Seeking
God’s
Voice
(A
Book Of Hope)
Happy Riches
Copyright © 2015 Happy Riches
All rights reserved.
Unless
otherwise indicated, Bible quotations have come from the World English Bible.
Public Domain. The name World English Bible is trademarked.
CONTENTS
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Preface…………………………………………..
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Pg ix
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Introduction……………………………………..
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Pg 1
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1
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Possessing A Name……………………………
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Pg 17
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2
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Blowing In The Wind…………………………...
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Pg 41
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3
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Taken Captive...……………...………………..
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Pg 65
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4
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Climbing The Ladder…………………….…...
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Pg 89
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5
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When The Rung Breaks……………..………...
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Pg 121
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6
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Having An Ear To Hear..………………..…….
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Pg 161
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7
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Epilogue………………………………………….
Notes……………………………………………..
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Pg 199
Pg
207
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Preface
Back in the last century, I decided
to do formal study towards obtaining a doctorate. Before deciding to do the
formal studies, I had gone through a spiritual battle where I found myself in
no man’s land and isolated from Christians. Many things had transpired in my
life. I had gone from sinking my heart and soul into a work of which I was the
pastor into the abyss of sin itself. Yet, surprisingly, I had not lost the joy
of the Lord within. The truth is not everybody who thinks he is saved actually
is saved. Once we are truly saved,
we are always saved.
My heart was (and still is today)
orientated towards God. Unfortunately for me, I had decided to do things my
way, because the way that the Lord God had shown me did not seem to be working.
From having started a work that was growing with five meetings a week, half-way
house, a printing press and offices, I left the work because of personal issues
and then was asked to return, only to be publicly ousted. The main problem was
the psychiatric issues my wife had been having over the previous two years
since the birth of our first child. Prior to her becoming pregnant, we were living
in bliss.
The church organization was doing
well. We published a weekly newsletter and a monthly magazine that had a
national readership by mail. The people
in the congregation were excited about Jesus, we were actively outreaching into
the community and streets of the city were we lived and we were seeing souls coming
to a know Lord Jesus Christ.
The weekly newsletter went from a
thousand words to around two thousand words. It was motivational, inspirational
and educational. I wrote the two
articles it contained—one being written under the pseudonym “The Coach”.
The monthly magazine would have a
testimony, a discussion about a social issue such as abortion or crime, etc, a
theological article and poetry. The testimony, when necessary, I would edit or
sometimes ghost-write for the person submitting it. Apart from the poetry, of
which I wrote some, the main articles were my work.
I left school at the age of
fourteen and it was not until I became a Christian that I decided to do any
writing. When the Lord God began to move through me to start that particular
work, one of the individuals wanted to publish a weekly newsletter and asked me
to write for it. I wrote an article. He distributed the newsletter to some
people whom he knew and was told that the writing was very ordinary. I called
upon the Lord to help me write something better. The consensus was that the
next article was very good and well worth reading.
Our publications were well received
and we had a growing readership. For the next couple of years I would research
the topics I wrote. Many people thought I possessed a number of degrees in the
social sciences, ranging from political science to psychology and economics to
sociology, as well as theology.
Having left the congregation of
which I was the Pastor, I went to two different churches. The first church, I
donated a significant sum of money towards the purchase of a piano, but the
pastor spent the money on himself rather than the designated purpose.
God had been calling me for five
weeks to go to another church. I went there for nearly two years and because of
internal jealousies and an unwillingness of the pastor to outreach to the lost,
I decided to leave. A couple of weeks after having left, I saw the pastor in a
deserted shopping strip walking towards me. We were the only people present. I
greeted him as he walked towards me. He walked straight past me. Two weeks
later, on the same day, at the same time, in the same location and with the
street deserted as before, the pastor greeted me and asked me to come back to
the church; for if I did, he would start the outreach I had suggested.
Now if that pastor had stopped,
spoken to me and asked me to do this the first time I saw him in the street, at
that very location under the same circumstances, I would have gone back to the
church rejoicing. However, the amount of money that I had been giving to the
church was such that I was paying the man’s salary. Nobody knew how much I
gave, because I would put my money into different unmarked offering envelopes
and I would not let my left hand know what my right hand was doing. When the
pastor realized that the monthly income was down and I was the only difference
to the attendance, he did the math very quickly. The hypocrite suddenly wanted
me to return. For the next five years
until he left that congregation, he had to get a secular job to support his
family. Then when his parents died, he came into money.
Immediately after that encounter in
the street, on that cold winter’s day, I looked up to the overcast sky and said
to God, I am sick of these hypocritical pastors and trying to do things your
way, I will do them my way. I will help the poor myself.
It was not long before I sold my
business that employed about half-a-dozen people and had a gambling enterprise
happening from which I was making large sums of money. I found myself in hotels and brothels,
spending up big, but I was not giving money to the poor, even though I would
spend a thousand dollars a week just on lottery tickets; not to mention how
much I spent on my other vices. I had quite a few hangers-on and eventually
found myself, so to speak, going from the penthouse to the poorhouse, when I
eventually decided to return to the Lord God. Throughout that time there had
been a spiritual struggle going on in my life and after a couple of years I
felt condemned for the first time as a Christian, but not forsaken because, as
strange as it may seem, I still possessed the joy of the Lord within.
The condemnation was like being hit
with a sledgehammer in the stomach. It hurt. I immediately realized that I had
not given any money to the poor but had spent money on riotous living. The sums
of money I carried caused many to think I was a drug dealer—in fact, I actually
unknowingly mixed with one of the most notorious drug barons in the city where
I lived not to mention two others who later got shot. Not once was the subject
of drugs or drug dealing every broached, our conversation would be about
racehorses, jockeys, trainers and other matters concerning horseracing.
When I felt the hit of condemnation
in the stomach, I had a feeling that I had just lost all the credit I had
earned with God after having become a Christian. I sent a significant sum of
anonymous money by bank check to a congregation on the other side of the city
where I lived. The next day a massive black forty-foot-tall demon, built like
the cartoon character The Hulk but with a round head, appeared at my
place. The enemy had been upset and had come to harass me. The people who
received the money did not know from whom it came, but some demon evidently
did.
My son was born not long after. I
had started attending church and eventually decided to do some formal study at
a Wesleyan Bible College and work my way towards a doctorate. After about ten
years of study, I earned a number of different pieces of paper from different
institutions that said I had passed the requirements of the various religious
and secular colleges and universities for which I wrote research papers and did
the required coursework. The fields of study were journalism, information technology,
business, developmental psychology, nutrition, counseling, and theology. From
the Christian institutions, I obtained degrees in bible study, theology and
ministry; including a doctor of ministry degree. I was enrolled as a PhD
candidate in Christian Counseling via coursework with a United States seminary
and was in the process of converting this to a research doctorate through a
university in England, but then decided against it all. Even though I had paid
my fees in full, I forfeited them and decided to go into the insurance industry
because of the financial incentives promised.
The insurance venture did not last
long. The organization promoted ethics heavily in its courses, but the culture
was immoral and the agents gloried in it. They were all corrupt and
promiscuous. Nothing mattered except the sale; for which, against company
policy, people were encouraged to do anything to obtain, except being caught
violating regulations. Apart from being caught wrongdoing, that something might
be immoral appeared to be foreign concept among the sales agents and managers—only
making money was moral.
When everything is all said and
done, seeking God’s voice is the one thing we all have to do. There are different
means by which we can. Not every person is the same, even though we all need to
know God’s voice if we are to secure eternal salvation and live a satisfied
life. From my perspective, I can say that it is one thing possessing eternal
salvation, but another living a satisfied life. Satisfaction only comes from a
job well done and then to hear God’s voice saying, “Well done my faithful
servant, enter into the satisfaction of your reward.” The Father’s commendation is something I
would long for now, but I am not so sure that there will be much of a reward for
myself, having squandered so much of my life not doing the good works that were
mine to enjoy as part of the plan of God, after having secured my salvation.
It is my hope that by reading this
book, you derive sufficient value and impetus to encourage you to seek and
discover God’s voice for yourself. In having done so, hopefully you will go on
to enjoy your own eternal satisfaction.
Happy Riches
May, 2015
Introduction
Jiddu
Krishnamurti was trained by members of the Theosophical society to be the New
World Teacher. Eventually, he became disillusioned with the idea and toured the
world writing and talking typical guru double-talk, as in: “If you are
observing something and you are exploring something, you are not experiencing
anything. Or unless you are able to be inattentive, you are not attentive.” Nevertheless, he is definitely sure, even
though no person knows what it is, every person is seeking something that is
identified as missing in their lives.[1]
Most people
are seeking God, only they are not conscious of this fact, they are merely
aware that something is missing from their lives; only they do not know it is
not a thing but a person.
There is an
argument that goes: If God exists then He would be unknowable and untraceable.
Now, under this definition, because an atheist cannot know God or find evidence
of His existence, the atheist has to admit God exists.
Atheists
like to say that the concept of a Creator God (having designed the Universe and
life on Earth) is merely an explanation to fill in the gaps of our incomplete
knowledge. Even though scientists do not have all the answers, atheists claim
that one day they will. While it is true that many theories have been proven
wrong, atheists believe that the truth will eventually be found. As far
as atheists are concerned, there is no experiment that has been devised to
discover or prove God. Just like the belief of atheists, that one day they will
find the answer that will be the truth from a scientific perspective, the
evidence tells us, nothing is more certain than the day when the truth will be
known; for it awaits us all. Death is the day a multitude sees as the Day of
Judgment—but not all. Numerous people see their judgment as being born into
this world of suffering. They see death as the day of relief from pain. Then
there are individuals who do not want to acknowledge death or any judgment at
all; who prefer to ask the question: “If randomness turned into order, how
could God exist?”
To help
individuals, who like to be scientific, let us put forward a different
proposition about what might have happened in the beginning before time and
consciousness came about.
In the
beginning iced helium existed and this was all there was, nothing but ice. Ice
was everything; ice was infinite. Ice still exists in its infinite form without
capacity for measurement; this we know because it is found at the edges of the
Universe, if the radio telescopes are correct. Through a release of ice’s
properties, the Universe came into being.
Such a
statement as “iced helium is the infinite state of being that always has been
immeasurable and always will be” is impossible for us at this present time to
prove or falsify; therefore, it is unscientific. Likewise, so is any assumption
that there was a Big Bang or that there is a plurality of universes that form a
multiverse, of which our universe is only one of the many. The Big Bang is only
a hypothesis, and this could change, as many other hypotheses and theories have
done over the years, when more knowledge has become available or a seemingly
superior theory has been advanced. In regard to hypotheses, there is
always an assumption that has to be made before any hypothesis can be
explained. When it comes to origins of life and existence itself, it is
impossible to prove or falsify any statement asserted as an assumption in
respect to the Uncaused Cause, the One Who Exists and besides Whom there is no
other—such is the realm of metaphysics.
However, if
we were to consider the two most abundant elements in the Universe, using
current scientific beliefs, we learn the water we know to be essential for life
makes up less than 1%. This is because, hydrogen makes up for 75% and helium
makes up nearly 25% and water requires one molecule of oxygen. If hydrogen and
helium make up over 99% of the universe, there is not going to be a large
percentage of water. This is not the case on Earth, we are told oxygen makes up
47% of the Earth’s mass and water covers 70% of the planet’s surface. Unlike hydrogen
or oxygen, helium does not bond with other elements to form another substance
and has the lowest freezing point of any element; therefore, iced helium will
not be the best analogy to use to explain the One Who Exists. Hydrogen and
oxygen form H2O, can be turned from a solid into a liquid, then into
steam and finally into gases and reverted back into ice. This is evident as the
snow melts to form rivers that go into the sea, which evaporates and eventually
becomes clouds that bring the snow. For our purposes, we will use pure water,
even though other elements can be frozen within ice. The other elements do not
turn to gas at the boiling point of water; although we could be talking about
iced helium being liquefied and turning into gas.
The
molecules that form the gases hydrogen, helium, oxygen and other elements are
made up of atoms that are made up of protons, electrons, neutrons that are
around 20,000 times smaller than an atom. These in turn are made up of quarks,
which are supposedly made up of the elusive boson (famously termed “the god
particle”). We are not going to get bogged down in scientific assumptions, but
by taking that which we know to be true, we are going to consider our own
experience that we can understand in appraising the quest of seeking the voice
of God. We will use pure ice, frozen H2O for the purposes of our
illustration below to give us a grasp of what the Bible says. For whatever
ideas people come up with as an explanation for existence all require a belief
in something that cannot be seen or demonstrated as true in real time.
However, we cannot see pain; but we sure understand what it means to feel
pain; quarks or no quarks—and like a duck that feels pain, when feeling pain,
we will quack in our own inevitable way.
As it
happens, the Bible informs us that a plurality of beings (Elohim—meaning
more than one) created the Heavens and the Earth. The Bible then tells us that
there was darkness on the face of the great deep and the Spirit of God was
hovering over the face of the waters, then God spoke and light came into
existence. (Genesis 1:1-3).
If we were
to say, the analogy of Ice is equivalent to the One Who Exists, then Water and
Steam could be analogous to the Waters of God and the Spirit of God that we
find in the beginning of the Bible. Light then becomes an exact expression of
God’s voice, the very Word of God that existed in His bosom. As the Bible
states:
No one has
seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father,
he has declared him. (John 1:18)
This light
is not that observed when we look at the Sun; this is the light of knowledge,
which the Lord of Life has brought forth from the depths of existence. We could
suggest that maybe there was a time when existence was not, but this is
incomprehensible, as it would be for any one of us ourselves imagining that
there was a time when we were not (try it yourself), so we will allow the Holy
Scriptures of the Christian Bible to be our guide. From consulting the Bible,
we learn:
In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with
God. All things were made through him. Without him was not anything made that
has been made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness hasn’t overcome it. (John 1:1-5)
That which was from the beginning,
that which we have heard, that which we have seen with our eyes, that which we
saw, and our hands touched, concerning the Word of life (and the life was revealed,
and we have seen, and testify, and declare to you the life, the eternal life,
which was with the Father, and was revealed to us); that which we have seen and
heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us. Yes, and
our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And we write
these things to you, that our joy may be fulfilled. This is the message which
we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no
darkness at all. (1 John 1:1-5)
For we don’t preach ourselves, but
Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake; seeing it
is God who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our
hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 4:5-6)
By making
use of the available knowledge we possess for our analogy, apart from the ice,
the waters, the steam and the light, everything else was made from that which
formed the ice or the waters or the steam through the calculating agency
expressed by means of God’s voice (maybe this could be compared to the whistle
on a kettle).
As
individuals, when we are born on this Earth, when we start breathing, we are
credited with having become conscious human beings. We do not know this, but
even as babes beginning to utilize our senses, we are searching for answers to
our existence. Scientists believe that complexity has come from simplicity of
existence, and observation and experimentation has indicated that complex materials
consist of simple materials combining to form new substances. This is evidenced
when hydrogen and oxygen combine to form water (two becoming one is a great
mystery—Ephesians 5:31-32). Two gases have consolidated and become a fluid,
that when cooled sufficiently can crystallize into a solid known as ice. When
ice crystals form snowflakes, the complexity increases to form the wonders of
the snow—recorded in the Book of Job (38:22)—which have been declared a marvel.
Ironically, man-made snow does not possess the beauty or variations in form
found with natural snow. Under a microscope, the crystals from man-made snow
look more like an aborted early term fetus than one that possesses the life of
a new born babe. We could compare this with building robots and creating living
beings—to date, impossible for us, for our limitations stop at procreation.
That which has been created by God is superior in the extreme. In this respect,
using the analogy of ice, water and steam to indicate how two properties can become
one and form three different states of existence by being a solid, a liquid and
steam is the best we may be able to imagine what we read in the Book of
Genesis. It just so happens that ice is probably the best solid that we can
find to describe the Infinite One from our limited sphere of knowledge; because
according to the available science, “Ice can assume a large number of different
crystalline structures, more than any other known material.”[2]
Every
individual is like a snowflake, different in so many ways, unique, though
identifiably human. Yet for some reason, there is dissatisfaction about our
existence that brings us to a place within our thinking where we all need to
discover our roots. This is a fact none of us can run away from, irrespective
of whatever theories we imagine could provide an answer. The truth is we all
unknowingly long to return to our Creator. According to the Bible, we all have
our names written in the Book of Life, but if we do not return to God, our name
is removed. This is what we find in the Bible:
But the Lord said to Moses,
“Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.” (Exodus
32:33).
If we do
not seek God, we can either reject God or be a spectator; that is, a fence
sitter. Sitting on the fence, though, means we are not prepared to accept our
responsibility for ourselves and seek God. Out of all our enterprises, if we
are to learn about ourselves, seeking God is the most imperative activity for
us to do. Therefore, seeking God’s voice is the equivalent of understanding the
reason for our existence. We are here. Nothing can change this fact. What
matters is what we do now. Each one of us owes it to ourselves to establish our
roots and secure significance as a sentient being that has a better hope than being
merely born to die. Surely, we are not just matter made from mud with a
fictitious mind or just an hallucination hallucinating hallucinations, as some
have suggested. Expression has to have meaning and our voice needs to be heard,
if we are to be counted among the living and not found among those who are
termed twice dead.
The above
description is not a proposed theology of fact; rather it is merely indicative
of the reasoning that can take place and has taken place to make sense of our
current circumstances on planet Earth. This book is an exploration of a few
possibilities using the Bible itself as a guide to understanding the origins of
existence as we seek to discover the voice of God and establish ultimate
meaning for life and our own lives in particular. When we arrive at the
juncture in our journey in life where we decide to seek God’s voice, this is
not a time for us to let our imagination go wild, for, if we desire the truth,
we are limited to being honest with ourselves. If we are not being honest with
ourselves then we are not truly seeking the voice of God. While it is easier to
concoct a fantasy and believe whatever we like, the difficulty with this view
is we will inevitably resort to other means to quell the pain. Elvis Presley is
an example of this. He desired to hear the voice of God, but instead, as much
as he loved singing gospel songs, by popping pills, as a means to overcome his
internalized pain, he was instrumental in his own burial. Evidently, Elvis desired
the experience his mother enjoyed in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, however,
living a life that contradicts the holy life his mother espoused, he was not
being honest with himself.
We are also
limited to how we interpret what we perceive to be the realities of life around
us. We only have five senses by which we can extract information from the
environment. The author Helen Keller had three senses; she was deaf and blind.
Yet she managed to learn through touch, and became a celebrity in her day,
being the first deaf and blind person to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts
degree. More than this, besides what she was able to communicate in print,
Helen Keller toured the globe giving lectures, having learned how to speak and
voice her views. We might appeal to limitations, but our limitations are not
sufficient to forbid and restrict us from seeking God’s voice.
What is a
voice? Is it not a particular sound distinctive to each individual? This is the
case even though there may be others with similar sounding voices. When reading
the Bible from the beginning, we first learn of “voice” when we read about the
sound of God in the garden (Genesis 3:8, 10). Then in regard to Adam listening
to Eve (Genesis 3:17) and thirdly when Abel’s blood is said to be crying out
from the ground (Genesis 4:10). Depending on the context, the Hebrew word for
voice is used interchangeably for noise, bleating of sheep, lowing of cattle,
crackling, singing, music, sound, and voice. Seeking the voice of God
therefore requires us to recognize the distinctive characteristics peculiar to
the sound of God. However, the Bible informs us that we live and move and have
our being within God, and it appears everything that has been created has been
given a voice of its own.
The reason
we can say that everything appears to be given a voice of its own, from a
biblical perspective has to do with the slaying of Abel. This is apart from the
different uses of the word for “voice” within the Bible to be representative of
the sounds made by trumpets, sheep, cattle, humans, and dry thorns crackling as
they burn. For when Abel was slain, God spoke to Cain, his slayer, and said:
“What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the
ground.” (Genesis 4:10). This indicates that everything emits a sound as
interaction is taking place between atoms; although, many expositors see the
idea of “blood crying from the ground” as a figurative expression rather than being
a literal statement of fact. Their view being that since the Bible teaches that
life is in the blood (Leviticus 17:11), this is a way of saying the person’s
soul cries out from the grave. There is no disagreement with that view from an
anthropological perspective. In all likelihood, this could very well have been
the case. Only, with a more enlightened view, we now know that many sounds are
inaudible by the human ear without instruments capable of detecting and
amplifying them so they can be identified. The cacophony of sound heard through
instruments under the ocean and on the forest floor is testament to this.
Lyall
Watson has earned degrees in geology, chemistry, marine biology, ecology,
anthropology and a doctorate in ethology,[3] but is regarded as a pseudoscientific
writer because he creates unproven hypotheses from the evidence of his
research. (All the other scientists never do, apparently—the theory of
evolution is provable in current time and lizards are turning into birds on a
daily basis.) Nevertheless, he claims that one of the things that aroused his
curiosity in the preternatural ability of man to transcend the lineal thinking
of the Western World was his trip to Indonesia.[4] On a particular island he claims he
met children with the ability to see ships on the horizon with their naked eye
that were impossible to see with binoculars; a girl who raised a dead man, and
a man who could hear the different sounds of the fish under the water. This
ability to hear fish under water, the man had developed so precisely, he could
distinguish the sounds made by the different schools of fish, even solitary sharks,
and also earthquakes. Evidently, this was a skill that had been passed down for
generations but was not easy to learn. For not until the man could clear his
mind of his own thoughts and hear nothing when under water, did he begin to
hear the sounds of the ocean life. By tuning out of one frequency by which he
was used to hearing sounds, he began to register the sounds under the water
and, over time, identify what sound belonged to which creature.
Lyall
Watson’s encounter with this man, who detected different fish by listening to
their voices under water, piqued his interest in the extraordinary abilities of
humans. It also illustrates that there are many sounds unheard by our ears.
Therefore, when we read of the blood of Abel crying out from the ground, this
could very well have been intended to be taken as literal and not just a
figurative expression. The meaning of the figurative expression is implicit in
the literal meaning and because of this; there is no difficulty in accepting
that the literal meaning that the voice of Abel’s blood was actually wailing
from the ground is what is meant. Of course, there is more implied in the idea
of Abel’s blood speaking out from the ground than the fact that an exchange has
taken place between molecules. The concepts of innocence and justice are also
implicit, as we learn when reading about the righteous blood of Abel (Matthew
23:35) and the blood of Jesus. Jesus' blood being even more powerful than that
of Abel’s, because it speaks of a better deal (Hebrews 12:24). Instead of
vengeance for a crime committed as in the case of Cain slaying Abel, the blood
of Jesus speaks of justice and life for all who desire righteousness.
