#it seems as though antonio has found what he wanted by writing these blog posts so it may take some time before i can bother him again

[antonio-chandranis-dream-blog]

it's fine to keep dreaming. earth year 2005 a.d.

What I ate this morning… Right. I stole my brother Raj’s junky chocolate éclair for his own good. He tried to kill me, but Fernando held him back. After that, I went and spoke with Layla. She told me she couldn’t save me from Alejandro Caldera-Altaha. She’s so dramatic. All I wanted was a little hint for how annoying our exchange might be… Gatekeeping-ass seer.

I went to where Alejandro was—simply standing by the seashore! We are still vacationing by the City of the Starry-eyed, and much too close to the father I cannot stand. Why always this city? Not that I care for the plans of adults, even our fabled mentor’s, Kiyotaka Miura.

I didn’t wait. >:( I told Alejandro I’d throw his prize into the sea!

Do you know what he said? He smiled at me as he said it— “I fucking wondered if you would.”

I obviously—I obviously had to open my damn trap and say, “If you put it on my wrist for me, I’d have to wear it.”

“Why?” The one he names Alejandro—the one I have known for eras as Shakir—asked. “Because it’s something everyone expects.” “But would you suddenly want to?” Shakir sounded so curious—he is that kind of young man. “You just said you were going to drop it in the sea.” “Something like this… I’d hate it. You’re such an idiot. Still, if you—”

He said, “I would never do that.”

Alejandro Caldera knows, you see—we’re supposed friends, and nowhere near lovers. The world knows. Through our streams, those million eyes always… They’re always waiting for him to announce his beloved—Alia, or Khalida, or… Diego… No.

Anyway, I was an idiot and had to go and yell, “So what do you want me to do?”

He said, “I really thought you’d throw it into the sea. I feel like the girls—Alia or Konna or someone—would challenge me to a duel for daring to insinuate anything. Honestly, they’d just have killed me. Those journos really wouldn’t stop talking about them earlier during the interview… I couldn’t give it to Diego. It’d be way more awkward, considering how much they talked about meaning. I couldn’t—”

Alejandro really wouldn’t shut up. I can’t even inscribe half his ramble—I only memorized that much, and the rest was worse yak. He brought up Leo being unreachable and Fernando and how they’re not even close anymore and how he barely knows Maria—why are you even bringing her up, then!? What is wrong with you!? I had to yell at him—

“You’re seriously acting like you have no real friends! Anyone in the world would’ve accepted the bracelet from you—”

He said, “You already know they made it something so meaningful. Diego or Fernando or Leo would’ve just gone along with it, but my entire life would be upturned. Does it mean what we’ve all been waiting to know? The elemental potential of the era! Anyway, I wasn’t sure what you would do. I thought you’d throw it into the sea.”

In truth, Alejandro Caldera-Altaha doesn’t care about being a proper mage. He’s just as simplistic about our magecraft as you unfathomably old Earthians. If I look at the skies in my world, maybe I could see your star, the Sun, 100,000 lightyears away… Or maybe not.

I could care less.

I never paid enough attention to how far away it was in my classes.

I told him, “I won’t wrap the bracelet on your wrist.”

Alejandro said, “I never expected you to.”

“You want me to throw it into the sea.”

“I thought that you would.”

“You really wanted me to give it away, didn’t you? Start a drama with your whiny-ass brother.” I thought I might as well have said it.

Like an idiot, Alejandro said, “After you threw it into the sea, I thought I’d push Diego into a dramatic retrieval mission together with your brother. Since Diego is the one who still talks to Fernando. I was wondering how Fernando’s been.”

I was…

Close to—

I—

He was close to brea—

Stop.

I was…

So infuriated. Seething, even. So mad.

I just said, “You didn’t need me to start your stupid game with my brother—”

He sounded upset too, by then. Over what? He said, “You could’ve just pretended you didn’t open the damn book!”

I… Well, I finally paused.

I mean. I just told him, “You fucking know I wouldn’t let you think I couldn’t solve a puzzle that you gave me. Like duh I solved it. Hello?”

The idiot burst out laughing so soon after looking unhappy. He laughed for a while. I don’t know why he found it so funny.

“You never would be able to resist! It really is so like you, Antonio.”

>_> WTF.

Why did he find it so funny? He went back to smiling like the idiot he is.

He said something so stupid. He said, “Give me back my family’s book, too.”

I told him, “No way. That’s my real damn prize from you. My pillow now, even.”

He turned to me and said, like he might as well be talking to Alia or Konna or Diego or Fernando or Leo, “That’s such shit!” Though around them he would’ve been so much cuter—for the streams and all that, just, “I can’t believe you!”

He is a man of respect. ( <_< )

I told him, “Don’t give me things you don’t want to lose.” I am a man of respect too, of course.

He said, “I imagined you might find it interesting. I can’t parse some things I was hoping to, in the end.”

I think he needed me for it, and so the book wound up more important than the magical Alejandro-fetching bracelet in the end.

>:")

We wound up less caught up in our bullshit. He finally lightened up, and the seashore was my home again. I'm sure I won’t remember what made me mad soon enough—an Alejandro whose goals I understand is all I will ever need. I know it.

I know.

[dr-astormylasthurrah]

💎⛰️🔬🎢☀️🎵⭐ + 😊 "retract your final bid goodnight and breathe again. i need you to wake up because i can't do this without you."

YEAAAAAAAAA (spoilers under the cut!)

💎- What was your favorite part?

i’ve answered this already but as soon as i posted that i remembered a whole bunch of other things SO here’s some of my other favorite parts:

the ch4 trial. just the ENTIRE ch4 trial after chiyo figures out that maru killed ririka and iris. ryouji mcfreaking losing it. alexei living.

actually just about anything with ryouji in it. the fight in 5-1 hurt me to write and i care him so much. but also the cooking day in 2-3... the conversations with chiyo in 4-2, 5-3, and 5-5... the reconciliation with maru in 6-1... i think just, adding ryouji atsui to any scene makes it better. point of fact.

this is a tiny thing but i think the moment after maru voices that prospero has to be clause, and there’s this dead silence until caliban starts laughing

⛰️-  What was the hardest part?

i feel like every time i am asked about what i didn’t like abt aslh i say “case planning” and i feel like every time i’m asked people expect me to say something different. no. it’s always case planning. case planning sucks so much. it’s also really hard for me to outline in formal documents so i’ve just decided i don’t do that anymore. sparrow you’ve seen my planning process but for those of you who haven’t seen it, i just have a writing server, and i’ll just complain and spitball for about 50 messages and then suddenly in the middle of it i’ll switch to all caps because i had a galaxy brain moment. that’s how i plan my stories.

🔬- Was there one scene you were building up to/knew you had to get just right?

this is another list.

THE CHIYAL KISS... again, chiyal wasn’t at all planned, so i wanted it to be meaningful and poignant

in a similar vein, the ch3 body discovery. ha. haha.

ch4′s body discovery was like this too

ch6 obviously but especially claude’s reveal, and alexei shooting him. i think those two moments in particular are THE most cinematic in the entire story

ALSO THE CH2 TRIAL BUILDING UP TO TRISTAN ACCUSING TIANA

in general, a lot of the finer points of aslh weren’t actually planned from the start, so i had to get them right enough that they didn’t seem unplanned. the other thing is that i tend to get really poetic and rambly and i wanted the moments to hit properly without dragging onwards! or finding the right words

🎢 - Were there any scenes you were nervous about? For audience reception or otherwise?

a lot of the scenes i was building up to for the previous questions were ones i figured would throw people for a loop. i always worry about getting big enough of payoff, i’m definitely like... if i were to be a mastermind, my aesthetic would be very claude-adjacent, and i want to pull out all the stops and milk everything for maximum drama. if that makes sense? so i’m always worried about getting enough of a reaction LOL

on a more serious note i’m actually really self conscious about my poetry so pretty much the entire time during interludes i was worried about people calling it out on being bad. iris’s poem i’m so sorry

☀️ - Was there symbolism/motifs you worked in?

not really “symbolism” but i have a lot of flowers associated with people in the cast, and the forget-me-nots ended up being brought up again and again. amal’s eyes are compared to suns a lot so i guess there’s a sun/moon thing going on with amal and chiyo? ch1 has ryouji making cake for maru because chiyo wanted to get to know them better, and ch6 has ryouji making cake for maru because he wanted to apologize, sort of. that was accidentally circular but i think it vibes

also, did you know that for the five “alt routes” of aslh that i’ve made, a different weapon becomes the incredibly symbolic one? the one in aslh’s main route, affectionately dubbed prospero route, is the gun. (antonio = sword; desdemona = sledgehammer, miranda = knife; emilia = ariel/birdbot)

🎵 - Did you have a playlist/piece of music that went with this story?

sparrow i love you but i’m not linking all the playlists. take this though

⭐ - What’s a scene/paragraph you’re proud of?

okay tbh yeah claude’s reveal was probably just the most climactic of the whole thing. however, i also think the ch5 execution + aftermath is The defining aslh moment and it was iconic, legendary, and the moment

😊 - Leave your favorite line from my story in the ask and I’ll tell you what I was thinking. "retract your final bid goodnight and breathe again. i need you to wake up because i can't do this without you." 

okay full disclosure i took “i need you to wake up because i can’t do this without you” from a writing prompt post that i found 3 years ago. that, apparently, a hamilton blog made. i am so sorry, i am not a wordsmith, merely a word magpie that plucks gems of literary charm to place in the eyes of skulls. and stuff.

that said when i was writing the ch3 body discovery... i do my writing in chunks of different documents and then daisy-chain them together because i tend to get distracted and bored easily. so when i was writing the ch3 body discovery i’d been having a bad night and i was tired and crying and i was like “you know what? fuck it.“ and drafted it out. there’s a lot of moments of aslh that are very clear and crystalized in my mind in terms of what i was doing when i was writing them, and that’s one of them - i remember sitting at my desk in pitch black and my phone on my charger, and i was still sort of crying but stopped as i started to write.

interestingly, while there are several scenes in aslh that i wrote while crying, only two of them have actually made me cry: ririka’s death, and the post from takeshi and kiyoshi in X-3. scenes like chiyo dying and stuff were things i’d been emotionally preparing for, so i got to write them on my own terms in isolated documents when i felt ready to do so. ririka’s death, however, i tried to write in a restaurant while waiting for an order, and i thought about it too much and started tearing up. then a lot of the scenes in X-3 weren’t planned very meticulously, so i think it was writing that post that made me realize that hey, this is ending. this story is over. so many people are gone and they aren’t coming back but they loved each other and that has to have been enough. i might cry if i keep writing this post.

thank you sparrow i owe you my life

[sanantonioswebdesign]

What is seo

A quick google search will tell you that wikipedia.com defines SEO as follows:

“ Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing the quality and quantity of website traffic, increasing visibility of a website or a web page to users of a web search engine.. “

If you’ve ever started an online business or If you’ve ever even discussed marketing or spoken to a web designer you’ve heard this term.

But what is it? Why is everyone talking about SEO? How Do you I get it? Can I buy it? Is there a gatekeeper? How much does it cost? I’m sure you have a lot of questions and that is okay. That’s why we’re here. We’re here to help you. We’re here to Teach you what you need to know, so before you even speak to a web designer or marketing agency or anything you will have a firm grasp of the basics. We don’t want you to feel like you walked into a dealership and got took.  We simply want to help your site rank. We want you to get more clients and most of all we want you to get paid! So let’s jump into it shall we!!

                                 Why do you need SEO

So, basically having good Seo is the internet equivalent of having a good brand or product.

The better your seo is the more popular your content will be. This is exactly what you want. You want your SEO to be as good as possible so your content can be found, so your website, or youtube channel or what have you is findable. If your website has really good seo your website will show up at the top of google’s page listings. Basically, when someone searches for something like San antonio’s Web Design. The website with the is optimized the most for those keywords will show up first. The websites that are least optimized for those keywords will show up farther away from the first page.  So now you understand that you need SEO so that your content can be found let us dive deeper into what this actually means.

                                          SEO Basics

Search Engine optimization is exactly how it sounds. Setting up your SEO Properly will allow Google to Search your website. Google is a Search Engine that San Antonio and beyond are using.

In order to optimize  your website to show up or rank on a Search Engine you have to know exactly what the top Search Engine is. Right now in 2019 that Search Engine is google. So, this means we need to optimize our website for Google’s  Search Engine.How do we do that? Well, I’m glad you asked! The next Paragraph is going to break down “keywords” which is one of the biggest tools that You will use when focusing on your websites SEO.

                                                Keywords

Keywords are pretty much how they sound. Keywords are words you use in your content      

(These are things like a blog, a video, an image or even an infographic.) So let’s go over a way you can use keywords to help your seo. I want to really break this down so basically anyone can find this blog article, read it and know a good amount of information about SEO, keywords and everything I’m writing about in this blog post. So, first of all when you are trying to use a keyword to help boost your seo you need to make sure you’re using a keyword that is regularly being searched. Since, I run a web design and marketing company in San Antonio , Texas, I need to make sure that I try to use keywords that entail this. So, basically I would use words like Web Design or words like marketing, I would even use words like San Antonio, Texas. The reason I want to include these keywords, is again so that the top used search engine will show my site as popular by using these keywords on my site so that when google crawls my website it can really understand what my website is about.  By the way, web crawling is another way of saying searching for things. Basically google crawls the web to find certain words ,items or pieces of information. It returns that data and then uses that data to adjust what it show’s first and last.

Using the right keywords allows google to understand what your site is about. So,when I use words like “ San Antonio’s Web Design” on my website it tells google that my site is about just that! Your site might be about something else. Your website might be about computer repair or barber shops or what have you. So let’s say you have a website about hair and you are a barber. You would want to make sure your website includes words like hair, barber, scissors, barbershop, etc.

                                  Long tail keywords

“Long tail keywords are basically keywords that are enclosed in phrases or key phrases.” -San  Antonio’s Web Design

An example of a long tail keyword, for a barbershop would be something like “ Great barber shops in the san antonio area.” or “How do barbers make swag lines” For a Web Designers website you could use something like “ The best website designer in San Antonio Texas” or something like “What is Seo?” or even “What are Long Tail keywords?”. In other words, you want to use “key” “Phrases” that are relative to your topic.  A Youtube channel that is all about “How to become a Professional Barber” would not use long tail keywords like “ what color is my dog” or “ My web Designer is in San Antonio” He would use something more like “Top ten places to buy barber scissors” or “ How do I find a good barber college” or how much do Professional barbers make”. It is USUALLY, easier to rank on google with long tail keywords. However, if your competitor knows what they are doing than they will most likely try to rank for long tail keywords as well as regular or short tail keywords.

                                   How to find keywords

So, now you know you need keywords on your website to help your SEO. Great, but how do you find them? Well, There are a few ways you can do this.  First you can use google’s keyword planner. You can watch the video below to learn more about that. But basically, you just go to https://ads.google.com/intl/en_us/home/tools/keyword-planner/ and google will help you find the right keywords to use to boost your seo by utilizing it’s resources to recommend words you can use that your target audience in  your niche are already using. You just put in a word or two and google recommends several related words that are searched most often on google. keyword planner will even tell you who is ranking number one currently for certain keywords.

will help with your citations/ online real estate.

For instance, let’s say you wanted to optimize your coffee website to show up on Google’s first page for words like coffee, or cappuccino. You can look at google’s keyword planner and see that the top website ranking for that word is starbucks and pretty much all the related words. So if you were to start a small niche website about coffee it might fail horribly unless you really put into the work. You would have to work really hard to rank high for the word “coffee”. You can try, but that’s why it is so important to do your keyword research and to use long tail keywords. Even though starbucks might be the top ranking site for the keyword coffee, you can still optimize your seo for long tail keywords like “how much coffee is too much”.

The second way to find keywords. This is something I found recently works really well for me as I have a pretty extensive history as a writer. Before I became a developer I was very much interested in being a professional writer. Anyway, another thing you can do is look at your local competitors websites. Read their blog section. If they have a blog article about  SEO but it is only say “666 words and 3,873 characters” Than chances are you could probably write an article that would crush their blog article. By the way you can check your competitors word count by using a site like “https://wordcounter.net/” Which is what I usually use when I am thinking about crushing a competitor in SEO.

A third way kind of requires you to have already had some keywords on your website.

You can pretty much Check which keywords on your website is ranking the best by using google search control.

You would of course click performance and than queries.

Under queries you will see something similar to the following.

Hopefully, you have more clicks and impressions than we did at the time this photo was taken.

Anyways, once you load the tool you can see which keywords were searched and how well your website ranked for each keyword. It seems like we ranked  best for web design san antonio and worst for content strategy for web development in san antonio. However, I’m sure with a few minor adjustments we could easily rank for the “content strategy for web development in san Antonio if we just focused a few highly targeted keyword articles for that long tail keyword. We would simply have to write an article that would grab our users attention whilst using the long tail keyword several times. However, we would also need to make sure the article is relevant  to a “content strategy for web development in san antonio” We could also go the route of writing several elaborate articles for that specific long tail keywords and rank that way as long as each article contains useful information that engaged the user for a significant amount of time. You see google will rank a website higher if users click on a link or go to a page and stay on that page for long periods of time. This is because google interprets this as engagement and a high engagement rate tells google that a website is doing well and is providing quality content.

                                                  HTML

Your websites HTML or (Hyper Text Markup Lanuage) Has a lot to do with your SEO.

For example, The way you write an article will affect the way google and other Search Engines will Crawl your website.  If you don’t use The proper heading tag in the correct spot than google’s Search Engine will not properly read your site. This can be problematic when trying to rank for certain things. Luckily google’s algorithms have gotten better to prevent this. However, it is always wise to be safe than sorry.

Your websites P tags can also affect your Seo in the same way. Google needs to know what content is being used where. If you type if your content as “ <h4>” instead of “<p>” Google will notice and won’t crawl your website properly. Which will cause you to lose traffic and thus lose revenue.

Another thing that will affect your Seo which still falls under html is your meta tags. There are several meta tags that will affect your seo ranking.Such as your title tag, which goes in your header section of your websites code. Your description tag will also affect your seo as well. Both of these tags are what google show’s when your website is shown on google’s website.

For instance, if you look below you can see how our website is currently showing our description when you look us up on google.

Do you notice anything strange?

That’s right! Our Descriptions not matching on Facebook and our website!

If  you didn’t catch it don’t worry. We’ll cover that too.

Back to meta tags.. Other than the meta tags for your description and for your title you also need to make sure you have the google site verification tag. You can also find this with-in google search console. You have to upload a file that they give you to your website so that google can verify your website.

Additionally, you can use the geolocation tag however, google has publicly stated they are not longer using this as a ranking factor as of june 2016.However, if you are using google maps snack pack to help your google maps ranking it could still be beneficial if you need to be found in a certain location.

                               Optimize your website

You need to make sure your site loads quickly and look good on all devices. This means you need to make your site responsive. Your videos need to load on all devices from desktops to mobile phones to tablets. You can’t just have a website that loads slowly on a desktop and expect your desktop users to just stay on your website when they can just go to the next similar website that loads quickly . The same goes for phones and tablets. Most people are in a hurry and don’t have time to wait for a slow website to load when they can just get the same information faster somewhere else.Google simply won’t allow a website to rank high on the serps if the website is not user friendly. Google’s ranking factors  now – nowadays are all  about user experience.

                                       Social Media

You want to be on social media sites like pinterest twitter, instagram, Facebook, tumblr etc.

You also want links coming to your website from your social media and to your social media from your website. This works by creating real estate across the internet. You’re creating citations across the web which google sees are references. That being said you need to keep in mind  that there are do follow links and no follow links the only two social media sites right now that allow do follow links are twitter and tumblr. Which means links from those websites will help you rank higher in google Then non follow social media sites.

[womanwiththepoppytattoo]

Happiness and connection

September 14, 2020

Two more sleeps until my appointment with the medium.

Yesterday was another bad day. I have too much time to think on the weekends. Somehow the “what if he doesn’t show” became a certainty that he won’t show. When I wasn’t sleeping, I was quietly crying, all day long, until it gave me a headache (which I still have). Eating and crying. Washing dishes and crying. If crying were a sport, I would be a national hero. In the morning, I had posted about my dilemma in a free-psychic-readings group on Facebook, hoping someone would reassure me, would confirm that he is in fact trying to communicate with me, but no one responded, so that made it worse. 

So when Antonio, Rey’s eldest brother, who lives in Panama, messaged me around 5 p.m., I knew that was Rey. Not that it’s all that unusual for Antonio to message me - he does so about twice a week now, though usually on weekdays - but I knew. I was sort of expecting it, even. I have often thought that Rey is using Antonio to communicate with me. He - Antonio - seems to be highly intuitive and often guesses when I’m not doing well, although I don’t think I’ve given any clues. I have never told him that his messages are sometimes an answer to something I have asked of Rey. And I hadn’t told him about the medium, I wanted to keep it to myself, for myself. But I told him all of it, and he talked me down. He said it’s not a one-shot deal - if it doesn’t go well, I can try again. Just confessing it all helped, because these fears in the dark had grown monstrous. My terror is reasonable, of course, but so is hope. The only reason I believe in any of this, the only reason I sought out a medium, is because of the communications from Rey. There have been 3 or 4 in the past week, all of them addressing my current fears. Every message I have ever gotten has been of acceptance and love and reassurance. If they were coming from me, would I be that kind to myself? Would I be that consistent? If so, why did it take me this long to start? And why can’t I seem to influence the timing or form of the messages? Because I would really like to have more of those nice dreams, like once a week. 

There are really only two possibilities. Either Rey and I are connected by love across death, in spite of (or even because of?) our painful history; or I am wrong about all of it, everything, and I will not only lose him again, I will lose my ability to trust my own basic cognitive abilities, and that is beyond terrifying.

I also had gone to my medium’s website during the day, looking for some reassurance. She has a blog post about being a victim of narcissistic abuse, and I thought, “oh no, she’s not going to be the right person to connect to my narcissist.” Later, while I was chatting with Antonio, I returned to the site and watched a video she has there about her “story.” She says in the video that she had a “difficult relationship” with her father (was he the narcissist in her life?) but that as she came to accept her gift, she communicated with him after his death, and they both “began to heal.” So, I thought, maybe she is the right one.

My posts here have been very inward-focused lately, and if you’ve read my older posts, you know that is not what this blog is supposed to be about. So, I’m going to take this moment of relative peace in my life and write about another aspect of my theme.

I basically have 3 moods these days, as you can plainly see.

1. I feel connected to Rey’s spirit. I feel at peace, grateful, hopeful, even a little cheerful, though still weepy;

2. I feel disconnected and distant from Rey’s spirit. I feel sad, hopeless, isolated, unloved, worthless, ashamed, etc.; and

3. Dissociation.

I can imagine what the average reader stumbling over this post on Tumblr is thinking right now, the average intelligent person indoctrinated in the unconscious ideology of modern mental health. “This chick needs to start focusing on herself. She’s so codependent, needing external validation like that. Happiness comes from within.”

Immediately after Rey’s death I sought out therapy to help me sort out the complicated emotions I was facing. I gave up on my therapist and the whole mental health profession (this wasn’t my first attempt) when she said to me “happiness comes from within.” Besides the fact that it really pisses me off when people presume to know what is inside of me better than I do (I told her that if what I needed was within me, I would know it, and she insisted that I was wrong), I never said my goal was happiness. She assumed that without asking.

Happiness is a cultural obsession. Our nation is founded on it, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. But what is it? It is just that - a thing to pursue. Happiness is the thing that is always just out of reach. 

Happiness is a relative term - you can be happier or less happy, but no one is ever permanently happy. There is no happily-ever-after. 

This is why our society is based on always wanting more: we are trying to reach the thing that cannot be reached, happiness. This is why we are destroying the earth. 

Do you know what no one ever talks about? Connection. We don’t talk about it because it is a collectivist value, it is anti-capitalist. We are told explicitly to focus on ourselves, and implicitly to ignore our own basic need for connection. Most people ignore it so well they aren’t even aware they have it. And telling ourselves and each other “happiness comes from within” only makes it harder to perceive and understand our need for connection to each other, to life, to spirit, to things besides ourselves.

I think the lesson the universe is trying to teach me is about connection. It took me 46 years and two dead soulmates to finally get it. 

So yes, here I am, shamelessly saying I need to feel connected to my soulmate, and through him, to the incomprehensible divine spirit. This is more real and more important than happiness.

