!] that on average might make a few points less, but this investment is guaranteed to not go down and you will never lose your initial investment [theoretically]. Of course, any sane person would pick the safer- better investment. But the advisers never tell you this- because their jobs depend on you not knowing this! So as my buddies lost their small fortunes [and mine rose] I watched as they would ask me ‘gee John- you think I should pull out now- I lost 30 thousand’ and of course it was too late. Then as a year or 2 rolled by, the advisers kept saying ‘well- we invest for the long haul- we don’t ride these ups and downs’ so everyone felt good- like they might recoup their initial loss. Then after a few more years most of the financial guru’s [cnbc, Bloomberg, etc.] started saying ‘now it’s time for people to accept they will never again make back the money they lost- but because you’re so broke now- you can’t afford the safe investment- so YOU MUST be in the market now!’ and Walla- most people stayed in the market- took advice from the same people who ruined them. Okay- the point is we at times don’t want to accept the possibility that we were hoodwinked- we want to believe the lie!

So as I continue to read Chris Hitchens book- god is not great- he seems to sound like these stock advisers in the above scenario. Hitchens makes the case for atheism and says ‘look at the wonders of the human intellect- the Hubbell telescope- we can see billions of stars and galaxies- or look at Stephen Hawking's theory on Black Holes- how he theorizes that we can pass a point called the Event Horizon and be in a place where both the future and the past collide’ [this is simply a theory by the way- we don’t know this as fact]. And then Hitchens compares these great discoveries of man with the bible ‘and look what the bible gives us- a burning bush!’ He basically is glorying in the intellect of man [which is Hitchens god, he glories in his own intellect much- and yet this same ‘intellect’ makes glaring mistakes in knowledge, logic and the basic facts of the subject he is covering- if your gonna glory in anyone’s intellect- at least find one that makes sense!]. Okay- where’s the flaw in his logic? All Christian apologists have shown-over and over again- that the heavens, galaxies, black holes- and any other phenomena like this- are proofs of the greatness and majesty of God. There are actual bible verses that say this ‘the heavens declare the glory of God- the firmament shows his handiwork’ [Psalms] ‘God has revealed himself to us thru the creation he has made’ Romans chapter 1. I mean no Christian appeals to the burning bush story as a sign of the majesty of God. Everything Hubbell discovered, or Hawking found out- was simply AN OBSERVATION of a grand design [the name of Hawking's latest book]. For Hitchens to appeal to the greatness of creation- and then use this greatness as an argument that God does not exist- well that’s like listening to the stock adviser say ‘being you stuck with me this far- into poverty- might as well stay on for the rest of the ride’.

[parts]

(1132) Nehemiah 9- as the people repent, they stand, fast, confess their sins and read from God’s law for a quarter of the day! There is a real renewal that takes place thru the reading of the word. In the last chapter we saw the emphasis on the teaching of Gods word, the bible says the Levites not only taught/read, but also gave the sense, the meaning of it. Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of his day, not because they weren’t ‘reading/quoting’ bible verses, they were doing it all the time! But because they weren’t really grasping the principles behind the word. In this chapter the people were not only hearing, but also understanding. Now they also do an historical remembrance of Gods great past works. They recount his promise to Abraham, the story of Egypt and Gods great deliverance. The giving of the law to Moses and the rebellion of their fathers during the time of the judges. It’s a great retelling of their history, sort of like Stephen in Acts 7. They also praise and worship God as the creator of all things. I have been reading a good book on the current debate between ‘young earth’ and ‘old earth’ creationists. Though I personally lean towards the old earth idea, yet the book brings out very good arguments for a young earth. They show the historical development of the geologic table [the levels of earth and the dating of these levels] and the book also brings out the fact that though many of the church fathers spiritualized the days of creation, this did not mean they were old earth creationists! Augustine believed in ‘instantaneous creation’ in a moment. So his idea was really young earth, even though he did not take the creation days as literal. One of the points brought out is the basic belief in God as creator, man seems to have a difficult time simply believing in the fact that God made all things out of nothing [Ex-Nihilo] whether you are an old earth or young earth advocate, the fact is God made it all by his word! The people in Nehemiah’s day praised him for his great works as seen in creation. It’s important to see the role that the reading of the law played in this national revival. We see this happen a few times in Israel’s history. Times where they rediscover the law after many years and repent as they return to Gods precepts. Recently I have been reading/studying from around 11:00 am to 3-4 pm. Not every day, but a few days a week. I found it interesting that the people were giving one fourth of their day to reading the law; God saw it as vital for the restoration of his city and people. I want to encourage all my Pastor friends, as you build Gods people, don’t underestimate the importance of good bible teaching. Don’t just give people verses to memorize/hear [what the Pharisees were good at] but give them the understanding too. God used his law [word] to revive the people after the walls were built.