Lyall
Watson has written many books, and because of his encounter with the people on
the Indonesian Island, his horizons broadened; instead of thinking in terms of
atheistic evolutionary science, he began to question the wisdom of the
scientific establishment. Based on his many observations (like that of the wasp
that lays its eggs in the black widow without being killed) Watson believed
that the evidence for a Creator was strong. Watson rejected the idea of
worshiping the God of Creation and developed his own theory of The Contingency, which is more
in lines with Hindu and, in particular, Buddhist thinking wherein a guiding
force enables design to occur in accordance to a set of cosmic rules. Another
observation noted by Watson[5] was that contrary to the Second Law of
Thermodynamics, the evolutionary model of change improved fitness in leaps and
bounds and not in accordance to the principles supposedly governing evolution.
For Watson[6] the
evidence of Creation is replete with the marks of Designer; to suggest
otherwise is to deny the obvious, unless you are an atheistic scientist. However, knowing God and hearing His
voice is another matter.
As each of
us grows, we become consciously aware of our surroundings. Unless we see reason
to differ, our thinking will be guided subconsciously to accept the cultural
traditions of the community into which we are born. Essentially, vectors from
two spheres affect the way we view life, one is external and the other is
internal. The external vectors become the influence of our surroundings. The
internal vector is the course that we determine because of our beliefs about
ourselves. The vectors from both these spheres meet and, depending on events
and our view of other people in respect to ourselves, we form our worldview and
either accept social values or seek truth outside of those values because we
detect discrepancies.
For
instance, if any of us were born as girls into a village somewhere in the
subcontinent of India, Nepal, or Bangladesh, there is the likelihood that we would
be kidnapped and sold to pimps in Mumbai or the brothel village of Daulatdia in
Bangladesh or one of the other cities were prostitution is big business. As a
child our dream may have been to be like the other women in the village where
we are born. As a victim (of kidnap, verbal abuse, intimidation, battery, rape
and torture), our view on life takes a different turn to the one we looked
forward to as a child. Imagine having to put up with the loveless attentions of
lustful males, the hostilities of pimps, the impoverished, putrid and
unsanitary conditions of living in a rat infested, warren of dark alleyways and
insect-ridden primitive buildings without pipes or sewers but open cesspits for
drains. Maybe we possess dreams and are able to find refuge in them when we are
not servicing the demands of drunken, drug-crazed, evil-eyed perverts.
Maybe we are able to disengage from our reality, think of better times, and
imagine the day of our freedom. Maybe we are not able to do this and the
nightmare of our reality is what we know to be our experience. We may ask where
God is in all of this. Does God care? Is there any justice? Is there any
meaning to life? We could accept that this is our karma and do our best to
enjoy our misfortune. Hindu thinking and Buddhist thinking allows for this
karma rationale. However, many of the kidnapped girls at Daulatdia in
Bangladesh, who have been interviewed, feel they have been forsaken and their
dreams stolen; for they long to return to the place of their upbringing.
Tragically, fear and ignorance prevail, not courage and truth.
When we
view such horrors of humanity or hear of such cruelties, it is natural to ask,
where is God? Does God care? Is God real? Is there any purpose to life?
Are we just animals with a higher thought process? Is there a voice for
the blood of the innocent? Is there a voice for those who are wrongfully
corrupted against their will? Is there a voice for those who have no say, but
are terrified by intimidation and threats of barbaric torture until they comply
with the requests of their kidnappers? Raped and violated like a locked home that
has been broken into, the drops of blood shed by these innocent victims cry out
from the ground. In each girl’s case, that which every child has a right to
cherish is stolen forever. Is it true that the innocent have no voice? The
Bible tells us different. For the voice of the droplets of Abel’s blood, the
first person murdered, cried out from the ground as his brother Cain denied
himself the privilege of being his brother’s keeper.
Surprisingly,
even though they hate their situation, many of the girls, who live in the
larger communities of prostitutes, learn that existence is made easier by doing
what is expected of them and accepting their circumstances. Eventually, some
graduate to better conditions than what they were provided with originally and
may even become madams who control the younger girls. Some are able to gain
their freedom. Many more die a premature death. Those with seared consciences
perpetuate the evil that they originally detested, for they came to accept,
enjoy and condone, as the right, that which brings them the profits they now
believe they were entitled to relish, as society has no use for them anyway.
Their personal vendetta is to vent their hatred of their own sin and themselves
by inflicting their pain upon the innocent; rather than crying out to the Lord
of the Universe for mercy, justice and peace for their own tormented souls. The
pangs of their conscience are no longer felt. As their heart has hardened,
these madams have gone beyond having to be accustomed to the numbing ache
within from resisting their pangs of conscience. No longer are they reminded of
what is right. The scars of their tortured souls weep with the pus from the
infection of their iniquity to which they have become conditioned. Vitriolic
poison begins to flow freely to infect other victims in a similar manner to the
bacterial ridden bite of a komodo dragon. Once bitten, a slow death besets its
prey. Likewise, those once victims of cruelty, now bitten with the sin of
hatred, learn the tricks for survival within their darkened prison; they harden
their own hearts and prevent the true light of life from penetrating.
We may ask
the question whether God cares about these girls or not. We may wonder why God
does not do anything to intervene and why He permits such evils to exist. If we
are to believe the views of some, these girls are all destined to eternal
torment and what happens to them does not matter anyway. Only to think that a
God of love would permit such injustice is an affront to the gift of reason.
The only possible explanation has to be that God cares for these individuals
and there is hope in the eternal realm for them. Each one would have to be
judged on their character, whether they were forgiving of others, or
perpetrators of evil, just like the women who are known to deceive and sell the
girls to the dealers of human misery. From the perspective of justice, it is
impossible to believe that our Creator is the heartless sadist many make Him
out to be: a designer of magnificence beyond human capacity, only to create the
innocent to be victims of eternal torment.
The culture
into which we are born and the inner recognition of right and wrong that each
of us possesses are the two vectors of influence which intersect to form our
mindset and hone our attitudes towards one another, life and our hope that God
exists.
If we
strongly believe in right and wrong, we also begin to believe in justice.
However, justice cannot exist without a judge. If we decide to be the judge,
the only sentence that we know that is final is death, and this is something to
which we are all subject. For any of us to become judges who believe we have
the power to execute final judgment in a matter is an act of futility; since we
ourselves are also subject to the same meaningless judgment on our own life.
The only hope we have is to discover the voice of the Creator and learn to
understand what He is saying. If God could speak to any one of us, surely He is
capable of speaking to each of us.
The Creator
we have learned from the already quoted passages of the Bible brought
everything into existence through His Word, Who is an expression of
Himself. As humans, we do not perceive the concept of self-expression as
being identical to ourselves, or a spoken word to be a hologram that is actually
that same as one’s self. Our understanding of the term “word” (without becoming
too technical) is it forms a sound or combination of sounds that has symbolic
representation for some idea or its materialization; that is, some thing.
The manner in which this idea is expressed and communicated when it comes to
grammar, the rules of language and expression, we term “voice”. Voice is the
manner in which knowledge is communicated. In grammar, this is the degree
of force that is communicated in the verb of a sentence and which may be termed
as “active voice” or “passive voice” with variations in between. For example,
if we say something like “the drink froze in the freezer”, this word “froze” is
both active and passive, in that while the drink is freezing, another agent,
the freezer, and not the drink is causing this. Likewise, we could say, “The
egg boiled in the water.” Once more, it is not the subject of our sentence
actively boiling on its own, but it is being boiled by an outside agency. So
while the egg is actively undergoing change, this is the result of external
forces.
An egg
possess a yolk which may still be fluid when the white has turned into a solid.
Bite into an egg at this stage and the yolk will squirt out running everywhere.
Using the egg as an analogy, as we grow older, we have been boiled on the
outside, but within we possess a fluidity which can be cooked solid or let to
escape while still not cooked. Water of course, is different, but in its finite
forms, it too can be frozen on the outside and still be liquid on the inside.
Even the Earth is said to be like a chocolate liqueur and consist of liquid in
its center.
We
ourselves are like the drink and the egg in some respects, or even the Earth
with its solid exterior and liquid interior. Nevertheless, from the very
beginning of our existence we undergo change from an interaction of our DNA
with its environment. Biologically, we begin as an embryo that is the
combination of an active male instigator (sperm) and a passive female receptor
(egg). When we are born, we receive our spirit that comes from our Creator, and
enables us to think, be creative and exercise freewill as conscious beings.
From birth, we begin to interpret events utilizing our creative capacity to
think and make decisions based on our innate ability to perceive good and evil,
right and wrong, true and false.
Initially,
we hear the voice of God through our parents; that is, if they are loving and
provide an environment encompassed by moral excellence that enables us to
transition seamlessly through our various stages of emotional, intellectual,
and moral growth towards maturation as young adults. Unfortunately, for some
this experience is non-existent. Not just because they are ill-treated by
uncaring parents, but because even though born, they are orphaned or forsaken.
Salimbene
di Adam, was an Italian Franciscan monk and chronicler, whose writings are a
source for Italian history of the 13th century. He is attributed with having
recorded the experiment the Italian Emperor Frederick II (reign 1220-1250)
conducted to discover what language children would speak without being taught.
A number of babies were provided foster mothers to feed and clean them, but
they were forbidden to speak in their presence. Evidently, the children died
because of a lack of affection, and they did not begin to speak. In all
probability, they were not given a name, but this does not mean they were not
known by God and did not have a name bestowed upon them from within the book of
the Life.
pOSSESSING A nAME
Hearing the voice of God is
something that every person longs for deep down. More to the point, every
person longs to hear his or her name when hearing God’s voice. If you are one
of those persons, who is aware of your inner desire to hear God’s voice, then
you will know that when you hear God’s voice, you want to hear Him saying your
name.
When we are born, in most instances
our parents agree upon giving us a name. When our parents speak to us, they use
our name and we hear affection in their voice. Unconsciously, we associate
affection, feelings of love, with our name. Our mother will suckle us and
mention our name with absolute pleasure and warmth and this is like the voice
of God calling us by name.
The name your parents give you will
be the name to which you respond for the rest of your life; unless, of course,
for some reason others confer on you a nickname or you change your name.
Whenever your mother, your father or any one of your brothers and sisters,
relatives or family friends calls your name, they are tattooing it into your
spirit. Whenever you hear your name called out, you immediately think that the
person is speaking to you. There will come a time when you hear your name being
called and you will not respond. The reasons for this could be:
(1) You are hiding or do not want to be
disturbed.
(2) You do not like the tone of voice being
used.
(3) You are focused on what you are doing
and you do not hear your name.
(4) You have become accustomed to hearing
others being called who have the same name as you.
(5) You do not recognize the voice of the
person calling out your name.
Your name is the most important
sound in the world; that is, to you it is. A person can say many things to you,
but when your name is mentioned, your response is faster than lightning. You
may not say anything, but your alertness increases to maximum efficiency. Your
attitude is automatically pre-disposed to the person who is saying your name.
You could be in a deep conversation with somebody else, but as soon as you hear
your name mentioned, immediately your attention is drawn away from the
conversation and you are thinking about what is going to be said in respect to
yourself. If the person is talking about somebody else who has the same name as
yourself, then once you realize that this is the case you will redirect your
attention from what is being said concerning the other person (who has the same
name as you) and go back to concentrating on the intense conversation you were
having beforehand. In reality, nothing
else grabs your attention as quickly as hearing your name.
God does not give you your name
when you are born. Your parents gave you your name, unless you are an orphan.
If you die without a name, God will in all likelihood give you a name. You
identify with your name. Your name means you. You and I are not the same
person, even if we have the same name. In the event that we were living in the
same residence or working at the same location or socializing at the same
venue, in order to distinguish us from one another, a modification to one of
our names would be required. If there were more than two of us with the same
name, then each one would be given an acceptable modification to his or her
name so there was no confusion as to who was meant. This could be simply an
initial, as in Jane B., Jane C., Jane D., etc; or it could be a distinguishing
feature about our body, such as Little John, Short John, Long John, Big John,
etc; or an abbreviation such as Becky for Rebecca, or Liz or Beth for
Elizabeth.
What this shows is that we are all
born programmed to recognize that we are individuals who are separate to other
people by virtue of our name. Without a name, we would be just like small
stones used for gravel. If we are not given a name at birth, then we do not
become cognizant of who we are. To say, “Nobody is my name,” is considered a
joke. Nevertheless, the significance of being nobody is not lost on one who
feels dispossessed and left with the feelings of being spiritually impoverished
and alienated from God, and finding oneself disaffiliated without any prospect
of forming a relationship with another person. Not possessing a name is like
being cast into what we call the final abode for those who are forsaken; only
while we are on Earth, even if we are disenfranchised and possess no property
or status anywhere, there is hope; even if we are rootless and are wandering
around in the wilderness on our own. While our breath of life exists, as far as
we are concerned, there is hope, that somebody might just give us a name, if we
meet that person.
Being somebody means that we mean
something to someone. This is because individuals only become somebody when
they are of importance to somebody else. If two strangers meet and they do not
know each other but they depend on each other for some reason, they become
somebody to each other.
In the book, Robinson Crusoe
by Daniel Defoe (first published in 1719 under a much longer title), Robinson
Crusoe is shipwrecked and finds himself being the lone survivor on an island.
One day, an escaped prisoner, who had been brought to the island to be the
feast for cannibals, joins Robinson. In order to address his new companion,
even though they cannot speak the same language, Robinson Crusoe gives him a
name: Friday. Although the book is fiction, the point about giving the escaped
prisoner a name resonates with readers of Daniel Defoe’s novel, because this is
a fundamental element—even a right we all expect for authentication of our own
individuality and sense of being somebody.
When we meet someone, often the
first thing we desire to know is the name of the person we have just met. At a
function, whether business or social, usually the first thing we do is tell the
person we meet our name. We do this, because we think it is important that the
other person knows to whom he or she is speaking. Likewise, we desire to know
to whom we are speaking. There are exceptions, of course. Yet, oddly enough,
many people tend to forget the names of the people they meet for the first time
very quickly. This is often a source of embarrassment when the person is
encountered on the next occasion and greetings take place. Red faces are more
common on subsequent encounters, when we have forgotten the name of someone,
than at other times. Of course, if the person we met for the first time does
not make an impression or give any reason whatsoever to be memorable, that
person is quickly dropped from our memory, along with his or her name. Unless, we are somebody who practices
memorizing names and makes this a habit, the truth is that we do not remember
names unless the person becomes meaningful to us in some way. The significance
of possessing a name is demonstrated by this fact; besides, nobody likes to be known
as a number.
The name by which we are known may
or may not be reflective of our personality. Many like to think that the name
we are given at birth is predictive and reflects the character traits that will
be part of our personality. Support for this idea is often taken from the Old
Testament book of First Samuel where there is a story of a wealthy man by the
name of Nabal. His wife, Abigail, is reported to have said of Nabal: “As his
name, so is he.”
Among the ancients, isopsephy
(meaning equal pebble) was the practice of attributing numerical values
to words and adding up the values of the letters to form a number. This is also
known as gematria, which is the cabbalistic method of interpreting the
Scriptures. Gematria is also the basis of numerology. However, the only known deliberate use of isopephy
in the Bible was used by the Apostle John, which reads:
Here is wisdom.
He who has understanding, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is
the number of a man. His number is six hundred sixty-six. (Rev. 13:18)
The Greek word for “calculate” (psēphisatō),
as used here, derives from pséphos (pebble) from which isopsephy (equal
pebble) also derives. Clearly, the apostle is saying that we are to
calculate the numerical value of the numbers to form the name of the beast.
In their commentary of the Bible,
the respected Jamieson, Fausset and Brown inform us:
Irenæus, in the
second century, disciple of Polycarp, [the Apostle] John's disciple, explained
this number as contained in the Greek letters of Lateinos (L being thirty; A,
one; T, three hundred; E, five; I, ten; N, fifty; O, seventy; S, two hundred).
The Latin is peculiarly the language of the Church of Rome in all her official
acts; the forced unity of language in ritual being the counterfeit of the true
unity; the premature and spurious anticipation of the real unity, only to be
realized at Christ's coming, when all the earth shall speak "one
language" (Zep 3:9). The last Antichrist may have a close connection with
Rome, and so the name Lateinos (666) may apply to him. The Hebrew letters of
Balaam amount to 666 [Bunsen]; a type of the false prophet, whose
characteristic, like Balaam's, will be high spiritual knowledge perverted to
Satanic ends. The number six is the world number; in 666 it occurs in units,
tens, and hundreds.[1]
Joseph Benson who followed in the
footsteps of Charles Wesley and who was a very able student of the Scriptures,
suggests that there is some merit in the idea of isopsephy as used by the
Apostle John when he writes:
Now Romiith is
the Hebrew name for the Roman beast, or Roman kingdom: and this word, as well
as the former word Lateinos, contains the just and exact number of six hundred
and sixty-six. In the Hebrew the word Romiith also equals 666.[2]
Nabal in the Old Testament and the
reference to name of the Beast in the New Testament using isopsephy (otherwise
known as arithmancy) are both used as references by those who practice
numerology and Kabbalah as support for their claims regarding the predictive
power of names. Numerologists attribute the founding of arithmancy (the magical
properties of numbers and its alphabetical equivalent) to Pythagoras born in
the sixth century BC. The Masons use arithmancy and the heir to the British
Throne, Prince Charles of England has tried to influence the British Government
with his numerology beliefs.[3]
In 1930, the Canadian Alfred J.
Parker founded a belief system which he called Kabalarian Philosophy, wherein
the keys to understanding life and success are to be found in isopsephy, the
predictive powers of numerical values contained within a person’s name. The
idea that what happens in a person’s life being determined by his or her name
does not seem farfetched to some, but to others it is pure fantasy. Much depends upon what a person wants to
believe unless, like the number of the beast in Revelation, something is
purposefully coded.
My name is Happy Riches. I view my
name Happy Riches in the light of the following Scriptures:
He who gives
heed to the word will prosper, and happy is he who trusts in the Lord.
(Proverbs 16:20 RSV[4])
Let the word of
Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another
with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your heart to
the Lord. (Col. 3:16)
When I was a Christian of about
five-years standing, a woman around the age of sixty, who was a serious student
of the Bible, said of me that I was a person in whom the word of God richly
dwelled. I also put my complete trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to show me the
truth, lead me and uphold me while I am on this Earth. Because I trust in the
Lord and the riches of God's word dwell in me abundantly, I am truly Happy
Riches. I also have the ever-abiding joy of the Lord in my heart. This joy of
salvation has not left me since I have been a Christian, except for a
thousandth of a second on two occasions, a fortnight apart, when the Lord
reminded me what it would be like if I were ever to lose my salvation, two
months after Lord Jesus Christ appeared in my lounge room. Those two occasions,
when the joy left, lasted for a thousandth of a second, if that. At the time, I
had become so engrossed in studying a worldly enterprise that I had taken my
mind of the Lord. On each occasion, immediately as I began to feel an iota of
the joy leaving, I thought of the Lord. On the second occasion, a voice spoke
and said, “Never forget me!”
As part of my research into the
meaning of names, the people from the Society of Kabalarian Philosophy
processed my name according to their predictive interpretation using numerical
values and attributing these to the letters of my name. This is what they
informed me:
The combined
names of Happy Riches create the overall conditions in your life. These
conditions will continually occur (despite your best efforts) and will limit
your success in life as long as you use these names.”
In some respects what they say
could very well be true because I have not been as successful as I originally
intended to be. Yet I feel that I have successfully found the answer to the
greatest mystery about life on this Earth and have secured eternal life. In
fact, I am ready to meet the Lord Jesus Christ, if he were to return right now.
If the numerologists with their magical numbers are to be believed, I have to
get rid of my name and get another one if I am to find success and fulfillment
in life. Maybe they do not believe that if a person inherits the world, he
could lose his life for eternity. Jesus said:
For whoever
wants to save his life will lose it; and whoever will lose his life for my sake
and the sake of the Good News will save it. For what does it profit a man, to
gain the whole world, and forfeit his life? For what will a man give in
exchange for his life? (Mark 8:35-37)
When it comes to names having
predictive meaning, there is a large question mark over this. For when we
consider Nabal, we learn that this is really not true. Nabal is said to mean
“foolish”. Yet when we think of a foolish person, we do not think of someone
who is wealthy and employs people to look after his animals. That the man is a
fool is the idea drawn from the root meaning of Nabal, which has connotations
of disgrace, dishonor, come to nothing, and wither, etc. It does seem rather odd that Nabal’s parents
would name him “foolish” at birth, but there could be other reasons. For instance,
Adam named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all living (Genesis
3:20)—Strong’s Concordance informs us, “Eve” means “life”. Lamech named Noah (meaning “rest”) in the
hope that he might bring rest from the curse of the ground (Genesis 5:29); only
this did not happen. Noah may have found rest for himself, but not in the
manner Lamech may have envisaged. In the
case of Hagar, the slave of Abraham, she gave birth to a son whom she was told
by an angel to name “Ishmael”, because the Lord had given heed to her distress.
Then the Angel says that Ishmael will be a wild man, who will be against
everyone and they will be against him (Genesis 16:11-12). Yet Ishmael means
“God hears” according to the Hebrew lexicons. Nothing in the meaning of Ishmael’s
name suggests what he will accomplish in his life or what his personality type
might be.
Apart from Adam, which was the name
given by God to both the man and the woman and means “man’ (Genesis 5:2),
Ishmael is the first recording of a person being given a proper name by God in
the Bible, which also came with a prophesy. If we take the name and the
prophecy together, the indication is that “God hears only to comfort a woman
who is to bring forth a wild man, who will make war with his friends.” Ishmael
is the father of the Arabs and ancestor of Mohammed and Islam, a religion known
in the present day to be violent towards its own kind. We could regard this as
a prophesy that has come to pass. However, humans in general are violent
against their own kind, so the announcements made to Hagar are in fact
reflective of every woman. These announcements could have been made to Eve, who
was in fact first named woman, after Adam. Adam, which means “from the ground”
or “of the Earth” named Eve, woman at first, meaning “she man” or “of the
man”. This is what happened at the time:
Yahweh God made
a woman from the rib which he had taken from the man, and brought her to the
man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh. She
will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken out of Man. (Genesis 2:22-23)
Some confusion exists as to how
Adam could name his wife Eve while God named them both Adam or man. This is
really a play on words, and essentially means that God named them according to
the fact that they both came from the ground. Adam evidently means “red earth”.