Connection is spiritual, because we are all part of the divine spirit, and that includes all life. If that sounds like kumbaya hippie bullshit to you, it’s because you have been brainwashed by a toxic culture all your life. Sadly, I don’t believe our culture will change. I think our culture is going to have to be broken in order for our collective consciousness to open up. What does it take to break a culture? It takes more than the Fall of Rome - much of Roman culture survived. It takes a complete devastation, extinction. And I think it’s coming. To break a culture - here I mean all of what we refer to as “Western Culture” - that has spread to such a large part of the world, will require breaking the world. We can wait around for climate change to do it, or nuclear war, or we can pitch in and start breaking things ourselves and maybe save something of the planet.

Was that a dizzying shift? How did I get from grief to revolution in one paragraph? Because it’s all the same thing. It’s all connected. We’re all connected.

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior’s Top 25 of 2019

This was such a good year for movies. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. The amount of good or great movies and the amount of variety among the better movies made it hard to know where to cut off my annual top 25 and to which movies to give “Honorable Mentions” instead. As has always been the case, I make an effort to see the better movies two or sometimes even three times before deciding where they place, and that was the case with most of the movies below.

There have been quite a few years where I haven’t rewarded a single movie a 10 out of 10, and this year, there are FOUR! Even so, 2019 will forever be known as the year I started to appreciate and even love the music of Elton John and George Michael, although only one of those movies made my list.  Just a reminder that this is a list of my favorite movies of the year and it’s based solely on my own opinion. If you don’t like one of the movies on my list that’s fine – it’s your prerogative – but if there’s something you may have missed and you check it out based on inclusion here and you like it, then please let me know!

Also, if you just want to peruse everything that I wrote this year, you can find all of it at my Weekend Warrior Blog.

25. Wild Rose (NEON)

I’d be remiss if I ignored this wonderful film directed by Tom Harper that premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in 2018 but finally was released this year. It stars Jessie Buckley as a Glaswegian country singer, a single mother freshly released from prison who just can’t get her act together, even though she is a terrific singer with a real passion for country music.  Buckley is such a revelation in the role, and I just loved the songs written for the movie, and I’m not even remotely a fan of country music. (So I guess that’s a third type of music I began to appreciate this year.)

24. Fighting with my Family (U.A. Releasing)

Another terrific and nearly forgotten film this year was this wrestling biopic about WWE superstar Paige, as played by Florence Pugh (she’s gotta be this year’s actor of the year, right?). Written and directed by Stephen Merchant and co-produced by Dwayne Johnson, Paige’s story really is pretty fantastic, as you follow her trying to make her way in the WWE where she’s nothing like the other women wrestlers. The movie was warm and funny and not at all what you’d expect from a WWE Films movie, but it’s definitely the studio’s finest work to date.

MY REVIEW

23. Plus One (RLJE Films)

One of the nicer surprises out of Tribeca this year was this twist on the rom-com by filmmakers Jeff Chan and Andrew Rhymer, starring Jack Quaid and Maya Erskine as two best friends who decide to attend all their weddings together to act as wingmen to help each other hook up. It’s a plan that works out well at first but starts to falter once they realize they might have feelings for each other. It’s classic rom-com territory but the movie is hilarious (Erskine is an absolute gem!) and you’re on board even when it goes to somewhat predicable places. (Some of the wedding speeches given by Jon Bass, Beck Bennett are particularly funny.) This is a movie that I’m bummed I haven’t had a chance to see a second or third time, as I’m sure it might be higher up on my year end list if I had.

22. Spider-Man: Far from Home (Sony)

You can’t argue when the fans are right but when Kevin Feige and Marvel Studios came on board to produce Spider-Man: Homecoming, it actually was pretty good and you had to have confidence they could make a sequel just as good or better. There was a lot to love about this one including the decision to take Spider-Man out of New York, which makes sense when you realize all the space-faring he’d been doing in Infinity War and Endgame. Then there was Jake Gyllenhaal as “Mysterio,” a fun and twisty take on the classic Spider-Man villain that also allowed director Jon Watts to play with some of the ideas introduced in Avengers: Endgame, while also giving Samuel Jackson’s Nick Fury more to do than he has in many movies. I can’t wait to see what Tom Holland’s Spider-Man gets up to next!

MY REVIEW

21. One Cut of the Dead (Shudder)

The Japanese META zombie movie that’s been winding its way through the genre festival circuit for most of the past year, it’s an amazing bit of mind-fuckery where you think it’s merely about a zombie attack on a low budget movie but as we learn after the first 30 minutes, there’s a lot more going on than what seems… and that’s about all I can say, because it’s the kind of movie that’s more amazing when you go in not knowing what’s happening. And yet, you probably should know that there’s a lot more going on since the first 30 minutes on their own aren’t very good.

20. The Irishman (Netflix)

Don’t get me wrong. I really liked and appreciated Martin Scorsese’s reunion with De Niro and Pesci, as well as their pairing with Al Pacino to tell the story of the man responsible for the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa, but just not as much as other movies. Granted, Scorsese continues to be one of the best filmmakers working today but it did feel like he and De Niro were returning to familiar and popular territory to try to claim back their cinematic throne. I guess it worked, because The Irishman is a great film, and heck, I’d watch it a thousand more times on Netflix if I didn’t have other things to watch.

MY REVIEW

19. Little Women (Sony)

I just wrote about Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of Louisa May Alcott last week, and I’m probably more surprised by most about how how much I loved this movie, maybe even more than Lady Bird. Those performances by Saoirse Ronan, Florence Pugh and Timothée Chalamet just makes this film so wonderful at times and heartbreaking at others. It’s always been a great story but Gerwig found an original way into it that made it a wonderful follow-up to Lady Bird.

18. Sword of Trust (IFC Films)

I’ve been a Lynn Shelton stan for a number of years now, mostly from Your Sister’s Sister, but I generally like much of her work, whether it’s all improvised like that one and Humpday, or scripted like her pairing with Jay Duplass for Outside In. This one was really special, as it paired her with her Glow star Marc Maron and a trio of really great actors to bounce off of, including Jillian Bell and Michaela Watkins (from the almost equally great Brittany Runs a Marathon), as well as Jon Bass. The interaction and improvisation between these four actors as they deal with a sword from the Civil War with a controversial past makes this one of Shelton’s more entertaining movies, deserving of its placement in my year-end list.

Thoughts from My Column

17. Good Boys (Universal)

You’ll notice that I have quite a few comedies on my Top 25 this year, and that shouldn’t be a surprise for anyone who has read my reviews over the years. I love comedies and I love to laugh, and this high concept comedy about three 6thgraders, one of them played by Jacob Tremblay, just cracked me up so much. No surprise that it’s from the mega-comedy-kings Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who produced this movie from the team of Gene Stupnitsky and Lee Eisenberg, who are best known for “The Office” and a number of not-so-great comedy hits like Bad Teacher. Like Booksmart (see below), this one involved a fairly simple all-in-day quest by the three main characters but it led to some absolutely hilarious situations. Totally reminded me of myself when I was their age. Can’t wait to see what Brady Noon and Keith L. Williams get up to next as they’re amazing.

16. Late Night (Amazon)

While Mindy Kaling’s feature film might have come out of the whole SJW virtue signaling movements that surfaced post-Trump, her movie loosely, based on her own experiences working on the staff at a late night show, was a beautifully insightful look into the business. It starred Emma Thompson as veteran late night host Katherine Newbury, who is forced into diversifying her writing crew by hiring the less-than-experienced Molly (Kaling’s character). Over the next few months, Molly tries to make her way through the ins and outs of writing for late night, dealing with sexism and even some racism, even from Newbury.  Unlike the recent Bombshell, this is a comedy and both Kaling and Thompson were both terrific, to the point that it was a bummer that Amazon decided not to give this any sort of awards push by sending out screeners with some of their other movies.

MY REVIEW

15. Peterloo (Amazon)

While I’ve been a fan of filmmaker Mike Leigh almost as long as I’ve been writing about movies, I always seem to be in the minority when I’m not as into some of the movies my fellow critics love (like Mr. Turner), but this amazing movie about the political climate of England in the 16thCentury and the violence spurred on by a peaceful protest is an amazing bit of writing/directing by the British master. This is another movie that I wish got a lot more attention because the writing and cast were so good, and it just seemed to come and go without much fanfare. A real shame.

MY REVIEW

14. Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood (Sony)

I probably won’t have too much to add about Tarantino’s movie beyond my earlier review, but this is a movie that I liked quite a bit the first time and even more the second time I saw it.  It’s just a fun portrait of Hollywood in 1969 through the eyes of a filmmaker who was six years old at the time. The performances by Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie drove this film about what it was like trying to make a living as an actor in the climate of the late ‘60s with peace and love… and brutal murder in the form of the Manson Family. And yet, Tarantino found a way to give the Sharon Tate story a happy ending. Go figure.

MY REVIEW

13. Pain and Glory (Sony Pictures Classics)

Pedro Amodovar has been a bit hit or miss in recent years, so seeing him reunite with his regulars Antonio Banderas and Penelope Cruz to write his best (and possibly most personal?) screenplay to date made Pain and Gloryone of the year’s nice surprises. Despite doing a lot of questionable movies in recent years, Banderas once again proved his worth as an actor, giving a performance as a has-been director that hopefully will get him his very first Oscar nomination.

12. First Love (Go West USA)

Another filmmaker whose work I’ve loved but who has also made some real dogs is Japan’s Takashi Miike. His latest take on the crime genre ended up being one of his best movies in twenty years. It may even be better than Audition, which celebrated its 20thanniversary this year. It’s a simple story of a young Japanese boxer who encounters a young woman who has been sold into sex slavery, but in helping her to escape, they get caught up in a gang war that includes some of the craziest characters to ever appear in a Miike movie. But as the title says, this is a love story more than anything, and that helped Miike prove that he has not gone soft, but still knows what it means to be human.

11. The Two Popes (Netflix)

I just wrote about this dramatic two-hander, written by Anthony McCarten and directed by Fernando Meirelles (City of God), last week, after putting it off for far too long. (It’s hard to get inspired to write reviews of movies when you’re not being paid to do so, let me tell you.) It’s an amazing film about the relationship between Popes Benedict and Francis, as played by Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Pryce. While you wonder how McCarten researched a movie between two very private public figures, neither of whom have written about this meeting, this is another great film from Netflix this year that’s proving that the studio is not going away and it’s going to produce quality films as great as the big boys.

10. Avengers: Endgame (Marvel Studios)

It shouldn’t be too big a surprise that a Marvel movie has made my top 10, as there have been others, like last year’s Ant Man and the Wasp, Iron Man, Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy. Oddly, only one of the three Russo Brothers movies made my list – Captain America: The Winter Soldier – but with Avengers: Endgame, they managed to create a culmination of everything that’s come before but also made a Marvel movie that is the most like the Avengers comics I love, even to the point of having various members going off on their own missions. I’ve seen this movie three or four times now, and I still love some of the big moments like Captain America stating, “Avengers Assemble!” (finally) and this more than made up for Infinity War, which was good but not great.

9. Waves (A24)

A rather late addition to my year’s best is the new movie from Trey Edward Schutts, which delivered another amazing performance by Kelvin Harrison, Jr, who was also fantastic as the little-seen drama, Luce. The energy Schutts gives the movie with the use of music is fantastic, but it’s just an interesting character portrait that halfway through, throws you for a major loop before switching gears to follow the characters played by Lucas Hedges and the equally talented Taylor Russell. And then on top of that, you have Sterling K. Brown giving a moving performance as Harrison and Russell’s characters, who just doesn’t know how to deal with what’s going on with his family. There have been some great teen coming-of-age dramas over the years but Waves is one for the ages.

8. Book Smart (UA Releasing)

Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut has been compared both favorably (and sometimes unfavorably) to a female Superbad, but I think a better comparison would be a modern-day Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Like Good Boys, it was a single night movie where two best friends (Beanie Feldstein, Kaitly Dever) decide to spend their last night in high school rebelling against their overly studios nature by going out to a party and have fun. What happens to them and the crazy characters they interact with makes this one of the funniest movies of the year. What was really amazing, besides the entire cast, was that I could watch this movie and see stuff that would have happened in my own high school days (which was more in the Ridgemont High days), and to see that high school just doesn’t change despite the technology and all the different standards and morals that come along.  Wilde is one filmmaker who I can’t wait to see what she does next and same for her entire cast. I’ve been saying since seeing this that I’d love to see Wilde do another movie with the exact same cast, all of them playing different characters, as I think we’ll see that these actors can do anything.

7. Yesterday (Universal)

Here’s a surprise for you all, but again, if you realize how many Danny Boyle movies have been in my top 10 over the years, you’ll know what a big fan I am of the Oscar-winning filmmaker. Teaming him with Richard Curtis for a high concept comedy where the world has forgotten the Beatles’ music and a young busker named Jack (Himesh Patel) who remembers them starts to make a career for himself by claiming the music as his own. I loved the lead, but it was especially his friendship/romance with Lily James’ Ellie Appleton that made me love this movie enough to put it in my top 10.

6. Marriage Story (Netflix)

While I really appreciated Noah Baumbach’s latest movie quite a bit when I first saw it at the New York Film Festival back in September, it was my rewatch on Netflix more recently that really made me appreciate what Baumbach has accomplished after nearly twenty years making movies. Granted, the movie might be seen as a bit of a downer, but you know what? Sometimes, I have to even out all the laughs and humor with something more serious.  Having a friend who went through a (far less litigious) divorce with a small child, I couldn’t help but thinking how much worse it could have been. As much as this was about Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson’s characters and the change in their relationship, it was a good lesson in how ugly things can get when lawyers get involved with Baumbach having a powerful trio in Laura Dern, Ray Liotta and the wonderful Alan Alda in those roles. This created a beautiful bookend to Baumbach’s earlier film The Squid and The Whale, based on his parents’ divorce, but this didn’t seem autobiographical as much as it showed the work of a mature filmmaker who has created his most personal and best work.

5. Knives Out (Lionsgate)

Speaking of dysfunctional family relationships, Rian Johnson’s look at the death of a wealthy mystery author’s (played by Christopher Plummer) and how his greedy family might be responsible, as investigated by Daniel Craig’s “gentleman detective” Benoit Blanc and the author’s maid, played by Ana de Armas. Besides putting a clever a spin on the ensemble whodunnit typified by the work of Agatha Christie and others, the movie was insanely funny thanks to the cast assembled by Johnson, which was literally an all-star team doing some of their funniest work. Really, there wasn’t a weak link in delivering Johnson’s best screenplay to date, and I look forward to seeing if we’ll get another movie in this realm. As with most of the movies in my Top 10, this is a movie I could see repeatedly and get more out of each time.

MY REVIEW

4. Rocketman  (Paramount)

And here it is, the Elton John movie that made me a fan of Elton John’s music after nearly 40 years of mostly shunning it. What director Dexter Fletcher and star Taron Egerton did in telling John’s story though his music, essentially creating an original jukebox musical on screen was the perfect way to frame the music and story. A lot of people compared this to last year’s Bohemian Rhapsody– which I also liked, mind you – but however much work Fletcher did to finish that movie after Bryan Singer’s firing, this was clearly something he had a clear vision of from beginning to end. This is one of the few movies I’ve seen this year three times, and I’ve been going down the Elton John rabbit hole of music ever since.

MY REVIEW

3. Ford v Ferrari (20thCentury Fox)

When I reviewed James Mangold’s Le Mans racing movie, starring Christian Bale and Matt Damon, back in October, I gave it a 9.5/10, and then I saw it again in IMAX and for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out why I took off half a point. The movie is just about perfect.  This is such a great story and the way the action is framed by the relationship between the former’s Ken Miles and the latter’s Carol Shellby with all the other players in the mix just made the movie one that was extremely watchable. And boy, those racing scenes! I haven’t seen action that exciting in years and that includes some of the best recent action movies, including Baby Driver and some of the “Fast and Furious” movies.

MY REVIEW

2. 1917 (Universal)

This was almost my #1 because it’s such a masterful achievement in all aspects of filmmaking that it also earned a rare 10 out of 10. Granted, I’ve been a Sam Mendes fan for many, many years, and he probably has had a few movies in my top 25 over the years, most notably with his second film, The Road to Perdition, which was actually my #1 movie that year. I’ve generally followed Mendes’ career with interest with only one or two movies just not working for me, but with just eight movies in 20 years, it’s amazing that it took that long for Mendes to be back in the Oscar conversation after winning for American Beauty. Frankly, I think this is unequivocally one of the best movies of the year between the screenplay, co-written with Kristy Wilson-Cairns, and the performances by George MacKay and Dean-Charles Chapman, making it a movie that’s a wonder to marvel at how they achieved such a powerful cinematic experience to behold.

MY REVIEW

1b. The Biggest Little Farm  (NEON)

As with every year, I like to pick one documentary as my favorite and best of the year, but instead of deciding where it fares among the narrative features, I just make it a tie for #1. My favorite doc of the year was John Chester’s movie about show he and his wife Molly decided to move out to a farm and try to get it work fiscally despite tons of issues, some they could control, others they couldn’t. While I also liked Apollo 11, and I’m sure that will win the Oscar, the way Chester told this story was done in such a wonderful way that it was far more enjoyable and entertaining than most docs. (And as you know, I do LOVE docs!)

1a. The Farewell (A24)

This should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed me on Twitter, where Lulu Wang’s China-set dramedy has been my profile picture almost since I first saw it in June – I’ve seen it three more times since then, each then having the same emotional reaction. Based on a story from Wang’s own life, it stars Awkwafina as Billi a poor starving New York artist who travels to China when she learns her Nana (the terrific Chinese veteran actor Shuzhen Zhao) was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her family has decided not to tell Nana that she may be dying, but they all return to Mainland China under the guise of a wedding for Billi’s cousin, but she knows the truth and has to skirt around while trying to spend possibly her last time with her beloved Nana. The movie was emotional but also quite amusing and entertaining, really showing what life in China is like in a way that was far more personal and human than last year’s Crazy Rich Asians i.e. that was more fantasy than this movie’s reality.

Some More Thoughts

Honorable Mentions: Motherless Brooklyn, Les Miserables, Honey Boy, Long Shot, Toy Story 4, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (As I said above, it was tough to leave a couple of these out of my top 25.)

Top 12 Docs

Not going to write too much about all of these but this was a pretty fantastic year for docs, and if you have a chance to watch any of the below, I would jump on it, especially since some of them barely got a theatrical release.

1. The Biggest Little Farm

2. Apollo 11

3. The Cave

4. WRESTLE

5. Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice

6. Marianne and Leonard: Words of Love

7. Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am

8. 63 Up

9. Agnès on Varda

10. One Child Nation

11. Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy

12. Love, Antosha

I used to do a TERRIBLE 25 as a separate thing, but this year, I’m just going to list six movies, although a few of these I saw so long ago, I barely remember why they sucked so bad.

In fact, Jeffrey Nachmanoff’s REPLICAS was one of the first movies released in 2019 picked up by Entertainment Studios from TIFF the year before. It’s funny how much love Keanu Reeves got this year for John Wick: Chapter Three and other stuff, but everyone seemed to completely forget that he started the year with this stupid high concept sci-fi thriller about a man obsessed with bringing his family back from the dead.

Also, not many people saw Joe Chappelle’s AN ACCEPTABLE LOSS, which opened just a week after Replicas, but it was a political thriller starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Tika Sumpter that was so poorly written and so boring that I felt bad for Sumpter, who was giving her all.

I probably have said as much as much about Tom Hooper’s CATS as I plan to – you can read my review over at The Beat– but it’s also the most recent of this year’s bad movies, so it’s the freshest on my mind on how awful it was. I’m not going to pile on any further.

It’s been a while since I saw Tim Story’s SHAFT sequel/reboot, and as excited I was to see Samuel L. Jackson and Richard Roundtree back in the role, it’s Jessie T. Usher’s presence as John Shaft, Jr, meant to be the main running gag of the action-comedy that made it one of the worst movies of the year.

Another remake that really didn’t need to happen was this Neil Marshall remake of HELLBOY, and sure, maybe I was a bit biased, having loved Guillermo del Toro’s movies, particularly Hellboy: The Golden Army, but this just wasn’t a good movie as hard as it seemed to try. (You can read my review of that here.)

And yet, that wasn’t even the worst movie of the year. No, that would be Rob Zombie’s 3 FROM HELL, a movie so abhorrible that I couldn’t believe what I was watching. I called it the “worst movie of the year” back in September, and that sentiment didn’t change.

Before we wrap things up, here are some of my favorite records of the year. You may have heard of a few of them. Maybe not others? Most of them should be on Spotify.

1. Smiley’s Friends - In the Sixth Sense

2. Kevin So - S.O.U.L.

3. Pixies - Beyond the Eire

4. The Alarm - Sigma

5. Silversun Pickups - Widow’s Weeds

Best concert of the year? Easy one. Dave Mason’s Saucerful of Secrets with my buddy Jonathan Baylis when former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters shows up to perform one of the classic Pink Floyd songs! Possibly one of the best concert moments of the last couple decades!

That’s it for 2019... onto 2020!

[myminifactory]

How to Spend Your Time like a Nerd in Cancun

Words from our Scanbassador David Jeuniaux, currently venturing through Cancun as part of a South American tour, armed with his camera and a strong passion for culture, photogrammetry and 3D printing!  

When I say the word vacation, what do you picture? I bet it would involve a blue sea, palm trees, white sand and overwhelming heat. Now add Mayan ruins and a plethora of tourists, and you will have a good idea of what Cancun is like.

I was there with my beloved girlfriend and, like a massively proud nerd that I am, I spent most of my time at archaeological sites and museums.

Two of my passions are History of Ancient Civilizations and Photogrammetry, and this trip is a great opportunity to mix them in a giant “spend 8 hours per day in museums and piss girlfriend off” kind of way.

In this article, I will talk about the Museo Maya de Cancun (MMC), the most postcard-ready place in the world.

But let’s get to the start of it, shall we?

Inaugurated in 2012, the MMC is one of the latest and most modern museums in the country. Located right in the Zona Hotelera, it is the spot you don’t want to miss, when Chaac, the god of rain, in not chic. (My apologies for the lame joke.) The MMC is divided into 3 rooms. Although that doesn’t seem like much, they are literally filled to the brim with treasures from all around Mexico.

The first room is where they display all the magnificent artifacts that have been found in the state of Quintana Roo (where Cancun is located).

This is one of the richest departments of the country, culturally and economically. But it relies so much on tourism that it can be overwhelming. We actually passed by a large crowd thinking it was some kind of amusement park only to notice later that it was, in fact, Mayan ruins. 

When you look at the map below, it can be hard tell where the ruins end and where the funfairs begin.

...and then, after your cotton candy, don’t miss out our reenactment of a Mayan sacrifice. It is a blast!

But all in all the MMC still managed to gather an extensive collection of artifacts, here are a few examples. And yes, now’s the time I start linking STL files.

Stele with Spiral Writing [download STL]

The first item is a stele with Mayan writing on it. “Not very spectacular.” you might think, but what is peculiar about this one is that the text is written in spiral. From what I can gather, it is a one of a kind. Most steles are written in block in two columns from top to bottom and from left to right. If this interests you, follow this link.  I could not find more info about this one except that it was found in the ruins of Coba and was carved during the Golden Age of the Maya, between 600 and 850 AD. The description of the stele doesn’t include a translation, so if you have a linguist friend, print this out for him, it will make a great mind puzzle gift.

Nakawé smells like a coyote. Tanok

Architectural Features

I put the two next artifacts together because they both came from the same building. These are stucco reliefs from the ruins of Oxtankah. They were dated between 650-850 AD.

The facades of the Mayan buildings were richly decorated and painted with scenes associated with divine rulers and supernatural beings. The first one represents the face of a man with a headdress, probably a noble, and the second is the head of a bird, most likely an eagle.

1) Architectural Feature Bird [download STL] 2) Architectural Feature Head [download STL]

And that’s about it for that room. There were so many other things to scan, but the problem is that the museum has large windows and the sun there is so bright, leading to reflection, leaving me unable to scan more artifacts. But luckily in the next room a lot of items were uncovered.

The second sala in the museum is dedicated to the Maya as a whole. It features artifacts from all around Mexico. I spent most of my day there and made friends with the attendant… just kidding, museum attendants hate photogrammeters!

Monkey In Noble’s Clothes

I’d have to say this is my favorite piece. Even though I know that dressing up a monkey in clothes is sort of animal ill-treatment, I can’t help but giggle when I see one. So it makes me laugh internally when I picture the Maya having the same kind of goofy tradition a thousand years ago.

The Maya associated the monkey with writing, knowledge and the arts. It was also associated with pleasures such as gluttony, sexuality, dance or music; all typical entertainments of the Mayan elites.