[parts]

VERSES-

1Corinthians 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

1Corinthians 15:2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

1Corinthians 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

1Corinthians 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

1Corinthians 15:5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:

1Corinthians 15:6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

1Corinthians 15:7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.

1Corinthians 15:8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

Isaiah 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Isaiah 53:4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

Isaiah 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

Isaiah 53:8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

Isaiah 53:9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Isaiah 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Isaiah 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

Isaiah 53:12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Acts 10:43

To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

Acts 26:22

Having therefore obtained help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the prophets and Moses did say should come:

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

Acts 12:4 [Full Chapter]

And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.

13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,

14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Eph.

Hebrews 9:28

So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

2 Timothy 4:8

Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

Revelation 1:6

And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

Revelation 5:10

And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

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romancatholicreflections · 8 years ago

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12th February >> Sunday Homilies & Reflections for Roman Catholics on the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary time, Year A Gospel reading: Matthew 5:17-37 vs.17 Jesus said to his disciples: “Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. vs.18 I tell you solemnly, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, shall disappear from the Law until its purpose is achieved. vs.19 Therefore, the man who infringes even one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be considered the least in the kingdom of heaven; but the man who keeps them and teaches them will be considered great in the kingdom of heaven. vs.20 For I tell you, if your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. vs.21 You have learnt how it was said to our ancestors: You must not kill; and if anyone does kill he must answer for it before the court. vs.22 But I say this to you: anyone who is angry with his brother will answer for it before the court. vs.27 You have learnt how it was said: You must not commit adultery. vs.28 But I say this to you: if a man looks at a woman lustfully, he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. vs.33 Again, you have learnt how it was said to our ancestors: You must not break your oath, but must fulfil your oaths to the Lord. vs.34 But I say this to you: do not swear at all. vs.37 All you need to say is ‘Yes’ if you mean yes, ‘No’ if you mean no; anything more than this comes from the evil one.” ************************************** We have four sets of homily notes to choose from. Please scroll down the page. Michel DeVerteuil : A Trinidadian Holy Ghost Priest, Specialist in Lectio Divina Thomas O’Loughlin: Professor of Historical Theology, University of Wales. Lampeter. John Littleton: Director of the Priory Institute Distant Learning, Tallaght Donal Neary SJ: Editor of The Sacred Heart Messenger ******************************************************* Michel de Verteuil Lectio Divina with the Sunday Gospels – Year A www.columba.ie General comments MountThis Sunday we have the third of the extracts from the Sermon on the Mount. I would advise that you stay with the full passage for this Sunday, even though a “shorter form” is allowed; we never know which section of a passage will touch us or the people with whom we are sharing. The passage lends itself to moralising reading: “Jesus is telling us to…”. We must therefore make a special effort to start from our experience, as always in lectio divina. We ask ourselves the question: when did I experience Jesus telling me these things? The reading then becomes a celebration of moments of grace, teaching through experience. As always, you can remain with one section of the passage, or try to discover – with the heart, not the head – a thread running through the entire passage. Like the whole Sermon on the Mount, this passage describes a conversion experience, “going deeper than the virtue of the scribes and Pharisees”. We