That both the man and the woman were named Adam is indicative of their togetherness
reflecting the image of God. This is what the Bible states:
God created man in his own image. In God’s image
he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)
He created them
male and female, and blessed them. On the day they were created, he named them
“Adam”. (Genesis 5:2)
What we learn from the giving of
names is that while there might be a prophetic element in some names that are
given, and some people might reflect the generic idea that is resident in their
name, this is not necessarily the case. For instance, Adam, in effect, means
“being as dust” or “red dust”. This is corroborated when the Lord God states
that Adam was taken from dust and he shall return to dust (Genesis 3:19)—and
raises questions regarding predetermination. However, when it comes to Ishmael,
a different purpose surfaces. The fact it was foretold of Ishmael that he was going
to be a wild child is not consistent with the idea his name meaning “God
hears”. Nevertheless, the naming of Ishmael was significant for a different
reason. When Hagar returned to Abraham, this would have been a major talking
point that would also have created a greater desire in Sarai to hear from
God. For us to hear from God we need to
be open to hearing from Him. Some have said that only when people have their
inner heart tuned in to God’s frequency are they capable of hearing what the
Lord is saying. Eventually, Sarai did have her heart tuned into God’s frequency
and we learn that she heard from the Lord, although not in the way Hagar did,
nor in the way we might expect to hear from God ourselves. This is what
happened:
Yahweh appeared
to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent door in the heat of the
day. He lifted up his eyes and looked,
and saw that three men stood opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to meet
them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth, and said, “My lord, if now I have found favor
in your sight, please don’t go away from your servant. Now let a little water be fetched, wash your
feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.
I will get a morsel of bread so you can refresh your heart. After that
you may go your way, now that you have come to your servant.”
They
said, “Very well, do as you have said.”
Abraham
hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Quickly prepare three seahs of fine
meal, knead it, and make cakes.” Abraham ran to the herd, and fetched a tender
and good calf, and gave it to the servant. He hurried to dress it. He took
butter, milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them. He
stood by them under the tree, and they ate.
They
asked him, “Where is Sarah, your wife?”
He
said, “See, in the tent.”
He
said, “I will certainly return to you when the season comes round. Behold,
Sarah your wife will have a son.”
Sarah
heard in the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old,
well advanced in age. Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. 12 Sarah
laughed within herself, saying, “After I have grown old will I have pleasure,
my lord being old also?”
Yahweh
said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Will I really bear a child, yet
I am old?’ Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to
you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son.”
Then
Sarah denied it, saying, “I didn’t laugh,” for she was afraid.
He said, “No,
but you did laugh.” (Gen.18:1-15)
God had spoken to Abraham some
months earlier and told him to no longer call his wife Sarai, but Sarah,
because she was to become the mother of nations; in particular, kings were to
come from her offspring (Genesis 17:15-16). Abraham himself was told to change
his name from Abram because this was to reflect his new status as the father of
the faithful (Genesis 17:5). This is where the prophetic element is evidenced
in the names people are given. This is not something that has happened at
birth, but as in the case of Abraham and Sarah, when their names were changed.
Likewise, when Jacob had achieved a certain status with God, his name was
changed to Israel. Significantly, this occurred just before Jacob was to be
reunited with Esau, and after God had honored the covenant of the tithe and
made the fleeing fugitive rich. The following verses of Scripture tell us about
the vow Jacob made when fleeing Esau and what happened when God honored his end
of the bargain and the two brothers were about to meet.
Jacob vowed a
vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go,
and will give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on, so that I come again to
my father’s house in peace, and Yahweh will be my God, then this stone, which I
have set up for a pillar, will be God’s house. Of all that you will give me I
will surely give a tenth to you.” (Genesis 28:20-22)
Jacob went on
his way, and the angels of God met him. When he saw them, Jacob said, “This is
God’s army.” He called the name of that place Mahanaim.
Jacob
sent messengers in front of him to Esau, his brother, to the land of Seir, the
field of Edom. He commanded them, saying, “This is what you shall tell my lord,
Esau: ‘This is what your servant, Jacob, says. I have lived as a foreigner with
Laban, and stayed until now. I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and
female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your
sight.’” The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother
Esau. Not only that, but he comes to meet you, and four hundred men with him.”
Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. He divided the people who
were with him, and the flocks, and the herds, and the camels, into two
companies; and he said, “If Esau comes to the one company, and strikes it, then
the company which is left will escape.” Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham,
and God of my father Isaac, Yahweh, who said to me, ‘Return to your country,
and to your relatives, and I will do you good,’ I am not worthy of the least of
all the loving kindnesses, and of all the truth, which you have shown to your
servant; for with just my staff I crossed over this Jordan; and now I have
become two companies. Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the
hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he come and strike me, and the mothers with
the children. You said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as
the sand of the sea, which can’t be numbered because there are so many.’”
He
stayed there that night, and took from that which he had with him, a present
for Esau, his brother: two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two
hundred ewes and twenty rams, thirty milk camels and their colts, forty cows,
ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten foals. He delivered them into the
hands of his servants, every herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass
over before me, and put a space between herd and herd.” He commanded the
foremost, saying, “When Esau, my brother, meets you, and asks you, saying,
‘Whose are you? Where are you going? Whose are these before you?’ Then you
shall say, ‘They are your servant, Jacob’s. It is a present sent to my lord,
Esau. Behold, he also is behind us.’” He commanded also the second, and the
third, and all that followed the herds, saying, “This is how you shall speak to
Esau, when you find him. You shall say, ‘Not only that, but behold, your
servant, Jacob, is behind us.’” For, he said, “I will appease him with the
present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will
accept me.”
So the present
passed over before him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.
He
rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two servants, and his
eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of the Jabbok. He took them, and sent
them over the stream, and sent over that which he had. Jacob was left alone,
and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day. When he saw that
he didn’t prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the
hollow of Jacob’s thigh was strained, as he wrestled. The man said, “Let me go,
for the day breaks.”
Jacob
said, “I won’t let you go, unless you bless me.”
He
said to him, “What is your name?”
He
said, “Jacob”. He said, “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel;
for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
Jacob
asked him, “Please tell me your name.”
He said, “Why is
it that you ask what my name is?” He blessed him there.
Jacob
called the name of the place Peniel: for, he said, “I have seen God face to
face, and my life is preserved.” (Genesis 32:1-30)
The name change for Jacob did not
come until after he had actually demonstrated to God that he was worthy to rule
with God. The tithe was a key factor in Jacob making his covenant with the Lord
God. We read in Malachi that the people are exhorted to return to God by virtue
of demonstrating their commitment to God through their tithes and offerings.
“For I, Yahweh,
don’t change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of
your fathers you have turned aside from my ordinances, and have not kept them.
Return to me, and I will return to you,” says Yahweh of Armies. “But you say,
‘How shall we return?’ Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me! But you say, ‘How
have we robbed you?’ In tithes and offerings. You are cursed with the curse;
for you rob me, even this whole nation. Bring the whole tithe into the
storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says
Yahweh of Armies, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you
out a blessing, that there will not be room enough for. I will rebuke the
devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground;
neither shall your vine cast its fruit before its time in the field,” says
Yahweh of Armies. “All nations shall call you blessed, for you will be a
delightful land,” says Yahweh of Armies. (Malachi 3:6-12)
The fact these people are called
sons of Jacob and the phrase “days of your fathers” is used to stress the
significance of the tithe and the importance of returning to God needs
consideration. The term “your fathers” is a reference to Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. Abraham tithed (Genesis 14:18-20) and so did Jacob. We can assume that
Isaac did as well. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob could not have tithed to the Levite
priesthood because it did not exist in their day. The only priesthood to which
they could have tithed is the Melchezidek order. This is the same order of
which Jesus is said to be the High Priest (Hebrews 5:9-10).
It is significant to note that God
did not give Abram the name Abraham until after he had tithed to Melchezidek
and after he had been declared righteous (Gen. 14:18-20; 15:6; 17:5). The
significance of a name when it comes from God is different to when it is given
by men. In the Bible, when we see that God gives someone a new name, it is
reflective of the new status a person has achieved in his or her walk with Him.
Hence, Abram becomes Abraham (father of a multitude); Sarai becomes Sarah
(princess, the mother of nations); Jacob becomes Israel (God rules[5]).
In the New Testament Simon (a
hearing, or flat nosed[6])
becomes Peter (little rock, stone, pebble) and Saul (asked) becomes Paul
(little). In many respects, there is much significance to the fact that both
Simon and Saul had their names changed. Jesus is personally responsible for the
change of name in respect to Peter, but (as far as we know) not that of Paul.
Interestingly, Peter means “little stone” and Paul means “little”. Although
there is no record giving the reason for Saul changing his name to the Roman Paul,
there is significance in that it means “little”. While Peter was identified as
a little stone, even though he was to become the apostle to the Jews, Paul, in
becoming the apostle to the Gentiles decided to take the Roman name meaning
“little” or “insignificant”, probably so that he would not be thought of as a
threat to the Romans or those in positions of power. Some speculate Saul
changed his name from a Hebrew kingly name to a self-effacing gentile name to
indicate that he was a servant of Christ, and was following the example of
Jesus by being humble.
The implication in the name “Saul”
meaning “asked” is this is past tense and a request. For somebody to make a
request, this suggests a second party, whether one or a group. Saul appears to
have been named “asked” because he had been asked for by his mother and/or
father. In the case of Saul, this does become rather telling because his name
indicates that his mother may have been barren and sought the Lord God to give
her a son, and like Hannah of old, she would devote him to His service. This is
what the Apostle Paul says of himself.
I am indeed a
Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of
Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict tradition of the law of our
fathers, being zealous for God, even as you all are today. (Acts 22:3)
The significance of this is not to
be overlooked when it comes to understanding how Saul of Tarsus was to be the
great Apostle Paul and to have been chosen of the Lord God. Many wonder how and
why the Lord Jesus chose Saul of Tarsus. Predestination and foreknowledge are
very perplexing when we first learn of the concepts and attempt to understand
how such foresight can be so; but when we read the Bible with an ear to hear
what God is saying and ask Him to show us the truth, we learn much more than
what is otherwise possible. However, God does choose, for special purposes,
individuals that he has foreknown because of the environment into which they
are born and the predictable events that will occur which play an important
role in shaping their life. This is particularly evident when we read about
Samuel the prophet, we learn that he was born to a barren woman, and she
dedicated him to the service of the Lord. The Bible records:
When the time
had come, Hannah conceived, and bore a son; and she named him Samuel, saying,
“Because I have asked him of Yahweh.” … She said, “Oh, my lord, as your soul lives, my
lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to Yahweh. I prayed for
this child; and Yahweh has given me my petition which I asked of him. Therefore
I have also given him to Yahweh. As long as he lives he is given to Yahweh.” He
worshiped Yahweh there.
(1 Samuel 1:20,
26-28)
The name “Samuel” is said to mean
“name of God” or “God has heard” or “asked of God”. From what is written in the
Bible, “asked of God” is the obvious meaning of the name. What is also
noticeable in the English translation is that when we take out the “m” and the
“e” we have the letters Sa-u-l, which spells Saul. Although Saul does not mean
asked of God, the implication is very strong.
Like Samuel, it appears that Saul was devoted to the service of God and
instead of serving under the High Priest of the day; Saul sat under the most
revered teacher of his time, Gamaliel.
The parallels between Saul and Samuel do not end there.
The child Samuel
ministered to Yahweh before Eli. Yahweh’s word was precious in those days. Then
visions were not frequent. At that time, when Eli was laid down in his place
(now his eyes had begun to grow dim, so that he could not see), and God’s lamp
hadn’t yet gone out, and Samuel had laid down in Yahweh’s temple, where God’s
ark was; Yahweh called Samuel; and he said, “Here I am.” He ran to Eli, and
said, “Here I am; for you called me.”
He
said, “I didn’t call. Lie down again.”
He
went and lay down. Yahweh called yet again, “Samuel!”
Samuel arose and
went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; for you called me.”
He
answered, “I didn’t call, my son. Lie down again.” Now Samuel didn’t yet know
Yahweh, neither was Yahweh’s word yet revealed to him. Yahweh called Samuel
again the third time. He arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am; for you
called me.”
Eli
perceived that Yahweh had called the child. Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go,
lie down. It shall be, if he calls you, that you shall say, ‘Speak, Yahweh; for
your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. Yahweh came,
and stood, and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”
Then
Samuel said, “Speak; for your servant hears.” (1Samuel 3:1-10)
When Saul was travelling on the
Damascus Road and encountered Lord Jesus, he did not know Who He was and said,
“Who are you, Lord?” (Acts 9:5) Just as Samuel did not recognize God’s voice
when He was first spoken to and thought it was Eli, Saul needed to learn. Saul
was made blind. He needed to realize that he was at the mercy of his Creator.
Samuel, of course, was just a child and for him to grow up understanding how to
hear God’s voice was not going to be as difficult as it was for the arrogant,
conceited Saul of Tarsus. Hence we read:
Now there was a
certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision,
“Ananias!”
He
said, “Behold, it’s me, Lord.”
The
Lord said to him, “Arise, and go to the street which is called Straight, and
inquire in the house of Judah for one named Saul, a man of Tarsus. For behold,
he is praying, and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in, and
laying his hands on him, that he might receive his sight.”
But
Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil
he did to your saints at Jerusalem. Here he has authority from the chief
priests to bind all who call on your name.”
But
the Lord said to him, “Go your way, for he is my chosen vessel to bear my name
before the nations and kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him
how many things he must suffer for my name’s sake.” (Acts 9:10-16)
Even though there are parallels
between Samuel and Saul, there are many differences, which have to do with the
signs of the times and the culture of the day. In Samuel’s days, there were not
bands or schools of prophets as in the days of Elijah, and what was once the
province of prophets had by the time of Jesus turned into sects and schools of
lawyers and religious philosophy. The indications are clear Saul was probably
devoted to the Lord by his mother and sent as a child to Jerusalem to study
under auspices of the famed Gamaliel, not only the most respected religious
leader of his day, but also one of the most regarded Rabbis in Jewish history.
Gamaliel is noted for his wisdom in the book of Acts, when he suggests that
killing the apostles might be a direct affront upon God. At the time, the
apostles had been arrested for preaching about Jesus in the temple. This is what
happened:
When they had
brought them, they set them before the council. The high priest questioned
them, saying, “Didn’t we strictly command you not to teach in this name?
Behold, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to bring this
man’s blood on us.”
But Peter and
the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our
fathers raised up Jesus, whom you killed, hanging him on a tree. God exalted
him with his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to
Israel, and remission of sins. We are His witnesses of these things; and so
also is the Holy Spirit, whom God has
given to those who obey him.”
But
they, when they heard this, were cut to the heart, and determined to kill them.
But one stood up in the council, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the
law, honored by all the people, and commanded to put the apostles out for a
little while. He said to them, “You men of Israel, be careful concerning these
men, what you are about to do. For before these days Theudas rose up, making
himself out to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined
themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were dispersed, and
came to nothing. After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the
enrollment, and drew away some people after him. He also perished, and all, as
many as obeyed him, were scattered abroad. Now I tell you, withdraw from these
men, and leave them alone. For if this counsel or this work is of men, it will
be overthrown. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow it, and
you would be found even to be fighting against God!” (Acts 5:27-39)
Gamaliel’s counsel came from
observation. For Gamaliel to have become so regarded as a teacher, he would
have to be objective and perceptive regarding individual human behavior and the
affairs of men, not just have a mere knowledge of the Bible. Such men are rare,
because they are not easily swayed by emotion. Yet Gamaliel, at the time, did
not know Lord Jesus Christ, even though he may have believed in the God of the
Fathers, just as his student Saul did. Moreover, the emphasis on “the fathers”
would have been strong during the Roman occupation of Judah; which could help
explain Saul’s misguided notions of committing murder to honor the fathers,
while fighting his conscience.
One of the most perplexing things
about Saul, before he became the Apostle Paul, is how such a bright and zealous
student who excelled beyond his peers, decided to persecute and kill
Christians, after Gamaliel having made his voice known regarding the killing of
the apostles. We would think that Saul would have known of Gamaliel’s view on
the matter and taken his advice. We can only put Saul’s behavior down to the
fact he was young and eager to make a name for himself, so he probably thought
it was better to do the bidding of the malcontents and click up notches for his
curriculum vitae in that regard. As a Christian who was to truly hear the voice
of God, suffering was a means by which Saul, now the Apostle Paul, would be
kept on the straight and narrow. The writer of the book of Hebrews informs us:
Therefore let us
also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside
every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and
perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
For consider him who has endured such contradiction of sinners against himself,
that you don’t grow weary, fainting in your souls. You have not yet resisted to
blood, striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which
reasons with you as with children, “My son, don’t take lightly the chastening
of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him; For whom the Lord loves,
he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.”
It
is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what
son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline? But if you are without
discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then are you illegitimate,
and not children. Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us,
and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the
Father of spirits, and live? For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as
seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his
holiness. All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous;
yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have
been exercised thereby. (Heb. 12:1-11)
Saul was to learn that
what he learnt before was not really the way of God, but the way of man. One
thing is true, though, Saul heard the voice of Jesus when He said, “Saul, Saul,
why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4) For the encounter, Saul had on the road to
Damascus, changed the man’s life.
However, not everybody has such a dramatic encounter with the Lord Jesus
Christ. Many people are on a journey, but unlike Saul, they are not persecuting
Jesus while thinking they are doing the will of God. Most people are seeking to
hear God’s voice, even though they may not realize this is what their inner
being is crying out to do. Atheists reject the idea of a personal God of
Creation on the grounds of the perversions they say occurs in religion. Atheists claim that if they heard the voice
of God they would naturally acknowledge Him. Yet God’s voice is going into the
world everyday through Creation; this is the case whether it is being provided
by the general revelation or by the personal revelation of someone’s testimony
of having discovered Lord Jesus Christ has risen from the dead.
Existence as we know it
comes from being born into a world whereinto we did not ask to be born. We all
have the capacity to reason, even if we are unable to communicate this in the
temporal physical world that we live. Our spirit has been endowed with the
ability to reason, but communicating our thoughts and exercising our volition
in respect to our actions can be impaired for numerous reasons ranging from
congenital birth defects through malnutrition and maltreatment to unforeseen
accidental circumstances and demonic possession. Making sense of our world, and
coming to an understanding of why we are here, requires us to seek the Creator.
Admittedly, there are those who do not seek God. There are those who have
claimed they sought God but He did not answer. Some even say that voice of God
is heard when humans come together to bring about change to injustices or when
songs are composed and penned to provide hope or promote faith and belief in a
better world. Some in their search for the answers to life have decided to seek
answers to life’s questions based on their observations of the Universe and the
world in which we live, only to come up with differing ideas and philosophies
Blowing In The Wind
There comes a day in the life of
everyone of us when we wonder why we are here and where we originally came
from. This day can be the beginning of our quest for the truth or the day we
turn aside from discovering the truth and invest the rest of our lives in our
pursuit of sensual pleasures that conform to the desires of the flesh, the
attraction of the eyes, and ideas of self-importance, satisfying each
individual’s egomania. For the majority of us, the turning point in our
perceptions is not so clear-cut. We may
take the road that seems to satisfy our natural inclinations of self-interest,
but find ourselves at times having to deal with a nagging doubt about another
turn off we could have taken but did not. The downhill ride is always easier of
the two options; especially, if we happen to be on a pushbike—effort is such a
pain (one of the reasons many women opt to give birth via a caesarean rather
than naturally).
On a pushbike, freewheeling is a
breeze compared with having to confront a hill with a dauntingly steep
gradient—even the thoughts are difficult to bear, not to mention the actual
sweat required. This is especially the case when the hill is long and nearly
mountainous; when the hill is one that requires us to exert levels of energy
that, for many of us, can be compared to the difference between a rocket
leaving Earth at take-off and what is required for a satellite orbiting the
planet. Once the pull of gravity has
begun to lose its grip, orbiting the Earth becomes relatively easy in that it
requires less energy. In a similar fashion, like gravity, the addiction to
chemicals, eye candy and self-assertion that originates from within our own
person is difficult to overcome. Not that everyone desires to overcome it, only
those who are sick of its deadly poison.
Living in a poisoned well can be
hell. As it happens, poison is not easily recognized at first. Indeed, poison
has its own disguise. Nonetheless, once recognized, the well of poisoned water
is already producing bitterness in our lives, and springing up uncontrollably.
Unless we make the right decisions to turn off the tap, plug the hole and bind
the source, our ultimate destiny will be like encountering molten lava, but
with nothing to quench the pain of the growing unbearable thirst. Meanwhile, the
truth is that without the help of supernatural power, the bitterness of the
liquid we are imbibing is impossible to eradicate and the well of contaminated
water possesses a force too difficult for mere humans to conquer. Once we have
accessed the power that enables us to be set free, then like a satellite, we
can orbit the domain of our previous bondage to enjoy the Heavenly view.
Adults
Enjoy bitterness
Here is an irony about adults that
we overlook. Adults having attained biological maturity, as they grow older,
tend to lose their addictions to sweets and develop a palate for bitter foods
and drinks. Beer is not renowned for being sweet. Beer is bitter (as are
spirits and many wines). Children generally have an aversion to alcoholic
drinks because of this. Adults drink beer and other alcoholic drinks by the
gallon. Not all adults drink beer (spirits or dry wine), but the consumption of
the beverage is much higher than soft drinks or cordials among the adult
demographic. The Prohibition era (1920-1933) in the United States that
proceeded the decade known as the Great Depression (1929-1939) was an attempt
to stop people drinking the bitter beverage, but because of the addiction of
adults to the amber fluid, corruption and criminality thrived. The world we
live in produces bitterness about life, yet as humans mature physically, they
develop a palate for bitter vegetables, herbs, tea, coffee, sugarless chocolate
and alcoholic drinks. Whereas, when we think of fruit that matures, there is a
tendency to be attracted to that which is sweet. The lemon exemplifies this.