This piece dates back to the post-classic Maya period, between 900 and 1200 AD, and was found at Chichen Itza.

[download STL]

The Hatted Lord

This bust was found in the ruins of El Rey, located at the seaside of the Caribbean. It represents one of his lords, dressed elegantly with earmuffs and a headdress. There is a depression in the top of the head, meaning it was also used as a censer. Treat yourself, print it and use it as an ashtray!*

[download STL]

*Mayan curse included

Reliefs with Warriors

This is one of my favorites too.

This artifact represents a pack of Mayan warriors aligned like the seven dwarfs going to the mine, and sculpted like some Super Deformed figurines. Look at those dainty little feet! 

This object is really worth printing because like most bas-relief, a picture doesn’t render it finely, you’ll need to print it in 3D to see all the little details. Found in Chichen-Itza and dated between 900 and 1200 AD.

[download STL]

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho! To murder you we go.

And here we are at the last room. It is where they display temporary exhibitions. When I was there, the attention-grabbing theme was “sexuality and motherhood”.

As you can imagine there were lots of interesting things I could have scanned there, but again, the glass/sun combo screwed up my plan.

But the one I managed to scan is so good, it made my disappointment go away.

Metaphorical statue with spike

This sculpture represents the penetration of the Earth. (kinky) Archeologists believe that it was buried with the reproductive organ at ground level, probably during a farming ritual.

So go ahead, print this one out and bury it in your garden to improve your crops just like the Mayas did!

[download STL]

But remember kids, the balls have to drop to the ground.

And that’s about it for this museum. I’d have to say, I had an awesome time there. 

I was a bit frustrated about the reflections on the glass cases, and I wanted the freedom to take pictures without the cases. There was a good chance they would say no, but I asked anyway. So on my way out I pleaded to talk to the person responsible, and they introduced me to an archeologist that worked there, Dr. Antonio Reyes. I talked with him about my project, and he told me that he too is a photogrammeter! It was the first time I had met another scanner, and we talked for a long time, mainly about the interest of photogrammetry for research and education. That encounter comforted me that this technique can also be used to help researchers in their studies, and not only be a fun way to waste your holiday.

All of the objects mentioned in this article have been made available on Scan the World, many thanks to David for his contributions. Be sure to track his progress as he travels across South America by following this blog!

You can download all of his scans and follow his profile on MyMiniFactory here! https://www.myminifactory.com/users/eurotronic

~Happy Scanning!

[someplace-that-is-else]

‘Gay Pride...?’: Sexuality in the Darkenverse

I couldn’t believe it.

My lovely man on a ledge.

Daniel Westberg.

I had put my novel about high schoolers aside. I sat at the 24 hour Perkins restaurant and allowed myself to fall. I began Darkened Soul, allowing my main character Daniel Westberg to take me on a journey.

Little did I know what he had in mind…or what it would say about my writing…

AND WHAT ARE YOU…?

I thought that I started small.

I always wanted to write as far back as I could remember. I did little scripts in fourth grade. I wrote a fantasy story. I even tried my hands at writing music and plays.

There was a classmate of mine in high school. He was always so ‘too cool for school.’ He could have passed for James Dean back in the day. He even had those old school cars. I was in awe of him. And he loved to write.

Him? Write?  I was surprised.

So of course I had to run my stories past him.  I was just so in awe of him. His opinion as another writer MATTERED. I even got notes. The more I wrote to impress him, the more that I tried to be better. I hoped that by showing parts of me in my writing that he would know parts of me.

It wasn’t until I wrote Darkened Soul that I saw it. All the times that I had written before that, I guess for me I had only written in terms of plot. Yes, characters grew. However, it was due to the plot. Other than some Sliders fanfiction, Darkened Soul found me dealing with something I had not really dealt with before: sexuality.

Darkened Soul has a back and forth device. One chapter the reader would be in 3053, a futuristic dystopian world where Nosferatu like Daniel would run from hunters and things would not be what they seem. The next chapter would be a different time…either a small town in the late 90s (first section of the book) or Paris in 2048 (second section of the book). In the first series of flashback, the readers got to see Daniel’s home life, how his high school life was, and how the entrance of Jared Standridge changed his life forever. In the second series of flashbacks, the readers saw the dark relationship between Jared and Daniel, now Nosferatu, on full display.

Yes…relationship.

In the first series of flashbacks, Daniel encountered Jared at the restaurant Daniel worked at. There was an instant spark that he could not quite explain.

And then Daniel’s perfect life (2 parents with sister, nice girlfriend, direction) all came tumbling down with a kiss. A kiss from a guy.

I had never done a scene between two guys. I had never thought about it. And while I suspected there was something deeper between Daniel and Jared simply from the prologue I had written in Darkened Soul, it was a whole other thing to write it out. To know it came from me. There I was exploring Daniel’s feelings about it.

It was a throughline all through the novel. Daniel in denial in the first flashbacks and slowly accepting that he was liking Jared, but putting no label on what they were. There was the deadly sync-ness the two of them had as Nosferatu. There was Daniel being forced to confront labels in the second series of flashbacks. And then there was the period where Daniel was in villain Ursula’s domain, embracing his role as the One. There was a scene where Daniel was clearly uncomfortable when he was with his first made Nosferatu Brandon in a gay club. There was also flirtation between Daniel and the Nosferatu Michael in the middle of the novel that allowed Daniel to explore a life without Jared in it. Tempted though he was he was most comfortable when he was just with one guy…that guy being Jared.

So was it happy coincidence…or was Daniel gay? Was he bi? Did it even matter?

And Jared? Interestingly given how he was in the first series of flashback…of course, he would be defiantly gay.

SIGHTINGS

For Darkchilde, I definitely branched out to be different. Given that the main characters…the witch Aidan and Nosferatu Ebony…were more straight forward, I never thought sexuality would be an issue. Originally I had envisioned a love triangle between Aidan, Ebony, and Nosferatu Nicholas. However, the story did not turn out that way…moreso because the Nosferatu Victor appeared out of nowhere. LOL!!! Also I saw Aidan and Ebony as two sides of the same coin when it came to people who had known loss.

And yet…once the door was opened…

My side characters appeared to have their own lives. There was the Nosferatu Fredrick. Introduced in Darkened Soul: Jonathan’s Tale, he appeared in Darkchilde briefly. One person who read it always said that Fredrick gave off a vibe that he had feelings for Nosferatu Jonathan even though they were only friends. In Darkchilde, that was pretty much confirmed in a monologue he gave to Ebony. Then there was Aidan’s roommate Eli who made a thing of sleeping around. An appearance by his sister Priya revealed that he went one way and his family frowned on that. And that way…was not heterosexual. The Nosferatu Michael appeared in a short story that was in Darkened Soul: Pieces of a Darkened Puzzle and got duped by a hunter pretending to be interested in him to avenge his best friend’s injuries in an accident.

It was interesting to me.  For years, I had written so much. Yet here I was now writing characters that were simple on one hand while being complex in their sexuality on the other. Perhaps it said something about how comfortable with myself as a writer of gay fiction that they had started to appear more in my writing than when I was younger.

STRONGER

In one of my last blogs (http://someplace-that-is-else.tumblr.com/post/155053536518/a-tale-of-three-writing-update-12-27-16) , I’ve mentioned that I’ve had a Darkenverse side project that I’ve been working on. A new short story collection that centered on the friendship between some of my side characters like Titania, Antonio, and Fredrick. It also involved some of the plot threads from the Darkened series that were major. Readers could find their origins in this collection. They could also find Jacob.

Jacob was a character who I introduced in my last short story collection Darkened Soul: Pieces of a Darkened Puzzle. It was brief, but he was intriguing. And SPOILER ALERT he has a short story in the new collection where he and Fredrick had a thing. It was revealed there was a schism to come within the group, and he was the catalyst of that. There was also a romantic scene between him and Fredrick. While Daniel and Jared had their moments in Darkened Soul, it was usually a smooth fade out. This has a bit more.

I was proud to see myself pushing myself.

Meanwhile, I was finishing up my latest submission package for Pictures of a Jaded Bitch. It would be my first full on gay novel. But first I had to find an agent.

So…the best was yet to come.  And it appeared that I was ready for it. At last.

#gay #pride #agent #gaynovel #darkenedsoul #darkchilde #writing #gaywriter #sexuality #darkenverse #perkins #danielwestberg #daniel #jared #fredrick #michael #eli #jamesdean #sliders #stronger #sightings #submissionpackage #submission #picturesofajadedbitch #spoiler #spoileralert #flashback #dystopia #kiss #jacob #pushing #complex

[sanantonioswebdesign]

What is Seo

A quick google search will tell you that wikipedia.com defines SEO as follows:

“ Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing the quality and quantity of website traffic, increasing visibility of a website or a web page to users of a web search engine.. “

If you’ve ever started an online business or If you’ve ever even discussed marketing or spoken to a web designer you’ve heard this term.

But what is it? Why is everyone talking about SEO? How Do you I get it? Can I buy it? Is there a gatekeeper? How much does it cost? I’m sure you have a lot of questions and that is okay. That’s why we’re here. We’re here to help you. We’re here to Teach you what you need to know, so before you even speak to a web designer or marketing agency or anything you will have a firm grasp of the basics. We don’t want you to feel like you walked into a dealership and got took.  We simply want to help your site rank. We want you to get more clients and most of all we want you to get paid! So let’s jump into it shall we!!

                                  Why do you need SEO

So, basically having good Seo is the internet equivalent of having a good brand or product.

The better your seo is the more popular your content will be. This is exactly what you want. You want your SEO to be as good as possible so your content can be found, so your website, or youtube channel or what have you is findable. If your website has really good seo your website will show up at the top of google’s page listings. Basically, when someone searches for something like San antonio’s Web Design. The website with the is optimized the most for those keywords will show up first. The websites that are least optimized for those keywords will show up farther away from the first page.  So now you understand that you need SEO so that your content can be found let us dive deeper into what this actually means.

                                           SEO Basics

Search Engine optimization is exactly how it sounds. Setting up your SEO Properly will allow Google to Search your website. Google is a Search Engine that San Antonio and beyond are using.

In order to optimize  your website to show up or rank on a Search Engine you have to know exactly what the top Search Engine is. Right now in 2019 that Search Engine is google. So, this means we need to optimize our website for Google’s  Search Engine.How do we do that? Well, I’m glad you asked! The next Paragraph is going to break down “keywords” which is one of the biggest tools that You will use when focusing on your websites SEO.

                                                 Keywords

Keywords are pretty much how they sound. Keywords are words you use in your content      

(These are things like a blog, a video, an image or even an infographic.) So let’s go over a way you can use keywords to help your seo. I want to really break this down so basically anyone can find this blog article, read it and know a good amount of information about SEO, keywords and everything I’m writing about in this blog post. So, first of all when you are trying to use a keyword to help boost your seo you need to make sure you’re using a keyword that is regularly being searched. Since, I run a web design and marketing company in San Antonio , Texas, I need to make sure that I try to use keywords that entail this. So, basically I would use words like Web Design or words like marketing, I would even use words like San Antonio, Texas. The reason I want to include these keywords, is again so that the top used search engine will show my site as popular by using these keywords on my site so that when google crawls my website it can really understand what my website is about.  By the way, web crawling is another way of saying searching for things. Basically google crawls the web to find certain words ,items or pieces of information. It returns that data and then uses that data to adjust what it show’s first and last.

Using the right keywords allows google to understand what your site is about. So,when I use words like “ San Antonio’s Web Design” on my website it tells google that my site is about just that! Your site might be about something else. Your website might be about computer repair or barber shops or what have you. So let’s say you have a website about hair and you are a barber. You would want to make sure your website includes words like hair, barber, scissors, barbershop, etc.

                                   Long tail keywords 

“Long tail keywords are basically keywords that are enclosed in phrases or key phrases.” -San  Antonio’s Web Design

An example of a long tail keyword, for a barbershop would be something like “ Great barber shops in the san antonio area.” or “How do barbers make swag lines” For a Web Designers website you could use something like “ The best website designer in San Antonio Texas” or something like “What is Seo?” or even “What are Long Tail keywords?”. In other words, you want to use “key” “Phrases” that are relative to your topic.  A Youtube channel that is all about “How to become a Professional Barber” would not use long tail keywords like “ what color is my dog” or “ My web Designer is in San Antonio” He would use something more like “Top ten places to buy barber scissors” or “ How do I find a good barber college” or how much do Professional barbers make”. It is USUALLY, easier to rank on google with long tail keywords. However, if your competitor knows what they are doing than they will most likely try to rank for long tail keywords as well as regular or short tail keywords.

                                    How to find keywords

So, now you know you need keywords on your website to help your SEO. Great, but how do you find them? Well, There are a few ways you can do this.  First you can use google’s keyword planner. You can watch the video below to learn more about that. But basically, you just go to https://ads.google.com/intl/en_us/home/tools/keyword-planner/ and google will help you find the right keywords to use to boost your seo by utilizing it’s resources to recommend words you can use that your target audience in  your niche are already using. You just put in a word or two and google recommends several related words that are searched most often on google. keyword planner will even tell you who is ranking number one currently for certain keywords.

will help with your citations/ online real estate.

For instance, let’s say you wanted to optimize your coffee website to show up on Google’s first page for words like coffee, or cappuccino. You can look at google’s keyword planner and see that the top website ranking for that word is starbucks and pretty much all the related words. So if you were to start a small niche website about coffee it might fail horribly unless you really put into the work. You would have to work really hard to rank high for the word “coffee”. You can try, but that’s why it is so important to do your keyword research and to use long tail keywords. Even though starbucks might be the top ranking site for the keyword coffee, you can still optimize your seo for long tail keywords like “how much coffee is too much”.

The second way to find keywords. This is something I found recently works really well for me as I have a pretty extensive history as a writer. Before I became a developer I was very much interested in being a professional writer. Anyway, another thing you can do is look at your local competitors websites. Read their blog section. If they have a blog article about  SEO but it is only say “666 words and 3,873 characters” Than chances are you could probably write an article that would crush their blog article. By the way you can check your competitors word count by using a site like “https://wordcounter.net/” Which is what I usually use when I am thinking about crushing a competitor in SEO.

A third way kind of requires you to have already had some keywords on your website.

You can pretty much Check which keywords on your website is ranking the best by using google search control.

You would of course click performance and than queries.

Under queries you will see something similar to the following.

Hopefully, you have more clicks and impressions than we did at the time this photo was taken.

Anyways, once you load the tool you can see which keywords were searched and how well your website ranked for each keyword. It seems like we ranked  best for web design san antonio and worst for content strategy for web development in san antonio. However, I’m sure with a few minor adjustments we could easily rank for the “content strategy for web development in san Antonio if we just focused a few highly targeted keyword articles for that long tail keyword. We would simply have to write an article that would grab our users attention whilst using the long tail keyword several times. However, we would also need to make sure the article is relevant  to a “content strategy for web development in san antonio” We could also go the route of writing several elaborate articles for that specific long tail keywords and rank that way as long as each article contains useful information that engaged the user for a significant amount of time. You see google will rank a website higher if users click on a link or go to a page and stay on that page for long periods of time. This is because google interprets this as engagement and a high engagement rate tells google that a website is doing well and is providing quality content.

                                                   HTML

Your websites HTML or (Hyper Text Markup Lanuage) Has a lot to do with your SEO.

For example, The way you write an article will affect the way google and other Search Engines will Crawl your website.  If you don’t use The proper heading tag in the correct spot than google’s Search Engine will not properly read your site. This can be problematic when trying to rank for certain things. Luckily google’s algorithms have gotten better to prevent this. However, it is always wise to be safe than sorry.

Your websites P tags can also affect your Seo in the same way. Google needs to know what content is being used where. If you type if your content as “ <h4>” instead of “<p>” Google will notice and won’t crawl your website properly. Which will cause you to lose traffic and thus lose revenue.

Another thing that will affect your Seo which still falls under html is your meta tags. There are several meta tags that will affect your seo ranking.Such as your title tag, which goes in your header section of your websites code. Your description tag will also affect your seo as well. Both of these tags are what google show’s when your website is shown on google’s website.

For instance, if you look below you can see how our website is currently showing our description when you look us up on google.

Do you notice anything strange?

That’s right! Our Descriptions not matching on Facebook and our website!

If  you didn’t catch it don’t worry. We’ll cover that too.

Back to meta tags.. Other than the meta tags for your description and for your title you also need to make sure you have the google site verification tag. You can also find this with-in google search console. You have to upload a file that they give you to your website so that google can verify your website.

Additionally, you can use the geolocation tag however, google has publicly stated they are not longer using this as a ranking factor as of june 2016.However, if you are using google maps snack pack to help your google maps ranking it could still be beneficial if you need to be found in a certain location.

                                Optimize your website

You need to make sure your site loads quickly and look good on all devices. This means you need to make your site responsive. Your videos need to load on all devices from desktops to mobile phones to tablets. You can’t just have a website that loads slowly on a desktop and expect your desktop users to just stay on your website when they can just go to the next similar website that loads quickly . The same goes for phones and tablets. Most people are in a hurry and don’t have time to wait for a slow website to load when they can just get the same information faster somewhere else.Google simply won’t allow a website to rank high on the serps if the website is not user friendly. Google’s ranking factors  now – nowadays are all  about user experience.

                                        Social Media

You want to be on social media sites like pinterest twitter, instagram, Facebook, tumblr etc.

You also want links coming to your website from your social media and to your social media from your website. This works by creating real estate across the internet. You’re creating citations across the web which google sees are references. That being said you need to keep in mind  that there are do follow links and no follow links the only two social media sites right now that allow do follow links are twitter and tumblr. Which means links from those websites will help you rank higher in google. The non follow social media sites.

[johnchiarello]

Sunday sermon

SUNDAY SERMON  5-19-19

Matthew 18:10

Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

Blog-  https://corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com/

The blog is my main site- on some sites if you click the link it gives a ‘warning’- if that happens- simply type the address in or search on google- the site is safe- the most up to date posts are on the Blog.

Site- https://ccoutreach87.com/

Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5?ref=bookmarks

Youtube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZ4GsqTEVWRm0HxQTLsifvg?view_as=subscriber

Other sites- https://ccoutreach87.com/links-to-my-sites-updated-10-2018/  

Cloud links- https://ccoutreach87.com/cloud-links-12-2018/

Youtube Playlist- https://ccoutreach87.com/youtube-playlist/

[Links to all my sites at the bottom of this post]

NOTE- Every so often some of my sites think I am Spam- or a Bot- I am not. My name is John Chiarello and I post original content [all videos and text are by me]. I do share my past posts from my other sites- but it is not spam- Thank you- John.

Today- 5-19-19- I don’t plan on making a Sunday video- and I’m not sure if I will post videos tonight. I hope everyone has a good Sunday and want to encourage those who feel led to do ministry- step out in faith.

Just about everyone has the tools to reach out- to the world. I know that seems strange to hear- to realize we all have a world wide platform thru social media and video recording devices [Phones] and there was a day when this was not true- but now it is true.

Yet- our modern world simply uses these things like toys, fun things to mess with- to get the most up to date device- ad ‘play’ with it. Yet we can use these tools for a real world wide outreach- so I guess the word for this day is- JUST DO IT.

Take action with what you have and believe you can make a difference- for good- in the world-

John

 Sunday sermon-

https://youtu.be/dOKudRzK0Xc

https://vimeo.com/242361602

http://ccoutreach87.com/11-5-17-sunday-sermon/ 

http://ccoutreach87.com/11-5-17-sunday-sermon-2/ 

 ON VIDEO- [Mass- Church Unlimited verses]

.The Oso bridge and the water bottle

.My dog Troy [Bear too]

.Stairway to heaven [the song]

.Message to the priests

.Honor God

.Servant leadership

.Paul’s example

.What right did he give up?

.Why are they called synoptic gospels? [Matt.- Mark- Luke]

.Moses seat

.Ministry is not like rising the corporate ladder

.What does the word Christ mean?

.Anointed one [anointing]

.5- fold ministry

.How should leadership operate in the church?

.What is the model Jesus gave us?

.What exactly is the local church?

.The community of believers

.The sacrament of penance

.Accountability

.The question from my daughter

.Are there evil people in the world?

.Original sin

.Killing can never eradicate evil

.There are times for self defense- and the stopping of genocide- when humans engage in war

.But to see the killing of other humans- as the answer- will never work in the long run

.I do not teach pluralism

.Yet we are all created in the image of God

 TEACHING- [More videos below]

I taught on the verses from this Sundays Mass [copied below] as well as the verses from Church Unlimited.

Once again- I went too long [about 50 minutes].

In short- the scriptures spoke about leadership in the kingdom- the reading from the Old Testament was a strong rebuke-

Malachi 2:1 And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you.

Malachi 2:2 If ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart.

The priests were abusing their calling as leaders- they were not honoring God- they were corrupting the priesthood-

Malachi 2:7 For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.

Malachi 2:8 But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.

Malachi 2:9 Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.

And God indeed judged them for this-

I also mentioned- at the end of the video- the distinction between being children of God- thru Christ- as well as the commonality of all men [even those who are not Christian] because we have a common creator-

Which just happened to be one of the verses from the Mass-

Malachi 2:10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?

Leadership was the main theme from the verses-

We read another from the Mass-

1Thessalonians 2:6 Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ.

1Thessalonians 2:7 But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children:

1Thessalonians 2:8 So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us.

Paul showed true concern for the people- he was not among them as one who would benefit from them-

He even worked [tent maker] while he was with them- so he would not be a financial burden on the young church-

1Thessalonians 2:9 For ye remember, brethren, our labour and travail: for labouring night and day, because we would not be chargeable unto any of you, we preached unto you the gospel of God.

And the passage from the gospel was the same basic rebuke from Malachi-

Matthew 23:1 Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,

Matthew 23:2 Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:

Matthew 23:3 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

Matthew 23:4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

Matthew 23:5 But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,

Matthew 23:6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,

Matthew 23:7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

Ministry to the religious leaders of Jesus day was a position- attaining a place of honor among men- yet- they did not honor God in this-

 Jesus used their example of self glory- and contrasted it with true kingdom leadership-

Matthew 23:8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.

Matthew 23:9 And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

Matthew 23:10 Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.

Matthew 23:11 But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

Matthew 23:12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

He gave the fledgling leaders of the church direct instructions on how we should view leadership in the kingdom-

It is a function of Christ as being the head- and his anointing present in all of us.

 So even though we have earthly leaders- yet- these gifted ones are not to Lord it over God’s heritage-

But lead the flock as a servant-

 5 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;

3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being examples to the flock.

1st Peter 5

 I talked about the nature of the church- and how leadership functions from a biblical view-

I have taught lots of this before and will try and add my past teaching below.

 One more thing- right at the end of the video my daughter had a question-

‘Does evil exist in the world- are there actually evil people’?

 Now- you will have to watch the video to get the full explanation.

But I talked about the present problems in the world-

And tried to show how evil actually lives in all of us- to a degree [original sin].

 But I of course condemned radical Islam- and terrorism.

Right after I turned off the video- I checked the news.

As of right now- we just had another tragic shooting in Texas.

 Right outside of San Antonio- http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/11/05/mass-shooting-reported-at-texas-sutherland-springs-church.html 

http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/05/us/texas-church-shooting/index.html 

 Someone opened fire in a church- right around the time I was making the video.

And the first reports are about 20 people gunned down.

As I write these notes [around 3:30 pm- 11-5-17] I do not know all the details.

 But I found it ironic that this was the top news story-

And it happened as I was speaking- about this very thing.

 UPDATE 11-6- 17- [the next day]-

I’ll leave the original comments above- because they fit- while I made the video I talked about having a balance.

In a way- I was saying that it’s easy for the western world to say ‘evil exists’ meaning radical Islam- yet- I also noted that we often do not see evil in ‘all of us’.

I did a defense of peaceful Muslims- while also rejecting hatred and violence from all sides of the political/religious spectrum.

 Then when I saw the news of the shooting- thinking it might be linked to radical Islam- I felt defensive.

Realizing people get offended when you try and teach a balanced view-

As of now- the shooter has been identified as an anti christian- atheist.

 He had a grudge against his in laws- and as of now that seems to be one of the reasons he targeted the church- they attended that church- though they were not there on the day of the shooting.

 Yes- like I said on the video- violence comes from all walks of life- and should be rejected by all.

The small town where the shooting took place is an area I drive past a lot when going from Corpus Christi to San Antonio.

 It’s a very small town community- and was devastated by this senseless killing.