need therefore to retrace our spiritual journey, from a “scribe and Pharisee” attitude to one that is “deep” – from a “single-issue” approach to one that is radical and holistic. The rest of the passage celebrates the kinds of implications we become aware of when we experience radical conversion. Our spiritual journey will affect our commitment to Jesus and the church, but also our other commitments – to our families, neighbourhoods, social or political movements we may be involved in. A recent statement by the late St Pope John Paul II is an example of the church’s conversion in its pro-life stance: “To choose life involves rejecting every form of violence, the violence of poverty and hunger, the violence of armed conflict, the violence of criminal trafficking in drugs and arms, the violence of mindless damage to the natural environment.” By giving a broad interpretation to the text, we experience it as wisdom teaching, as Jesus intended it to be. As always in Jesus’ teaching, the language is metaphorical, inviting us to enter it from experiences which we remember with emotion. The sequence of thought may seem haphazard to our Western way of reasoning, but it has its own inner logic. Textual comments The passage can be divided as follows: – Verse 20 is the centre peice of the passage; it explains the verses which precede and follow it. – Verses 17 to 19 are an emotional celebration of “the Law” (here, the term can be taken to mean any noble cause we feel committed to) and of those who uphold it. – Verses 21 to 26: a first series of implications, concerning those with whom we have quarrels. – Verses 27 to 32: a second series of implications, concerning marriage relationships. – Verses 33 to 37: a third series of implications, concerning the taking of oaths. Scriptural Prayer Lord, we thank you for those wonderful moment when something we believed in half-heartedly and from the surface of ourselves suddenly touches us deeply. We move from head to heart conviction, feel passionately committed, see the implications for every aspect of life. Sometimes it is a teaching of Jesus: – we must forgive seventy times seven times – our neighbours and ourselves are linked in a common destiny – the gentle will inherit the earth – only those who mourn will be comforted. At other times it is traditional wisdom: – the importance of family and friendship – love is more powerful than selfishness – we can trust the future. At other times we recognise the full implications of a cause we had given ourselves to: – democracy, feminism, ecology, human rights, non-violence. It is a conversion experience, sudden, unexpected. We are touched, as Jesus was when, in a burst of emotion, he celebrated the greatness of the Law of Moses, exclaiming that not one dot, not one little stroke, would disappear from the Law until its purpose is achieved. Like him, we feel tremendous gratitude for the great people who kept the vision alive and taught it; we feel sad that anyone could think of infringing one of the least of these commandments and teach others to do so. How sad it is, Lord, to see a noble, idealistic enterprise fall into the hands of scribes and Pharisees who follow the letter of the law but go no deeper, so that the enterprise loses its savour, is no longer a city built on a hilltop, ushering in your kingdom. The sign of this happening is that people start being content with the minimum, playing it safe, avoiding evil rather than doing good, concerned mainly with being respectable and making a good impression. In Jesus’ day is was not killing, not committing adultery, not breaking oaths; but Moses’ law, like all authentic renewal movements, intended to do away with – anger and contempt in any form whatsoever, calling one another fool or renegade, – looking at other lustfully, seeing them as objects of conquest who will satisfy our ambition, or compensate for our insecurities, – acting because we feel bound by an external force, in heaven, on earth, in some holy city, even in ourselves, rather than from our inner conviction, our own yes or no. We remember when our virtue too went no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees. We thank you that we experienced a conversion, and our priorities are now quite different from what they were. We realise how much we used to be concerned with external rituals. helping othersNow, if brothers or sisters have something against us, we leave our offering on the altar, go and be reconciled with our brothers and sisters first, and then come back and present our offering. We feel a new urgency about living according to our beliefs, it becomes a matter of life or death. We are like litigants who come to terms with their opponents in good time when they are still on the way to the court, for fear that they will be handed over to the judge and be thrown into prison until they have paid the last penny. We thank you that we feel fulfilled and have no