Because of its bitterness, the fruit of the lemon tree inspired a song that has
these lyrics: “Lemon tree very pretty and the lemon flower is sweet But the
fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.”[7]
When we read the Bible, in the book
of Genesis, we learn God said to Adam that he could eat of the fruit of every
tree, except one. The one tree that had fruit forbidden to eat, once bitten,
proved to be a bitter bite for humankind indeed. The bitter taste of death
began to increase in its intensity and its pervasiveness became omnipresent
around the globe until it was able to penetrate human hearts readily, and
attract its seed of doubt and despair; growing more difficult to eradicate day
by day. The seed of the forbidden fruit fell into the ground provided by human
hearts and brought forth after its kind. Once developed, a root of bitterness
becomes the taproot that seeks to burrow deep within the human heart as it
attempts to take control of the innermost realm of each one’s spirit. We may wonder if our preference for bitter
foods as adults has anything to do with the bitterness produced in our lives
because of failures, disappointments and a general sense of futility in having
been born into a world of suffering that ends with a foreboding unknown,
enshrouded by death.
Answers
Blowing In The Wind
Taste is something that usually
refers to what is eaten, but there are other sensations that appeal to our
sense of taste and appreciation. For instance, many of us will declare that
there is nothing like a gentle breeze on a hot summer’s day to take the sting
out of the sun. More often than not, the wind is something we tend to wish did
not exist; especially when it is chilly or fierce or hot, and even when it is a
light wind, there are times it becomes a nuisance by blowing paper around and
our hair out of place. Yet there is much
fascination about the wind; so much so, the wind appears in numerous songs
because of its mysterious nature.
Indeed, the wind blows. We hear the sound of it. We do not know from
where it originates or where it shall go. When inside a dwelling or office
block, from the windows of our safe haven, we do not feel the wind, even if we
hear the sound of it; neither do we actually see the wind itself. Nevertheless,
like a laborer in a factory, the wind signs on to tell us of its presence. We
see its signature in the leaves of the trees. The still water no longer looks
like glass. Initially there may only be ripples on the surface, but these
change quickly as the water is whipped and chopped and tossed to form many
crests. On the lake, we see the yachts spread their sails. The flags no longer
droop as the seagulls cease flapping their wings and begin to glide. Stepping
outside of our snug abode, we feel its presence on our skin. We may even ask
whether there are answers to be found in the wind. Does the wind hold a secret
of which we do not know? Could the wind be the voice of God?
A popular singer in Europe during
the last century, Demos Roussos, sang with an eerie voice that awakened
emotions in people, turning some people on and others off. Roussos recorded a
song entitled My Friend The Wind, which begins with the following
lyrics:
My friend the
wind will come from the hills
When dawn will
rise, he'll wake me again
My friend the
wind will tell me a secret
He shares with
me, he shares with me
Does the wind share its secret? Or
is the secret lost? Could what is lost still be blowing in the wind?
Bob Dylan wrote a song in 1962
entitled Blowin’ in the Wind. Many consider the lyrics a rhetorical
protest against the war in Vietnam and the song has been described as the
anthem for the civil rights movement of that time. The song asks questions and
provides the answer to them all as blowing in the wind.
How many roads
must a man walk down
before you can
call him a man?
How many seas
must a white dove sail
before she
sleeps in the sand?
How many times
must the cannon balls fly before they're forever banned?
The answer my
friend is blowin' in the wind, the answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many years
can a mountain exist before it's washed to the sea?
How many years
can some people exist before they're allowed to be free?
How many times
can a man turn his head pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer my
friend is blowin' in the wind, the answer is blowin' in the wind.
How many times
must a man look up before he can really see the sky?
How many ears
must one man have before he can hear people cry?
How many deaths
will it take till he knows that too many people have died?
The answer my
friend is blowin' in the wind, the answer is blowin' in the wind.
Bob Dylan himself claimed that the one
answer to his rhetorical questions was obvious, only people who had the power
to make a difference in this world did not want to see that answer.
This may leave us wondering whether
the voice of protest, is the voice of conscience or is it the voice of sorrow?
Many people are on a quest. Bob
Dylan was on his own quest. However, his question was, how many roads need a
man walk down until he becomes a man?
The Bible says that there is only
one road necessary. Yet many read the Bible and construct travelling
itineraries foreign to its pages. They
produce a map and a street directory that has many roads and different sights
to see when there is only one road—and it is a narrow way at that. Admittedly,
this narrow pathway, for this is what it is, can be difficult to find when
looking for directions, if we are looking at a maze of misinformation or a map
designed to deceive, or a street directory printed with dead ends.
This is what we read about the Way,
the road to life:
Yahweh, your
Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: “I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you
to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go. (Isaiah 48:17)
A highway will
be there, a road, and it will be called The Holy Way. The unclean shall not
pass over it, but it will be for those who walk in the Way. Wicked fools will
not go there. (Isaiah 35:8)
Very few there are that find The
Holy Way. Most people are either chasing their imaginary tail, a tale to
retell, or looking for answers that appear to be lost in the wind.
Dylan said that the answer is blowin’
in the wind, only people do not want to claim they can see it. It is an
irony that the blue sky does not exist and yet it does. As for the dirty dark
clouds that appear solid, if a person decided to get some dirt on them, there
would be nothing to find—everything would be washed clean. As for the wind: it
cannot be seen, only the knowledge of its existence is provided by clues in our
surrounds. Unlike the blue sky that does not exist or the solid clouds that are
never found, the wind exists, but on its own, it is not to be sighted. We know
the wind by how it sounds or how it feel, or the effects it has on our
surroundings. Like the voice of despair, a tornado creates a path of anguish;
like the voice of the forsaken, a hurricane seems like it will never end. On a
hot summer’s day, a cool breeze is a welcome relief. However, we must ask: Is
the answer my friend, really blowing in the wind?
Some of Dylan’s questions, in terms
of relevance, may seem to make no sense at all, and yet for many they are what
make sense. Popular songs are very much like nonsensical poems that have little
meaning but are pleasing to the ear. The music and the lyrics are as the sound
of the jingle of money in the jungle of commerce, into which people attune
their mind’s frequency without realizing it is not them doing the thinking. By
using words people know, and sounds that evoke an emotional response, like the
jingle of coins and money in the slot, the fickle and the foolish get caught up
in the plot.
Dylan’s words were not really
coined by someone who was genuinely seeking to lead a revolution, but by a
young man seeking fame and fortune and the comforts that come with its trappings.
Later on Dylan truly did begin to search for more, when the much that he had
come to know proved insufficient and he discovered the truths of life were not
found, so to speak, in a department store any more. This is not to say what
Dylan construed in his song was not a voice of the times. For many, it is still
representative of the voice of the times; the sound of today expressed emotively
with music and words.
In the lyrics of Blowin’ in the
Wind, gigantic issues have been highlighted in succinct sentences. If we
rearrange the text of the song and put the questions in a different sequence,
we have three stanzas that deal with different aspects of an underlying thesis.
This thesis could be entitled: We are
all on the same road, so why not make it easier to travel together, as we
search for freedom from the captivity of bondage to the futility of death.
The first stanza infers that the significance
of being human is realized only through the discovery of the purpose for dying
and desiring to be free.
How many roads
must a man walk down before you can call him a man?
How many deaths
will it take till he knows that too many people have died?
How many years
can some people exist before they're allowed to be free?
The second stanza considers the
reality of knowledge and its call for acknowledgement, personal responsibility
and accountability.
How many ears
must one man have before he can hear people cry?
How many times
can a man turn his head pretending he just doesn't see?
How many times
must a man look up before he can really see the sky?
The third stanza highlights the
fact a race through the years exists for humans to find rest for their weary
souls and frayed thoughts of despair, before the destruction of what they
possess occurs, and each one’s time expires.
How many years
can a mountain exist before it's washed to the sea?
How many times
must the cannon balls fly before they're forever banned?
How many seas
must a white dove sail before she sleeps in the sand?
This song contains a refrain “the
answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind” at the end of each stanza to
emphasize the proximity of the truth, but like the rainbow, it seems so close
and, as always, ever too far; which essentially forms the conclusion: if you
can feel it, surely you must know it.
Dylan’s song provides us an
awareness of a truth that is common in our modern world, even if the evidence
that surrounds us is not apparent to all; yet it comes from a voice that emanates from people seeking fame and
fortune. This voice is really the fabricated conscience that originates from
the world of entertainment, which transforms into the conscience of the
popular, then the public and, finally, the motive for the politicians who enact
laws designed to enforce what is politically correct. Depending on which side one stands on the
great divide, what many consider progressive is nothing but the voice of rebels
capturing the hearts of the rebellious, while turning poetry into pus and hope
into a never-ending perverted slope of depravity and destitution. On the other hand, unlike the garbage of
today, the lyrics to the song blowin’ in the wind are a voice of pain, a
voice that cries, and a voice that is looking to know the answers to life. The
questions seek to penetrate the enormity of major issues. Yet everything points
to a person being on a personal journey—one of self-discovery—and, like a tired
dove close to death’s door, seeking a place to rest on some distant sandy shore.
The symbolism of the dove, for some
represents the Holy Spirit as it rested on Jesus Christ when He rose from the
waters of baptism to take his journey to a timely death, one that left an
inheritance for all to receive. Many say
that Dylan’s song of protest draws it power from the Biblical elements contained
within its imagery. Of the nine lines, the ideas expressed in the stanzas are
nearly all found in the Bible. Ideas like ears and hearing, being blind but not
seeing, mountains being cast into the sea, slaves being set free, doves landing
and descendants numbered as the sand, the road to life and the road to
destruction. In reality, all of these ideas are evident as we travel the
countryside. The idea of cannon balls has now become an antiquated term for
armaments as the technology of modern warfare supersedes the days of muskets
and loading balls into cannons. Instead, an updated version of the lyrics would
have to be: “How many times must missiles fly before they are forever banned?”
Nevertheless, the underlying questions are very relevant even today. These are:
1) What
does it mean to be human, discover purpose and be free from death and its
causes?
2) Can
we deny our own conscience, personal responsibility and accountability?
3) Will
we find salvation before the world ends?
The voice of uncertainty echoes
frequently throughout our lives. Answers to life’s questions about the overwhelming
issues, it appears, are difficult for people to find. For many it would come as no surprise that
what Dylan was composing and singing in the 1960s actually was lifted from a
Negro spiritual going back into the days of the slave auction blocks entitled, No
Auction Block For Me.[8] Negroes were never certain whether they would
be sold on or kept on. One thing was for sure, when it came to singing songs of
hope, they kept on singing. Their hope was spiritual. It was founded in the
hope of something better; the hope of the resurrection; the hope of the return
of Lord Jesus Christ. Their songs were not those of protest. The Negro
spirituals were the voice of God within the men and women who sang from the
depths of their hearts about the assurance they felt, one that those in the
world did not know. For the taskmasters, these were songs about the sweet bye
’n bye and the pie in the sky. For the singers, these were about the promise
that exists for those who trust and obey, and believe that what they have to say,
will come to pass, as sure as each day turns into night and then back into day.
The lyrics of these songs belonged
to those who believed that the day is today and never ends. For when they were
to travel across the line between the temporal and the eternal, the certainty
of their hope would be revealed. According to deeds done, each person would reap;
some being forsaken only to weep, and others to receive blessings that are
theirs to keep. The auction blocks may
have pointed to an uncertain fate; but only certainty existed in the hearts of
those who trusted Lord Jesus Christ. The day of death for them could only be
the dawn of the new morn; one that lasted for eternity; where finally they would
be set free to enjoy true liberty.
Death was to be a day of new beginnings. As a new creation, perfect in
every way, they were to be born into the land reserved for the despised and
downtrodden; so they might be filled with the joy of life’s very essence and
know what it means to be adored and treasured.
An eternal home reserved for those whose roots are not of this world;
people whose foundation is the rock of salvation and not a base of shifting
sand. Indeed, how often do people build what amount to castles of nothing but sand,
only to see the slopes of their walls disappear, as they watch grain after
grain leaving its abode—being blown in wind.
Unlike the certitude of hope that
was found among the conviction of the Negro slaves, the voice of uncertainty is
more often heard when people gather to form a protest. Protest movements
originate from the uncertainty of the times. When matters are certain, protests
do not exist. But this is not always the case, for there is no greater
certainty than death. When authorities in various jurisdictions enforce death at
the hint of protest; then, for sure, protesters can be certain of a sudden end
before they start. Those deemed troublemakers are unable to gain traction.
Usually, those who are termed troublemakers are not really seeking to free
their fellows from constraint; mostly, they are seeking to gain the control of
power for themselves. Chairman Mao made headlines with a deadly revolution as
he rose to power. The likes of Moses (deemed the meekness man on Earth),
however, are like hen’s teeth, but then He lead a freedom movement for a nation
of people who were held captive and abused as slave labor.
Bob Dylan is accredited with
leading a protest movement that was to prove effective in bringing many sons
back to civilization and bringing the Vietnam War to an end. An analysis of his
lyrics for the song that is purported to be the anthem of that protest movement
uncovers a cry from the depths of the human heart. In some ways, we may say it
is the cry of God within His children. Maybe this might be stretching the
point. Much depends upon how one considers the Almighty’s relationship with His
Creation. We might think different if we view the Earth as having been stolen
and held captive, and the Creator God Who exists within the very beings He created
in His image, was crying out for freedom from captivity.
Humanists would beg to differ and
see no place for the Creator. They would claim that this is a fight against the
powers that be: people who use religion and God to cover the ruse that ensnares
their fellows. Our uncovering of the underlying elements within Blowin’ in
the Wind reveals a compelling thesis and its main points, which we can succinctly
sum up as per the following:
We are all on
the same road, so why not make it easier to travel because we need freedom from
futility. We need to explore what it means to be human, to discover purpose and
be free from death and its cause. We need to acknowledge our own conscience,
personal responsibility and accountability. Unless we find the means to bring
about rest for our tormented souls, bring about peace for all and overcome
death, life on this planet is doomed and we are on a slippery slope to nowhere.
Yet, if we open our eyes, the answer is to be found just blowing in the wind.
If we were ever to think that Bob
Dylan is really a hero with the best interests of the people on this planet at
heart and is not just voicing his own search for God, then consider how he says
he came about the lyrics for his song, Blowin’ in the Wind, and those
for another record he cut, The Times Are a-Changin. The following is
from a speech delivered by Bob Dylan when receiving the Person of the Year
Award from Musicares Foundation and published in Rolling Stone:
If you sang
"John Henry" as many times as me – "John Henry was a
steel-driving man / Died with a hammer in his hand / John Henry said a man
ain't nothin' but a man / Before I let that steam drill drive me down / I'll
die with that hammer in my hand." If you had sung that song as many times
as I did, you'd have written "How many roads must a man walk down?"
too.
I sang a lot of
"come all you" songs. There's plenty of them. There's way too many to
be counted. "Come along boys and listen to my tale / Tell you of my
troubles on the old Chisholm Trail." Or, "Come all ye good people,
listen while I tell / the fate of Floyd Collins, a lad we all know well.”
"Come all
ye fair and tender ladies / Take warning how you court your men / They're like
a star on a summer morning / They first appear and then they're gone
again." And then there’s this one, "Gather 'round, people / A story I
will tell / 'Bout Pretty Boy Floyd, the outlaw / Oklahoma knew him well."
If you sung all
these "come all ye" songs all the time like I did, you'd be writing,
"Come gather 'round people where ever you roam, admit that the waters
around you have grown / Accept that soon you'll be drenched to the bone / If
your time to you is worth saving / And you better start swimming or you'll sink
like a stone / The times they are a-changing."
You'd have
written that too. There's nothing secret about it. You just do it subliminally
and unconsciously, because that's all enough, and that's all you know. That was
all that was dear to me. They were the only kinds of songs that made sense.[9]
Evidently, Dylan was not too
interested in leading any movement. He is purported to have claimed that he
wanted to write a song with a purpose that was hypnotic and combined folk music
with the civil rights movement. But if we were to believe the publicity or what
has been written about him, we would think that this was a deliberate attempt
to create an anthem for people to rally around, as he sought to bring about
change within society. The reality is Dylan was just expressing his inner
longing for something better for himself; rather than being a captive to death
and having no say in the matter. Like any person who seeks justice, Dylan’s
unconscious wish for justice surfaced in his songs. Only, although he claimed
the answer was blowing in the wind, at the time, he himself had not found the
way and neither had he declared victory over the tyranny of the futility of
death and the injustice of being born only to know death is the destiny of all.
Bob Dylan was as mixed up as anyone else who is born into the futility of this
world and has no clue of what truly counts, or how the numbers stack up when
the final assessment of a person’s worth is evaluated. For many, the question
is still: Is the answer to be found blowing in the wind?
Many people feel a call to action
that in reality is a response to the voice of God within. Unknowingly they trek
out into the darkest regions of the world, confident in their belief that what
they are doing is the right thing. They disregard warnings of danger because the
unrecognized call of the God, the voice within, impels them to act. Claiming
concern, enterprising adventurers, touting human values, believe they will make
their mark on the world, when in reality their actions are a distortion of the voice
of God within, crying out for justice.
In Freudian terms, this cry for
justice is emanating from the id as an innate death wish embroiled in a stoush
with the superego. In truth, the person’s belief system distorts the true call
from within and the person erroneously believes that by accomplishing what they
set out to achieve, they will make a difference in the world and leave their
mark on eternity. Inflated egos distort the truth because, instead of seeking
comfort for innate grief originating from grievances of paradise lost,
humanists seek comfort from their peers through recognition and awards; also positions
and power in organizations that are nothing but impotent hypocritical
committees more concerned about the welfare of the wicked rather than plight of
the impoverished. Instead of helping humans, the preservation of wildlife,
jungles, trees and causes such as anthropogenic global warming (AGW) are of
greater importance—even though a warmer globe means more rain, more greenery,
more food and freedom from the tyranny of the cold. Human ideals and future
fantasies are upheld as priorities rather than the reality of now.
At the time of writing, theorist Michael
Mann is suing journalist Mark Steyn for defamation after criticizing his hockey
stick claims regarding AGW as fraudulent science, because there is no real
historical evidence that warrants the claim. The global warming scare is a myth,
as historically the Earth is coming out of a mini ice age and the temperatures
were much warmer one thousand years ago. Temperatures were warmer also at the
time Jesus of Nazareth was crucified at Golgotha.
Steyn is a writer and free speech
activist who enjoys exposing fraudulent claims. Among Mark Steyn’s observations
is what happens to those who possess distorted values of their inner yearning,
and in order to seek respite from God’s voice, decide to find redemption by
doing something for the planet and those opposed to the ideal of freedom. To
quote from Mark Steyn’s book After America: Get Ready for Armageddon:
In 2003, Disney
brought us its latest animated feature, Brother Bear, the usual New Age
mumbo-jumbo with a generic Native American gloss. It told the tale of Kenai, a
young fellow in a bucolic Pacific Northwest at the end of the Ice Age. To
avenge his brother's death, Kenai kills the brown bear responsible. But
trouble's a-bruin: his late brother is wise enough to know that killing is not
the answer and so gets the Great Spirit to teach Kenai a lesson by transforming
him into a bear. He thereby learns that bears are not violent beasts but
sensitive beings living in harmony with nature who understand the world they
live in far more than man does. I would certainly agree that bears are wiser
and more sensitive than man, if only because I've yet to meet a bear who's
produced an animated feature as mawkishly deluded as this.
Among
the technical advisers on the film, hired to ensure the accurate depiction of
our furry friends, was Timothy Treadwell, the self-described eco-warrior from
Malibu who became famous for his campaign "to promote getting close to
bears to show they were not dangerous". He did this by sidling up to them
and singing "I love you" in a high-pitched voice. Brother Bear is
certainly true to the Treadwell view of the brown bears, and he would surely
have appreciated the picture had he ever gotten to see it. But, just as Kenai
found himself trapped inside a bear, so did Mr Treadwell - although in his case
he was just passing through. In September, a pilot arrived at the ursine
expert's camp near Kaflia Bay in Alaska to fly him out and instead found the
bits of him and his girlfriend that hadn't yet been eaten buried in a bear's
food cache.
Treadwell
had always said he wanted to end up in "bear scat", so his fellow
activists were inclined to look on the bright side. "He would say it's the
culmination of his life's work," said his colleague Jewel Palovak.
"He died doing what he lived for."
I wonder if he
was revising his view in the final moments. And if his girlfriend was quite so
happy to find she had a bit part in "the culmination of his life's
work".
You'd
have to have a heart of stone not to weep with laughter at the fate of the
eco-warrior, but it does make Brother Bear somewhat harder to swallow than its
technical adviser manifestly was. There are People for the Ethical Treatment of
Animals, but sadly no Animals for the Ethical Treatment of People. And, just as
bugs are becoming resistant to antibiotics, so the big beasts are changing,
too. Wild animals are not merely the creatures of their appetites; they're also
astute calculators of risk. Not so long ago, your average bear knew that if he
happened upon a two-legged type, the chap would pull a rifle on him and he'd be
spending eternity as a fireside rug. But these days it's just as likely that
any human being he comes across is some pantywaist Bambi Boomer
enviro-sentimentalist trying to get in touch with his inner self. And, if the
guy wants to get in touch with his inner self so badly, why not just rip it out
of his chest for him?
North
American wildlife seems to have figured that out. Why be surprised if other
predators do?
In
2008, the Italian performance artist Pippa Bacca set off to hitch-hike from
Milan to the Palestinian Territories to promote "world peace". She
was dressed as a bride, and the purpose of her trip was to show that if only
you put your trust in our common humanity then all will be well. A month later,
her naked body was found in the bushes near Gebze in Turkey. She had been
gang-raped and then killed. Like Timothy Treadwell's, her illusions met
reality.
Most
of us as individuals retain enough of a survival instinct that, if we find
ourselves on a rough city block in a foreign land late at night, we mothball
the PC [political correctness][10]
pieties until we get back to the lobby of the Grand Hyatt. But what happens
when Pippa Bacca's illusions become the dominant political discourse of a free
society? And how many Timothy Treadwell’s crooning to their killers does a
society have to have before it loses even the very idea of a survival instinct?[11]
Mark Steyn is not necessarily
seeking God’s voice in all of this, but within his spirit, the voice of God is
prompting him to seek freedom; for freedom is to be valued above all things. Of
course, with freedom comes responsibility and accountability of our actions.
The cause that Steyn finds himself having to defend is one of his own making
even if it was not one of his own choosing. Likewise, we may find ourselves
entangled in a fate we had not planned, but one in which we were destined to be
involved. Not that such a fate was ever predetermined; rather, consequences and
the pursuit of our inner convictions would have cast us on to a stage that we
did not realize was looking for actors of our caliber at the time. All we are
really doing is seeking God’s voice, only we are not hearing it, even though we
might be enacting what the voice of God within us is saying.