 All atheists should not be defined by the acts of one.

All Muslims should not be defined by the acts of some.

All Christians should not be defined by the acts of other Christians- if violent and bigoted.

 At the end of the day- I think my comments on today’s video were right.

John

 NOTE- I have since made a later post on the shooting- here it is-https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/11/07/texas-shooting/ 

OTHER VIDEOS [These are the videos I upload nightly to my various sites- PAST POSTS below]

5-16-19 Friends- the sign  https://youtu.be/s9vBN3q9bIs

We are the light too

https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMhTXLqO6gaq9g9geO

Galatians 1  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BlNAPypwibvIztxQUiOoA_7Hpf7mds6G/view?usp=sharing

Acts 25  https://www.dropbox.com/s/eelcggyqfvg9aiu/10-10-17%20Acts%2025.mp4?dl=0

History of everything- 1  https://d.tube/v/ccoutreach/d1xbdy1s

Battle is the Lords  https://dai.ly/x75l1le

5-27-18  part 2  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMhhA9a4odpkhrxISx

10-1-17  Sunday sermon  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gZNkx0G-ZO10GMT3OQWxZWeaIRM1ypdb/view?usp=sharing

5-5-19 friends n Teaching- ‘the witness of God is greater’ https://youtu.be/8wSavaB4hko

https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5/videos/10205650186132159/

Died- Raised  https://youtu.be/HypDkZTtR-o  

4-29-18   Sunday sermon  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMhWpDd0I6ww_IOV-T

Acts 2  https://www.dropbox.com/s/vnrwyg0oa637rhk/10-10-15%20Acts%202%20%5BRussia%2C%20Syria%5D.mp4?dl=0

Palm Sunday  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMgXuXo1-t0CKgZOfB

Micah 4-6  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1POHNjMCJfPI95cqDaxqgmtJjgoptcoJB/view?usp=sharing

Romans 11-13  https://www.dropbox.com/s/ej7tvvd64txxeoh/3-12-15%20Romans%2011-13.mp4?dl=0

Battle is the Lords  https://dai.ly/x75l1le

2nd Samuel 19  https://www.bitchute.com/video/gJ36nCXKZiFF/

  5-12-19 Homeless friend  https://youtu.be/ZMEiaP7GdpU

A chance meeting  https://flic.kr/p/2fRuDgi

Hudson County Park  https://www.instagram.com/tv/Bv3-xs8n9J3/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

Ephesians 3  https://youtu.be/4F9ud-CbJ8o

10-15-17  Sunday sermon  https://drive.google.com/file/d/19H_nSRjjsV2Xbu33s1O12DBpCuXfI1Tl/view?usp=sharing

https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMgQk1IZSLLnUHmTF8

Caveman  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMiHqUItJzBoNX25tX

Revelation 15  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1E8BNJxujkftfU8cvZgV2NWQj8OPtU_Jd/view?usp=sharing

Mark 2  https://www.dropbox.com/s/fjkan8ktsr8ed3x/3-1-17%20Mark%202%20%5BNorth%20Bergen%5D.mp4?dl=0

12-17-17  Sunday sermon  https://youtu.be/Wv7j9rIXdf8

Acts 6  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMgXkzfGOvHZEnfb9k

Behold my servant https://drive.google.com/file/d/1drm7E2Q48gmNOd43bHrnreuEFs9TGcVw/view?usp=sharing

Rams horn  https://www.dropbox.com/s/ha177rf8meha55q/3-1-16%20Rams%20horn.mp4?dl=0

John 15  https://flic.kr/p/S4JFeX

Homeless friends  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMgXp8qJq_piiF6J1a

10-22-17  Sunday sermon  https://www.dropbox.com/s/nmfj5rte16qi47h/10-22-17%20Sunday%20Sermon.mp4?dl=0

The Keys  https://dai.ly/x75l1lf

https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5/videos/10205641904125114/

5-11-19 Matt. 12- Isaiah 42- friends  https://youtu.be/9I_iew9YF1E

https://www.facebook.com/john.chiarello.5/videos/10205637449973763/

Micah 4-6  https://youtu.be/_dhoLRSFzV0

Slow train coming https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMhTIpFteuGB82k_s0

Eat the bread  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1te_I2Ebm5197xe4-qti2Req92wbI5DI_/view?usp=sharing

Times up  https://flic.kr/p/2fJXoB7

Acts 23  https://mega.nz/#!3CAAgQhI!Nxnquv9LmNqgUxMviN9kDCHhoERwtb5CZjyj66VrxeM

2-18-18 Sunday sermon  https://1drv.ms/v/s!Aocp2PkNEAGMgTlYdJIX5MEsAB0N

Samuel 31  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Tf0Oduj8RRUqA3EolMw_TMReATPWlMZx/view?usp=sharing

The Table  https://dai.ly/x75dbfy

 PAST POSTS- [Verses below]

Here’s a book I wrote years ago- it’s about the nature of church and ministry-

[The book is below the links- being the links just copied [by accident] the ones I was going to add are- James- Islam- John]

· 1ST, 2ND CORINTHIANS

· 1ST- 2ND SAMUEL

· 1ST- 2ND SAMUEL [LINKS- UPDATED 3-17]

· 1ST-2ND KINGS

· ABOUT

· ACTS

· ATHEISM- APOLOGETICS [LINKS ADDED]

· CHRISTIAN RECOVERY FROM ADDICTION [LONG VERSION]

· CLASSICS OF WESTERN LITERATURE

· DEUTERONOMY, JOSHUA

· EPHESIANS [HIGHLIGHTS]

· FURTHER TALKS ON CHURCH AND MINISTRY

· GALATIANS [LINKS]

· GALATIANS- JOHN’S GOSPEL

· GENESIS

· HAGGAI

· HEBREWS- UPDATED 2015

· HISTORICAL FIGURES FROM CHURCH HISTORY

· HOUSE OF PRAYER OR DEN OF THIEVES

· HURRICANE HARVEY

· INSIGHTS FROM A REVOLUTION

· ISLAM

· JAMES- 2015

· JOHN [COMPLETE- LINKS ADDED]

· JONAH [LINKS]

· JUDGES- RUTH [VIDEO LINKS INCLUDED]

· JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH

· MARK [LINKS]

· MY BIBLE COMMENTARIES [OTHER LINKS]

· MY OTHER SITES

· N.J./NYC- 2017

· NEHEMIAH, ISAIAH

· NYC-NEW JERSEY TRIP- 2015

· OVERVIEW OF PHILOSOPHY

· OVERVIEW OF THE BIBLE

· PROTESTANT REFORMATION- LUTHER

· QM

· RADIO CATALOG

· RAPTURE- 2ND COMING- 2 EVENTS?

· ROMANS-UPDATED 2015

· RUSSIA- U.S.- WORLD EVENTS

· THE GREAT BUILDING OF GOD

· WESTERN INTELLECTUAL TRADITION

//

further talks on church and ministry

[BOOK]

‘FURTHER TALKS ON CHURCH AND MINISTRY’

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

 CHAPTER ONE

HOLY SITES AND HOLY PLACES.

 CHAPTER TWO

AUTHORITY IN THE KINGDOM, WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?

 CHAPTER THREE

KINGDOM BUILDING OR LEGACY BUILDING?

 CHAPTER FOUR

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE UNDER THE LOCAL CHURCH?

 CHAPTER FIVE

BUILDING THE CHURCH AROUND THE PERSONA OF CHRIST, NOT MEN!

 CHAPTER SIX

ORDINATION AND THE BIBLICAL MODEL OF ACCOUNTABILITY.

 CHAPTER SEVEN

EXAMPLES FROM PASTORS AND BELIEVERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.

 CHAPTER EIGHT

ARE CHURCH BUILDINGS EVIL? [OR THE GUY WHO WANTED TO CAST DEMONS OUT OF ME!]

 CHAPTER NINE

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS ‘THE LOCAL CHURCH’?

 CHAPTER TEN

THE SPIRIT OF COMPETITION IN THE MODERN CHURCH.

 CHAPTER ELEVEN

GODS PEOPLE ARE NOT SIMPLY ASSETS TO AN ORGANIZATION.

 CHAPTER TWELVE

WHAT MODEL OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT DO I ESPOUSE?

 CHAPTER THIRTEEN

THE CAT CHAPTER. [I DID THIS FOR MY KIDS!]

CONCLUSION

   INTRODUCTION

 Welcome back! I hope those of you who are reading this booklet have read our other 2 books first. Though it’s not necessary in order to understand this book, I prefer to think of these little booklets as an on going conversation with our friends in the kingdom. Those of you who are familiar with our ministry know that we view ‘ministry’ and ‘church’ in an unconventional way. I see church as the people of God who are gathered together by Christ in various and unique ways. I see the people that we associate with and minister to as a legitimate expression of church. Therefore those of you who have been in conversation with us through our various areas of ministry [radio,outreach,etc.]are a unique and vital expression of Christ’s body. Our goal is to simply relate to you in such a way that the end result would be for you to be built up in Christ and to find fulfillment in him. In this book I hope to share a lot of personal thoughts that the lord has communicated to me over a period of time. I feel that if I can simply communicate to you the biblical idea of church/ministry and how we all fit into this picture, that I will have in some small way accomplished the goal of writing this third little ‘letter’ to the ‘churches’ that the lord has called us to speak into.

 CHAPTER 1

HOLY SITES AND HOLY PLACES

 I recently have been studying and speaking on the issue of church and ministry as seen in the New Testament, as opposed to the way we as 21st century believers view it. In this ongoing conversation [primarily through radio] I have been talking about our tendency as believers to fall into a pattern of seeing ourselves as spectators/funders of the work of professionals. We settle into roles that relegate us into a nonfunctioning position of hearers of truth. We generally believe that if we attend the church meeting on Sunday and give financially to the church that somehow this has fulfilled our Christian obligation and that we are free to do as we please with our time and resources the other six days of the week. In this conversation there are those who feel this whole ritual of Sunday church is wrong and should be totally abolished, but there are others who are not quite that extreme but still see a need for a radical rethinking of this whole process. I consider myself to be in the more moderate class.

 I personally don’t find anything inherently wrong with ‘going to church on Sunday’ but the general theme of New Testament Christianity is against the idea of believers simply being hearers of the word only. Because of our limited understanding of the word ‘church’ [ecclesia] in the New Testament we usually do not view ourselves as Christians in a proper way. One of the main themes in the New Testament is the idea of the church as community. That God intended for there to be a body of people who would actually be the place where God would dwell. He really lives inside the people who believe in Christ. Because of this the old idea of God manifesting himself only at a certain location [like the temple] is done away in Christ. If you remember the conversation Jesus had with the Samaritan woman [John 4] she asked Jesus about the legitimacy of the religious locations of her day. She wanted him to speak to the issue of which physical location is the proper one in which people should go to worship. Jesus reply was there is going to be a change in the whole system of so-called ‘holy sites’. He tells her that the true worshipers of God will be accessing him in spirit and truth. He is looking forward to the reality of the body of Christ being a living temple of people who will be able to be in Gods presence all the time regardless of there physical location. While most Christians believe this truth, in practice we often deny it. We look to the religious activities that surround our church day as some how being a more spiritual site or day of worship. We gear up for religious meeting and then experience ‘coming down’ from the religious high point of our week.

 Now this is where I take a more moderate view than some of my brothers. I too enjoy the day of worship and fellowship that takes place on Sunday; I just wish that we could break the mindset that sees the doing of this as the primary role for Christians. I wish we could see that God is really with us on a daily basis as we interact as believers with each other. There are many times in our focus of going to church on Sunday that we unconsciously transfer the mindset of the Samaritan woman into the present day. We tend to view both the place and the day of church as taking place at a set location at a certain day. Jesus specifically told her that the day was coming that true worship would take place at a temple in a set location, but that temple would be the corporate people of God and that place would be wherever 2 or more are gathered together in his name!

 CHAPTER 2

AUTHORITY IN THE KINGDOM, WHERE DOES IT COME FROM?

 Not only are we hindered in our thinking by seeing church as something we go to on a special day, but the whole idea of ministry being some kind of a corporation that exists as a 501 c3 entity. Over the years of ministry I have personally come to rethink this whole issue. I’ve come to view ministry primarily as the kingdom works that God produces through his people when they are in right relationship with him. If you think about it this goes right to the heart of the issue of church being a living society of people. A functioning nation of Christ followers. When Jesus commissioned his followers to go out into the world and be witnesses for him, he told them to do kingdom works and to say to the people that the kingdom of God has come near to them. The actual presence of Christ in his people carrying out his works is true ministry. Later in the book of acts the Spirit falls on a bunch of people and they go forth both speaking and doing things in the name of Jesus. Ministry is primarily a function of God working through his people while bypassing all the technical loopholes of religion. There are certain basic standards that Christians who want to serve God should live by, but the whole idea of ministry being this 501c3 entity that exists as a separate thing is really unscriptural. Jesus not only challenged the idea of holy-sites being a special place, but also the idea of God’s authority/legitimacy existing in certain religious offices or institutions of his day.

 The religious class challenged the authority of Jesus. They were saying you have no right to function as the Son of God. Who gave you this authority? Jesus answered in an interesting way. He asked them who gave John the Baptist the authority to do the things he did. Was it from heaven or of men? Well the Pharisee’s didn’t answer. But Jesus showed us that there where 2 types of authority, or ways of being legitimate in what you do. One way is that God directly gives you the right to function as a kingdom person, or you derive your authority from other people. You somehow seek legitimacy by going through the procedures of men. One of the main truths of the New Testament is the incarnation. God becoming man in the person of Christ. The very fact that Jesus was sent by his father, and being God incarnate in planet earth was all the legitimacy that anyone would ever need to do ‘ministry’. Any attempt from the religious mind to try and denigrate his character, or de-legitimize his right to function was directly challenged by the fact that he was sent by God. The works themselves were proof that he was legitimate! Now when we in the church seek to become legitimate, or to derive authority to do ministry through all sorts of natural procedures, we are in essence saying ‘we get our authority through man’.  Its o.k. to become a 501c3 organization if it’s simply a matter of necessity [you need it to accomplish mission] but if it becomes a means whereby we feel ‘more legitimate’then we’ve simply jumped thru a hoop that will become a hindrance down the road.

 The pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost was more than an event by which the church would enjoy charismatic gifts. In the Old Testament the Spirit of God would come upon certain individuals at certain times to give them authority to function in their offices [kings and prophets]. The fact that the Spirit came upon them was proof of their legitimacy to function in that office. The day of Pentecost was a ‘pouring out’ of the anointing on a whole body of people as opposed to a particular office. God was fulfilling the words of Jesus when he said ‘all authority is given to me go ye therefore’. Jesus was ‘legitimizing’ a whole society of people to go forth and do his works. No special class or office, but the whole body would now have this priestly/kingly anointing. If anyone would question their authority, or right to do what they were going to do, they would respond by saying we derive our authority through Jesus. They understood that their ordination came by the very fact that Christ poured out his Spirit upon them. Any challenge to who gave them the right to function was seen as a direct challenge to Christ’s authority. In the Old Testament when you challenged an emissary of the king you were directly challenging the king, so likewise when we question the legitimacy of fellow believers because they don’t seem to fit the ‘normal’ way of doing things, we’re unconsciously saying ‘who gave you this authority’. Now I am not saying that every Christian has the right to do anything he feels like doing, but there is a difference between seeking the legitimacy of man and simply doing the works of Jesus!

 CHAPTER 3

 KINGDOM BUILDING OR LEGACY BUILDING?

 I just finished doing a teaching on the radio on the book of Exodus. We covered the story of the children of Israel as they progressed in time from a few people into a whole nation of people. If you remember your bible well, you can follow the original desire for God to have a family of people who would inhabit earth and live in fellowship with him. As man sinned and rebelled against God he became separated from God, but the desire to build and make a name for himself still existed within man. The story of the tower of Babel speaks of this. Men tried to come together as a corporate group, and even were willing to have unity [as opposed to ‘doing their own thing’] but it was for the purpose of building to the glory of man. It was ‘legacy building’. A desire that’s in all men to ‘leave a name for myself’. In the corporate world of business you find this mindset existing in a very strong way. In 21st century American society we call it ‘keeping up with the joneses’.

 There is a popular commercial on TV at this time that shows an average Joe living high on the hog in order to keep up a certain image in the community. It shows ‘Joe’ as possessing a lot of things in order to live up to the image of the people around him. At the end of the commercial the question is asked ‘how does Joe manage to live like this?’. The answer is ‘he’s in debt up to his eyeballs’. This little commercial captures in a nutshell the attitude of trying to create an image of ourselves so others would think more highly of us, or so we can feel vindicated in the sight of our critics. Now many times in modern ministry and ‘church’ building we give in to this desire without even realizing it. We build facilities or large organizations in order to prove to those around us that we can really do this thing [tower building mentality]. We seem to loose sight of the great reality that Gods  ‘institution’ or ‘organization’ which he uses to carry out his will is the church. It is a family of people [a holy nation, temple, city, body] that God freely dwells in, in order to advance his ‘cause’ throughout the earth.

 When we unconsciously develop systems of ministry that we feel are the ‘church’, that is if we follow certain patterns and models of ministry and then begin to build these entities with the belief that these models are actually ‘the church’ then what we’ve done is transferred Gods true desire to build his kingdom [a rule in the earth that would give glory to his image] and replaced it unconsciously with a natural desire to build something that gives testimony to our image [i.e.: ‘look what I’ve done, look at the big legacy I will leave when I’m gone’]. Jesus warned the disciples that this desire to have authority and be ‘in charge’ of people would not be acceptable in true kingdom building. He was showing us that this desire for success was nothing different than what already exists in lost society. Many men sacrifice a lot in order to build institutions or businesses. People regularly sacrifice their time and resources in order to get their business going. Often times they even work in unity with many other people [staff, employees] to accomplish their goal. Now I’m not saying this is wrong in and of itself, there are many good businesses and institutions that have started this way. But when we transfer this mindset into the church we can confuse the energy and excitement that naturally comes with any true adventure and begin building ‘at all costs’. We can loose sight of the ‘entity’ that God is building and get caught up in the natural desire to ‘image’ build and become sidetracked.

 In extreme cases this actually leads to abusive church situations where the leader[s] are so focused on building the ministry that they begin to unconsciously manipulate people in order to fulfill the vision. This is why it’s so important to see that the church exists as a community of people in the earth whom God lives in and interacts with in various ways in order to build his image in the earth. God wants the knowledge of the glory of ‘the lord’ to cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. The ‘tower’ that all men will see is the ‘Cross’. God will draw all men to the image of his Son as opposed to some great edifice of man. Gods Spirit wars against the natural desire in man to ‘legacy’ build to his own image. We as believers need to reevaluate the motivations behind our outward enthusiasm to ‘press ahead’ at all costs. When we examine ourselves and make adjustments in our thinking I believe God will allow us to participate in great works for his name.

 CHAPTER 4

 WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE UNDER THE LOCAL CHURCH?

 Over the years of seeing the freedom that we have in Christ, especially as it pertains to functioning in church and ministry, I have met other believers who have seen and grown in the same understanding that the lord has given us. I believe this to be a natural process of the body of Christ coming to maturity. When the head [Jesus] is communicating with the body [the church] you often find different members seeing and functioning in the same truths, though they have never personally met each other. Some of these experiences are lessons for the whole church. Many times in trying to express truth there is a natural tendency for fellow believers to respond in a unified way in defense of a wrong [or misguided] way of seeing things. I remember sharing with a missionary family how the New Testament teaches a greater freedom for the functioning of missionaries/apostles than what we put on them today. I showed how Paul simply operated under the spirits guidance and practiced giving and receiving in a voluntary way with all the believers he was spending time with. I showed how even though Paul was an apostle sent out of the church at Antioch [acts 13] that this didn’t mean he was under some type of 501c3 entity at Antioch that he was sending his tithes to in order to be in obedience to the ‘New Testament pattern.’ If you read the story in acts all the apostles and believers functioned as citizens of a heavenly city and saw themselves all equally as part of this new community of Christ followers.

 The idea that Paul [or any other New Testament minister] had some type of structural relationship with his ‘home church’ in the sense that he was sending tithes back to his ‘home church’ on a regular basis is simply reading 21st century American patterns into the story that doesn’t exist. You would think that the missionary family would have rejoiced to have seen this truth, as it would have given them freedom in moving forward in new ways in the kingdom. But contrary they were offended in a sense because they truly felt the role of tithing to a specific group of Christians who meet in a building in there area was a New Testament pattern that must be adhered to. While its ok to give to groups of Christians in this way, but to see this as a pattern that if violated would bring the curse in Malachi upon a person is ridiculous. These are ways that we confuse the spiritual temple of believers with the entity/501c3 structures that exist in ministry today. While the obtaining of the 501c3 status, or the purchasing of a building for believers to meet in is not inherently wrong [remember, if its needed for mission it’s o.k.] but to then view that as ‘local church’ which the missionary needs to tithe to in order to be in obedience to the ‘local church’ is confusing the spiritual entity of Christ’s body with the physical entity of American ministry.

 When we view ‘ministry’ as a separate organization, we sacrifice the freedom to directly build into people. I was driving through town one day with a friend and as we passed by a certain business I mentioned that I needed to go in at a later time to purchase some equipment. My friend asked why I needed it and I explained I felt the Lord wanted me to buy it for a friend in order to help him in ministry. He questioned why I would spend money on someone who had no type of relationship with us, like a ‘part of our church/ministry’. I explained how believers should be willing to spend time and money for the benefit of others regardless of whether or not they are ‘part of our organization’ [by the way we have no ‘organization’ that someone ‘joins’]. I should mention that the person I wanted to spend the money on was one of our original friends/converts that we worked with in the early days of ministry. So the benefit would be purely spiritual, that is I would receive a reward from God in the sense that one of ‘our disciples’ would benefit directly from this purchase. Paul told the Corinthians that he would gladly spend and be spent for them. He said the fathers spend for the children, not the children for the fathers. He was showing the attitude of building people up for their sole benefit, not simply building staff or employees but giving yourself away solely for the benefit of ‘spiritual children’.

 Many times people will unconsciously do the things I advocate, without realizing it! Recently there have been many examples of God working supernaturally in the area of finances. Many people who disagree with my teaching on grace giving have actually been blessed by doing it the way I teach it! People have been giving testimonies of how God would move on them to freely give [apart from the tithe concept] and how after they obeyed his voice to MEET THE NEED OF ANOTHER PERSON, versus ‘paying the tithe’ that the Lord would move supernaturally on their behalf by another person [not institution] being moved to give to them in return. I have been teaching this for years! How when Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for ‘corban’ giving that he told them their mindset of dedicating money to the temple [institution] caused them to neglect giving directly to people [their parents]. So the recent breakthrough in giving that people are experiencing is what I have been saying all along. God wants us to give spontaneously to directly meet the needs of people! I realize this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t also give regularly, but the point is sometimes we reject what a persons saying [like me!] without realizing that what their saying is right!

 I should note something here; over the years I have consistently taught and believed in the concept of giving as God leads. There have been many times where the Lord would move on me to meet the needs of people. Just a few days ago one of my homeless friends asked me if I was still buying tents for people, I said sure. There was really no second thought or feeling of ‘I already gave the required amount this week, and this is going out of the way’. I simply felt it to be in keeping with the New Testament to give to someone in need. A few weeks back I ran into one of the original homeless friends that I met many years ago. The first thing he remembered and couldn’t stop talking about was how when I first met him I was giving away clothes in the winter to him and a bunch of other people. Theses simple acts of charity are in keeping with the teaching of Jesus on giving. The New Testament says ‘give to him that asks of thee’ ‘if you have the ability to help your brother and don’t how dwelleth the love of God in you’ ‘if someone comes to your door in need and you don’t help, it profits nothing’ ‘let him who is not working get a job so he MAY HAVE TO GIVE TO HIM THAT NEEDETH’.

 All these verses [which I just paraphrased off the top of my head, you’ll have to look them up for yourself] speak clearly to the issue of God wanting us to give to meet the needs of others spontaneously and freely. No sense of ‘I already tithed this week to the church’. This legalistic mindset actually works against the spirit of New Testament giving. I am not saying Christians shouldn’t give regularly for the functioning of Christian ministry, I put aside money on a bi-weekly basis in order to fund Christian works. It is because of my priority of doing this that enables me to meet the needs of people when they come up.