problems giving up things we had thought we could not do without: – being popular or surrounded by a group of friends, – making a lot of money, – having our name in the newspapers. We had thought it would be painful to give up these goals, almost like tearing out our right eye or cutting off our right hand. We thank you for the grace of seeing that they were causing us to betray our integrity, that we are better off without them than having them and living empty lives, like people having their bodies intact and being thrown into hell. Lord, we thank you for that person you sent into our lives, that Jesus who brought us to conversion. We pray that we in our turn may bring his meassage of conversion to those we live and work with – our church communities, the great renewal movements of our time, our families, neighbourhoods and schools. ************************************************** Thomas O’Loughlin Liturgical Resources for the Year of Matthew www.columba.ie Introduction to the Celebration The word ‘religion’ conjures up for most people, and indeed us Christians also, two great images. The first is that system of moral ‘do’s and don’ts’ — whether one thinks such rules are a good thing or not. The second is that there are various religious practises that have to be followed: like the rule that we have to go on Sundays. But the message of Jesus, brought out in the gospel, is that we must go beyond these appearances: our actions must be following but must be inspired love; our religious observances cannot be merely formal must open us to mystery of love that is greater that the univ yet which enters every detail of the creation. God's love Homily notes 1. We tend to think of the contents of today’s gospel as a series of little pieces: a rule on this, a rule on that, a bit of theology on some other point. Apart from the fact that this ‘chop-up into sentences’ approach to the gospels is not good exegesis but a variant type of fundamentalism, this approach misses the whole point of the sermon by Jesus. The central point is that the message of the gospel is greater than the sum of its parts. It is not a new rule about this, a change in the rules about something else, and so forth; rather, the message is that God’s love is greater than all, and we are called to respond that love in a complete loving way, not simply by a formalistic fulfilment of regulations. Love always must go beyond ‘box ticking’ or it is not love. 2. This has an effect on how we preach: if we turn the gospel into a series of new regulations, and preach them as such, our preaching is reversing the very point of today’s gospel. This is also the fundamental reason why the shorter form of today’s gospel supplied in the lectionary is so inappropriate. So how can we reflect on the message that love and faith are more than ‘box ticking’? 3. The first point is to state just that: love and faith are more than ‘box ticking.’ We can keep all the rules, but if our lives have not got that spark of love and laughter, then we are not following the God of love but the’ great policeman in the sky’. golden rule4. That sparkle of love is what makes the difference between the saint and the intense rule-keeping boor. That sparkle is the ability to see beyond the rules, to glimpse a mystery that is greater than the universe, to glimpse the love of God beckoning us. 5. But while attention to detail and discipline can train us in keeping the rules, we can only discover how to love through forgiving those who have hurt us irrespective of whether they ask for forgiveness or not, or are repentant or not. We can only discover how to love by helping those in need, whether they ‘deserve’ help or not. We can only discover how to love by standing with those who are oppressed ever if it is dangerous for us. We can only discover how to love by asking the Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds with wisdom. 6. Love is the sparkle of the good news, the joy of being a disciple, but it is never the easy option. *********************************** John Litteton Journeying through the Year of Matthew www.Columba.ie Gospel Reflection Golden rule 2People frequently refer to the Sermon on the Mount as being the New Law, replacing the Old Law, and the impression given is that, with Jesus, the rules have been somewhat loosened. Now it can be said that it is love that counts and that the rules take second place. But the error of this opinion is quickly evident when we check the eight Beatitudes at the beginning of the Sermon. Far from making life easier, the Sermon is even more demanding than the Old Law. As God gradually revealed himself to the Chosen People, they began to understand that he loved them and wanted them to enjoy life in the land that he had given to them. In order for this to happen, they were to heed the warnings of the prophets and be faithful to God’s commandments. Therefore, they must not kill. They must not steal. They