In the book of Esther, there is no
direct reference to God. The book of Esther is situated between Nehemiah and
Job in the Protestant Old Testament; but in the Roman Catholic and Eastern
Orthodox versions of the Old Testament, the book of Esther is situated between
Judith and First Maccabees. This book is a record of how people can seek the
voice of God and obey His voice by doing what is right and in honoring Him in
their action rather than with their mouths. The significance of what the story
relayed to us through the pages of the book of Esther is summed up in the words
of the wise old man who fasted and abstained from evil, putting his own life on
the line for what he believed in. We read:
For if you
remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from
another place and you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows
whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)
Many people love to misquote this verse
of Scripture by half-quoting it and, in doing so, providing misleading evidence
to those they seek to instruct in their belief system. Instead of acknowledging
that Esther (the person being spoken to) could perish if she does not do what
she knows to be right, they only refer to the idea that she has attained
royalty to fulfill the plan of God. Misleading half-truths are often difficult
to apprehend and evaluate for they are comparable to the twilight hours of the
Earth, where the sun does not shine but the shadows are long. Something the
Psalmist spoke of when saying, “even though I walk through the valley of the
shadow of death, I shall fear no evil” (Ps 23:4). Half-truths are like the
shadow of death. We need to recognize the truth and walk in it if we are to
walk in the light that shines in the darkness. However, seeking the voice of
God and, once heard, obeying His voice is critical if we are to discover the
road that leads to the destiny for which we were originally created.
The voice within us known as the internal recognition of right and
wrong, many journalists and academics and politicians appear to mistake for
right and left; consequently, instead of seeking to do what is right, they
become embroiled in debates over policy and ideas about their version of utopia—or
is it dystopia. Not that too many politicians are renowned for having ideals
that they espouse and uphold. Failed policy and corrupt politicians are just as
common as false promises made at election time. Distorted consciences are the
product of the culture in which we live. Yet we hear this cry for justice
whenever we open our ears to hear the voices in the world we live. Tragically, of the two voices claiming a need
for justice, one is nothing but a charade. It is the one found in the halls of
power and on the lips of celebrities and television hosts.
Charlie Hebdo, a French weekly that published satire, had its offices
attacked by Islamic terrorists and twenty-two people were shot, eleven fatally.
In response to these terrorist acts, politicians, academics, celebrities, and
those that like to appear as if they are doing something, took to the streets
claiming, Je suis Charlie Hebdo (I am Charlie Hebdo). Tim Wolff,
editor-in-charge of Titanic, a German magazine that publishes satire, a couple
of weeks later published some satire on Muhammad, asking the question of where
he was now. Questioned as to the newspapers stand, Wolf said:
While the Charlie Hebdo attack sparked
protests around the continent backing freedom of expression, Wolff said public
support seemed to evaporate amid further threats of violence.
"The fear has come back fast and the 'Je
suis Charlie' signs disappeared quickly," he said.[12]
A voice seems to demand justice among those who are politically correct
but it is weak, because it dissipates as soon as some light is placed on it,
and fear dominates. The fear that
dominates originates from their own unconscious sense of inadequacy, not from
their sense of certitude because they are claim that they are righteous in all
they do. Je suis (I am) is not the same as the righteous Jesus who, having said
I AM, gave His life for people that they might discover for themselves His
voice and understand His words: “Take up your cross and follow me.”
The twenty-third Psalm also tells us that God is willing to lead us down
paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Coming to an understanding of
righteousness, and what it means for us, is not as easy as falling of a log. We
would think that surely it would not be too difficult to grasp the idea of what
is right and become wise as to how to apply right actions in our lives. Yet
when we look around us and we see what people are doing, this appears not to be
the case. Political correctness seems insane. Young children are not to be
harmed in any way; therefore, disciplinary measures in the form of punishment
are not to be imposed upon unruly children. Consequently, children grow up not
respecting rules and the rights of others, and even though spanking has been
outlawed in many jurisdictions since the middle of the 1980s, child abuse is on
the increase. Pop star Charli XCX’s chart-breaker Break The Rules
features the lyrics “I don’t wanna go to school. I just wanna break the rules”
eight times, with the sound “na” uttered forty times at the end of the song.
Getting high and getting wrecked evidently is the way to feel alive until you
die. The message is rules are for fools.
However, if we go back to the earlier half of the last century, matters were
different. Eric Partridge was renowned as a grammarian. One of the books he
wrote was English: a course for human beings. His adage was, “Rules are
the tools and only fools break the rules.” Unfortunately, too many children today
do not appreciate that the rules of language are what enable us to converse and
understand one another without misconceptions and ignorance producing fear and
sorrow.
The voice of sorrow is heard around the world and it is only going to
increase in intensity as its wail grows louder. Those who are not prepared to
heed the voice for justice will only know the voice of sorrow. For as surely as
injustice brings bitterness, sorrow brings torment. We do not need to be
tormented by tornadoes or hurricanes before we learn to respect the signs of
the wind. If we have eyes to see and hears to hear, there are answers blowing
in the wind; the wind is not a meaningless signature of destruction or one that
has been created to produce fear. Those who understand the wind have learned
how to sail, navigate the world, and make use of its inherent power. More
importantly, the wind speaks to us about the Spirit of God. We may hear the
sound of it as did the people on the day of Pentecost, when the new era of
Spirit was ushered in. For we read:
Suddenly there came from the sky a sound like
the rushing of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were
sitting. Tongues like fire appeared and were distributed to them, and one sat
on each of them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak
with other languages, as the Spirit gave them the ability to speak. (Acts
2:2-4)
More than this, it is the Spirit that gives life and the wind is an
indicator of the power of life brought about by the unseen Hand of God. This is
what the prophet Ezekiel had to say:
So I prophesied
as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, an
earthquake; and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I saw, and, behold,
there were sinews on them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above; but
there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, Prophesy to the wind,
prophesy, son of man, and tell the wind, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Come from
the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the
breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up on their feet, an
exceedingly great army. (Ezekiel 37:7-10)
The wind holds out promise that the
sound it makes could be the voice of God that we are seeking. Learning to
understand what God is saying is not so easy. There are many voices claiming to
be God’s voice. Meanwhile the wise among us are to be found seeking the truth,
because the voices heard do not ring true. Where is the God of love and justice
when those who claim to be His voice preach evil and, if not, hypocritically
practice evil? Many do not see the Spirit of God nor hear His voice within the
cathedrals and halls of Christendom, nor the mosques of Islam or the temples
and ashrams of the East.
Looking, searching and
longing to hear the voice of God, people push on, heading towards death’s door,
not knowing what lies behind and beyond the only certainty this life can claim.
As far as we know death reigns, a fact that we tend to observe when
investigating what happens around us, when looking for the answer to life—believe
it or not, this answer is actually blowing in the wind.
Taken Captive
Truth is a concept that signifies
the reality of existence has to be incorporated into correctly grasping the
significance of a given thing, quality or idea. We can say the truth about life
is the reality of the situation. For many the reality of the situation at hand
(misery and injustice) is the truth about life as far as they are concerned.
However, the Bible goes beyond this and explains truth is about the purpose of
God. Unlike the many “how to” manuals that we might find written with
instructions laid out (say, to assemble a manufactured item, or plant and care
for a particular shrub), the Bible is written in such a way that the obvious is
often overlooked. In respect to the wind, Jesus questioned one man and was
amazed that he did not understand the correlation between the wind and the
Spirit of God, even though he claimed to be a teacher of truth (John 3:1-10).
As for the multitude, many are blind to the obvious, and this is no different
to the beliefs people have about the Bible, while overlooking the essential
message. Jesus referred to this practice as “straining a gnat and swallowing a
camel”. Nevertheless for those who
desire the truth, the Bible has what we all need to know.
The Bible is indeed a book of
immense worth—although the opinionated do not agree; for they merely read the
opinions of others and then regurgitate them, not realizing they scoff at one
book but swallow what they read in others to be true. For if these scoffers did
what scholars claim to do, but often do not, they would seek out primary
evidence for themselves. In doing so, they would investigate the site of Noah’s
Ark, the Exodus Crossing and the Mountain of God in Arabia, where the Apostle
Paul sought God’s face. For not only do we learn much of the wisdom that is
available in the world resides in the Bible’s pages, we also learn about Creation
and God’s plan for humankind. Yet many scoff at the Bible because of its
apparent inconsistencies or because people present it as scientific textbook. Many
say that the Bible is really a treatise of mythical events that are found among
the many religions of the world. What is overlooked is that the Bible is a book
that only claims to bear witness to the Son of God, Lord Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, the Bible does bear witness to
the Heavenly Father and the power of God. In fact, through the pages of the
Bible we learn that God created man in His image, both female and male. The
Bible is really a record of God’s interaction with men and women as He brings
about His purpose for us all.
In saying that the Bible is of
immense worth, we are speaking of more than just the fact it bears witness to
the Son of God in the sense that Jesus was born, died and rose from the dead.
We are speaking about how we can be saved from the meaningless of our own
existence, having been born only to die. Regardless of who we might be, or who
we think we are, the truth is we are born only to die. Some might claim that
they are the reincarnation of an individual who lived a previous life or a
number of previous lives. However,
whenever I have spoken to individuals who make such claims, it is not long
before I find them out. When asking such individuals why they decided to be
born into the family they were born in their last incarnation, their concocted
claims will start unraveling as they attempt to justify their current dissatisfactions
with the world. Then there is the lack of memories about previous
existences.
Those who claim to be reincarnated
insist that such lack of evidence is not positive proof that they have not been
reincarnated nor lived a previous existence. Many of those who are skeptical of
reincarnation are atheistic and possess a scientific bent. They reject
reincarnation on the grounds there is no evidence. Whereas, scientists who
believe in reincarnation will also point out that they reject any recognition
of the supernatural; they also reject a Creator, preferring to believe in the
theory of selective evolution.
Christians who accept the Bible as the only written record that
testifies to the truth of God as revealed through its pages, do not find any
evidence of reincarnation within its covers. Instead of any reference to
reincarnation, the writers of the Bible inform us not to attempt to contact the
dead and neither are we able to contact the dead. The idea of each individual’s spirit and soul
existing after death is endorsed within the pages of Scripture; but not the
idea of reincarnation or any form of incarnation other than that of the Son of
God, who took on human form as Jesus of Nazareth, having been born of Mary, who
was a virgin at the time.
The Dalai Lama is currently the
fourteenth reincarnation of the Tsongkhapa, the founder of the “Yellow Hat”
school of Tibetan Buddhism. The word
“lama” corresponds to the Hindu concept of “guru”. Now the Dalai Lama, who is supposedly the 14th
manifestation of the original guru who founded this school of thought,
surprisingly carried none of his knowledge gained in his previous
reincarnations through to his current incarnation. Instead, he was selected as a child without any
say in the matter on the basis of the following:
From age 1 to 2:
Lhamo Dhondup was a somber child, liked to stay indoors alone. When away from
home, would only drink from his mother's cup. He would not let others touch his
blanket and always kept it near his mother. He was preoccupied with packing his
clothes and things. While he could
hardly talk, when questioned, he replied he was "packing to go to Lhasa
and would take all of us with him."
When
he met a quarrelsome person, he would pick up a stick and try to beat him. If
someone smoked, "he would flare into a rage." Friends reported they
were afraid of him. One day, he told the family "he had come from
heaven."
Just
2 years old: Party of officials from Lhasa charged with identifying the 14th
Dalai Lama visited the family home three times. Over a three-year period of
search, they identified sixteen possible candidates, reduced them to three
finalists, and finally settled on Lhamo Dhondup in 1935.
On
the first visit, Khetsang Rinpoche of the party had two staffs and Dhondup
"went to the staffs, laid one aside, and picked up the other. He struck
Rinpoche lightly on the back with it, said the staff was his and why had
Rinpoche taken it." (His mother said the members of the party exchanged
"meaningful looks.")
On
a later visit of the party, he stuck his hand underneath Rinpoche's robe and
withdrew a rosary and insisted it was his. (Mother later learned that the 13th
Dalai Lama had given that rosary to Rinpoche.)
On
the third visit, the party placed a bowl of candy before Dhondup along with two
rosaries and two ritual drums. He took one piece of candy and gave it to his
mother. He then selected the rosary and the drum that had belonged to the 13th
Dalai Lama. Later they told Mother that during a 3-hour private session they
had spoken to him in the Lhasa dialect (that he had never heard before) and
that he had replied without difficulty.
When they departed, he cried to go with them.
Meeting
in Lhasa: When all sixteen candidates were later taken to Lhasa to meet Ma
Pu-fang the governor, he alone did not cry and cling to their parents. Dhondup
went to the only vacant seat and sat down. While the other children gobbled
down the candy placed before them, he took one piece for his great-uncle. He
correctly identified Pu-fang although he had never met him before.
At his point
Pu-fang chose him as the 14th Dalai Lama, saying he was dignified beyond his
years, different with his big eyes, and intelligent in his conversation and
actions. The other children and their families were sent back home.
Mother's
Premonition: She reported in her memoirs that a month before his birth one of
her dreams was of two green snow lions flying around a brilliant blue dragon.
All three beings smiled at her and greeted her in traditional Tibetan style.
She thought her son might become a high Lama. Later, she was told the dragon
was Dhondup and the others were showing him the way to his rebirth.[13]
Tenzin Gyatso, the current Dalai
Lama had to go to school to be educated and does not appear to have
demonstrated any brilliance of mind in his current life, and is on record as
having said: “The Dalai Lama office was an institution created to benefit
others. It is possible that it has outlived its usefulness.”[14] Unlike, Jesus of Nazareth, the current Dalai
Lama recognizes that he is merely a man and exists to fulfill some cultural
expectation—one that is really a myth. Jesus, on the other, proclaimed Himself
to be the Son of God and demonstrated this by rising from the dead after having
been crucified on the Cross of Calvary for the sin of humankind. More to the point, at the age of twelve, not
having gone to school, Jesus demonstrated His knowledge and wisdom before the
Jewish rabbis, who marveled at his intellectual prowess. The difference between the Dalai Lama and
Jesus is the former is fulfilling a mythical idea, whereas Jesus was fulfilling
the purpose of God, being the incarnation of God Himself in human form. The fact that Noah’s Ark has been found in
Turkey and the Red Sea crossing of the Exodus has been identified, along with
Mt Sinai and Mt Horeb in Saudi Arabia, with conclusive evidence, testifies to
the truth of God’s purpose. Even if academics, religious leaders and the
authorities do not want to acknowledge this or have this revealed to the public
at large, because they have other agendas, God’s purpose will prove true. Just
as death knocks at every person’s door, regardless of how much they attempt to
prevent it, in the end each one of us has to face our own eternal destiny.
Most people do have a sense that
there has to be more to life than being born to die. Surprisingly, many
intellectuals and academics gravitate towards the idea of reincarnation. This
is because they originally like the concept of the evolutionary development and
forms of energy evolving into human beings, who then possibly go through a
series of cosmic improvements as they progressively become more in tune with
their reason for existence as sentient beings who are able to have feelings,
possess consciousness and exercise volition. Rather than seeking out the
Creator, they reject this possibility as being possible. Many even claim to be
agnostics who accept that there may be a divine source of knowledge but, in the
main, they prefer to see this as a self-regulating force; that is, a life
force, rather than a Creator. These
agnostics reject the idea the Creator has an infinite existence and has
manifested Himself by creating the finite Universe with the intent of enjoying
a relationship with individuals with whom He has granted freewill and created
in His own image.
The hope that there is something
else besides being born to die leads many individuals with an intellectual bent
to exploring the possibility of past lives through hypnosis or through
consulting psychics who might be able to give them some direction. One of the
mainstays for reincarnation within a WEIRD (Western Educated, Industrialized, Rich,
Democratic) world is spiritualism and the pretended channeling of the dead to
bring comfort to those who are enduring the hostilities of this broken down world. Nothing meaningful or scientifically
significant has eventuated from these purportedly genuine mystical events. The
reality is there is nothing to be gained from attempting to contact the dead or
establishing whether a person has had past lives when the one that needs to be
addressed is the current life. Why do people reject the idea that the Creator
God exists and desires to have a relationship with everyone who is born? The
answer: freewill. For this is what happens when people are given freewill and
created in the image of God; they choose their own destinies.
When talking about possessing
freewill and being created in the image of God; we are talking about two
different facets of existence. We need to understand that there is a difference
between the two. Evidently, angels have been given freewill, but they have not
been created in the image of God. Most people overlook the significance of
this. Angels are often thought of as robotic beings that do what God has
designated and have no freewill. For many people who claim to be Christians,
they view themselves as robots in a way, claiming they have no freewill and
they were born into sin because God predestined them to be sinners. This view
excuses people from accepting the responsibility of freewill and allows the
formulation of what is the pernicious doctrine of double predestination to
appear plausible; whereas it is extremely harmful because it tends to preclude
people who are taught it from accepting that they need to seek out God’s voice.
This is because the doctrine of double predestination teaches that God ordained
some to be saved and the rest to be condemned to eternal torment. This doctrine
claims this is not because people have chosen to do evil rather than seek the
truth, but because God ordained who would, and who would not, have eternal life
before the foundation of the world, and there is nothing a person can do to
enter eternal life if they so desire. The doctrine of salvation by grace alone
emanates from this view. On the other hand, the Bible informs us freewill has
been given to the angels and to men; this is patently obvious within the
Scriptures. For we read:
Angels who
didn’t keep their first domain, but deserted their own dwelling place, he has
kept in everlasting bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day.
(Jude 1:6)
Whoever listens
to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me
rejects him who sent me.”
The seventy
returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your
name!”
He
said to them, “I saw Satan having fallen like lightning from heaven. Behold, I
give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power
of the enemy. Nothing will in any way hurt you.
Nevertheless, don’t rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to
you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
(Luke
10:16-20)
You are of your
father, the Devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a
murderer from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is
no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar,
and its father. (John 8:44)
Now the serpent
was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said
to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat of any tree of the
garden?’”
The
woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, but
not the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden. God has said,
‘You shall not eat of it. You shall not touch it, lest you die.’”
The
serpent said to the woman, “You won’t surely die, for God knows that in the day
you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good
and evil.” (Genesis 3:1-5)
He who sins is
of the Devil, for the Devil has been sinning from the beginning. To this end
the Son of God was revealed: that he might destroy the works of the Devil. (1
John 3:8)
If one man sins
against another, God will judge him; but if a man sins against Yahweh, who will
intercede for him?” Notwithstanding, they didn’t listen to the voice of their
father, because Yahweh intended to kill them. (1 Samuel 2:25)
Moses returned
to Yahweh, and said, “Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made
themselves gods of gold. Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin—and if not,
please blot me out of your book which you have written.”
Yahweh
said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book.
(Exodus 32:31-33)
Angels possessing freewill deserted
their own abodes, which is something they would not be able to do if they were
robots without freewill. From an Earthly perspective, rabbits might desert a
warren, foxes might desert a den, and animals in general might desert a
habitat, but the reasons for them doing so will have to do with survival
instincts. Angels deserting their place of abode in disobedience of God’s
directive means they have chosen to rebel against their Creator. The indications
from the Scriptures are they decided to join forces with Satan and follow him
(Revelation 12:7-9).
For us to reject other people, this
requires an act of freewill. We might reject food that is not to our taste. Any
animal will spit out something that does not appeal to its taste. However, we
are not talking about animals, nor are we are not talking about natural food.
We are talking about the will of God. Those who reject whom Jesus sends, reject
Him. Those who reject Jesus, reject the Father Who sent Him. Rejecting the will
of God can occur for a number of reasons, but the underlying reason is a lie is
preferred to the truth.
Satan, the Devil (Revelation 20:2),
was a murderer from the beginning because he believed a lie and created lies to
achieve his own ends. The lie he believed is that God cannot destroy him. When
Satan told Eve that she would not die when she ate of the forbidden fruit,
there is every possibility he thought he was telling her the truth. For Satan
to challenge his Creator, he had to believe there was nothing God could do to
destroy him. If he believed that God would destroy him, it is doubtful Satan
would have challenged God.
When Jesus was speaking to the
crowds, He spoke in parables for a specific reason. While on the one hand,
Jesus was very forthright and warned hypocrites would be thrown into a place
where there would be unbearable suffering, on the other hand, by speaking in
parables, only those who were truly looking for answers to life’s most massive
question would seek Him out. Jesus used
parables to disguise the truths of salvation. Even when faced with the option
of being set free by Pontius Pilate, who could not find Him guilty of any
offence, Jesus left matters up to the governor.
Even though Pontius Pilate found Jesus innocent, he still desired to
please the Jews. We read:
Pilate therefore
said to him, “Are you a king then?”
Jesus
answered, “You say that I am a king. For this reason I have been born, and for
this reason I have come into the world, that I should testify to the truth.
Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
Pilate
said to him, “What is truth?”
When
he had said this, he went out again to the Jews, and said to them, “I find no
basis for a charge against him. But you have a custom, that I should release
someone to you at the Passover. Therefore do you want me to release to you the
King of the Jews?”
Then
they all shouted again, saying, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was
a robber. (John 18:37-40)
Pilate, wishing
to please the multitude, released Barabbas to them, and handed over Jesus, when
he had flogged him, to be crucified. (Mark 15:15)
Everyone is to be held accountable
for his or her own sins and not the sins of others. If we commit sin against
another person, God will mediate on our behalf in the Heavens (1 John 4:1-2).
However, if we commit sin against God there is no one to mediate on our behalf.
We have to give an account of ourselves to God. Meanwhile the Prince of the
Power of the Air controls us (Ephesians 2:2), if our minds are not being
renewed by transformation to the will of God (Romans 12:2). Nevertheless, we
see that Pilate still had the power to choose whether he would release Jesus or
not. Pontius Pilate chose not to release Jesus but to please the Jews. If
Pontius Pilate had chosen to release Jesus then the plan of God would have been
foiled. We can assume that Jesus would have known on the balance of probability
that Pilate would choose to give the people their desire. When they demanded
Barabbas be released, Pilate was only too willing to avoid trouble, so he took
the easiest option, while at the same time seeing he could appease his own
conscience, by claiming he was only doing what the people wanted. (Throughout
history and all over the world, politicians never change; they just get
replaced.)
Jesus speaking to the Jews said
they wanted to do the desires of their father, the Devil. A cat might want to
catch a bird. A dog might want to catch a cat; but then settles for its tail.