 I believe Christians should regularly give to the work of the kingdom, I also believe that many people would experience breakthrough in their giving if they truly practiced the New Testament doctrine of grace giving. All the communities of the New Testament [churches] gave this way. There simply was no tithing concept taught to the gentile believers. The scripture says the Corinthians gathered on the 1st day of the week and gave Paul an offering to BRING BACK TO THE POOR SAINTS AT JERUSALEM. Do you see this ‘THE POOR SAINTS’. They were giving to meet the needs of people here. We use these verses to tell Christians if you put in the required amount on Sunday then you’ve met your obligation. We distort scripture to fit into our way of seeing things. I believe its O.K. to put money in the offerings on Sunday, many times the work of ‘building based’ churches is good. Supporting missionaries, planting churches and many other good things. It’s just that we shouldn’t use this as an excuse to by pass all the other instructions in the New Testament to freely give to others in need!

 I want to note something here, this is a good example of how are ‘seeing’ church as the Sunday meeting as opposed to the corporate group affects us. The issue of ‘how much should I put into the basket on Sunday’ was a NON ISSUE in the New Testament. There were times where all the believers in a community [the church] gave in a corporate way[ Acts 6, 1 Cor. 16] but there was no ‘Sunday church offering’ that all the ‘New Testament’ churches gave into. Why? Because the New Testament churches are all the believers in any given community. The focus wasn’t ‘going to church on Sunday’ that is our ‘thoughts’ or ways of seeing things [it’s O.K. to go to church on Sunday] but the focus was a community of people living and sharing on a daily basis. So when Paul writes these churches, or when Jesus tells us to give to him in need, they are addressing people directly. It’s not like the focus was on an institution. This is why ‘how much should we give, or should Christians tithe?’ is not seen in the New Testament like we see this question today. The bible speaks of ‘churches’ as communities of people; we speak about them in terms of ‘the church I go to on Sunday’. This basic misunderstanding of church causes us to hold onto a less than ideal view of Christian giving.

CHAPTER 5

 BUILDING THE CHURCH AROUND THE PERSONA OF CHRIST, NOT MEN!

 In the early days of ministry I remember listening to some tapes on apostles and how they build Gods church. Later I came to see ‘church planting’ as apostles [or evangelists, or just Christians] going to areas and simply preaching Christ to groups of people. After the people believed there was a natural development of family and community that took place as Christ’s Spirit develops the body of Christ. So the New Testament churches are simply bodies of believers in these location’s who came to know Christ. God’s authority and the works of his kingdom are simply a natural expression of Christ’s Spirit through his body. As time progressed in church history people later developed all sorts of offices and institutions that they incorporated into the church. Eventually people began viewing the institution or 501c3 entity as a separate thing called ‘church’.

 With this mindset people began seeing apostles and ministers and people who plant these entities as ‘CHURCH PLANTERS’. Church planting then began to be looked at as C.E.O.’s who are starting corporate entities with all sorts of projects to do. The entity itself became the focal point of all ministry and authority in any given community. The actual people [the real church] simply became servants to the entity’. The 501c3 itself became the thing that we saw as having the actual conferred authority of God upon it. The people who did not conform to the ‘system’ in many different generations of Christians were seen as being rebellious or not coming under the authority of the church [system separate from the people] though many of these people were truly Gods corporate community [church] they were looked at as in opposition to the church because the understanding of church evolved [or devolved] from the original meaning. We then put expectations on church leaders to build big facilities and to try and fill them up.

 I want to make a note here; I am not against the modern phenomena of mega churches. If they are growing as a natural outgrowth of healthy evangelism it is a good thing. Where we often miss it is when we begin seeing the goal as having the big thing and then pressuring the flock because they’re not helping us obtain the big thing. Well the original tapes I listened to from the brother who was teaching on apostles eventually visited Corpus Christi and he spoke on his vision to build a 7 thousand seat auditorium and having 100,000 dollar faith and then a million dollar faith and having faith to build it and that people will want to hear him speak [the money stuff was spoken at a different time, but this is the context]. While this minister meant well he simply was not speaking New Testament language. True apostolic church planting is the natural outgrowth that takes place in communities of people when they come to know Christ. When we as leaders begin seeing the entity [501c3] as the goal, and the people as the tools, or fellow helpers and financial supporters of the entity, we’re then relegating the body of Christ to simple servants of the system. Sort of like the children of Israel in Egypt. They were multiple [big numbers] but they were under constricting styles of leadership that caused them to build the cities of man [Pithom, Raamses]. God raised up prophetic leadership [Moses] to bring them out of bondage so they themselves would become a self functioning society on their own, without being subservient to another system.

 The unhealthy focus of ‘church’ that centers around the high-powered personas of men is in direct violation of the spirit of the New Testament. Church today too often has become a community of people whose ‘common bond’ is found in the personality of the pastor. All healthy groups of people in society will have stages of growth where they go through the process of leadership bringing them from dependence to independence and finally to interdependence [the stage where I don’t need you to survive or find my identity through you, but I need you as a coequal member in order for us both to function in a healthy way]. The New Testament ecclesias were groups of believers whose leadership [elders] functioned as mature guides and facilitators of this corporate experience. This leadership style is far removed from the present mindset of church leadership, which patterns itself after the predominant personality of one individual. While its O.K. at certain stages of group development to have periods of time where one person is the main influence in an individuals life [like a mentor/big brother], but if this relationship between mentor [pastor/leader] never grows to a stage where the ones being mentored do not eventually develop to the point where they are no longer dependent on the mentor, then you have the danger of the leader and his personality becoming the central figure that the disciple organizes his life around. We unconsciously repeat this cycle in the church without realizing it.

 The simple truth of the churches of the New Testament having no central office where a person [no matter how well meaning he is] is the primary figure of the community should cause us to rethink our present mindset of church and ministry. It is inherently dangerous for any group of people to hear and see and be centered around the giftings of one person [the exception being Christ]. The gifts of the Spirit that freely operate through all of Gods children are powerful. God designed a safety mechanism in the church [body] to prevent the power of these giftings from causing people to become to oriented around one individual. The method God chose was ‘body ministry’. That is Gods pattern of all the people of God corporately sharing and giving to each other would prevent the unhealthy focus on one persons personality. Any group of people, no matter how well intentioned they are, put themselves in an unhealthy position when they violate this principle. We often confuse the New Testament doctrine of leadership and replace it with the charismatic individual. We don’t realize that we are violating the intent of scripture when we do this! All biblical leadership should bring people to a point where ‘He must increase and I must decrease’. Leaders need to be the ones who take the bold initiative to ‘wean’ people off of our personalities.

 Children in a natural home environment will go through stages in their relationship with their parents that hopefully bring them to a point of independence. Though they are your children when there 12,25,or 55 yet the way you relate to them will be different as they mature. The mistake we make in present models of church leadership is we think it’s healthy to relate to the people the same way throughout their entire lives. If you hear me preach or function in some prophetic gift week after week for 30 years, and my primary relationship with you is this way, then its only natural for you to develop an unhealthy view of me. It’s inherent in the gift of the Spirit to cause people to be drawn to the persona of Christ, when we violate the principle of body ministry [that is where all the people give and receive from each other] we unconsciously set up an unnatural environment where people are eventually drawn to the wrong persona [the person who they see functioning in the gift all their lives]. Many well-meaning pastors do not realize what a basic violation of scripture this is. Our goal should be bringing people to a point in their lives where they need us less and less as they develop a greater trust in God.

 I know that it’s difficult to embrace these truths, even if they are true! I myself had a hard time seeing the reality of the present day mindset of ‘pastor/minister’ as a basic violation of the intention of God for the church [body] to be an environment where people are centered around the persona [identity] of Christ. Many times well-meaning pastors become the central personality of the group in an unintentional way. Out of a sincere desire to ‘protect’ the flock they unintentionally become the central attraction of the local community. They feel that if there were too much freedom the people could go off track. This possibility does exist, but the primary method of preventing people from going off track is to allow them to develop into mature saints who need not be dependent upon us. The example of the parent/child relationship. It would be ‘safer’ to allow the child to never leave the home and for you to always be the child’s main source of comfort and identity, but it would not be right! So likewise in the church leadership needs to re-examine our proper roles and responsibilities.  If we have embraced roles of ‘pastor’ that truly violate this most basic principle, then it is incumbent upon leadership to recognize this and to make the proper course corrections as God would direct.

 I really want to emphasize the truth that the church is a community of people whose environment tends to the exalting of the personality of Christ at the expense of the personality of the individual leader. God intended the Church to be a place where gifted individuals WOULD NOT come to the forefront in the minds of the group, but would recognize the fundamental nature of servant leadership and willingly take the position of humility. [John 13, 1Cor. 12:22-25]

 We don’t seem to understand that the way modern Christians relate to leadership in the present day is in many ways a violation of the spirit of the New Testament. Today it is common in any city to have many churches who all have their own pastors with believers attending the church of their choice. While all of these people [both the pastors and believers] are for the most part well intentioned, they unconsciously develop a mindset that Paul rebuked in the Corinthian church. The church at Corinth [all the believers living in the city!] got to a point where they began identifying themselves by the people they followed. Some said they followed Paul, while others were following Apollos. The actual seeing of the individual leader, and identifying around him was rebuked by Paul.

 Now I know that we don’t realize this, but for us today to have many thousands of believers in many cities actually saying ‘he is my pastor’, to the point where all the believers have one main personality that they look to and identify with is not the intent of leadership in the New Testament. The biblical model of believers in any location is to have a plural group of elders that are viewed as trusted community leaders; this is more in keeping with the intent of the New Testament. If you later were to visit these New Testament communities and found them saying ‘he is my elder, or I go to elder so and so’s church’ this would be seen as division resulting from having too high of a view of Christian leadership. I know it’s difficult to realize we have done these things, and I’m not advocating getting rid of all the good men who serve as pastors today, but if we begin to see the basic violation of scripture in our present models of leadership this will allow us to take a more humble approach and hopefully facilitate a greater spirit of unity in the Church.

 What I want you to see is how we in the church have a view of ‘local church’ that causes us to have a misplaced loyalty that is inherent in Christ’s brotherhood. Because we view ourselves as ‘members’ of so and so’s church, as opposed to truly being one body in Christ, this breeds a spirit of disloyalty to our fellow brothers in Christ. We tend to hold to the view that if your not a part of ‘my local church’ [meaning the individual meeting I attend] that somehow I am truly not responsible to you. While in reality I really am supposed to have the same care and concern for you as my brother in Christ, regardless of whether or not you attend my ‘church’ [group I meet with]. In the New Testament there are references to the ‘church in your house’ and things of this nature.

 Where we usually ‘miss it’ is when we think that somehow these statements violate the concept of our oneness in Christ. When the bible speaks like this, it is not saying that all the believers in one location have separate ‘churches’ that they belong to. It is simply saying ‘that part of Christ’s body that meets in your house’. It would be wrong to view statements like this and then develop an ecclesiology that ‘sees’ a hundred different independent ‘churches’ [entities] in your city. While there very well might be a hundred different groups of believers in your city, you should be committed to these believers just as much as the people you meet with every Sunday. While God recognizes different groups of believers in each city, He also lays down guidelines for our mutual care and concern that we are all to have for one another. Our dividing over ‘who’s church I attend’ creates a false mindset of a lack of loyalty to our brothers because ‘they don’t go to my church’.

 I just read a verse in Isaiah [55: 8] ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord’. I want you to see that when we view things from our own perspective [our thoughts] we often violate Gods ways [his thoughts]. Many times when dealing with issues that would personally affect an individual’s present mindset, or the lifestyle that he’s living [like when I deal with the subject of tithing, or the lack of the full-time paid minister in the New Testament story]. People will often reject the truth of scripture [Gods thoughts] simply on the grounds that they are already practicing ‘church’ in a certain way [their thoughts] and have no desire to ‘give up’ their present practice of doing things. Many times it’s simply a matter of personal survival. ‘If you are right John, then it will affect me too much, and I am not willing to ‘die to the way I see things [my thoughts] because it will entail too much pain [I think they used to call this ‘bearing our cross’]’.

 So while I don’t want to personally condemn any brother for his views on church and ministry, I want us all to see how we are subject to preferring our own views to Gods [even me!]. It’s a natural tendency of the sinful nature to presume ‘our thoughts’ [our way of seeing things] are ‘Gods thoughts’. It’s when we take this presumption to the extreme that we get into trouble. We get to the point of seeing others who don’t hold to ‘our thoughts’ as violating scripture [Gods thoughts] and then we unconsciously fall into the category of the Pharisees where we condemn those who don’t ‘see things our way’.

 CHAPTER 6

 ORDINATION AND THE BIBLICAL MODEL OF ACCOUNTABILTY.

 In the 1st century Jesus showed up in the midst of a religious system that had a voice of its own and refused to acknowledge anyone who did not submit to its authority. This system [religious Judaism] not only resisted Christ and the disciples, but would later resist the freedom and growth of the New Testament churches established by the apostle Paul. The leaders of this system actually said that they feared loosing the influence they had in society if the young church continued to experience success. They were already showing signs of the kingdoms of men resisting the kingdom of God. The Pharisees had their position that religion gave them and they were unwilling to give it up, even if it meant their rejection of messiah. The Pharisees used the law and religious protocol as a means to de-legitimize those who would not jump through the hoops of their day. Many of our modern concepts of church and ministry unconciously produce the same results. The very idea of ordination in the new testament was simply the public recognition [through the laying on of hands] of those leaders [elders] in the Christian community [not some non profit entity] who were deemed grounded in the person of Christ and could be looked up to as spiritual guides in a voluntary society of believers.

 Over the years ordination has evolved into a ritual of licensing and certification from a religious institution in order to be legitimate to function in church circles. So the simple concept of all believers having the ordination of God [John 15] has now developed into a system of approval that one must have in order to function in the church [as a full time minister]. Now while I personally have no problem with ordained ministry, we must see that what we call ordination today is a more developed concept than was originally intended in the New Testament. It can become wrong when we begin to limit the function of all believers as ordained priests under God and use the modern concept of ordination to de-legitimize those who don’t have it. The 1st century Pharisee saw Jesus ministry as a direct violation of their understanding of legitimate ministry. They were using law and religious regulation to exclude people from feeling accepted in Gods society. Jesus way of doing ministry not only violated the current standards of the day, but also opened up a whole new realm of people who would be able to function in Gods kingdom. All who would simply accept him and become a follower were now given legitimacy to spread God’s kingdom despite their unwillingness to submit to the system of their day. This is what offended the religious mind of the 1st century Pharisee. They spent years jumping through the hoops of religious protocol in order to function as religious leaders, Jesus comes on the scene and bypasses all their procedures and vests authority to do kingdom works to the common people.

 There was a spirit present in both the mind and religion of the 1st century Pharisee. They had an intellectual knowledge of scripture that focused on particular aspects of scripture while never being able to comprehend the ‘body of truth’. Their religious position in society gave them a greater degree of responsibility to be able to understand that Christ himself was the goal and result of all religious learning. In essence they were guilty of possessing a special position in society and because of there unwillingness to loose the ‘honor’ that came from this position they committed the worst type of offense that leaders could commit. They actually rejected the person of Christ in order for there own personas to continue to be at the forefront. If you remember when Paul speaks of antichrist [I am not saying here that present Christian leaders are antichrist!] Paul says that ‘he sits in the temple of God showing HIMSELF to be God’ 2 Thes.2: 4]. There is an aspect of ‘anti-christ’ that rejects the development of the person of Christ in the Church [body] in order for mans persona to remain at the forefront. He sits [antichrist-not wanting Christ to be seen!] in the place of God taking the glory [adulation/honor] to his persona that belongs to Christ.

 I want you to see that no matter how well we know scripture, we really know nothing until the actual person of Christ is at the forefront [Jesus being Lord]. When man persists in his pride to continue to hold on to a position of attention in the Christian community that rightfully belongs to Christ, he unknowingly is violating one of the most fundamental truths of the church. What I want you to see, without getting too much into the whole subject of antichrist, is that he wants the place that rightfully belongs to Christ. In the Christian community Christ’s rightful place is the center of our attention. True worship is Him actually being the focus and center of attention. The unhealthy attention that we often see given to people’s personalities is a subtle way the enemy uses from keeping Christ’s image and person from being the center of community.

 Recently there was a Christian brother who fell in a very public way. It was a situation where he admitted to certain sins [adultery] and it was very public. While I wont use his name, he was a very influential leader in charismatic circles. He held the title of ‘arch-bishop’ [I don’t understand why we do this stuff!] Well as usual when word got out about his fall, people began to expound on why this happened. Some explained that they thought it was because he wasn’t ‘accountable enough’ [he was archbishop to more than 200 churches!] We never seem to think that if we allow individuals to be exalted above measure, that this itself is a violation of the principle of New Testament leadership. Jesus said whoever exalts himself will be humbled. Many times in Christian circles we don’t realize that we are doing this!

 We often blame the fall on ‘lack of accountability’. True accountability is submitting to each other in love. It is not some unnatural structure that we create. I have heard it taught in the way that if some outside person is our ‘covering’ and they call us once a month and yell at us, that some how this is being humble and being accountable. You can’t be accountable without true friendship and relationship. We often jump to the conclusion that when one of our brothers fall that it’s a result of a lack of accountability, when it just might be that we allowed them to be lifted up to a place where the Lord had to humble them. [I don’t want to judge this man, I didn’t even realize I was going to share this but during my prayer time early this morning I continued to pray for him and some other brothers who have fallen, and then I felt the Lord permitted me to share this!] When we allow leaders to attain honorific titles in violation of scripture we are unknowingly placing them in a position where Christ must humble them.

 Let me mention here the interesting phenomena of Christians [charismatic and others] seeing the ‘need’ for believers to revert back to ecclesiastical structures. During the Jesus movement of the 70’s, as well as the charismatic movement, there were well intentioned brothers who felt like the freedom of ‘simply following Christ’ and the working of the Spirit were not enough to keep the movements from going off track. They sensed the need to have ‘structure’ for the new believers. Jack Sparks, a brother who felt this way, eventually reverted all the way back to Greek orthodoxy and is an orthodox priest today in California. Others like Bob Mumford and Ern Baxter became involved in the discipleship/shepherding movement which placed an overemphasis on the concept of covering and being in submission to authority. These men were well intentioned, but it is my feeling that there is a degree of arrogance and elitism that causes people to believe that somehow through establishing ‘structure’ that they can safeguard the new Christians who where coming to Christ at this time.

 The whole phenomena of reverting back to previous church communities is nothing new. You had the ‘oxford movement’ after the reformation where many Anglican scholars became Catholics after studying the church fathers and other early sources and felt that the earliest Christian witness was Catholic. You had cardinal Newman later on also becoming catholic, or a Frances Schaffer jr. leaving evangelicalism in order to become eastern orthodox. In all these scenarios these are good men who are finding refuge in ‘structure’. While I consider all of these faiths to be Christian, I believe the error of this type of thinking is we seem to believe if we add structure to new believers this will keep them from going off track. The ‘structure’ of the New Testament churches was nothing like this. Their safeguard was in keeping Jesus pre-eminent in their lives and living together in Christian love and brotherhood. When a Paul or other Christian leader saw them getting off track [Galatians/Corinthians] the answer was not more structure, but simply refuting the error and re-presenting Christ. It was ultimately being able to trust God to finish the work that He started in them.

 CHAPTER 7

 EXAMPLES FROM PASTORS AND BELIEVERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD.

 I recently did a study on the whole phenomena of the house church movement. Many of the stories I encountered while doing research went along theses lines. You would find various groups of believers who felt disenfranchised with their roles in modern church systems; they felt like they were professional spectators. The whole concept of church became to them a place where you go to hear lectures. The only one who finds fulfillment in expressing themselves are the professional clergy [and a few rebellious prophets who could muster up the nerve to stand up and speak!] but the overall sense was these people were simply filling roles of listening to preaching week after week without ever truly functioning. Many of these people left their churches to form house/cell type churches. There were also many traditional pastors who saw this same restricting style of contemporary church and also left the whole concept of professional pastor and simply became a bi-vocational leader in a voluntary based movement of believers.

 Some of the movements I studied were tremendous in their ability to rapidly spread throughout regions without the drag of salaries, buildings and all the other usual things associated with full time ministry. I find these movements to be exciting and biblical. The whole idea of average believers advancing the kingdom of God without all the trappings of modern religion is truly getting back to the heart of New Testament Christianity.  Many of their stories shared a common theme of being seen as rebellious or not willing to submit to authority because of their willingness to break out of restricting mindsets in order to advance the kingdom. Many of the pastors who also left traditional church roles found freedom in not having to raise huge amounts of money for salaries and buildings, they testified of a freedom that came with their not having to sermonize on tithing and other money raising efforts. There was a real sense of effectiveness in the reality of the ‘church’ being vibrant groups of believers who can rapidly expand across a region without having to stop and build structures and set in order clergy and all the other trappings associated with modern day church. While I personally don’t advocate one form above another to the degree that some house church enthusiasts do [it can be just as bad to focus on the ‘house’ in house church as in the building in modern church] but I do see in this movement a return to the simple reality of Christ moving and expanding through his people [true church growth].

 As you read the New Testament you never get the feeling that Jesus or the apostles were going to areas to start some type of meeting that they would get people to attend. They were being sent out to spread the great message of Gods kingdom. All the sermons in the book of acts focus on Jesus and his great work for us. After people in these various regions came to the reality of Christ they were then considered to be the church. The actual reality of Jesus living in them through his Spirit is the entity that God recognizes as legitimate to carry out his works. There was no magical element of organizing under a particular form that would then become the ‘church’. They were church by virtue of the fact that Christ dwelt in their hearts by faith.

 As these communities spread throughout the earth they would have more mature leaders in their midst who gave guidance and direction to the flock in a voluntary way, but the concept of one professional minister who was hired to perform religious functions for the community was absent from these New Testament ecclesias. The whole mindset of ‘church-planting’ was simply the natural outgrowth of people coming to know Christ. There wasn’t a separate calling to start churches apart from the great commission to go and tell all people about this great gospel of Christ. Apostles had a special gifting to help build these communities, but in no way is this separate from the calling to preach the gospel. It is simply the proclaiming of Christ to communities of people that holds the power of ‘church planting’. And the thing that we’re planting is Christ in the hearts of people. I think if we can get back to seeing things on these terms there will be less of a pressure to go and make something happen, and more of a balance on Christ in us, the hope of glory!

 CHAPTER 8

 ARE CHURCH BUILDINGS EVIL? [OR THE GUY WHO WANTED TO CAST DEMONS OUT OF ME!]

 Many years ago before I really understood the truths of ecclesia and the communal aspect of the church, I was introduced to the belief that the ‘church building’ itself was wrong. I don’t personally adhere to this belief, but let me share the story. While ministering as a new believer in Christ and learning ‘the ropes’ of ministry, I remember driving past a brother who was a street minister from Mexico. It was unusual in the way he was conducting his street meetings. He would get permission to use an empty lot and then set up actual church pews in the lot without walls or any type of cover over it [even if it rained!]. Well one day on my daily rounds of visiting people and witnessing for Jesus [because this is what ministers are supposed to do, right?] I stopped by this brother’s lot and figured I would bless him with some lunch and listen to him preach [I felt sorry for the brother because no one else was attending his meetings]. After he spoke I had a chance to fellowship with him. After hearing his thoughts I realized it was on purpose for him to have no walls or cover over the pews [these were actual church pews that were out there in the open!].

 He shared with me the verse in Hebrews [13:10] where it says that those who worship at the sanctuary have no right to partake of the altar of Christ [the cross]. He saw this as meaning that all Christians who meet in buildings [the sanctuary] were lost! Well, even as a young believer in the lord I was smart enough to know that this verse had nothing to do with ‘church buildings’. I showed the brother that in context the verse simply meant that those Jews [remember who the book of Hebrews was written to] who were not willing to leave the old covenant system [the sanctuary] could not move on with the new covenant truth of Christ and his cross. The sanctuary represented the whole concept of law and Judaism. This verse had nothing to do about the inherent nature of church buildings! Buildings themselves are neutral ground; it’s the style of one person functioning [the pastor] at the expense of the rest of the body that I see as less than ideal.

 Well after seeing the obvious error of the way this brother was reading this verse, I began to ‘expound unto him the way of God more perfectly’. When he finally understood what I was saying [you could tell by the look in his eyes that he saw the truth] instead of repenting of his distorted view, he became irate and began to cast demons out of me [hey, I didn’t think there were any in me!]. The reason I share this example is because there are those in the house church movement, while not as extreme, seem to view the church building itself as an evil thing.