must be faithful to their spouses and they must not envy their neighbour. Contrary to what some people suggest nowadays, the Chosen People understood that God wanted them to keep his laws because he loved them, and not because he wanted to make them wretched and unhappy. We know this from God’s revelation of his loving nature in biblical texts such as the beautiful story of Hosea, whose love for his prostitute wife was analogous to the love that God had for his headstrong and sinful people. Through the prophets, God continually reminded them of his love, even as he pulled them back from the brink of destruction on many occasions. Indeed, in chapter 5 of the Book of Deuteronomy, we read that it was from God’s love that the Ten Commandments sprang. Before listing the commands, God reminded them: ‘I am YHWH your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery’ (Deut 5:6). During the Sermon on the Mount itself, Jesus told his listeners that he had not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets: ‘Do not imagine that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have come not to abolish but to complete them. I tell you solemnly, till heaven and earth disappear, not one dot, not one little stroke, shall disappear from the Law until its purpose is achieved’ (Mt 5:17-18). To understand the implication of this key statement of Jesus, we might reflect that he sought not the end of the Law, not its destruction, but its perfection. Hence in the Sermon, Jesus taught that it is no longer sufficient not to kill one’s neighbour. In future, his disciples would be required to control their anger so that their thoughts were purified and perfected. One by one, this extension of the Ten Commandments to thoughts and motives as well as actions, is found throughout this unique Sermon. Jesus reinforced the idea of Christian perfection by linking it to the worship of God. If his followers desired to approach the altar and, while there, remembered friction with another person or people, they would be expected to leave their gifts at the altar and go to be reconciled first. The lesson for us is clear. This is how seriously God views our human relationships. We cannot hate our neighbour and purport to love God. That is not possible. A much overlooked exhortation in the Sermon concerns prevarication in speech: ‘All you need say is “Yes” if you mean yes, “No” if you mean no; anything more than this comes from the evil one’ (Mt 5:37). The Sermon on the Mount, then, especially each of the Beatitudes, provides us with a rich mine of spiritual treasures that give us much food for meditation. For meditation For I tell you, if your virtue goes no deeper than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never get into the kingdom of heaven. (Mt 5:20) *************************************** Donal Neary SJ: Gospel Reflections for Sundays of Year A: Matthew www.messenger.ie The heart of religion This list of some of Jesus’ sayings give an indication of what is important to him. He states the religious tradition of the people when he says that he has not come to abolish the old religion, and that religion must go much deeper and be an affair of the heart. He asks for forgiveness and reconciliation when he speaks about leaving a gift at the altar to go for reconciliation. He commends marriage, and faithfulness in marriage, in his views on divorce. He believes in the respect for sexuality that is shown in not using a person. This collection of Jesus’ sayings form a background to how he lived his life himself. He lived out these sayings in many of the events of his life, which we hear about on other Sundays. The Sermon on the Mount, of which this is part, is the backdrop to much of Jesus’ life and mission, a sort of vision statement for his life and ministry. Much of this went against the religious practice of his people, which was centred mostly on externals. He saw the ritual and the law of religion as important only if it came from the heart. This is the challenge always to religion – to live heartily what it enthusiastically believes. Practices in ritual and in religious custom and laws may change with different cultures and times; what is important is the way we live our lives, following Jesus and knowing that all our efforts to live like him are praised and rewarded. Pope Francis says, ‘It is not enough to just respect the commandments and do nothing more. Christian life is not just an ethical life: it is an encounter with Jesus Christ’ (9 May 2016). Repeat a favourite gospel phrase as you breathe in; your outbreath is your thanks for this help in your life. Lord, your will be done each day in my life. discipleship sacrifice 3 9

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reviewape-blog · 6 years ago

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Experience God! Receive God's Presence by Repentance with Joy!

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