But when we are talking about desires, we are not talking about things that we
can see. We are talking about the unseen. For people to have a strong hankering
to do something that is unseen, and yet know what it is they want to do,
suggests more than merely being a robot or an irrational creature of instinct.
This suggests intelligence: the ability to think and exercise freewill. In the
above case, Jesus says that those in His hearing wanted to murder and lie.
Animals kill, but they are not known to lie about what they have killed by
saying they did not do it, or that someone else did it. This is a human trait.
Lying comes from being seduced by our own yearnings for that which is forbidden
for us to do, rather than walk in righteousness and love one another. This is
what the Apostle John says:
In this the
children of God are revealed, and the children of the Devil. Whoever doesn’t do
righteousness is not of God, neither is he who doesn’t love his brother. (1
John 3:10)
If we want to do what God desires
rather than what the Devil desires, then we need to act upon our decision to do
so. When we act upon our decision, this does not mean we go looking for a
committee to confirm that we are going to do a good thing; instead, we just do
it. We do what is right, if we know what
is right to do. If we do not do right when we know what is right to do, then we
sin (James 4:17). If we do not know how to overcome our sin, this is where we
need to call upon the Lord God to help us. James informs us:
But he gives
more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the
humble.” Be subject therefore to God. But resist the Devil, and he will flee
from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands,
you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament, mourn, and
weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves
in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:6-10)
Notice that we are to draw near to
God, and then He will draw near to us. First, we call upon God; it is not the
other way around. God does not call upon us. We need to seek God’s voice
ourselves; which means we need to approach God.
We need to make the decision to seek out God so that we can be empowered
to resist the Devil. In particular, it
is important that we note, just because we have the ability to make the
decision to draw near and submit to God, this does not necessarily mean that we
possess the power to resist the Devil on our own strength alone. This Scripture
does not say, first you resist the Devil and he will flee from you, rather it
states that we need to submit to God before it states we are to resist the
Devil. We have the ability to hate evil; but we need God’s strength, if we are
to overcome evil.
The Bible does teach people are
taken captive by the Devil to do his will; thus, we read:
And they may
recover themselves out of the devil’s snare, having been taken captive by him
to his will. (2 Timothy 2:26)
When a person is held captive, this
means the person has limitations of freedom. If the person is bound, there is
no freedom. If a person is born into captivity, that person has limitations in
respect to freedom. No child born into captivity grows up completely bound, as
the child will most likely die while still a baby, as attested to by the
experiment conducted by the Frederick II of Italy. Humans are gregarious creatures
and like other social creatures need adequate interaction with others to
survive into maturity. Complete deprivation results in death. Captors realize
that in order to keep babies alive, they need to permit some freedom and
interaction with other people, although limited. Likewise, we are born into
captivity in that our lives are bound by death. However, we are also born into
an environment that is controlled by Satan, who desires us to do his will
rather than the will of God. On the other hand, God desires all men to be saved
and come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Timothy 2:4). Now when a person is
held captive, this means that they have been taken hostage or kidnapped against
their will. When we speak of someone being a hostage, this suggests there is a
possibility of a trade off—this is not the case with the war between Satan and
God.
The current war between Satan and
God is about who has the right over human beings. We are not kidnapped in the
sense that we were living in one place and have been stolen to be taken to
another place on Earth. The kidnapping took place when Adam forfeited his right
to reign in righteousness on Earth. Satan hijacked the right of Adam to reign
on Earth by inveigling him to rebel against God, when he deceived Eve into
eating that which was forbidden. Satan’s aim may have been to create his own
race of beings by procreation, as this appears to have been what happened with
the women who bore children to the sons of God (Genesis 5:4). God thwarted this
and it is quite possible that even though the beings were human-like they did
not possess spirits, because our Heavenly Father did not place them within the
newborn. Instead, the offspring between the fallen angels and the women grew to
have many abilities like apes, but lacked the intelligence possessed by humans
in whom our Father in Heaven places a spirit at birth. This means they had the
ability to imitate humans but not the capacity to think, use any imagination
and exercise freewill. Humans, on the other hand, who have been procreated as
part of the plan of God are given a spirit, which enables them to think,
irrespective of how limited their intelligence may appear.
The fact that humans fight among
themselves and do evil has to do with the influence the Devil is able to
exercise over them. Kidnapping is something that is not uncommon and when we
consider that the Devil has effectively kidnapped the human race, it is no
wonder the practice is widespread. The similarity in how the Devil kidnapped
the human race is evidenced when children are kidnapped by other ethnic groups
and raised as their own. We are all born into a world as victims of kidnapping
and if we are comfortable with our lifestyle, we will not see any need to
change. This is what can happen when children are kidnapped and raised by other
people.
Two accounts of children being
kidnapped and raised in the Amazon jungle are to be found in a twenty-first
century documentary and a newspaper article from about fifty years earlier. In
the documentary The End of The Amazonia (2002), an Indian chief
is visited who was kidnapped as an infant and raised in accordance to the
traditions of an Amazon tribe (with the phonetic pronunciation: She you).
The Indian chief is a white man with light brown hair who does not speak
English or Portuguese. In the account from 1953, Senor Orlando Vilas Boas, a
Brazilian authority on Indian tribes discovered two men and a woman living
among the Mancangronotire Indians, who were renowned for their ferocity towards
outsiders. Members of the tribe including the chieftain told his Juruna guide,
an old man named Critso, that the 3 whites had been kidnapped about 35 years
ago when they were babies and their parents had been killed. They had been kidnapped and adopted as babies
and as children were integrated into the ways of the tribe.[15]
Helen Valero was kidnapped when she
was seven years old and taken to live among the Yanoama, an Amazon tribe.
Although, Helen became one of the tribe, she never forgot her roots. Many years
later, Ettore Biocca, an Italian anthropologist, interviewed her and claimed
her story to be authentic and published Yanoama: The Narrative of a Young
Woman Kidnapped by Amazonian Indians, with both Helen and himself as
authors. Unfortunately, for Helen, she found no place for her among the modern
world into which she had been born and returned to live with the Yanoama.
When children are raised from
infancy in a culture, they are inculturated to such an extent that for them to
change is very difficult. If the previous culture was richer and more
interesting, personal dissatisfaction comes easier for a kidnap victim who has
been kidnapped from one culture and acculturated into another one. This is evidenced in the three-abovementioned
kidnappings by the Amazon tribes. While the other children were too young to
know any difference, Helen Valero, while assimilating out of necessity always
knew that there was a higher standard of living, even though in the end, she
was not accepted by her own kind.
If someone is taken captive against
his or her will, this is kidnapping. As
we have seen, it is possible to be kidnapped as an infant and not be aware of
having been kidnapped. We can argue this case in respect to our being born into
this seeming forlorn and forsaken world of sin that appears to have not been
created by a benevolent Creator. In fact the Bible seems to very much state
that this is the case and when we sin for the first time, we are taken captive
by Satan, the Devil, to do his will. Based on one of the kidnap scenarios
provided above, this could mean that we might rise to be chieftains in the
world of unrighteousness, and could not be blamed because we knew nothing else.
We could claim we were victims of evil from birth, we were unable to possess
any knowledge of good or evil, and we were unable to distinguish between right
and wrong. Many have made such claims in the courts of law. But are their
claims true or false?
The law is premised on a person
having freewill and the defense of determinism (someone else caused me to do
it) is not acceptable. The insanity defense does not completely absolve a
person, but it mitigates the punishment; for once a person has pleaded
insanity, they are saying they have no freewill and need to be told what to do.
Victimization is no excuse for actions taken later on; but it can lessen the
penalty. Many defendants have received reduced sentences, even token bonds
without fines, because of impoverishment and brutal treatment as juveniles and
pleas for mitigating circumstances due to family dysfunction. However, this is
an acknowledge-ment of environmental influence not allowing the individual to
mature, not a denial of people possessing freewill.
Nobody asks to be born. In this
sense, we are all victims, because we had no say in our being on Earth. Yet human
courts of law recognize that most people have the ability to distinguish right
from wrong and are capable of exercising freewill. While we have the capacity
to exercise freewill and make decisions, the truth is we are born into captivity
because Satan and his angels hold this world captive. Whether we, being born
into captivity, comply with the desires of our captive is another matter. We can
resist external influences and internal impulses. We can resist indoctrination.
We can resist being forced to do what we do not want to do. We can resist what
we know to be wrong. We can resist evil desires.
Many people claiming to be
Christians argue that is impossible to resist evil desires. This claim is based
on a misunderstanding of what the Apostle Paul stated in the seventh chapter of
Romans. Quoting the King James Bible:
I find then a
law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the
law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against
the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is
in my members. (Romans 7:21-23)
The claim is the law of sin takes
everyone into captivity and they are therefore completely powerless. However,
three laws are mentioned in this verse. The law of sin, the law of the mind,
and another law that is at war with the law of the apostle’s mind. Understanding what is meant by the law of the
mind is key to understanding this verse, because it is not the same law of sin within
his members that is at war with the law of his mind. In reality, the apostle is
saying that there is a principle in place that interferes with his ability to
exercise his desire to comply with the law of God in every aspect of his life.
While intellectually the apostle knows what is right to do, his natural
inclination (though maybe different to others) is to disregard the law of God
to satisfy the sinful desires that violate the law of righteousness. This is
the principle of evil that pervades every society that is controlled by the
Prince of the Power of the Air, who sows the seeds of his destructive force when
people are at their weakest and most susceptible to being influenced by him.
We can claim that the Devil made us
to it, because we are taken captivity by what the apostle calls the law of sin,
but the Devil does not make us do anything. We need to oblige at sometime, and
then when we realize our error, we can either continue with an nonchalant
attitude or take stock of ourselves and resist the temptation to indulge
further in what we know to be wrong. If we give into the temptation, can we
really say that the Devil made us do it. We can claim that he did, but in a
court of law this will not help us.
For instance, Calvin Taylor
admitted killing his brother and said Satan's demons made him do it, but the
judge and jury did not believe him.[16]
We are just like other people who can, and do, resist evil desires. People
resist desires to kill, steal, commit adultery, dishonor their parents and bear
false witness. Only when this is done on one’s own strength, this produces and
reinforces a proud disposition that eventually results in a self-righteousness,
which unfortunately is prone to creating a resistance towards God instead of
the Devil.
The Apostle James gives every
suggestion that we have the ability to do things such as cleanse our hands,
purify our hearts, lament, mourn, weep, resist the Devil and humble ourselves
before God. What we need to take into consideration is weeping, mourning and
lamenting are results of grief and feelings of loss. We might be able to
cleanse our hands, but how do we purify our hearts? We are capable of resisting
the Devil, but ultimately only if we humble ourselves before God, so He can
purify our hearts, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Clearly, we have a
will, but we need to call upon God to strengthen our resolve and help us resist
the Devil, least we become proud and find ourselves resisting God.
Consequently, we learn that if we draw near to God, He will draw near to us.
The implication is that if we take the first steps, God will do the rest. This
is not an exercise in self-righteousness, but exercising our freewill. Once we
have indicated our desire to know God, this is all that is required for our
Heavenly Father to send an angel to assist us. Jesus did not die for no reason
at all. Jesus died that we might be saved through Him. Only this requires us to
exercise faith towards God and not expect everything to have been done on our
behalf before the foundation of the world and we have to do nothing. God is
calling, but we have to respond. If we are not tuned into the right wavelength
then we will not hear what the Spirit of God is saying.
When it comes to reading the Bible,
unless we are ready to receive the truth of the text, we are not going to do
so. The Spirit of God only speaks to the heart that desires to hear His voice.
Many people do not understand this basic truth about life. Regardless of who we
are, we can only build upon the knowledge that we possess. Even though God
gives us our spirit, which enables us to understand truth, we need to recognize
truth. Unfortunately, if we have a body of misinformation, and believe this to
be the truth, we will add to that entanglement of falsehood, thinking that we
are growing in knowledge, when in fact we are building a structure like a
spider’s web. It seems solid. For the spider, it is solid enough. It is solid
enough to catch the prey the spider feeds on. However, when it comes to humans,
building a structure of misinformation in our minds, this is actually a web influenced
by the enemy to catch us and lead us astray, but not if we want the truth. As
some spider’s webs are known to disappear during the day when the sun shines,[17]
likewise, when we are exposed to the truth of God’s light, the web of deceit,
in which we have trusted, will begin to disappear and the deceiver has to
retreat.
Jesus spoke of the wise man who
built a house on rock and the foolish man who built his house on sand. When the
rains came, the house built on the low-lying sand did not stand, whereas the
house built on rock did. We read:
“Every one then
who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built
his house upon the rock; and the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds
blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded
on the rock. And every one who hears these words of mine and does not do them
will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand; and the rain
fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and
it fell; and great was the fall of it.”
(Matthew
7:24-27)
The story about the rock and the
sand was understood in Jesus’ day, but today many might disagree, because when
sand is compacted it can be hard as rock. In fact, a bacterial treatment can
quickly convert sand from free flowing granular particles into a substance as
hard as marble.[18] Nevertheless,
dykes in Holland are made out of sand, and the use of cement enables them to be
long lasting; but when water intrudes and lubricates the sand particles, this
creates instability. Hence, when Jesus was speaking about the difference
between solid rock and sand, this is the idea that His listeners understood.
Rock has a permanency that shifting sand is unknown for possessing. The
teachings of Jesus are likewise enduring, whereas the concepts woven by
philosophers and human ingenuity to give the appearance of solidarity are
nothing but shifting sand. Apply some force to sift, lift and shift sand particles,
and it becomes a poor foundation. This is evident in desert sand storms driven
by the wind, or the power of water to move sand freely across great distances.
We who are seeking to hear God’s
voice, need to recognize that truth is enduring, but that which might appear to
be a safety net, needs to be tested to see whether it is truly worthy of our
attention. Just hearing the sound of the wind alone is insufficient,
understanding the meaning within the sound is what we need to do. There is
meaning to everything, even though we may not understand this meaning. The
perceived wisdom of man is often nothing more than shifting sand. For instance,
vultures might be seen as ugly, fearsome, smelly birds (vomiting is their
defense mechanism), and eradicating them from the skies of India might, for
some, have made for more pleasant vistas; but they perform a valuable service,
as has been discovered after tragedies that leave dead corpses lying around,
when the vultures pick that corpses clean to the bones. During the last decade
of the previous century and the first decade of this century, an estimated
population of some forty to eighty million vultures has died because of a
medication administered to livestock. The vulture numbers in the second decade
of the twenty-first century are only in the hundreds of thousands, but the wild
dog population has exploded, with some estimates at about twenty million. This
is not to mention the explosion in the numbers of rats and other vermin as the
rotting carcasses of cows have become a buffet of abundance. However, the dogs,
rats and other vermin are carriers of disease and come into closer contact with
humans. Drinking water has become polluted from rotting carcasses because the
dogs and rats and other vermin are not as efficient at cleaning the carcasses
as the vultures. Vultures are large birds that were commonplace in the skies of
India as they glided around in the upward rising tunnels of spiraling wind
vortexes. Now that vultures are no longer as plentiful, disease has multiplied
and disaster threatens.
Distortions of truth produce
fables. The wisdom of the WEIRD
(westernized educated industrialized rich democratic) modernized man is
that science produces truth. While this is true in many respects, the truth is
scientific ignorance produces distortions within the ecological balance of
nature. How much more does scientific ignorance distort the search of man? Instead of seeking the voice of God,
adherents of scientific assumptions exalt the wisdom of humans. All too often,
foolishness of the wise in this world is evidenced when they forget that an
assumption is merely a proposition based on what might be nothing else but
shifting sand. Somewhat ironically, the word “theory” sounds like “fairy” and
the scientifically minded scoff that those who seek the voice of God may as
well believe in fairies, because they reject the obvious for the unproven in
order to exalt their theories.
When the Bible tells us that we are
born into sin and we are victims of having been kidnapped. This may seem
fictitious, except the evidence abounds. Children, who grow up in households
where the parents are religious but nominally Christian, often reject their
parent’s religion for secularism. The same happens in families where the
parents claim to be believers in Lord Jesus Christ but live lives of hypocrisy,
the children grow up to reject religion for secularism. The problem lies in
people not having a correct understanding of why Jesus of Nazareth died on the
Cross of Calvary.
Essentially, we as a race of beings
have been kidnapped and Jesus has paid the ransom price. As a consequence of
this, we are free to leave the domain of the kidnapper. The Devil has no right
over any human. When people are born, they are not born wicked to the core as
some individuals claim. No baby is born totally depraved. Being born into a
world that is governed by sin and ruled by the Devil, who is the Prince of the
Power of the Air, is not being born totally depraved. Whoever says that this is the case is a moron
and a stooge of the Devil. For instance, children who are born into households
of parents who believe in Jesus and follow Him are sanctified from being
totally depraved. This is what the Apostle states:
For the
unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is
sanctified in the husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now
they are holy. (1 Cor 7:14)
How could a child be born holy if
the child is totally depraved? Totally depraved means to be morally corrupt and
unable to be holy. This tells us that the doctrine of total depravity is a
false teaching and we need to seek God’s voice on the matter.
Now if the child that is born holy
were to be kidnapped by the Devil to do his will, then we have a situation
where a ransom would be needed to obtain the return of the child. This makes
sense, as this is what happens in most places. Kidnappers, usually take victims
to obtain some benefit from those to whom the kidnapped person is important.
Ransom money is usually what the kidnappers are after. However, as we have
seen, not all kidnap victims are taken with the intention of being returned
once the ransom price is obtained. This is the situation that has occurred
between the Devil and God. The Devil is not interested in returning anybody to
the Lord God.
The good news is God is greater
than the Devil and desires every person possible to be redeemed to fulfill His
plan, of us choosing the perfect over the imperfect—life rather than death. The
only persons whom the Devil can keep are those who reject the truth; the rest
he has to let go if the individual so desires.
When Jesus died, He paid the ransom
price for the return of the Earth that the Devil has reign over. This means
that everybody is free to choose life or death, but this does not mean that the
Devil will not cease attempting to deceive people. Every child that is born has
a spirit placed within their soul at birth. The child is not taken captive by
the Devil until a decision is made that breaks one of the Ten Commandments. From
that time on, unless the child repents and ceases sinning, he or she is held
captive by the Devil to do his will.
Only through Jesus Christ can we
escape the clutches of the Devil and break his hold on our lives. We all have
the capacity to reason and God takes our reasoning skills into account when we
are judged by Him. The Bible teaches that we can only escape the Devil through
faith in Lord Jesus Christ or if we believe that God has imputed righteousness
to us because He loves us and does not desire us to suffer eternal damnation;
but God’s grace is only assessable if we forgive others first of anything that they
have done to us. Believing and disobeying are not compatible; neither is
claiming to possess faith in God and doubting His word to us.
If we are to walk free from sin, we
need to call upon the Lord God and ask Him to help us. For even though we have
the right to walk free from sin, we must not commit sin. If we commit sin,
unless we repent and walk away from it, we will die in our sins and flee from
the presence of God. Much depends on whether we like our sinful environment or
whether we hate evil deeds and desire to do what is right. We can seek God’s
voice and desire the truth or we can create our own alternative belief system
and create a situation for ourselves that becomes worse than currently exists.
Climbing The Ladder
In our search for God’s voice, we
make many observations. One of those observations is that the Bible does not
impart life of itself. The Bible is nevertheless a road map for the discerning
traveler who desires to enter life. It bears witness (John 5:39-40) to the way
that we need to travel. The Bible points to Jesus Christ who is the Way, the
Truth and the Life (John 14:6). There is no other written record that contains
the Ten Commandments that are found in the Bible. Many will attempt to say that
similar laws and regulations are found in books like the Egyptian Book of
the Dead and the Babylonian Hammurabi, as well as Sanskrit, Buddhist
and Chinese writings. They contain laws of conduct (ethics) and wise sayings,
but not the truths essential for eternal life that are found in the Bible.
Buddha, for instance, spoke of the
four noble truths and the eight-fold path to enlightenment, which are really an
observation about suffering. These are a recognition that suffering has to end
if something better is to be experienced. In particular, eight strategies need
to be employed if suffering in one’s life is to cease. In many respects, this
sounds like an attempt to reinvent the Ten Commandments. These concepts that
the Buddha calls the four noble truths can be converted into a ten-fold path,
which makes ten steps or rungs to enlightenment. Understanding the Ten
Commandments leads to enlightenment, only instead of being left stranded like
the Buddha, who is said to have never found what he sought, we can discover
Lord Jesus Christ, possess eternal life and cease suffering from the
uncertainty that plagues those who have not engaged in an intimate relationship
with the Creator of Life and received the guarantee of the Holy Spirit.
According to the Buddha, the four
noble truths are:
1. the
truth of suffering
2. the
truth of desire
3. the
truth of desire’s cessation
4. the
truth of the eight-fold plan
As we can see, the fourth noble
truth is the eight-fold plan, so this leaves three noble truths. The three
noble truths are in fact a statement that suffering exists and is the cause of
dissatisfaction, which originates from unfilled desire, that when fulfilled,
causes suffering to cease. If we take the statement of the first noble truth
regarding the first three noble truths and convert it into two, we come up with
this: 1) suffering exists because of desire; 2) the cessation of desire is the
end of suffering.
The fourth truth is the eight-fold
plan. When we divest of the unnecessary and convert the three noble truths into
two truths and add them to the eight-fold plan, we have ten concepts to compare
with the Ten Commandments, which were written by the Finger of God. We will
frame Buddha’s concepts thus:
1) Suffering exists because of desire
2) The cessation of desire is the end of
suffering
3) Develop the right view
4) Develop the right intention
5) Cultivate right speech
6) Cultivate right actions
7) Practice right livelihood
8) Put in right effort
9) Develop right mindfulness
10) Observe right concentration
The Ten Commandments summarized are
as follows:
1) Hear
the voice of the Lord Your God Who is your Savior.
2) You
shall not put anything before the Lord Your God
3) God
holds all to account who take His name in vain
4) Learn
to trust God and allow Him to reign in your life
5) God
promises to abundantly bless eternally all who honor Him
6) Why
should you murder another
7) Why
should you be adulterous
8) Why
should you steal
9) Why
should you bear false witness against another
10) Why should you desire that which is not
yours.