 My personal view is the church building can become a hindrance when we view it as part of a system that makes up ‘church’. We seem to see the whole concept of the church building and the pastor as the weekly speaker and all the other things associated around this structure [like tithing to the storehouse] as ‘the system’ that God instituted to carry out his work in the earth. Remember Gods inherent authority resides in no human system or mode of religious worship. His authority resides in the church, the actual people of God in any given community on earth. So if there are believers carrying out Gods purpose, whether they have the whole system that we deem ‘local church’ or not, is irrelevant. Remember what we said about Jesus and the 1st century religious mind? They were finding fault with Jesus and his disciples because they were not following the religious protocol of the day. When we embrace certain mindsets that see ‘local church’ as the limited system of Sunday worship and all the other usual things associated with it, what we’re unconsciously doing is vesting authority in a style, or form of religious worship while by-passing the true legitimacy of Gods people. Its not to say that Gods people who function in the whole system of Sunday church are illegitimate [that would be making the same mistake as the brother who wanted to cast the demons out of me!] but this shows us how we unconsciously make the same mistake as the 1st century Pharisee by seeing as illegitimate those who don’t follow certain protocols.

 It was a common thing during the 90’s to speak about the ‘changing of the wineskin’ in order to receive the new wine [the new move of God]. Many of theses thoughts were helpful in causing us to re-think the way we ‘do’ church. I also remember a common theme being ‘God wants to pour out his Spirit, but the wineskins are not ready’ in some of these examples the ministers actually meant that we don’t have big enough buildings to put all these new converts so God is ‘withholding the new wine until the new buildings go up’. At this point you should begin seeing how once again this is confusing the reality of Christian community with ‘the church building’. I find it interesting that the pouring out of the Spirit at Pentecost was not delayed because of the lack of facilities to put all the new converts in.

 Also the great missionary journeys of Paul were not delayed ‘until the new wineskins were in place’. This shows us how we’ve come to view the people of God as being dependent on the present system. Could it be that God withholds His Spirit because the ‘new wineskin’ could refer more to believers seeing themselves as the actual church that God wants to fill? If we are not rightly discerning Christ’s community as a self-sustaining society of people then the church really isn’t able to contain the new wine. If we are so limited in our thinking to view the new wineskin as larger facilities, as opposed to a rethinking of what it means to truly be Christ’s body, then maybe the holdup has more to do with a change in the way we view ‘church’ then it has to do with bigger church buildings!

 CHAPTER 9

 WHAT IN THE WORLD IS ‘THE LOCAL CHURCH’?

 Growing up as a catholic boy [though not a good one] I remember when I came to know the lord I started reading through the bible and found how the bible contradicted many of the religious beliefs I held to as a boy [this is not to say Catholics are not Christian]. Later while attending a good Baptist church I naively believed that good Baptists must have it right because they do read the bible! Well now I see that none of us have everything right [including me!] but some of us are closer to truth than others.

 One of the traditions I saw with my Baptist friends was their whole concept of ‘local church’. They seemed to see it as the actual process of ‘going to church on Sunday’ and all the things associated with that particular form of worship. Many of them found fault with the Catholic Church and her traditions, but could not see how their own limited view of ‘local church’ was just as religious as some of the Catholic teachings that they so often criticized. Till this day I still cant see how so many of my brothers in Christ view a particular form of modern church service as ‘the local church’. Some brothers view it to a degree where they really do harm to the rest of the body of Christ.

 When any system of church or worship is embraced to the degree of seeing others who don’t embrace it as lost or in rebellion, then we unconsciously are saying that all others are illegitimate. While the practice of Sunday church and the other expressions of it are o.k. with me [to a degree], I still couldn’t see how bible believing Christians could view this form as ‘the’ legitimate form of church that Jesus established 2000 years ago. The ‘church’ in the New Testament are all the communities of believers in any area where they reside. She is not some limited form of worship or specific social group that someone joins. How arrogant would it be for me to teach that the meetings or expressions of my own ministry were ‘the’ local church, and then tell people if they do not put 10% of their money into this expression that they would be under a curse! This really is wrong at the heart of it. Its o.k. for Christians to associate in this Sunday church way, but its not o.k. to view this form as ‘the local church’ to the exclusion of all the other varied forms of ‘church’ that exist in a living organism [the real ecclesia].

 I recall reading an article from one of the leaders of ‘youth with a mission’ [ywam] this is a great organization. This leader is seeing many of the truths I’m expressing in this book. He went on to explain how in the early years of ywam that they would lead many college students to Christ, and these students would naturally form on campus Christian associations/bible groups that would flourish naturally as any living organism should. But they would then tell their students that in order to not be in rebellion they needed to be ‘part of a local church’ [not realizing that they already were ‘part of the local church’ by virtue of the fact that Christ was dwelling in them and having expression through them as they met together]. Well the brother explained how they would then send them into ‘the local churches’ [which really meant lecture hall/church building environments in order to hear sermons]. And how these young groups of students would stagnate by being told to be under this type of authority. So what they viewed as being in submission to authority and being ‘under a local church covering’ was really a violation of the true expression of church that already existed in the on campus meetings. The brother also shared how they felt constrained to send the students to ‘the churches’ in order to appease the egos of the men who led the churches. This little example shows us how the mindset of viewing one form of religious expression as ‘the local church’ can actually hinder ‘the local church!’

 One night I attended a fellowship group where a bunch of Christians ‘unofficially’ met together to eat and share and just have a good time [much like the early atmosphere of the Lords supper/love feast]. During this time of fellowship everyone just shared, sang and enjoyed themselves in a very relaxed atmosphere. The place we were at is a beautiful environment out in the country that is dedicated to the body of Christ. This place is not considered ‘a local church’, though every aspect of our meeting fit the criteria of ‘local church’ to the tee. On our way back to Corpus Christi the friend I was with had recently read some of our books and sincerely asked me about my views on the ‘local church’. This brother is a mature older prophet in the Corpus Christi area with a proven track record of faithfulness to the Lord.

 He couldn’t understand why I saw very little distinction between the ‘local church’ and para-church ministries. Well as we were driving back into town it was late in the evening and all the lights of C.C. could be seen, it was a great view of the city. I explained to my friend how what we just experienced at the ‘para-church’ ministry was a real expression of ecclesia and Christian unity. Two or more were gathered together and Christ was present. As we drove back into town I explained that today [it was Sunday] many various groups of believers met in many different locations and that this was also an expression of the Body of Christ. And as we looked over the city I told him that my understanding of all the various ‘churches’ that met together in all the different locations were in Gods eyes one church. That the New Testament doesn’t show them to be 100 different separate entities that we call ‘local church’, but that all the believers who gathered in this day were ‘local church’ [ecclesia] even the ones who met at the Christian camp [actually the style of meeting at the camp was more in keeping with the 1stcentury model].

 God sees his church as one entity, not as many different entities all with their own separate identities. There are many church buildings going up in our city [nothing wrong about this], while driving to work not to long ago I noticed how one of the churches is building within a few hundred feet of another church. They are both good churches, but God simply doesn’t see these brothers as separate entities. It would be like the kids living in your home, they might be in different rooms right next to each other, but they don’t ‘operate’ as unique entities apart from the other siblings [at least I hope not!].

 I was fellowshipping with a friend and sharing with him some of the thoughts in this book. During our discussion he was struggling with the concept of ‘the church’ being a free society of Christ followers [a brotherhood] as opposed to the normal way we see church today [the whole concept of Sunday church as the ‘church’ we go to]. While trying to explain myself [or should I say ‘defend’] I noticed that there was a picture of the last supper on the wall. I then used it as an illustration of ‘local church’. I showed him how this ‘supper’ was one aspect of Jesus sharing of his life with the disciples. Jesus lived and walked daily with his disciples for three years and is now going to leave them for their benefit [even though they don’t see it yet!].

 During this final meal he rightfully is the center of their attention. He has already taught them the principle of calling no man on earth ‘father’ or ‘master’ or ‘rabbi’, because they are all brothers and their master/rabbi is Christ himself. So the atmosphere of them all being equal at this supper with him being the focal point is an intentional lesson for them. He then does the unthinkable, he gets up from the table and puts on a servants garb [towel] and begins to wash their feet! He tells them he is giving them an example of what it will mean to be a leader in the church. He shatters the gentile idea of leadership [being at the top] and once again shows them that the last will be first is a real mindset that is to be lived out in Christian community. True ‘local church’ is the common sharing of the life of Christ [the Eucharist is a picture of this] in Christian community where we all are equals [this means all, do you see how there was purposely no man or office that was predominant here, apart from Christ] and where leadership is identified by a servant’s heart!

 CHAPTER 10

 THE SPIRIT OF COMPETITION IN THE MODERN CHURCH

 Over the years while working with brothers who were addicts or ex-cons we would spend a lot of time just fellowshipping and spending time together as friends. Jesus was actually accused of being a friend of sinners. This accusation seemed to imply that it was all right to view people as a thing to be ministered to, but to actually befriend sinners was a violation of the religious world of separation between sinner and saint. The religious mind views people as a resource pool to accomplish ministry goals. People are viewed as being expendable. I have often seen the example used where if people are in the way of accomplishing religious goals then you must avoid them. While the principle of not allowing critics to stop us from accomplishing God given goals is important, yet we must put in perspective that the actual city/building that God desires to build is the community of people herself. Many times while working with these friends of mine we would run into or have experiences where other pastors would interact with them in efforts to ‘get them into their church’. Some would visit one church or another and then later tell me how the one pastor would be offended that they went to the other ‘church’. They seemed to be able to see right through the church games that these men were playing.

 The goal of these well meaning pastors was to get people to go ‘to their church’ which in many of these scenarios simply meant attending a building to listen to someone preach. If the many ‘churches’ are simply competitive lecture halls from which men find personal fulfillment by having people come and listen, then in these scenarios the struggle or guilt that we put on people to make them come is an actual violation of the true church, which after all is made up of all these various believers in our communities. I am not saying that in all of these types of situations that there are never legitimate expressions of church, but the actual spirit of this type of thing goes on a lot in the average city. The people can fall into mindsets of where their simply being viewed as tools to accomplish religious goals. In the New Testament the mindset of ministry and ‘church planting’ had nothing close to this sort of attitude. The New Testament Churches were simply communities of people who gathered around the reality of Jesus. In these communities church was a daily way of life, it was not focused around meetings at all.

 This is why I take issue with the strong house church emphasis that actually sees a pattern of ‘house church’ as the only legitimate expression of church. This is the same mistake as the building centered approach. They are both focusing on the wrong thing, where the people meet. The focus in the New Testament is not on where or even how they meet, but the emphasis is on the reality of all the believers in any given location as being the corporate expression of Christ in all types of situations. The fact that Christ lives in all of us is the great mystery. It’s really insignificant in my thinking on exactly how we meet. Now I know that some styles are better than others. For instance a meeting where all the believers function by sharing and caring for one another is much more edifying, but the daily reality of Christ manifesting through us as we interact in community is the true church. This obviously includes our meetings, but like I said earlier the New Testament thrust was preaching the gospel to people. It wasn’t on setting up meetings at all. The meetings were a simple outgrowth of true church life. When we loose the reality of this we digress into this competitive approach that causes pastors to compete with one another in a childish way. Paul told the Corinthians that their sectarian attitude to gather around the personas of men was a sign of their immaturity.

 I can’t believe how immature we are in our thinking. I was having a discussion with a mature leader in the church and when I shared some of these truths he actually said ‘my pastor knows how to spot wolves who try to come in and harm us’ [or something to that effect] the feeling I got was he was feeling threatened. Now this was a mature believer in his 50s[I’m 43 as I write this book]. The reason I say this is because it seemed so unnatural for a mature saint to even use the term ‘my pastor’. In the body of Christ there are many different gifts, some are apostles others prophets, some evangelists, but out of all these gifted ones it would be highly unscriptural to refer to any of these in this way. Just try it, do you feel comfortable saying ‘my prophet’ or ‘my apostle’ then why do we think ‘my pastor’ is not indicative of our immature thinking. I am not advocating the doing away of this term [pastor] but this language should cause us to rethink our immature ways of seeing church. Church is not an endless series of religious meetings whereby people ‘attend’ in order to listen to bible words being spoken. The practical instruction and teaching that are operating in any healthy group of people will allow there to be room for the functioning of all the people in the group. This codependence that we’ve developed with the emphasis on one persons persona is in direct violation of the function and flow of New Testament thought.

 The phenomena of one person being the primary voice and expression in the group [ecclesia] are an immature result of not rightly discerning Christ’s body. When people are together at social functions there is usually at least one person who has had a few drinks. You can identify that person by the way he acts. He wants to dominate the conversation, if you try and talk back he’ll cut you off because he derives enjoyment when the conversation centers around himself. He actually feels good about being the predominant voice in the group, to the exclusion of every other voice! I don’t know if we realize it or not, but in many modern church scenarios this is what the world sees. They frankly don’t want to ‘go to church’ because it has become an environment where one person is doing all the talking, and a lot of times it’s about him! People are tired of this. Our conversation [more than one person speaking] should revolve around the person of Christ as opposed to the persona of any one person.

 Grasping the biblical truth of leaders choosing between effective ministry or ministry for the honor of men is a hard pill to swallow if you are involved with the ‘honor of men’ mode at the present time [if you are now reading this and it describes you!]. What I want us all to see is that it takes true courage to walk in truth in every generation of believers from the 1st. century until today. There were many well-meaning Christians during the time of the reformation who were serving God as priests in the Catholic church. Many felt it to be a disruption to go on in the new truths of the reformation [justification by faith] and simply remained faithful to God in the majority position of their day. These priests were still Christians [for the most part] and many of them sincerely followed Christ to the best of their ability without embracing the new truths that God was bringing forth in their day. I mention this because there are many well-meaning brothers in Christ who see the things in this book as truth, but choose to stay in the majority system of contemporary church and will continue to be used by God to a degree. The real question for us is do we want to be a part of ‘modern reformation’ or just be faithful to the system [after all our brothers have been doing it this way for years!].

 CHAPTER 11

 GOD’S PEOPLE ARE NOT SIMPLY ASSETS TO AN ORGANIZATION!

 Getting back to the story of the children of Israel in the book of exodus. If you remember the story God took his society of people, who were many [big numbers] and he brought them through stages to lead them into a place where they would become a self-sustaining entity on their own [with God as their king!]. They were living in Egypt and being ruled over by taskmasters. The bondage they were under was an expectation to produce a certain amount of building materials in order for the cities of man to be built. The cities represented the images and personas of men. In the process of God delivering them from this bondage of image building he raises up Moses [a type of Christ]. Moses God given prophetic authority begins to confront mans authority [pharaoh] and begins a process of freeing the people from this mindset of being ruled over in order to produce things so the images of men would be glorified [ouch!].

 As Moses confronts mans authority, he at the same time leads the people on a journey. The journey is exciting and life changing, but it also has many risks and pitfalls. The children of Israel’s response determined how long this journey would take. The more they complained about this new walk and all of the difficulties involved with it, the longer it would take before they could enter a place of rest and true self rule [under God]. During this season of testing and trial in the wilderness they actually longed to go back into a system of being ruled over because the old system provided a sense of stability and structure that they were comfortable with, despite the fact that they were slaves in it! In process of time they [their children] eventually do enter into the promised land of self-rule.

 They obtain their own national identity [the nation of Israel] apart from simply existing under another’s identity [Egypt] and God begins leading them with the assistance of prophets and judges and elders [a type of plural leadership flowing freely in society]. During process of time they reach a stage where they see how all the other nations are ruled [watch out!] and decide that they too want a king [man] to rule over them. Wow, after all that God brought them through to deliver them from mans control you would think they wouldn’t have done this! Well God actually says that by doing this they are rejecting his leadership for the leadership of men. He even warns them that this type of ‘mans rule’ will take of their best men and use them for the self-advancement of his dynasty. God says this king will even demand the tithes of the people in order to fund his kingdom [wow]. I guess when God says that the things that happened to Israel were for a sign for us so we don’t make the same mistakes; he really means it [1st cor.10]!

 Many times in our present understanding of church we view people as assets to our ‘organization.’  ‘Wow if I could just get that talented person as a staff member in our church’. This way of viewing people as things that can help our organizations grow is the ‘Saul’ mindset ‘he will take of your best men’ mentality. People have intrinsic value, they are valuable in Gods eyes because of the simple fact that Christ died for them and has purchased them with his blood. People are not objects or tools to be looked upon as assets to an organization. If you were to adopt a child [a very noble task] hopefully you would do it because you loved the child and wanted to be with them. If this child later found out that you did this in order to gain some type of benefit [like a tax deduction or something of this nature] your child would be devastated. So when we view Gods children [the true church] as objects that will help advance our ‘churches’ [organizations] we devalue them.

 I am not saying here that all present models of leadership in the church are ‘mans rule’, but a large degree of it is. There is so much image building that goes on in the church that it’s not even funny. Much of the collecting of tithes is simply a process where one leader is in competition with the other in order to ‘out build’ him, and a lot of times the people begin to simply be weekly attendees of our meetings who we deliver messages to and then hope to bring in a huge offering so the image of ‘our church’ can gain a degree of respect in the community. Like I said before, there is nothing inherently wrong with ‘big churches’ or ministries, but we must be careful that as we build we are not doing it at the expense of Gods true heritage [the people of God!].

 If we can grasp the concept of Gods people actually being the vehicle that God uses to express His image and purpose in the earth, then we will stop viewing them as being simply a resource pool to accomplish ministry goals. My own prayer time has evolved as I began to see these truths. I used to spend a lot of time praying for the success of ‘my ministry’ but as I’ve come to see these truths I focused my prayer time more on the actual purposes of God to be made manifest through all the people we relate to. I began praying for God to accomplish and activate his purposes directly through his people. I began viewing ministry as not so much ‘something I am building for God’ but as the expression of his Son being developed and manifested through the people I relate to. If the people you influence over your life are truly impacted by the person of Christ, then in essence you have had a successful ministry. Many of these approaches to ministry will obviously not have the same amount of outward ministry things to look to [like buildings] therefore the concept of not building for the honor of men must be fully grasped by those who take on this style of ministry. This way of seeing and doing ministry also allows you to be free from having to raise large amounts of money in order to accomplish ministry goals. God truly can and will use any believer to expand his kingdom in the earth as you begin to see ministry this way.

 Jesus simple way of sending the disciples out and telling them not to worry about purse or scrip [money. I like the way the message bible puts it ‘don’t think you need a lot of extra equipment for this, you are the equipment. No special appeals for funds, keep it simple’ Mark 6] shows us the simplicity of all believers being able to carry out ministry by virtue of the fact that Christ is in us. This is what I tried to stress earlier, that as you begin to view ministry as a simple function of Christ revealing and manifesting himself through his people, then this is something we all can do all the time. No big process of raising money [no special appeals for funds] but simply being a Christian in society and interacting with God and fellow believers in all types of situations makes the presence of Christ manifest [where 2 or more are gathered there am I in the midst]. It is common today to view ministry as a function of professionals and the need for them to raise money for projects causes there to exist in the Christian community a mindset where good Christians are always appealing for funds in order to accomplish some project. This actually projects the image that ministry is some type of a separate function apart from us. This really violates the whole concept of ministry being a natural outgrowth of believers being in right relationship with God [John 15].

 CHAPTER 12

 WHAT MODEL OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT DO I ESPOUSE?

 Over the years when dealing with these types of issues I have found it difficult to break through the ‘normal’ way and pattern of thinking that most Christians have. For instance some times people will ask me the question ‘what type of church government do you believe in’? Most Times in their minds they’re really asking me ‘what type of order, or pattern of Sunday church do you espouse’. While I also understand that they are including the concept of government that applies to the broader association of the various denominations, to me they are still ‘seeing’ church government as a particular order imposed by the ‘separate entity’ of their denomination. Let me try to make this a little clearer [hopefully].

 If I were to explain to someone the reality of natural human life, I would go through the process of showing how life starts between a healthy relationship of 2 people coming together by Gods design [I hope I don’t have to get to detailed here!]. As children are born they will go through various stages of development and life. They will encounter many different situations as they proceed along this thing called life. One of the many things that most children will have [though sad to say, not all] is a home environment. This home environment is just one of the many things that make up their lives. In this home/house they will at different times and in different settings be taught all types of things, both by example and through actual instruction [I thought I told you to clean up your room! 2 days ago!].

 In this home environment you might have a special day where you all come together in the family room for devotional time [this day varies with my younger girls but I try to do this on a weekly basis]. While this devotional time is important, it is only one small aspect of their entire lives. If you were to refer to this one day of teaching as ‘the life/the church’ I would correct your thinking and say this small area of Christian activity, though important, is only one aspect of their lives. Life itself is the actual organic reality of them being human beings who were birthed and grew up as real human beings. The sum total of all their experiences have shaped them, but they themselves, by virtue of the fact that they were born and actually [really] exist as human beings, is life. Life does not describe the home/house environment only. Or just one specific way in which we do our devotion time. It consists of the fact that they are truly alive!

 So getting back to the question of ‘what type of church govt. do I believe in’ I often answer ‘none’, to the surprise of the person asking the question. I then go on to explain that I view ‘church’ as the actual living/organic entity of Gods people. God’s people are Gods people by virtue of the fact that they were born into his family; they are children of God, really! They are ‘church’ because of this fact. They will experience many good [and sometimes bad] things along the way. Most of them will find a ‘home/house’ environment to go to in order to associate with other believers [what we often describe as church] during these times of fellowship there will be certain days in which instruction is given [normally Sunday]. And they will experience many other types of situations throughout their Christian experience. So when someone asks me what type of church govt. do I believe in, I usually see the question to mean ‘what type, or style of Sunday church meeting do you espouse’. I try to make an effort to explain that I believe in the ‘actual church govt.’ that is I believe that all the people of God, all the time make up the church everywhere they are [remember Jesus answer to the Samaritan woman].

 As God is daily communicating and interacting with his people by his Spirit this is an actual real existence that we share both with our creator and all of our brothers and sisters in Christ. This type of ‘church govt.’ is what I espouse. The ‘ordaining’ of elders in the New Testament was simply the recognition of more mature/grounded spiritual leaders who the early Christian communities could look to for guidance and direction [or correction] as they experience and live out ‘church life’. We have such a legalistic mind that as Christians we have changed church govt. to describe a certain form, or way of doing religious meeting while it originally referred to God ‘governing’ His people through the ‘govt.’ of Jesus being at the right hand of glory!

 CHAPTER 13

 THE CAT CHAPTER [I DID THIS FOR MY KIDS!]

 Whenever I have this type of discussion I usually receive different responses from well meaning Christians in defense of the old way of seeing church. Some feel it is total rebellion to even dare question the system [my pastor knows how to spot wolves mentality, which usually means me!] sometimes people try to devalue this message by saying ‘oh, that brothers one of those theologian types’ which I assure you I’m not! [never been to bible school, never been ordained [by men]]. Some feel that this way of seeing ‘church’ is impractical. I believe that seeing all of Gods people as the actual entity in earth that God has ordained to advance his kingdom is the most practical thing you can do. I personally have been active and involved as a believer in all sorts of practical charitable outreach. I do this by virtue of the fact that I’ve been ordained by God to go into all the world and make disciples. Whether you realize it or not, so are you!

 All the ‘ministry’ stuff I do is not some higher calling that I have in which others need to recognize and support in order for them to get some type of reward simply because they support me [by the way we do not accept financial support]. This mindset creates a false barrier that causes Christians to see ministry as something separate from themselves, that somehow relieves them from their own personal responsibility to spread the kingdom. We sort of give the attitude that if the ‘average Christian’ simply supports the pro’s that he’s fulfilled his obligation. I often tell people that I am no different than them. God requires all believers to reach out and touch society around them in real practical ways.

  No one is to simply be a book writer, or radio speaker or any other ‘thing’ we see as ministry. But we are all responsible to reach out in real practical ways, touching the lost world around us. Our real message as Christians is that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. The message that the world needs to hear from us is that God is not mad at them, or trying to make them conform to some church standard. But God has already embraced and accepted them through Jesus Christ. Our message is one of total reconciliation and forgiveness. We all bare a responsibility to give our lives away for the sake of others. This whole book is to emphasize the reality and responsibility we all share in the great commission. The great truth of God ‘legitimizing’ all of us bares with it a great responsibility to touch the world. Jesus said to whom much is given much will be required.

 This book hopefully opened your eyes to some degree to how much has been given to you. Much is now required. All the ‘ministry’ things that I personally do, working with homeless people, ex-cons [or present ones!], doing radio, personal outreach/evangelism, all of these areas are a natural function of trying to hear God and respond. I’m not saying I do everything right, I’m sure I don’t [really sure!] but I try to view ministry as simply hearing and doing the works of Jesus. If the verse in Mark says to  ‘make no special appeals for funds, travel light because you are the equipment’ then my first reaction to God calling me to do something in ministry is to simply act. This is a forgotten doctrine of the old traditional church; I think they used to call it ‘obedience’. So my response to God should be ‘Lets go’.

 Now I realize practically there are many contemporary building based churches that are hearing and responding to God, and that many of these pastors are obviously not going to personally fund everything they do. But I’m trying to show how we often respond to God’s call on us by perceiving that ‘God wants me to start a ministry’, once again falling into the trap of seeing ministry as some type of entity [usually a 501c3] that God wants us to start. God isn’t telling the ‘entity’ to do it, He’s telling you! [Or me] do you see this? So all the ministry stuff I do is without a board, no 501c3, and no separate entity at all. Just do it! [I should make a note here, in the early days I did incorporate and had a name, Corpus Christi outreach ministries, but this now is simply the name of our radio program. It’s more humble to leave it like this then to tell everyone ‘you’re listening today to John Chiarello’]. Now the principle of team work is important, after all this book is about the Church, Gods corporate people, but what I want you to see is you are free to do kingdom works without starting some  ‘thing’.

 I have also sensed at times that when I share this simple approach I take concerning ministry, that it will offend others who have gone the more traditional route. Sort of like a feeling of ‘how dare you think that you can just do these things on your own, who is your covering!’. This attitude is what I was trying to express earlier when I shared how the mindset of the 1st century Pharisee was offended at both Jesus and his disciples simply doing kingdom works because they were sent by God. There seems to be a lack of understanding of the true nature of our sonship in Christ. While God doesn’t want Christians to be rebellious or out of order, we often use this type of language in order to challenge true believers who are walking in the will of God.

 If you think about it all of the commands in the New Testament are given to believers in order for us to actively participate in kingdom works. Jesus says when he returns that all nations will be judged on whether they fed him when he was hungry, or visited him when he was in prison [actual things that Christians should do]. He gives instructions on when we invite people for a meal to invite the down and out because they cant repay us [no political lobbying here!] but how many times have we actually done these things? We seem to read the new testament and confer the responsibility of these things on ‘the church’ as in if she were some type of separate institution that if we just give money to that we will be relieved of our responsibility to act!

 Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for this type of thinking. Jesus also taught that there would be people who at the judgment would be rejected because they never knew him, these people primarily focused on ministry as being ‘performance’ [have we not prophesied in your name type mentality]. This shows us that true ministry are the works done as a response of the compassion of Christ being expressed through us. Ministry is primarily not a function of religious performance. In American Christianity we often view ministry as a time were someone will be performing in an audience type atmosphere. Either a great sermon or fantastic singer, while there are times where these types of gifts edify, we often view ministry in these ways not realizing that for the most part this is simply ‘performance’. [I don’t want to sound mean here, but I really don’t know how else I could say this!]

 A few weeks ago I took a trip to the New York City area, before I left I gave specific instructions to my kids to not bring home any more cats! I told them that they all ready had enough pets and I didn’t want them to have any more. My daughters have been involved with a lot of pet rescues where they find strays and get them fixed and get all their shots and find them homes. The only problem is some times the home they find is mine! To be honest they have done pretty well. I also now have two dogs living with us [it’s a long story]. So when I arrived back from my trip I was greeted by the whole family and I noticed there was a strange looking kitten, I wasn’t really sure if it was new or one that I just didn’t remember. Well as the puppy is playing with the kitten my daughter says ‘oh, daddy did you see the new kitten, she belongs to the puppy’ in essence they were telling me that they really didn’t get any new pets, but that one of the pets got a new pet! This is what you would call living up to the letter of the law while violating the spirit of the law. This is what we do in our understanding of church and ministry. The whole intent is to build and edify people. They are the valuable object to God. In our efforts to ‘build ministry’ we often devalue them [most of the times unconsciously]. As we re-examine our ideas and concepts of church it is my goal to lead us to a place where people are valued again, even if it’s at the expense of the institution!

 Let me end this chapter with one more ‘cat’ story. One day one of our cats was killed by a car. My kids were upset so I violated the rule of not bringing any more cats home and went to the local shelter and adopted this real cute kitten. Well being I was the first voice that this kitten would hear [from my family] she became closer to me than normal. After a few more bad experiences with cats getting out my kids took 3 new stray kittens [recently rescued] and put them all in their room for months. The litter box, food and everything they needed was in this little isolated closed environment [watch out], well they stuck my little kitten in there too!

 After a few months I told my kids that this isn’t right. I haven’t seen my kitten for so long, she used to play with me and really liked me a lot, being I was the first voice she’d grown accustomed to. Well my kids warned me that she isn’t like that anymore, she’s been with the little scared strays in the room for so long that she’s picked up the scared attitude and is afraid of people. Well I couldn’t believe that she would have forgotten my voice, I know its been a long time since she’s heard it, but after all I am her ‘daddy’ and she was a special kitten to me. Well I finally broke this little secluded environment that they were living in and went into the room. Sure enough all the cats were scared of this type of forced intimacy. I was just to close! They all had this scared look and ran under the bed. I couldn’t believe that even my little kitten was so affected by the natural fear that these strays had, that she too thought it necessary to hide from the face of her father.

 Well after a few seconds my little cat came running out from under the bed and into my arms, as if to say ‘yes I remember you, your that first person that rescued me that day a long time ago, Its been so long since I saw you that I had forgotten your voice. I have been living with these unwanted strays for so long that I was afraid to approach you anymore’ well I think this is what happens to Gods kids sometimes. They start out at ‘the day of rescue [salvation]’ with the joy of hearing His voice, but after living our lives out in unnatural environments [closed rooms] for so long we forget what it was like to truly hear his voice and to commune with him. Often times there needs to be an intrusion into our closed environments before we can recognize the voice of our father once again. [NOTE; when I told my girls I was going to put a story about our cats in the book, they said ‘wow, our cats are going to be famous’ we just cant seem to get away from this desire to legacy build!]

 CONCLUSION

 Leadership is primarily the function of helping people ‘get out of their rooms’. It is the process of leading people away from feeling content and satisfied in our little rooms of fellowship and doctrine, which cause us to feel superior to our brothers and sisters in Christ. The end result of this little book shouldn’t be ‘now that I see these things I have found a ‘new’ room to dwell in [the room of the doctrine of ecclesiology/house church] but the result should be seeing ourselves as free in Christ and being built up as co-equal members of Christ’s body, Paul said knowledge puffeth up but charity buildeth up [edifieth]. As we all come out of our peculiar rooms of various doctrines [some of which are true!] we don’t advocate the belief that doctrine is not important but want to bring people to a place where we find our identity in the person of Christ as opposed to the doctrines of men.

 I would like to end this little booklet in an unconventional way. I want to simply share some thoughts from my own personal mission statement. Also I want to speak directly to all of our friends who either listen to us on radio or who I relate to in some way in the kingdom. Over the years of sharing these truths I would often have people who have heard us or read one of our books and after seeing certain truths would express their concern about their church, or so and so’s church. I without fail have always defended the church or pastor. The reason is I feel that the truths in these books are not to be used to personally come against a particular church or pastor. I do believe we all need to examine our motives and readjust our thinking when it comes to why we do the things we do ‘for God’. Its possible to be involved in church building and without realizing it, to be building monuments that will burn up in the day of judgment. All true church building consists of unselfishly depositing into other people for their growth and benefit. Ministry is not a ‘career choice’ as if someone were choosing between auto mechanic/fire-fighter/pastor. Ministry is a gift that God deposits in all his people for the mutual edification of the whole body. What we fail to see in many present forms of church is how we are simply empowering a few individuals at the expense of the people in the pews.

 I have seen many well-meaning men go into ministry and immediately feel a sense of fulfillment because they are flowing and speaking and giving out of themselves to others. The writing of this book as well as the radio programs I do give a sense of fulfillment in that we are all created to give ourselves away. But in many current situations the main speaker is finding fulfillment at the expense of the rest of the body. God designed the church to be a place where all of Gods people would find fulfillment in giving themselves away. The unnatural act of submission that we often teach is not true biblical submission. We often tell people if they are not satisfied with their passive role as listeners that they are in rebellion. While in reality true rebellion is not developing into the mature functioning person that God wants all of us to be. My purpose is not to give Christians excuses to ‘not go to church’.

 The mindset of ‘I can worship God on the golf course’ mentality. But to cause us to radically rethink what we’re doing and why we’re doing it. The Pharisees of Jesus day were involved in all types of religious activities, but Jesus said their main motivation was to simply attain a certain status amongst their fellow peers. He said that’s what they were in it for and that they already received their reward [the honor of men]. Why do we want to build big ministries? Is it truly for the glory of God or are we unconciously enjoying the natural success that comes with the adventure of any big project? I’m not against big projects in and of themselves, but we must examine our motives for doing the things we do. True New Testament Church planting is simply depositing Jesus image into the people we relate to over our lifetime. What legacy did Paul leave behind? Was it some huge earthly institution? We find him at the end of his life living in a rented house, receiving visitors and declaring the kingdom of God [Acts 28; 30-31] he left behind a legacy of gentile communities who believed in Christ!

 Here are some of my own personal thoughts from my mission statement.

 1 spend time making quality friends, all ministry takes place in this type of atmosphere.

 2 true leadership is relating directly to groups of people in cities, not starting some type of organization.

 3 the apostle Paul had relationship with believers in different locals, but he didn’t own them.

 4 don’t try to produce only one type or way of church, but allow Gods natural process to work in various ways.

 5 relating to areas/groups of people regularly is building the body. Either a church building, home or any regular place of contact can be the format for building the house of God.

 6 planting churches in the New Testament sense was not the concept of setting up regular meetings in which Paul would preach to them week after week as a pastor, but planting churches was an apostle going to a location and making believers of the gospel of grace, and then trusting the Spirit in them to continue his work. Paul did speak of recognizing and ordaining elders in these cities, but it wasn’t a weekly church concept.

 7 in the book of acts the focus wasn’t on setting up meetings, but sharing Christ with groups of people and relating to them as a family of children of whom you will always have relationship with, but allow them to mature and grow up on their own and eventually become independent.

 8 the focus isn’t meetings but ecclesia. That is the actual people you disciple. when Jesus sent them out 2 by 2 it wasn’t to start home groups, but to bring the kingdom to regions. Don’t sacrifice the freedom of touching people directly. Jesus and those he sends simply speak, do, share and communicate with people. His great commission to go and make disciples and baptize. Direct authority to do kingdom without having to start or set up a movement. The movement itself is ‘Jesus family’ [ecclesia]. You will meet with people, but the focus is the people not the act of meeting. Learn to relate to people without having an agenda. Simply be free to love people.

 9 look at Jesus and the 12. Later in acts, even Paul when going to a region, he holds meetings for a limited time [though the longest was around 2 years] preaches Christ, has a give and take with the community and then leaves. No ‘starting’ of anything, but a revolution in the hearts and minds of people. Later when re-visiting these communities, these are the ‘churches’ of the New Testament. We must see and operate in this simple way. This simple way is New Testament church planting.

 10 his yoke is easy and burden light. Go into all the world and preach the gospel. Don’t loose the simplicity of doing Gods will. He requires nothing more than to go and touch and share and love. The people you touch are the ecclesia.

 11 in these friendships the main truth will be Jesus and his grace, these friends will be encouraged to continue in Jesus and his grace. Prayer, bible study, fellowship and their journey with God. Be available to baptize and communicate with them, but allow God to grow the seed.

 12 you never get the sense/feeling from Jesus or Paul that they were going somewhere to recruit people to their ministry. The sense was bringing this great message and kingdom to people! The people continued in the apostles doctrine and fellowship with each other and later Paul would come back to see how they were doing, not to start some type of ministry, but true long term friendships in the kingdom.

 13 the freedom isnt ‘house church’ or ‘temple worship’ but the kingdom being amongst us now! Obeying Jesus command to love! This command is free from all forms and structures of ministry, and allows us to daily love in action, always sharing in word and deed Jesus. A willingness to baptize those who believe and share and love and relate on a friendship basis. Jesus style.

  I would like to note here that at the present time [2000’s] there are many worldwide Christian movements that are actually doing many of the things that I mentioned in this book. There are many ‘ex-pastors’ who have left their former roles as the central figure of the people they were pastoring and have continued to serve the body of Christ in a bi-vocational way [not getting paid to pastor!]. While I am not advocating this for every pastor who might read this book, I share this to emphasize that these thoughts are presently being practiced on a large scale worldwide [I do a lot of research!]. When people are confronted with new truth there is a tendency to discredit the messenger, so I wanted you to see that there are many thousands of believers who are walking this path right now. There are also many brothers who have seen these things before I did and I appreciate the role they played in helping me to see new truth. In many cases the believers who have left there former churches to live in simple community have been ostracized and looked upon as backslidden rebels. This has created in some a resentment in those who are technically correct in their seeing the church as the community, but many wont hear their voices because of the barrier of resentment that they pick up from them. So you have some who remain in the old way of seeing church and justify it by the fact that some who moved on have a bad attitude. We are all responsible before God to respond to truth when confronted with it, regardless of how much we resent the messenger! I personally believe that after reading this little book that your level of responsibility has gone up. You must ask God how He personally wants you to respond to the truths presented to you.

 A few weeks ago I had a dream that I felt was prophetic, over the years I have had many interesting dreams and visions. I have never shared any of them in book form, but have spoken about them through our radio program. I dreamt that I was going to a Christian university, when arriving at the university there were many scholarly people dressed in suits and ties. There were many classes going on and discussions taking place about theological subjects. As I continued on my tour of the university there was a classroom where all the professors were gathered in a circle examining something. As I got closer I saw in the middle of these scholars there was what looked like an Indian warrior, he was crouched and just sitting there as something to be examined. He was severely scarred, not just normal scares but sort of a grotesque mutilation. He was there as something to be examined [I thought of the verse in Isaiah where it says he was marred more than any man, that he was wounded to beyond the point of recognition]. Later when I woke up I felt part of this dream spoke to the danger of us as Christians being able to learn and study truth, while never fully embracing the mystery in Christ. We have a tendency to build people up with all sorts of doctrines and never arriving at the point of fully grasping Him. My goal is after reading this book that your focus will not be ‘now I am going to go do the things in this book’, but that you would be able to see Him to a greater degree. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.

  Let me close with this, the apostle Paul told the Corinthians that he was given authority by God to build them up and not to tear them down. He actually regretted being so hard on them in his 1st letter, but later said he was glad he made them sorry for a season because it would later bear good results. While I’m not comparing myself to the apostle, I do see a similar situation in some of the teaching we do. Its seems to upset people initially but after a while it will produce good fruit. My intent in examining our whole idea of church and ministry is not to give people ammunition to fight against their church, but rather to cause us all to embrace a more biblical concept of church and ministry. I personally do not advocate the total deconstructing of all present day church practices. I personally believe there is room for both building based churches [the church building] and the house church movement. My appeal is for us to look at all these issues and come to our own conclusions on how to embrace these truths at our own pace. I thank the lord that he has been patient with me as I walk this journey and I want to give you all the same room and grace he has extended to me. May God bless you guys until the next book!

Here’s the chapter in Acts that I spoke about on today’s post- Sunday Sermon- 11-5-17-

ACTS 20- Paul travels with some brothers on the journey. This mode of visiting different regions and bringing brothers with him is exciting! They are truly seeing the Kingdom of God becoming established in the earth. Scripture says ‘they broke bread on the first day of the week’ we read later in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians that when they met on the ‘first day of the week’ he asked them to take up a collection before he arrived [so he could take the money and meet the needs of the poor saints at Jerusalem]. Do we see here some type of Sunday Sabbath, that is the ‘church day to pay tithes’ so you don’t get cursed? Of course not. You are seeing the simple practical outworking of a people who are becoming the people of God. It’s fine to meet on a Sunday and to ‘break bread’. Hey, the group needs to know when to meet for the meal! But don't develop liturgical/sacramental ideas out of this. You say ‘hooray for John [me], he is really giving it to those Catholics’ well, don’t say hooray yet. Now he calls for the Elders at Ephesus to come to Miletus so he can give them some instructions and a farewell. This address from Paul is one of the best in the New Testament. He covers the basics for leadership and church growth. Now, he tells them ‘all the time I was with you guys I was upright. I taught you publicly and from house to house. I showed you repentance toward God and faith towards Jesus Christ. I worked and did not covet your money. I did this to prove I was not there to gain financially from you. To give you an example as Elders yourselves, so you would not see the responsibility of oversight thru a covetous mindset. Beware! After I leave you there will be an attempt by the enemy to undo the work of the Cross. Some men, even from your own group will rise up and speak twisted doctrines. They will try to become preeminent in the group, drawing away disciples after themselves. Don’t become sidetracked and become followers of men! Guard the flock over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Feed them Gods good word’. Paul lays down strong guidelines here. He actually teaches the elders that he worked when he was among them to leave this example of leaders not seeing ministry as a means to get gain. In one of his future letters [Timothy or Thessalonians?] he actually says this ‘working’ that he did was a tradition for them to keep. He said this in context of those who refused to work. Very strong indeed. Peter also will teach the Elders to take oversight of Gods flock ‘not for money, but out of a pure motive’. In the wars that rage over ‘simple church’ versus the modern 501c3 model, both sides have shot at each other wrongfully at times. There are very intelligent brothers who will take this chapter and teach that the modern Pastor has fallen into the trap of ‘making disciples after themselves’. They see the development of the role of Pastor as becoming the fulfillment of this. Now, I do see some merit to this, but I see most pastors [all the ones I know and have known personally over the years] as Elders who are striving to help Gods People. I see a real need for all leadership to see that ministry is not a fulltime clergy type office that has developed over the centuries! Paul is simply addressing the Elders [more mature ones- in the gospel, not necessarily old!] and showing them that their purpose is to help the people of God grow in grace and make it to a place of self sufficiency in Christ. Paul is pretty much laying down the gauntlet that leadership is not some ticket of ‘now that I am in ministry, my income comes from the God ordained tithe’. This is never taught as a means of support for New testament ministers. These ideas have developed out of the Old Testament idea of the tithe supporting the Levitical Priests. In the New Covenant all are Priests and we don’t practice this type of thing. But Paul does teach that it’s good to support materially [financially] those who are feeding you spiritual food. He does teach ‘don’t muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn’ [he called us ox's!] seriously, he lays down the biblical guideline of supporting those who minister the word. But it is important to see he was not establishing some type of clergy system, the fact that he was working while with these Ephesians and actually used this as an example for OTHER ELDERS as well as the believers shows you this. All in all the main point Paul is getting across is he wants the basic truth of the gospel to prevail and he does not want top heavy leadership to come in and draw away disciples after them. That is for strong gifted leaders to become the main focus of these Ephesian believers. So this chapter is important because we see Paul address these elders that he has been ‘ordaining’ in the churches [groups of believers]. We see the basic character and function of these men. We see the warning that cults will arise. In Paul’s day groups did come forth from the basic Christian communities [Gnostics and Docetists] that had a basic understanding of certain Christian things, but would deny the reality of Jesus. Paul bids them Farwell as they all embrace on the shoreline. The Elders were heartbroken over Paul’s words that he will probably see them no more. He wanted to keep the upcoming feast at Jerusalem and eventually preach at Rome. He was on this obsession to carry this gospel to the seat of the empire, even if it means his life.

Here’s a link- https://ccoutreach87.com/2017/08/20/acts-20/ 

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

Here’s my past teaching from Mark 12 that relates to the Matt. 23 reading-

 Mark 12

POSTED BY CCOUTREACH87 ⋅ JULY 14, 2017 ⋅ LEAVE A COMMENT

MARK 12 Mark 12:25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. Mark 12:26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? Mark 12:27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err. https://youtu.be/VJBAPuroAUY Mark 12 https://ccoutreach87.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/7-6-17-mark-12.zip https://ccoutreach87.com/7-6-17-mark-12/ ON VIDEO- .Sandia .Storehouse wisdom .Kingdom to the gentiles [church] .Vineyard- wisdom- tower .Song of the vineyard .Apostles .Leadership .7 dead brothers .Married in heaven? .We are the bride- he is the groom .Burning bush- I AM .Great commandment .Beware of the religious leaders .Jesus has a question too .The common people liked it

NEW- Jesus teaches the parable of the vineyard [or tenants]- it comes from the song of Isaiah chapter 5. The parable speaks about the Jewish people- and their rejection of Jesus as the promised Messiah.

A landowner plants a vineyard- puts a hedge around it- places a wine-press in it- and sets up a tower. He then leases it out to tenants.

The Lord of the vineyard leaves- and over time he sends his men back to collect the fruit. The people who have leased the land refuse to give the fruit.

They beat and stone those who are sent. And finally the landowner sends his son- and they kill him.

The meaning is clear- God sent his prophets to speak to his people [Israel] they rejected them over time- and finally kill the Son.

Remember- Jesus is teaching this- before he is crucified. He predicts his own death in the parable. Yet- at the end- he quotes Psalm 118- Psalm 118:22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. Mark 12:10 And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: Mark 12:11 This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? He predicts his Resurrection as well. The Son who was rejected and killed- becomes the head of the corner.

In this chapter Jesus will also quote Psalm 110- Mark 12:36 For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. Psalm 110:1 The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

He questions the religious leaders- He asks them Mark 12:35 And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David? Yes- Jesus did indeed come from the line of David- but as the eternal logos- he was before David- John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The chapter ends with 2 stories- about widows. It’s important that we see them both.

Jesus rebukes the religious teachers for taking advantage of widows- for financial gain Mark 12:38 And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the market places, Mark 12:39 And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts: Mark 12:40 Which devour widows’ houses, Then he commends the poor widow for giving into the offering- Mark 12:42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. Mark 12:43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: Mark 12:44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. Over the years there have been many examples of religious leaders taking advantage of the poor- many have enriched themselves by abusing their office as teachers of the bible.

Jesus strongly condemns those who do this. Yet- he commends the poor widow for giving to God.

The rich were giving out of an abundance- it seems as if they actually learned the principle of abundance in their giving to God. Yet- he sees the woman giving out of her poverty- understand- she is still poor at the time she is commended.

Yet the others were rich- and giving.

Many in today’s church would look at the rich- who had an abundance- and say they prospered because they were giving- and had a lot.

And some would condemn the poor widow- because she obviously must be doing something wrong- because she gives- and is yet poor.

But Jesus did not see it that way. The woman gave sacrificially because of her love for God.

The rich gave- yet they did it out of their wealth. Jesus honors the poor widow- not because she learned some secret of giving to get a harvest- because she had no harvest. But she loved God- she gave for the work of God- as she understood it.

Her giving was not based on the return she would get- because as of now- she has not received a return [poor widow]. Yet in the eyes of Jesus- she indeed gave more.

There are a few other things in this chapter that I taught on the video. The challenge of the Sadducees- who do not believe in the resurrection. And Jesus rebuke- Mark 12:24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? I have taught this before- and will try and find those past posts and add them below. Jesus also gives us the great commandment in this chapter- Mark 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: Mark 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. Mark 12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.

When the common people saw Jesus put the religious leaders to silence- the bible says they loved it- Mark 12:37 David therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly.

The downtrodden of society were rejected by the religious leaders of the day. Their outward religion caused them to neglect true justice- true love of fellow man.

The same things that the song of Isaiah- which Jesus used in the parable- were being rebuked for- Isaiah 5:7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry. The fruit the land owner wanted- was not simply religious works- It was what the other man in this chapter saw- Mark 12:32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: Mark 12:33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. The animal sacrifices and outward religion were the things that Jesus rebuked them for. Those who seemed to use religion in order to have an abundant wealthy life- were not seen in a good light by Jesus.

The tenants wanted an inheritance and their lust for the wealth of the vineyard [financial harvest] caused them to reject the actual Son of God himself- Mark 12:6 Having yet therefore one son, his well beloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. Mark 12:7 But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be our’s.

Yes- many in the modern church have tried to seize on some material inheritance and given out of an abundance and implemented many of the principles of the bible in order to prosper.

But in doing this- they have had to reject many of the plain things Jesus taught- New International Version “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Matt. 6:24

Yes- in a way- they have killed the Son- and seized the wealth.

But Jesus saw the widow- the poor widow- the woman who seemed to have never gotten a hold of the wealth building principles of those who gave out of their abundance.

Yes Jesus saw her- And in the wisdom of God- She gave more than all the others combined-

And thus the chapter ends.