Purists may not like the way we
have composed the Ten Commandments and the teachings of Buddha. But this is a
quest. We are seeking God’s voice and doing some analysis, some examination of
ideas as we investigate the truth of life. When we compare the two lists, we
notice that the Buddha begins with desire, whereas the Ten Commandments finish
with desire. The reason for this, God is giving us a ladder to Heaven that we
have to climb, if we are to secure eternal life. This is a ladder that is
extended from Heaven on high to Earth below. The tenth commandment is the first
rung on the ladder up to Heaven from Earth. Buddha’s list is the
conceptualizing of his observations of life; what might seem to be the best way
for a human to overcome what appears to be the hopelessness and futility of
being born only to suffer then die.
We will compare the Ten
Commandments with what Buddha concluded to be the way to salvation. However,
because Buddha’s precepts are from an Earthly perspective, in order to compare
them fittingly with the Ten Commandments, instead of beginning with the first
commandment, we shall rearrange the Ten Words, written by the Finger of God, to
begin with the last first and work upwards to the first commandment to form a
ladder that metaphorically reaches up to Heaven. This way we will have two
ladders with which to climb. One is God’s way and the other will be Buddha’s
way.
Beginning with the tenth
commandment, which is the first rung
in our ladder, and working up to the first commandment, we will compare
Buddha’s insights, having rearranged his ideas in the following manner to
create a countdown as we climb up:
1) Observe
right concentration
2) Develop
right mindfulness
3) Put
in right effort
4) Practice
right livelihood
5) Cultivate
right actions
6) Cultivate
right speech
7) Develop
the right intention
8) Develop
the right view
9) The
cessation of desire is the end of suffering
10) Suffering exists because of desire
The First Rung
Beginning with number ten, the
Buddha claims that suffering exists because of desire. The Lord God says that
we are not to covet, that is, desire something that belongs to another. There
is a definite correlation here in that wrong desires will cause us to suffer.
How do we know we are suffering? We know we are suffering because we are
experiencing pain. We all know what physical pain causes us to suffer.
Emotional, mental and spiritual pain also causes us to suffer. It is one thing
to be hungry and experience hunger pains. It is another matter to be lonely and
experience the pain of being alone, or to be on our own and experience the pain
of the unknown. This non-physical pain, we know as fear. The question is,
though, what does fear have in common with desire?
The Bible tells us that fear has to
do with punishment and connects this with being the opposite of love. For we
read:
There is no fear
in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has to do with
punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love. (1 Jn 4:17)
What makes this interesting is when
we do an etymological study of the English word love, we find that it
originates from the Sanskrit root lubh meaning “desire”. Some will argue that the Bible’s word for
love is not the same as desire and take issue with the difference in meanings
between the English and the Greek words for love. But if we consider that the
Bible states that God desires all men to be saved, would this be any different
to saying God would love all men to be saved. For if we put the following scriptures
together we can see how desire and love are closely related:
He made from one
blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having
determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings, that they
should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him,
though he is not far from each one of us. (Acts 17:26-27)
For this is good
and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; who desires all people to be
saved and come to full knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:3-4)
By this God’s
love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world
that we might live through him. In this
is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the
atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10)
For God so loved
the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. For God didn’t send his Son into the
world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. (John
3:16-17)
God desires all men to be saved
therefore He has made the means possible because of His love for all men. God
desires all men to be saved because He loves all men. We can even say God loves
all men; therefore he desires all men to be saved. Indeed, God desires to have
fellowship with all of us and He has made the means possible because of His
great love for all of us. Or, to put this another way, God loves to have
fellowship with us, if we are willing, therefore He has made His desire
possible by making the appropriate sacrificial peace offering required to make
this happen. If we have to distinguish
between love and desire, we would have to say that love is desire fulfilled.
Many theologians say that love is an act of the will—the act of the will being
the decision to fulfill an inherent desire. In particular, the following verse
sums up how the Lord God operates and expresses Himself to His subjects:
In Him we also
were made [God’s] heritage (portion) and we obtained an inheritance; for we had
been foreordained (chosen and appointed beforehand) in accordance with His
purpose, Who works out everything in agreement with the counsel and design of
His [own] will.
(Ephesians 1:11
AMP[19])
The salvation that has been made
available to us appears to be a very clinical and calculated action by the Lord
God. The idea that God decided to act
upon His will suggests that He had a reason. That reason was to create a family
of beings who were born of God rather than created by Him. The original number
of individuals who were to be part of this family has not changed, but
unfortunately, because of the Devil’s desire to be the supreme finite being,
sin has become a part of the equation and this has needed to be dealt with.
There is then, right desire and
wrong desire. Right desire is summed up
in the words of the Psalmist:
May He grant you
your heart’s desire, and fulfill all your counsel. (Psalm 20:4)
Also delight
yourself in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm
37:4)
If we do not desire what other
people have, but seek the Lord to fulfill our desires, the Bible tells us we
will find fulfillment; that is, of course, if we delight in the Lord’s ways.
This is the message of the Bible.
The Buddha has a complaint.
Wherever the Buddha looks, what he observes causes him pain. Wrong desire
causes us pain. From the book of Proverbs we learn:
The desire of
the sluggard kills him for his hands refuse to labor. (Proverbs 21:25)
The soul of the
wicked desires evil; his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes. (Proverbs 21:10)
The Buddha somehow only knew that
desire brought pain. Wherever he looked, he saw the misery of people, the
misery of suffering; he saw those who refused to work and who desired evil. He
saw that desire was the cause of suffering, and even within himself, he felt he
suffered because of his desires. If only the Buddha, Siddhattha Gotama, had
discovered the Lord God. If only Siddhārtha has reached out in his desire for
something better to the Lord of Hosts and desired to know the One Who Exists,
and besides Whom, there is no other. Unfortunately, he did not. Instead,
Siddhattha Gotama sought to overcome the desire of evil on his own strength. In
so doing, using his faculty of reasoning, he developed his own philosophy of
life; an attempt by the temporal to reign over eternity. For Gotama, the
cessation of desire is the end of suffering, therefore he thought that if he
could dissociate himself from desire, then his suffering would end. Instead of
having his desire fulfilled and experiencing a positive realization, the Buddha
took the negative road. He erred on the side of deception because he did not
seek out the Lord God. Had Siddhattha Gotama sought out the Lord God, he would
have had his desire satisfied and discovered the tree of life. To quote the
book of Proverbs:
The desire of the righteous ends only in good;
the expectation of the wicked in wrath. (Proverbs 11:23)
What the wicked
dreads will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted.
(Proverbs 10:24)
Hope deferred
makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life. (Proverbs
13:12)
Instead of becoming a beacon of
light that would turn many to righteousness, the Buddha has become a demon who
is worshipped by multitudes rather than Lord God through Whom, and for Whom,
all things have been created.
The Second Rung
The second rung in the ladder of
the Ten Commandments is the ninth commandment; which is, we are not to bear
false witness against our neighbor. Now if we were to make any false claim
against anyone, this is the same as bearing false witness against our neighbor.
If we thought evil of people rather than good, this is a false witness. This is
the case, even though the Bible has statements to the effect that the heart of
man is deceitfully wicked (Jeremiah 17:9), and the imagination of men’s
thoughts are evil (Genesis 6:5). This is like saying that only suffering exists
and it is our duty to deny desire so that suffering will cease. We must not bear false witness, and if we
make claims such as saying the heart of man is deceitfully wicked and the
imagination of everyone’s thoughts are evil, we are guilty of bearing false
witness. This is because we are taking Scriptures out of context. To
demonstrate this, let us first have a look at what Jeremiah says:
Blessed is the
man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose trust Yahweh is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the
waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat
comes, but its leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of
drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. The heart is deceitful
above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it? I, Yahweh, search the mind, I try the heart,
even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his
doings. (Jeremiah 17:7-10)
When we falsely make claims by
lifting a text out of its context, we are bearing false witness to what the
Scripture is really teaching. Here we
are told that the person who trusts in the Lord is blessed. We are also told
that the heart of man can be deceitful, and this is especially so if we are
conceited, egoistical and unrealistic about who we are and what we do, by being
self-congratulatory and inclined towards self-exaltation. For those who do not
trust in the Lord and rely upon their own understanding are in a different
situation to those who do and they have something to fear; for they are not
blessed. Whereas, those who are blessed, have perfect peace. Lord Jesus said
that he will give perfect peace, but not as the world gives, so we need not be
troubled (John 14:27). However, if we are not trusting in the Lord Jesus
Christ, then we will have every reason to be troubled because we will not be
producing the fruit of Spirit in our lives, instead we will be inviting strife
and dissatisfaction, worry and regret, anguish and torment.
In respect to the time before the
flood in the days of Noah, where God sees that the imagination of men’s hearts
is continually evil, we also know that one man, Noah, found favor in the eyes
of God. Therefore, if we say that in those days every person was evil, we would
be bearing false witness, because Noah was not, for we are told:
This is the
history of the generations of Noah: Noah was a righteous man, blameless among
the people of his time. Noah walked with God (Genesis 6:9)
The second rung on the ladder towards Heaven
is not to bear false witness. In other words, we are to seek the truth. God is
searching our hearts, so if we desire eternal life and do not bear false
witness but rather put our trust in God to deliver us, we have a greater hope
than if we are like Siddhattha Gotama and attempt to cause suffering to cease
by quenching our desire.
The heart that does not trust the
Lord God resorts to being deceived by virtue of the fact an actual falsehood is
believed rather than the truth. Humans do not have the ability to make peace
with God based on their own merit and worthiness. At best, all we can do is
seek God out, so that He might atone for us on our behalf. To teach otherwise
is to bear false witness against the Lord God, that He is incapable of
delivering people from their evil desires.
The Third Rung
The third rung of the ladder to
Heaven is about being creative and not stealing. If God is our helper and we
are trusting in Him, He will help us to become creative. God wants us to be
creative and industrious and enjoy our life, even while we are on Earth, so
that others will see our good works and give glory to our Heavenly Father
(Matthew 7:16). We are not speaking of becoming self-righteous, or being
creative in destructive ways but developing an appreciation for the goodness of
God.
The Buddha taught that the right
view or the right understanding is necessary to learn the nature of reality and
the truth about life. This is what an introduction to Buddhism states:
To many,
Buddhism goes beyond religion and is more of a philosophy or 'way of life'. It
is a philosophy because philosophy 'means love of wisdom' and the Buddhist path
can be summed up as:
(1) to lead a
moral life,
(2) to be
mindful and aware of thoughts and actions, and
(3) to develop
wisdom and understanding.
Buddhist
teachings can be understood and tested by anyone. Buddhism teaches that the
solutions to our problems are within ourselves not outside. The Buddha asked
all his followers not to take his word as true, but rather to test the
teachings for themselves. In this way, each person decides for themselves and
takes responsibility for their own actions and understanding. This makes
Buddhism less of a fixed package of beliefs which is to be accepted in its
entirety, and more of a teaching which each person learns and uses in their own
way. [20]
Inherent within the deceit of this
view promulgated by Buddhist practitioners from the West is the idea that
Buddhism transcends religion because it is a way of life and anything goes. The
Buddhist can be as creative as he or she likes and do whatever he or she likes,
there are no absolutes, no true morality, although this is not exactly what the
Buddha may have taught. Nevertheless, the above is how Buddhism is being
interpreted by Brian White with the help of Ven S. Dhammika, presumably a native
Buddhist practitioner.
The Manchester Buddhist Centre
houses the Clear Vision Trust, which is a media propaganda unit for the
Triratna Buddhist Order and Community. Robert Ellis, formerly a member of the
Triratna Buddhist Order and former head of religious studies at a British
secondary school identifies with this group. In respect to stealing, he
presents what appears to be situational ethics as far as some Buddhists are
concerned, but not necessarily the Buddha, who came from a wealthy family. Ellis
presents the concept of stealing within Buddhism as “avoiding taking the
not-given”. This is what Ellis writes:
As with the
other precepts, the interpretation of this precept raises problems about where
you draw the line. A burglar who picks a lock, creeps into a house when the
owner is away, and steals a computer is obviously stealing. But what about the
starving person who steals a loaf of bread? What about the pocketing of
corporate property at work? What if you fail to repay a loan made to you by a friend?
One basic
principle in Buddhist ethics is that the motive behind the moral offence should
be considered. If a man steals a loaf of bread so as to feed his starving
family and save their lives, he has a good motive for his action. The Mahayana
would stress this point more than the Theravada. The Theravadins, who tend more
towards a deontological interpretation, would be more likely to say that a
Buddha could not act in this way because of the nature of the act, regardless
of the motive, so that even if we can easily understand why the loaf of bread
was stolen, that doesn’t make it right.
Stealing
indirectly, then, may also be a breach of the precept, depending on how
deliberately this is done. Failing to repay a loan would be a form of taking
the not-given, though it would be more blameworthy if it was deliberate than if
one simply forgot to do so (though one is also responsible for one’s lack of
mindfulness in Buddhism). It would also be more blameworthy depending on the
size of the loan, as it requires a more deliberate action to fail to repay a
larger loan, just as it requires more deliberate effort to decide to steal a
more important or more valuable thing.[21]
Barbara O’Brien began formal study
in Buddhism in 1988. According to her, the Buddha taught “I undertake the
precept to refrain from taking that which is not given” or as we have already
noted “avoiding taking the not-given”.
This precept is actually the second
of those associated with right action rather than possessing a right view or
right understanding of relationships with fellow humans. This is often
translated as thou shalt not steal; but teachers[22]
of Buddhism appear to prefer viewing this precept as a suggestion or a
directive by the Buddha to practice generosity. To practice generosity, one
needs to have the resources. This requires a person to be creative as well as
industrious in obtaining resources to share with others. Without a right view
or understanding of this fact, there is no generosity. Therefore the concept of
generosity ought to be included as part of the right understanding, which
correlates with the Lord God’s commandment not to steal, the third rung of the
ladder to Heaven from Earth.
The Fourth Rung
The fourth rung on our ladder up
the Ten Commandments concerns adultery. Lord Jesus said that whoever gets
divorced commits adultery (Mark 10:11-12) and whoever looks at the opposite
gender lustfully commits adultery (Matthew 5:28). This is because God created
man, male and female; not just male. The two make up the image of God. Hence we
read:
God said, “Let
us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over
the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the livestock, and
over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and
female he created them. (Genesis 1:26-27)
Importantly we need to note the
plurality of “Let us make man in our
image, after our likeness…. In God’s image He created him; male and female He
created them.” The idea of two becoming
one, the Apostle Paul says is a great mystery. He wrote:
“For this cause
a man will leave his father and mother, and will be joined to his wife. The two
will become one flesh.” This mystery is great, but I speak concerning Christ
and of the assembly. (Ephesians 5:31-32)
What we
find in Genesis and Ephesians suggests to us that adultery goes beyond sexual
relationships and has more to do with the unity of the couple and the
faithfulness of that unity. It is important then that a man and a woman be like-minded,
enveloped with the same desire for togetherness, and developing the unity
required for a stable relationship in which a man and a woman my raise a family
of offspring. If either the man or the
woman fall short in being committed to the relationship, for whatever reason,
then the one who lacks in commitment is guilty of being unfaithful, which is
adultery. Most often, this unfaithfulness is manifested in desiring another
person, but it can be an unwillingness to be fully committed to the
relationship because of platonic commitments to other persons; thus preventing
the relationship from being that which is reflective of the eternal Godhead.
Bhante Shravasti Dhammika was born
in Australia in 1951 into a [presumably nominal] Christian family, and
converted to Buddhism at the age of eighteen. He has published over twenty-five
books and numerous articles on Buddhism. He is the spiritual advisor to The
Buddha Dhamma Mandala Society located in Singapore. He represented Theravada
Buddhism at the European Buddhist Millennium Conference in Berlin in 2000. He
has also produced a website Guide To Buddhism A To Z.[23] This is what he has to say about adultery:
Adultery
(aticariyā) is having sexual relations with another person while married or
with a person married to another. In the Tipiṭaka, a male adulterer is called a
paradārika and a female equivalent is called aticārinī (S.II,259). An
adulteress might also be dubbed ‘an owl-like one’ (kosiyāyayanī) because she
was thought to sneak around at night (Ja.I,496). Adultery is probably the most
common breach of the third Precept. Most marriage ceremonies include a solemn
promise by both parties that they will be faithful to each other. Committing
adultery breaks this promise and usually involves other negative behaviors such
as lying, deceit and pretence. The negative results of adultery on others can
include destruction of trust, humiliation, heartbreak and a weakening of family
cohesion. For these reasons, the Buddha said: ‘Being dissatisfied with his
wife, if one is seen with prostitutes or the wives of others, this is a cause
of one’s decline.’ [24]
Sexual behaviour
(kāma or methuna) is any actions motivated by erotic desire and usually
involving the genital region. This includes all forms of coitus, intercrural
sex [he probably means sodomy[25]],
masturbation, sexual fondling and perhaps even voyeurism. The third of the five
Precepts, the basic principles of Buddhist ethics, says that one should avoid
sexual misconduct (kāmesu micchācārā). What would make sexual (kāma) behaviour
(cāra) wrong (micchā)?... From the Buddhist perspective, therefore, sex before
marriage or during menstruation, masturbation, homosexuality, with a person of
a lower caste (forbidden in Hinduism) or sexual promiscuity , while perhaps
being inadvisable, socially unacceptable or not conducive to spiritual
development, would not per se be breaking the third Precept.[26]
The Buddhist concept of adulterous
behavior appears to be framed by the negative elements of unfaithfulness in a
marriage being regarded as detrimental to society. When we realize that
Buddhism is a religion that is based on observation of human lifestyles and
what is best for society, while at the same time seeking to find the ultimate
ideal, it is understandable that the value of marital relations are recognized
as essential for wholesome living. However, because the Buddhists do not have
any absolute moral values, there is merely the recognition of principles that
exist. In this respect, Buddhism has appeal to the Westerners who reject the
Bible as a source of instruction for salvation, because it allows for situational
ethics (promiscuity) and relative morality (homosexuality and prostitution).
What is described in the Bible as a violation of the commandment not to commit
adultery, does not violate the Buddha’s precept. The Bible defines adultery in
absolute terms that cover all unfaithfulness in a marital relationship,
including premarital behavior that detracts from what was originally designed
to be a unique expression of love between two individuals for eternity.
Siddhattha Gotama taught that
people needed to have right intentions so that suffering could end. Now we know
he recognized that desire was the cause of suffering. We have looked at
desiring another person’s goods, but what about his wife, or in the case of the
woman, her husband. Right intention means thinking about what is best for
society and those with whom we need to live. The resolve to remain faithful to
one’s partner in marriage for life and shun extra-marital relationships is seen
as being altruistic, because this is done for the good of the community. Not to
resolve to aspire to such a commitment of faithfulness in marriage is to bring
suffering upon the community. The Buddhist ideal is to avoid suffering. In many
respects, this is what obeying the voice of God does when we heed the Ten
Commandments. It is not that we are seeking to become self-righteous, rather by
doing what is right, we avoid the pain of sinful actions. Human observation of
people within society informs us that what God has ordained is for our good. It
is far better that we avoid the pain of suffering, the torments from sinful
action, and commit to doing what our Heavenly Father desires. If we slip, we
know we need His help.
The Fifth Rung
The fifth rung of the ladder from
Earth to Heaven concerns murder. The Lord God forbids murder. Yet we see that
the Lord God in the Bible endorses the slaying of people, even genocide was
commanded when the Israelites, led by Joshua (meaning, savior), were to take
possession of the Promised Land. Contrasted to this, Jesus (meaning, Savior),
an innocent man, was murdered on a cross, which was also endorsed by God.
Nevertheless, Jesus reinforced the idea of murder as sin. Jesus said that
murder originated from the Devil, when speaking about who was the father of the
Jews. For we read:
Therefore Jesus
said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and
have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me. Why don’t you
understand my speech? Because you can’t hear my word. You are of your father,
the Devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer
from the beginning, and doesn’t stand in the truth, because there is no truth
in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks on his own; for he is a liar, and its
father. But because I tell the truth, you don’t believe me. Which of you
convicts me of sin? If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? He who is
of God hears the words of God. For this cause you don’t hear, because you are
not of God.” (John 8:42-47)
Here we notice that Jesus speaks of
speech and murder, and hearing His words. People who do not want the truth, do
not want to hear the truth, therefore they decide that they will murder those
who tell them the truth. This is why the prophets in the past were hated. Those
who do not want to admit the truth hate whoever tells the truth, and their
response is to resort to murder. In fact, Jesus spoke of this idea on numerous
occasions. Here is an occasion when Jesus spoke about murder in a parable:
“Hear another
parable. There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a
vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a wine press in it, built a tower, leased
it out to farmers, and went into another country. When the season for the fruit
came near, he sent his servants to the farmers, to receive his fruit. The
farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again,
he sent other servants more than the first: and they treated them the same way.
But afterward he sent to them his son, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But
the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir.
Come, let’s kill him, and seize his inheritance.’ So they took him, and threw
him out of the vineyard, and killed him. When therefore the lord of the
vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?”
They
told him, “He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will lease out
the vineyard to other farmers, who will give him the fruit in its season.”
Jesus
said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders
rejected, the same was made the head of the corner. This was from the Lord. It
is marvelous in our eyes?’
“Therefore I
tell you, God’s Kingdom will be taken away from you, and will be given to a
nation producing its fruit. He who falls on this stone will be broken to
pieces, but on whomever it will fall, it will scatter him as dust.”
When
the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he
spoke about them. When they sought to seize him, they feared the multitudes,
because they considered him to be a prophet. (Matthew 21:30-46)
Notice
how they sought to kill Jesus because they considered Him a prophet. People
often hate those who speak the truth; even to the extent that they think by
removing the mouthpiece of God, through an act of murder, this solves the
problem. Jesus said that we are not to fear those who can only kill the body;
rather we are to fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in Hell (Matthew
10:28).
If a person only thinks about what
is right and does not tell other people about what is right, then that person
will not be in danger of offending people. If a person tells people what is
right to do and they do not like it, they will be motivated to kill that
person. This is because the god of this world (the Devil) is motivating them. Jesus
said that the Devil was a murderer from the beginning. This is the case, even
though each one is responsible for his or her own words (Matthew 12:36). Those
who speak the truth, do so to save lives. Those who speak lies, do so to
destroy lives. This is why Jesus mentioned that the Devil, being a speaker of
lies, was a murderer.