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I mentioned Bultmann and the Herodians on today’s video- below are some past teachings I did on them-

During the time of Jesus you had a divided people. In 1st century Palestine the Jewish people split into 4 basic sects. 2 of them are pretty well known- the Pharisees and Sadducees- they are mentioned often in scripture.

The other 2 are less well known- the Zealots and the Essenes. The Zealots are named in the bible- but only in passing. We have no references to the Essenes.

The Pharisees were sticklers for the Torah [Jewish bible] and the Sadducees centered their life around the Temple- they were more of a political/religious type group.

They stuck to the Torah alone. That is they only received the actual first 5 books of the Old Testament- which is the Torah [also the term is used to speak of the entire Old Testament] and that’s why the Sadducees rejected miracles and angels and stuff. Most of those stories are found in the other O.T. books.

The Zealots were a group of people who hated compromise- they were actually a 1st century ‘terrorist’ group- who carried out assassinations. Not on Rome- but on their own people!

The zealots hated those who compromised with Rome- and if they felt a leader was too chummy- they killed him.

The Essenes were a separatist group who lived in ‘the hills’ [Qumran community] they simply gave up completely on any political solutions for the day- and went and lived in the hills. These are the ones responsible for hiding the Dead Sea scrolls [old bible books found in the last century] in a cave.

It’s interesting to note that Jesus had both a Zealot on his team [Simon- not Peter who also went by that name] and Matthew- a Tax collector. Tax collectors were considered the biggest sell outs of all- they actually worked for Rome and scammed their own people- it must have been hard for Jesus to lead this group [the 12 disciples] who came from such opposite ends of the political spectrum.

Yet Jesus did lead them- he was even offered earthly rule a few times [once from satan- and once from the people who heard him] he rejected it both times. His kingdom was not ‘of this world’.

In the New Testament book of Philippians- the bible says that though Jesus was in the form of God [deity] yet he became a man and humbled himself to the death of the Cross- a shameful way to die.

We have one letter written in the N.T. by a ‘family’ member of Jesus- that’s the epistle of James.

Protestants believe that Mary had other kids after Jesus was born- our Catholic friends teach that she remained a Virgin her whole life. My purpose right now is not to get into that.

James was considered the ‘half brother’ of Jesus [Mary was the mom of both boys- Joseph was the dad of James- Jesus’ father was God]. Okay- James was slow to believe in his brother- but over time as Jesus was declaring himself to be the Messiah- I’m sure James had to wonder- you know- think back ‘gee- come to think of it- I can’t’ remember a time where my brother got in trouble’.

Wait- now I remember- yeah- that time when Jesus was 12- we all went to Jerusalem for the big feast- and Jesus stayed behind while we started the trip home. Yeah- we went 3 days before we realized he was gone. Boy was mom mad that day.

So we went all the way back to get him- and when we found him- he was sitting in the temple- asking these questions- I mean questions that only theologians knew- Jesus was still a kid.

Mom said to him ‘son- why did you stay behind- we were worried’! Yeah- she was mad- if there was ever a time my brother came close to getting in trouble- this was it. But Jesus said ‘why were you worried- didn’t you know I would be doing my Fathers business’ yeah- he sure seemed different- but the Messiah- come on.

So as the ministry years of Jesus role by- there are all these reports of miracles and healings- blind people seeing- dead people coming back from the grave.

Yeah- James has got to be wondering now- but no- he could not accept that his own brother was the promised Son of God- no- too much.

Then the day came- that terrible day where mom had to watch Jesus die on that rugged Cross- on Golgotha- man the hill looked like a skull.

Yeah- it was a strange site- I mean the sky got dark- an earthquake shook the place- and even the Roman soldier who witnessed my brother die said ‘surely this was the son of God’. Wow- too much- my bother has carried this thing too far- even in his death he won’t let this obsession go.

Then James hears some disturbing reports- his friends are saying that Jesus has come back- that he pulled it off- the greatest miracle ever- the one Houdini himself couldn’t do.

But are the reports true? I mean if anyone could tell if this guy walking around is really Jesus- James would know.

We don’t read of the account- but all we know is James became a believer- a believer that his brother was indeed the Messiah- the Son of God.

I guess it went something like this- Jesus sitting there with his men- James shows up and sees his brother- the perfect one- not a spot on his record. Maybe Jesus looked up- maybe he said ‘brother- do you now see’ and yeah- he saw.

James would go on to be one of the leaders/Pastors of the church at Jerusalem- we read about him in Acts chapter 15. Most scholars believe this was the same James who penned the short letter we find in the N.T. that bears his name.

One thing James hits on a lot in his letter- is he defends the poor- the downtrodden- and he rips into the rich- the elite of the day. He warns us not to be biased- not to use ‘uneven scales’ when dealing with people.

James hit on social justice issues- he picked them up from his brother.

We need to be concerned about the world- if a raped woman is forced to marry her rapist- then we ought not say ‘she was pardoned’. When we critique one person for past failures- then we must do that to all.

But at the end of the day- Jesus never took the earthly crown- he did not see the solution to be a political one- he brought Simon and Matthew together on the same team- and he showed them what it means to lay your life down for others- to live without the praise of men- the earthly standard of success- he chose another way- and he left that path for us.

http://www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com

[1622] ARE THE JAPANESE DISPROVING FREUD? One of the narratives coming from the Japan disaster is the response of the Japanese people. In contrast to our Katrina tragedy the Japanese are very self reliant. Jack Cafferty [CNN] read an email from some elderly lady who contrasted the 2 responses. She called the Louisiana residents who looted, killed, complained and wined- she said ‘those scumbags’ [ouch!] What are we seeing in the Japanese people? The media are referring to them as Stoic’s- the philosophy [ancient Greek- one of only 2 philosophies mentioned by name in the bible- Acts chapter 17 mentions the Stoic’s and Epicureanism] that said the secret to life is living on an even plane. Don’t get too ‘up’ or too down- just ride the wave of life as moderately as you can. The other side of the coin is Hedonism- the philosophy of men like Freud- who taught that the problem with man is that he is taught to restrain himself [by religion] and that this restraint is itself a product of neurosis. Freud was a strange fellow, the father of modern Psychoanalysis; his ideas were actually quite weird. As a Jew [non practicing] he embraced the higher criticism of his day [a way of interpreting the bible as not being actually true- just good stories] and he sought to come up with an explanation for mans religious bent. So he came up with the idea of the Oedipal Complex- a strange view of man that said the real problems of man are they have this view of love and hate for the father figure- and the ‘real’ story of Moses and the children of Israel was the Jews killed Moses in the wilderness [hatred for the father figure] they then felt guilty about it- and out of this guilt they would eventually develop a ‘religion of the Son’ [Christianity] and Walla- that’s the real story. You would be surprised how many people hear silly stuff like this in life [or college!] and they never give it a second thought. Like Pope Benedict says in ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ [1st book of a trilogy on the life of Christ] he mentions the theories of the critics [men like Bultmann] and he then responds ‘and how do you know this’? Bultmann [one of the famous liberal theologians of the day] would come up with ideas like this- and he would just espouse them. The funny thing about these critics was they were trying to challenge the historical accuracy of the bible- are the gospels true- stuff like that. And in their challenge they would ‘make up’ their own stuff [Oedipal complex] and simply expect everyone to believe it. So Freud taught that we need to free man from this neurosis of religion- this thing in society that says ‘restrain yourself’ and if we teach man to do and be all that he feels like doing- then we will have healed him of this destructive religious belief that developed out of a secret love/hate relationship of father. Wow. I can think of no greater philosophy to not live your life by than that. How did the Freudian experiment turn out? It was/is a disaster- I’m not just saying this as a Christian who rejects Freud’s atheism- but many of his ideas have also been roundly rejected by the psychologists of the modern day. Freud actually taught that when you counsel a person [yes- he was the originator of the idea of the patient lying on the couch while the counselor listens] that the patient is ‘transmitting’ psychic energy from himself to the doctor- and that’s what makes him better. Freud wrote Moses and Monotheism [his fictional account of the origins of Judaism/Christianity] Totem and Taboo- the fictional idea of the primitive religion of man- and Civilization and it’s Discontents, his explanation of the conflict between mans psychic life and the demands of society. The basic view of Freud [Hedonism] is a failed system that does not work in the real world. To live your life based on the philosophy of ‘if it feels good- do it’ does not work in any area of life- for the long term. In food, shopping, family life, marriage, sexual expression- the basic principle of self restraint and discipline [the Japanese response] is in great contrast to the ‘unrestrained’ view of life [as seen in some of the Katrina response- many of the looters and rioters were raised with a welfare mentality- they were dependant on the state/govt. to do things for them. When things went bad- they blamed the govt. for it]. In the end of the day- the society that practices self discipline- that teaches their children to be self reliant- those are the ones who have the most successful lives. Those who practice Hedonism blame stuff on everyone else.

http://www.corpuschristioutreachministries.blogspot.com

VERSES- New International Version As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. John 8:40 10 We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. 11 For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. 12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. 13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. Heb. 13 KJ21 “Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel” (which being interpreted is, “God with us”). Matt. 1:23 Proverbs 21:20 There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations 1 Peter 1:25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations John 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations 7 For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: 8 But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. 9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak. Heb. 6

Mark 12:1 And he began to speak unto them by parables. A certain man planted a vineyard, and set an hedge about it, and digged a place for the winefat, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country. Mark 12:2 And at the season he sent to the husbandmen a servant, that he might receive from the husbandmen of the fruit of the vineyard. Mark 12:3 And they caught him, and beat him, and sent him away empty. Mark 12:4 And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled. Mark 12:5 And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some. Mark 12:6 Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son. Mark 12:7 But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be our’s. Mark 12:8 And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard. Mark 12:9 What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others. Mark 12:10 And have ye not read this scripture; The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner: Mark 12:11 This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes? Mark 12:12 And they sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people: for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them: and they left him, and went their way. Mark 12:13 And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. Mark 12:14 And when they were come, they say unto him, Master, we know that thou art true, and carest for no man: for thou regardest not the person of men, but teachest the way of God in truth: Is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar, or not? Mark 12:15 Shall we give, or shall we not give? But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said unto them, Why tempt ye me? bring me a penny, that I may see it. Mark 12:16 And they brought it. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? And they said unto him, Caesar’s. Mark 12:17 And Jesus answering said unto them, Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. And they marvelled at him. Mark 12:18 Then come unto him the Sadducees, which say there is no resurrection; and they asked him, saying, Mark 12:19 Master, Moses wrote unto us, If a man’s brother die, and leave his wife behind him, and leave no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. Mark 12:20 Now there were seven brethren: and the first took a wife, and dying left no seed. Mark 12:21 And the second took her, and died, neither left he any seed: and the third likewise. Mark 12:22 And the seven had her, and left no seed: last of all the woman died also. Mark 12:23 In the resurrection therefore, when they shall rise, whose wife shall she be of them? for the seven had her to wife. Mark 12:24 And Jesus answering said unto them, Do ye not therefore err, because ye know not the scriptures, neither the power of God? Mark 12:25 For when they shall rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels which are in heaven. Mark 12:26 And as touching the dead, that they rise: have ye not read in the book of Moses, how in the bush God spake unto him, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? Mark 12:27 He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living: ye therefore do greatly err. Mark 12:28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? Mark 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: Mark 12:30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. Mark 12:31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. Mark 12:32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: Mark 12:33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. Mark 12:34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question. Mark 12:35 And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David? Mark 12:36 For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. Mark 12:37 David therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly. Mark 12:38 And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces, Mark 12:39 And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts: Mark 12:40 Which devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation. Mark 12:41 And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much. Mark 12:42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing. Mark 12:43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury: Mark 12:44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. Isaiah 5:1 Now will I sing to my wellbeloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My wellbeloved hath a vineyard in a very fruitful hill: Isaiah 5:2 And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. Isaiah 5:3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge, I pray you, betwixt me and my vineyard. Isaiah 5:4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes? Isaiah 5:5 And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down: Isaiah 5:6 And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it. Isaiah 5:7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for judgment, but behold oppression; for righteousness, but behold a cry.

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   VERSES-

Mark 12:35 And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the son of David?

Mark 12:36 For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The LORD said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.

Mark 12:37 David therefore himself calleth him Lord; and whence is he then his son? And the common people heard him gladly.

Mark 12:38 And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces,

Mark 12:39 And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts:

Mark 12:40 Which devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation.

Mark 12:41 And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in much.

Mark 12:42 And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.

Mark 12:43 And he called unto him his disciples, and saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That this poor widow hath cast more in, than all they which have cast into the treasury:

Mark 12:44 For all they did cast in of their abundance; but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living.

1 Corinthians 12:28

And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

 Ephesians 4:11-13

King James Version (KJV)

11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Here’s my teaching on the chapter-https://ccoutreach87.wordpress.com/2016/07/16/john-8/ 

https://youtu.be/f8VpxlYM_kU 

I mentioned on the vidoe that I accidentally read the wrong verses from the Mass- these are the ‘wrong ones’-

2Thessalonians 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

2Thessalonians 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

2Thessalonians 2:9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

2Thessalonians 2:10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

2Thessalonians 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

2Thessalonians 2:12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

2Thessalonians 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

1 John 2:20

But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

James 5:16

Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

Matthew 18:10

Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

John 14:6

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

In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations

   Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 151

Reading 1

MAL 1:14B-2:2B, 8-10

A great King am I, says the LORD of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations. And now, O priests, this commandment is for you: If you do not listen, if you do not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name, says the LORD of hosts, I will send a curse upon you and of your blessing I will make a curse. You have turned aside from the way, and have caused many to falter by your instruction; you have made void the covenant of Levi, says the LORD of hosts. I, therefore, have made you contemptible and base before all the people, since you do not keep my ways, but show partiality in your decisions. Have we not all the one father? Has not the one God created us? Why then do we break faith with one another, violating the covenant of our fathers?

Responsorial Psalm

PS 131:1, 2, 3

R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace. O LORD, my heart is not proud, nor are my eyes haughty; I busy not myself with great things, nor with things too sublime for me. R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace. Nay rather, I have stilled and quieted my soul like a weaned child. Like a weaned child on its mother's lap, so is my soul within me. R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace. O Israel, hope in the LORD, both now and forever. R. In you, Lord, I have found my peace.

Reading 2

1 THES 2:7B-9, 13

Brothers and sisters: We were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cares for her children.  With such affection for you, we were determined to share with you not only the gospel of God, but our very selves as well, so dearly beloved had you become to us.  You recall, brothers and sisters, our toil and drudgery.  Working night and day in order not to burden any of you, we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. And for this reason we too give thanks to God unceasingly, that, in receiving the word of God from hearing us, you received not a human word but, as it truly is, the word of God, which is now at work in you who believe.

Alleluia

MT 23:9B, 10B

R. Alleluia, alleluia. You have but one Father in heaven and one master, the Christ. R. Alleluia, alleluia.

Gospel

MT 23:1-12

Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying, "The scribes and the Pharisees have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.  Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you, but do not follow their example.  For they preach but they do not practice.  They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry and lay them on people's shoulders,  but they will not lift a finger to move them.  All their works are performed to be seen.  They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.  They love places of honor at banquets, seats of honor in synagogues, greetings in marketplaces, and the salutation 'Rabbi.' As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.' You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers.  Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called 'Master'; you have but one master, the Christ.  The greatest among you must be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled; but whoever humbles himself will be exalted."

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[sanantonioswebdesign]

What is seo

A quick google search will tell you that wikipedia.com defines SEO as follows:

“ Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing the quality and quantity of website traffic, increasing visibility of a website or a web page to users of a web search engine.. “

If you’ve ever started an online business or If you’ve ever even discussed marketing or spoken to a web designer you’ve heard this term.

But what is it? Why is everyone talking about SEO? How Do you I get it? Can I buy it? Is there a gatekeeper? How much does it cost? I’m sure you have a lot of questions and that is okay. That’s why we’re here. We’re here to help you. We’re here to Teach you what you need to know, so before you even speak to a web designer or marketing agency or anything you will have a firm grasp of the basics. We don’t want you to feel like you walked into a dealership and got took.  We simply want to help your site rank. We want you to get more clients and most of all we want you to get paid! So let’s jump into it shall we!!

                                  Why do you need SEO

So, basically having good Seo is the internet equivalent of having a good brand or product.

The better your seo is the more popular your content will be. This is exactly what you want. You want your SEO to be as good as possible so your content can be found, so your website, or youtube channel or what have you is findable. If your website has really good seo your website will show up at the top of google’s page listings. Basically, when someone searches for something like San antonio’s Web Design. The website with the is optimized the most for those keywords will show up first. The websites that are least optimized for those keywords will show up farther away from the first page.  So now you understand that you need SEO so that your content can be found let us dive deeper into what this actually means.

                         SEO Basics

Search Engine optimization is exactly how it sounds. Setting up your SEO Properly will allow Google to Search your website. Google is a Search Engine that San Antonio and beyond are using.

In order to optimize  your website to show up or rank on a Search Engine you have to know exactly what the top Search Engine is. Right now in 2019 that Search Engine is google. So, this means we need to optimize our website for Google’s  Search Engine.How do we do that? Well, I’m glad you asked! The next Paragraph is going to break down “keywords” which is one of the biggest tools that You will use when focusing on your websites SEO.

                            Keywords

Keywords are pretty much how they sound. Keywords are words you use in your content      

(These are things like a blog, a video, an image or even an infographic.) So let’s go over a way you can use keywords to help your seo. I want to really break this down so basically anyone can find this blog article, read it and know a good amount of information about SEO, keywords and everything I’m writing about in this blog post. So, first of all when you are trying to use a keyword to help boost your seo you need to make sure you’re using a keyword that is regularly being searched. Since, I run a web design and marketing company in San Antonio , Texas, I need to make sure that I try to use keywords that entail this. So, basically I would use words like Web Design or words like marketing, I would even use words like San Antonio, Texas. The reason I want to include these keywords, is again so that the top used search engine will show my site as popular by using these keywords on my site so that when google crawls my website it can really understand what my website is about.  By the way, web crawling is another way of saying searching for things. Basically google crawls the web to find certain words ,items or pieces of information. It returns that data and then uses that data to adjust what it show’s first and last.

Using the right keywords allows google to understand what your site is about. So,when I use words like “ San Antonio’s Web Design” on my website it tells google that my site is about just that! Your site might be about something else. Your website might be about computer repair or barber shops or what have you. So let’s say you have a website about hair and you are a barber. You would want to make sure your website includes words like hair, barber, scissors, barbershop, etc.

                   Long tail keywords 

“Long tail keywords are basically keywords that are enclosed in phrases or key phrases.” -San  Antonio’s Web Design

An example of a long tail keyword, for a barbershop would be something like “ Great barber shops in the san antonio area.” or “How do barbers make swag lines” For a Web Designers website you could use something like “ The best website designer in San Antonio Texas” or something like “What is Seo?” or even “What are Long Tail keywords?”. In other words, you want to use “key” “Phrases” that are relative to your topic.  A Youtube channel that is all about “How to become a Professional Barber” would not use long tail keywords like “ what color is my dog” or “ My web Designer is in San Antonio” He would use something more like “Top ten places to buy barber scissors” or “ How do I find a good barber college” or how much do Professional barbers make”. It is USUALLY, easier to rank on google with long tail keywords. However, if your competitor knows what they are doing than they will most likely try to rank for long tail keywords as well as regular or short tail keywords.

                 How to find keywords

So, now you know you need keywords on your website to help your SEO. Great, but how do you find them? Well, There are a few ways you can do this.  First you can use google’s keyword planner. You can watch the video below to learn more about that. But basically, you just go to https://ads.google.com/intl/en_us/home/tools/keyword-planner/ and google will help you find the right keywords to use to boost your seo by utilizing it’s resources to recommend words you can use that your target audience in  your niche are already using. You just put in a word or two and google recommends several related words that are searched most often on google. keyword planner will even tell you who is ranking number one currently for certain keywords.

will help with your citations/ online real estate.

For instance, let’s say you wanted to optimize your coffee website to show up on Google’s first page for words like coffee, or cappuccino. You can look at google’s keyword planner and see that the top website ranking for that word is starbucks and pretty much all the related words. So if you were to start a small niche website about coffee it might fail horribly unless you really put into the work. You would have to work really hard to rank high for the word “coffee”. You can try, but that’s why it is so important to do your keyword research and to use long tail keywords. Even though starbucks might be the top ranking site for the keyword coffee, you can still optimize your seo for long tail keywords like “how much coffee is too much”.

The second way to find keywords. This is something I found recently works really well for me as I have a pretty extensive history as a writer. Before I became a developer I was very much interested in being a professional writer. Anyway, another thing you can do is look at your local competitors websites. Read their blog section. If they have a blog article about  SEO but it is only say “666 words and 3,873 characters” Than chances are you could probably write an article that would crush their blog article. By the way you can check your competitors word count by using a site like “https://wordcounter.net/” Which is what I usually use when I am thinking about crushing a competitor in SEO.

A third way kind of requires you to have already had some keywords on your website.

You can pretty much Check which keywords on your website is ranking the best by using google search control.

You would of course click performance and than queries.

Under queries you will see something similar to the following.

Hopefully, you have more clicks and impressions than we did at the time this photo was taken.

Anyways, once you load the tool you can see which keywords were searched and how well your website ranked for each keyword. It seems like we ranked  best for web design san antonio and worst for content strategy for web development in san antonio. However, I’m sure with a few minor adjustments we could easily rank for the “content strategy for web development in san Antonio if we just focused a few highly targeted keyword articles for that long tail keyword. We would simply have to write an article that would grab our users attention whilst using the long tail keyword several times. However, we would also need to make sure the article is relevant  to a “content strategy for web development in san antonio” We could also go the route of writing several elaborate articles for that specific long tail keywords and rank that way as long as each article contains useful information that engaged the user for a significant amount of time. You see google will rank a website higher if users click on a link or go to a page and stay on that page for long periods of time. This is because google interprets this as engagement and a high engagement rate tells google that a website is doing well and is providing quality content.

                         HTML

Your websites HTML or (Hyper Text Markup Lanuage) Has a lot to do with your SEO.

For example, The way you write an article will affect the way google and other Search Engines will Crawl your website.  If you don’t use The proper heading tag in the correct spot than google’s Search Engine will not properly read your site. This can be problematic when trying to rank for certain things. Luckily google’s algorithms have gotten better to prevent this. However, it is always wise to be safe than sorry.

Your websites P tags can also affect your Seo in the same way. Google needs to know what content is being used where. If you type if your content as “ <h4>” instead of “<p>” Google will notice and won’t crawl your website properly. Which will cause you to lose traffic and thus lose revenue.

Another thing that will affect your Seo which still falls under html is your meta tags. There are several meta tags that will affect your seo ranking.Such as your title tag, which goes in your header section of your websites code. Your description tag will also affect your seo as well. Both of these tags are what google show’s when your website is shown on google’s website.

For instance, if you look below you can see how our website is currently showing our description when you look us up on google.

Do you notice anything strange?

That’s right! Our Descriptions not matching on Facebook and our website!

If  you didn’t catch it don’t worry. We’ll cover that too.

Back to meta tags.. Other than the meta tags for your description and for your title you also need to make sure you have the google site verification tag. You can also find this with-in google search console. You have to upload a file that they give you to your website so that google can verify your website.

Additionally, you can use the geolocation tag however, google has publicly stated they are not longer using this as a ranking factor as of june 2016.However, if you are using google maps snack pack to help your google maps ranking it could still be beneficial if you need to be found in a certain location.

               Optimize your website

You need to make sure your site loads quickly and look good on all devices. This means you need to make your site responsive. Your videos need to load on all devices from desktops to mobile phones to tablets. You can’t just have a website that loads slowly on a desktop and expect your desktop users to just stay on your website when they can just go to the next similar website that loads quickly . The same goes for phones and tablets. Most people are in a hurry and don’t have time to wait for a slow website to load when they can just get the same information faster somewhere else.Google simply won’t allow a website to rank high on the serps if the website is not user friendly. Google’s ranking factors  now – nowadays are all  about user experience.

                           Social Media

You want to be on social media sites like pinterest twitter, instagram, Facebook, tumblr etc.

You also want links coming to your website from your social media and to your social media from your website. This works by creating real estate across the internet. You’re creating citations across the web which google sees are references. That being said you need to keep in mind  that there are do follow links and no follow links the only two social media sites right now that allow do follow links are twitter and tumblr. Which means links from those websites will help you rank higher in google Then non follow social media sites.