Siddhattha Gotama spoke about the
need for right speech as being the next step that follows right intention in
the eightfold path to avoid suffering. People need to think right thoughts, and
have the right intention, if they are to deliver right speech. Gotama is
thinking in terms of making true statements as a result of the observations
made regarding suffering. In this sense, one would probably expect words of
wisdom along the lines: He who wounds a friend with evil words creates an
enemy, but he who pacifies an enemy with good words creates a friend. Many people see Buddhism along these lines
and say that it is a religion of peace and Buddhists do not murder or kill
other people. Yet this is not the case. Historically, Buddhists have engaged in
violence similar to what has happened in Myanmar where Buddhist monks
slaughtered Muslims.[27]
Buddhist Warfare[28]
is a collection of eight essays that discuss military conquests throughout
history. Buddhists are not as peaceful as many people like to make out; the
religion consists of humans who have fallen short of the glory of our righteous
Heavenly Father. Evidently, the previous Tibetan Dalai Lama sought to have a
modern military. In a report about Buddhist support for killing, we find
commentary on the exaggerated pacifism of Buddhism, which is largely due to
what the Gotama actually taught and what the current Dalai Lama says. When the
current Dalai Lama was making comments on Osama Bin Laden, the Guardian
Newspaper reports:
At Harvard in
April 2009, the Dalai Lama explained that "wrathful forceful action"
motivated by compassion, may be "violence on a physical level" but is
"essentially nonviolence". So we must be careful to understand what
"nonviolence" means. Under the right conditions, it could include
killing a terrorist. [29]
Many people do not understand how
the killing of one individual can result in the salvation of many. This is what
happened when Jesus died. Jesus allowed himself to be crucified on the Cross of
Calvary, so that, if possible, everyone could be saved; but also, so that He
might redeem the right to rule the world that had been forfeited to Satan by
Adam, when he disobeyed the Lord God.
What happened to Jesus is different
to the slaying of a ringleader, or a few malcontents, in order to avert the
bloodshed of a multitude. The principle is the same, but the implications are
vastly different; because Jesus purchased peace for eternity.
When humans exercise violence as
advocated by the Dalai Lama, this is usually only a temporary measure. The
Dalai Lama’s view is based on the observation that in the past when violent
usurpers have been killed, a greater benefit to society has resulted (which is
why God ordered the slaying of people in the Old Testament), and when it has
not happened, millions of people have been killed and many millions more have
suffered.
At this point of our discussion it
is worth considering how the Buddhists like to claim superiority over
Christianity. Buddhists like to make much of the fact that their Buddha existed
five hundred years before Jesus (while overlooking that he came 1000 years
after Moses, who was taught by the Son of God—that is, Jesus, in His pre-incarnate
form. However, the following is what
Bhante Shravasti Dhammika has posted on his Guide To Buddhism A To Z:
The two men’s
understanding of the wider reality has almost nothing in common. The Buddha did
not believe in a creator God and Jesus did. For the Buddha, the Absolute was a
non-anthropo-morphic ‘Unborn, Un-become, Unmade, Un-constructed’ (Ud.80). Jesus
saw God as distinctly personal and human-like; he sometimes even addressed him
as ‘Abba’, a term of affectionate intimacy equivalent to ‘Daddy’. The Buddha
saw his Dhamma as liberating from samsara; Jesus saw his Gospel as saving from
hell. Following from this, the Buddha meditated, directing his attention inward
to his mind while Jesus prayed, directing his requests outward to God. For
Jesus, humanity’s ultimate goal was to be reborn in the presence of this God,
for the Buddha heaven was an end decidedly inferior to Nirvana. The Buddha gave
no special attention to his own tribe and taught all clans, castes and classes.
Jesus believed he ‘was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel’ (Matthew 10:5-6;
15:24), God’s chosen people. While Jesus believed that God would soon destroy
the world in an apocalypse of brimstone and fire (Matthew 10:23; 16:28), the
Buddha had little interest in predicting the future and would have found Jesus’
grim prediction rather puzzling. Jesus felt he was justified in sometimes
getting extremely angry, especially at those who doubted or scorned his message
(Matthew 23:33-35; John 2:15). Such ‘righteous indignation’ would have raised
eyebrows amongst those who knew the Buddha.
As is evident to those of us who
know the Bible, this is misinformation about Jesus and therefore, not being the
truth, has been written under the influence of the Father of Lies, who is a
murderer from the beginning.
There is no dispute that Jesus is
the pre-existent Son of God incarnate, and the Buddha was Siddhattha Gotama, a
mere man. Both made these respective claims of themselves. The fact that Jesus
claimed to be the Son of God, and rose from the dead, patently distinguishes
who is the more superior of the two, because Siddhattha Gotama, evidently, did
not rise from dead but presented that man’s duty was to seek cessation from
suffering. Jesus, on the other hand, showed us that he came to suffer and overcome
death for our sakes. In deciding which of the two religions are the more
positive, Christianity in its purest form demonstrates that it is by far the
superior, in that the key teaching concerns overcoming death. In contrast,
Buddhism is about finding ways to mitigate and avoid suffering in this life.
That humans have been created in the image of God is not an anthropomorphic
deification of human beings. This deifying of humans occurs in Hinduism, which
is something Gotama was seeking to redress, as none of those Hindu god-men
demonstrated anything remotely resembling what would be expected of God in
human form. Jesus did this when He rose from the dead; the only person to have
been recorded in history to do so. (I also can attest to Jesus being alive
today, because I have encountered Him and have had joy dwelling within, the
assurance of eternal salvation, as a consequence of this encounter for over
forty years. This is something that is promised in the Bible and because of my
experience, I attest to its veracity—not for any other reason.)
Bhante Shravasti Dhammika speaks of
the Dhamma as the liberation from Samara the endless cycle of
rebirths; which he says as a “restless, tiresome process will continue until
and unless Nirvāṇa is attained and this is
the whole purpose, the raison d’etre, of Buddhism.”[30]
However, it is important to note the subtlety that exists within Buddhism, for
we read:
Some centuries
after the Buddha, King Aśoka defined the ethical dimension of the Dhamma very
beautifully as ‘little evil, much good, kindness, generosity, truthfulness and
purity.’[31]
When it comes to God, there is no
evil. However, we learn from the Bible that Satan disguises himself as an angel
of light, and so do the servants who do his work (2 Corinthians 11:12-13).
Buddhism did not originate from an antagonist who opposed the work of apostles
of Jesus Christ; but it exists and appeals to many as truth—although some
adherents can be antagonistic towards the message of Lord Jesus Christ.
Buddhism is used by the Devil to turn people away from looking to Jesus Christ.
Bhante Shravasti Dhammika claims he rejected Christianity on the basis that he
believes he has found the truth in Buddhism. Unfortunately, the version of
Christianity he rejected was a perverted form of religion that denied the power
of God. Compared to ritualistic religion practiced by hypocrites, Buddhism
appears to be a true human philosophy because it is based on observation and
therefore demonstrably true. Jesus warned His disciples to beware of the leaven
of the Pharisees, which we can equate with “a little evil” that leavens (as in
poisons) the whole lump. Such is the teaching of the Buddha: it provides
sufficient light to see, but like twilight, it is not the light at all.
Jesus taught that unless we were
born of God, we could not see, nor enter, the Kingdom of God, nor could we
inherit the right to the promises of God (John 3:3-7; 1:12-13). The Apostle
Paul said that the whole of Creation was subject to futility until the
revealing of the Sons of God (Rom. 8:20-21). The Bible’s message is about transformation
and becoming what we were originally intended to be from the beginning; it is
not a message of avoidance but of response, encounter, development, and
mastery—once a state of permanent victory over the destructive forces that
plague this planet has been wrought in the individual through the power of
Almighty God.
Evidently, Buddhists believe the
delusion of seeking nirvana (being blown out—like a candle[32])
is better than seeking the voice of God. When we respond to the voice of God,
the reality of knowing our Heavenly Father through Lord Jesus Christ, by means
of the power of the Holy Spirit, surpasses seeking a state of non-existence
based on a man’s philosophy.
The author of the guide to Buddhism
that we are consulting for comparison with the only words that have been
written by the Finger of God, Bhante Shravasti Dhammika, attempts to beguile us
by making the false claim that Jesus only came to find the lost sheep of the
nation Israel and not anyone else. In doing so, he overlooks the fact there are
lost tribes. Nevertheless, in making this assertion, Bhante conveniently overlooks the following
statement by Jesus to His disciples:
Jesus came to
them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven
and on earth. Go, and make disciples of
all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to
observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to
the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20)
As for the claim that Siddhattha
Gotama would be puzzled that anyone would make predictions about the future,
this is understandable, because he was not God and he was merely creating a
reactionary teaching against Hinduism based on human observations; in an
attempt to escape suffering and the futility of the belief in endless rebirths.
Jesus, among other things, predicted the fall of Jerusalem, but more
importantly, His own resurrection and the gift of the Baptism of the Holy
Spirit being given on the Day of Pentecost. Some might not consider the
foretelling of His own death and resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy
Spirit to be predictions, but they were future events. Gotama could not make
any such claims because He was a mere man who did not know God. All the Buddha
could do was make observations and suggest means by which he thought he might
be able to achieve something which is actually impossible for a human to do
unless empowered by the Holy Spirit.
If we are to believe the Buddhists,
it appears the seeker of truth, Siddhattha Gotama was so righteous that the
righteousness of Jesus did not compare. According to Bhante Shravasti Dhammika,[33]
this is because the Buddha did not know righteous indignation. He claims that “Jesus
felt he was justified in sometimes getting extremely angry”. Let us look at the
Scriptures to see whether Jesus was angry. In chapter twenty-three of Matthew,
Jesus reprimands and warns the Pharisees and scribes and lawyers for their
wrongdoing and finishes by saying:
“Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How
often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her
chicks under her wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is left to you
desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me from now on, until you say,
‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
(Matthew
13:37-39)
As we can see, this does not sound
like a person who is angry at people who have doubted or scorned his message,
although it might be interpreted as such by an angry person who is projecting
his own disposition upon what he reads; instead of a person who has compassion
and realizes that Jesus is also compassionate, and He is warning people of
coming judgment. Not to do so would be to delight in the suffering of others;
which is sadistic and evil.
Let us have a look at the other two
quotations used to claim Jesus was extremely angry. In the quotation from the
Gospel of John, there is no mention of Jesus being angry. Jesus merely did what
He had the authority to do. This is evident when Jesus explained the reason for
his actions. We read:
The Passover of
the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. He found in the temple
those who sold oxen, sheep, and doves, and the changers of money sitting. He made a whip of cords, and threw all out of
the temple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers’ money,
and overthrew their tables. To those who sold the doves, he said, “Take these
things out of here! Don’t make my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written,
“Zeal for your house will eat me up.”
The
Jews therefore answered him, “What sign do you show us, seeing that you do
these things?”
Jesus answered
them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” (Jn 2:13-19)
Even though there is no mention of
Jesus being angry, it is understandable that in doing what He did, many people
would think of this as being angry. This is because we humans interpret
everything according to our own understanding of life and not necessarily
according to the truth. Jesus could have cracked the whip without anger and
merely performed what He did in an orderly and clinical manner. Instead of Jesus
being arrested, the Jews asked Him on what basis did He believe He had the
right to do what He did. This does not indicate a situation where Jesus
demonstrates extreme anger; quite the contrary, this indicates Jesus was in
control and calmly asserted Himself with a sense of authority, even if at first
glance this is not apparent and we might be inclined to believe otherwise;
because we do not associate demonstrative actions with peaceful people. Not
everybody needs to be frustrated and angry in order to demonstrate that he or
she can make a declaration of the truth. Zeal is not anger—but it can be easily
misinterpreted as such by onlookers. But would police doing their duty have to
be angry in order to execute the removal of trespassers? The answer is no. But
just like Jesus did, they would simply assert their authority (maybe with zeal).
The only place in the Bible where
Jesus is said to have shown any sign of anger, we learn that He heals a person.
The Buddhist author either does not know of this, or probably does not refer to
this because he does not want people to see Jesus as being superior to the mere
man Siddhattha Gotama. Here is what happened:
He entered again
into the synagogue, and there was a man there who had his hand withered. They
watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might
accuse him. He said to the man who had his hand withered, “Stand up.” He said
to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do harm? To save a
life, or to kill?” But they were silent. When he had looked around at them with
anger, being grieved at the hardening of their hearts, he said to the man,
“Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored as
healthy as the other. The Pharisees went out, and immediately conspired with
the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him. (Mark 3:1-6)
This situation is unlike the temple
scene in Jerusalem where Jesus demonstrated military-like precision in
executing His right to clear the temple of God from crooks committing crimes
against their own people as they were defrauding them by overcharging for doves
and swindling them when changing money into the temple coins. Where Jesus is said to be angry here, had
Jesus displayed a fit of anger, or had He been extremely angry, it is doubtful
proceedings would have been peaceful. While we are actually told Jesus was
angry on this occasion, we are also informed that Jesus was grieved by the
hardening of the people’s hearts against other people.
The Buddha is presented as a person
who was indifferent to injustice and hardness of heart towards other people.
This being the case, there would have been no need for him to forsake Hinduism. Something is amiss in what
we are being told about the originator of Buddhism. And if the Buddha had
compassion for people, why not help those in need? Jesus, on the other hand, revealed His
displeasure in His eyes towards those whom He looked because of their hardened
hearts and the indifference they possessed at the plight of the unfortunate;
yet, instead of being extremely angry, He healed the man. Now this is not the
action of an angry man but that of one who has control of matters and possesses
compassion.
The scenario described in this
passage from the Gospel of Mark was one similar to that recognized by the Dalai
Lama in respect to the slaying of terrorists. Jesus is asking the hypocrites,
“Is it better to save life or to kill?”
With every right to be angry at the
hardness of heart, we find Jesus is actually grieved (distressed) by the
attitude of the Pharisees, and instead of lashing out in pain, He exercises
true compassion by healing the man’s withered hand; rather than telling him to
seek nirvana and find a way to cause his suffering to stop. For the Buddhist,
right speech means to speak out in a helpful and compassionate way. Jesus went
further and affirmed His words through a positive demonstration of action and
true authority because He possessed the power to heal not only the hearts of
men with soothing words but also their physical bodies.
The Sixth Rung
The sixth rung on the ladder to
Heaven concerns honoring one’s parents because it is only right that we
acknowledge our origins. The fifth commandment is the first one that has a
promise. This is what the Apostle Paul writes:
Children, obey
your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,”
which is the first commandment with a promise: “that it may be well with you, and you may
live long on the earth.”
When we are talking about origins,
we are making a reference to our identity and those whom we want to identify
with. It is one thing to honor our parents, but another to honor them in the
Lord. To honor one’s parents in the Lord has a different connotation to just
honoring one’s parents. If our parents are not worthy of honor, we ask the
question: Are we to copy their example? This is fine if our parents are
exceptionally righteous citizens who put their trust in God and give glory to
His name in all that they do. However, we will find ourselves in a different
set of circumstances if they are criminally minded. What action should we take
if our parents expect us to be criminally minded too? What about if they expect
us to be partial to their sentiments rather than the truth and require us to
perform honor killings or avenge some family member’s blood?
The fact that we can have values
inculcated from childhood by our parents is one of the reasons the Bible says
that children taught good values have difficulty departing from them in later
life. Often this is the case, but not for everyone. Some children reject the
values of their parents and seek different values because they disagree with
their parent’s ideas or they are selfish and rebellious. What might be a
desirable standard to adhere to and uphold for some is not for others. The Ten
Commandments are often given lip service without being identified let alone
understood or adhered to by people who claim they acknowledge their value. This
is because, many believe that it is wrong to murder, or steal any of their
possessions, but not to conveniently bear false witness, commit adultery or
dishonor one’s parents. So far, we have only mentioned six of them, and even
then only briefly, for they have much greater implications than what we are
discussing here (this becomes particularly evident when reading The Only
Words Written By The Finger Of God).
Interestingly, the Buddha taught
that right action is living a life that is consistent with our values. Siddhattha
Gotama became dissatisfied having been born into the highest caste of Hinduism
and presents as having been deeply concerned about the suffering of others he
witnessed. Instead of continuing in the life of a noble, he became an ascetic
and studied under various teachers, only to remain disillusioned. Seeking
self-realization through meditation, Gotama came to the realization that
suffering needed to be avoided and this was best done through the renunciation
of possessions and worldly pleasures. This was contrary to the upbringing that
he had experienced, having been born into a ruling family. For Siddhattha,
walking in the footsteps of his parents as a member of the ruling elite, it
appears, were not values that he desired.
While Siddhattha Gotama rejected
the values of his parents to seek ones that would alleviate the suffering he
saw around him, but also his own unhappiness, he did not discover the Son of
God. Hence, at this rung of the ladder as one ascends upwards into Heaven, the
promises of God appear to be forsaken by Siddhattha Gotama.
Seeking the way to the
truth is just as important as seeking the truth. Honoring God is the only way
we can resist the Devil. If we do not honor God, as we have discussed earlier
consulting the book of James, our ability to resist the Devil and not be
deceived is weakened. Siddhattha did not find the great I AM; instead, he
developed his own views regarding his observations.
When The Rung Breaks
The sixth rung appears to be the
end of the Heaven-ward climb for the Buddhist. Even though the Buddhist system
of thought appears to hold up quite well, once it begins to bend, when dealing
with human relationships it bends over completely and breaks down when it comes
to accepting the Creator; Who is to be honored as the One in whose likeness man
was created. This is because Buddhism is based on the observations of humans
within society and what happens in the environment. Gotama Siddhattha concluded
that the world is in a state of flux and everything is merely on a journey from
one form of energy to another. This idea has developed into the concept of an
unknowable force guiding an evolutionary process of creation through its stages
from non-existence back to non-existence.
Charles Darwin made some
observations on the Galapagos Islands and developed his theory of evolution
based on the survival of the fittest, after having read Thomas Malthus’s view
on population control, and adapted this to the species of life in general.
Darwin is also attributed to having stated: “Ignorance more frequently begets
confidence than does knowledge.” From this, we can conclude that ignorance
arising from not possessing a personal relationship with the Creator begets
overconfidence in the abilities of man and the belief that after death there is
nothing to fear.
According to Confucius, from his
observations of men and life in general, real knowledge is to know the extent
of one’s ignorance.
The Bible informs us that the
beginning of real knowledge is to understand the difference between what is
good and what is evil; what is right and what is wrong; what is true and what
is false. That which is false is wrong, therefore evil. Put another way, we can
say that which is erroneous is contrary to our natural sense of justice;
therefore, harmful. Seeking God’s voice is not harmful. How can it be?
Many people take the position that
even though the evidence in Creation points to a Designer, they are not
prepared to acknowledge that a designer exists. To acknowledge Creation has
been created by Design automatically requires us to seek the Designer out.
Hence, it is preferable to say something like the atheist Bertrand Russell
claimed: “One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel
certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled
with doubt and indecision."
To deny the Creator is to doubt the
evidence of design pointing to His existence, therefore, imagination is
required to create new assumptions and form propositions that can be used to
create opinions and philosophies of every kind. If we are certain that we have
a relationship with our Heavenly Father (and I am) then, according to the
atheist Bertrand Russell, this is stupid.
Socrates is on record as having
said, “One thing I know is I know nothing.” Presumably, rather than nothing, he
meant very little at all, as technically or literally, nothing is impossible to
find. For as Shakespeare wrote in his play, As You Like It, “The fool
does think he is wise, but the wise man knows he is but a fool.”
Evidently, a wise man according to
the ways of the world ceases to be a fool, when he acknowledges that God
exists. As the Psalmist says, only a fool says in his heart there is no God
(Psalm 53:1). But then the natural man who focuses on materialism is unable to
grasp the truth of God. The person, who thinks in human terms, considers the
idea as pure foolishness that a world exists where evil reigns and a righteous
Creator has a purpose for us to be born and expects us to seek His voice.
The reason we need to seek the
voice of God is that it is impossible for us to see God. Like living in a room,
we cannot see the outside, only what is around us. When outside and we look around,
we see the ground, the sky, and the views in every direction we turn, we cannot
see the Infinite One, only the evidence of His Creation. How do we contact the
Lord of Life? In the book of James (4:8), we are encouraged to draw near to God,
because if we do so, He will draw near to us. This brings us to the seventh
rung in the moral ladder that rises toward Heaven as we seek the voice of God.
The Seventh Rung
Now that we are acknowledging God,
we need to rest in the knowledge that He is the Creator of the Universe and
there is no other. God is infinite, omniscient, all-powerful and ever-present.
In GOD we live and move and have our being. By putting our trust in God and
honoring Him, we bring Him glory because we desire to grow into our
understanding and knowledge of our Creator. Jeremiah speaking for the Lord God
says:
Yahweh says,
Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in
his might, don’t let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories
glory in this, that he has understanding, and knows me, that I am Yahweh who
exercises loving kindness, justice, and righteousness, in the earth: for in
these things I delight, says Yahweh. (Jeremiah 9:21:23-24)
For us to know that God is in
control and He exercises loving-kindness, justice and righteousness, this
requires us to understand the greatness of the One and Only Lord God, Creator
of the Heavens and the Earth. When we possess the realization that we can place
our trust in Him to lead us in paths of righteousness and restore our soul,
then rest in God we will. Does it not make sense that our Creator knows our
needs and desires that we come to understand and know Him? Jesus said that we
have no need to be anxious about anything because our Heavenly Father knows our
needs. We read:
“No one can serve two masters, for either he
will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and
despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon. Therefore I tell you,
don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor
yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body
more than clothing? See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do
they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you
of much more value than they?
“Which of you, by being anxious, can add one
moment to his lifespan? Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies
of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin, yet I tell
you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these. But
if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is
thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith?
“Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What
will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’ For
the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that
you need all these things. But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness;
and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore don’t be anxious
for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is
sufficient. (Matthew 6:24-34)
The life we live can be one that is
devoted to chasing the riches of this world or it can be one of trusting in
God. Even though we may labor, we do not labor for personal gain; but to glorify
our Heavenly Father. Our aim in life is not the accumulation of
possessions. Our aim in life is to
understand and know God more. The Christian therefore is not to be a hermit and
ascetic but someone who brings glory to God in their life. The Christian lifestyle
may seem to be boring compared to those who like to live in places that are war
torn; where everyone lives on edge because a bomb could go off at any time or a
shooting could occur at any minute. For
those who are Christians, the daily feelings of joy and the gratitude that
comes with knowing the goodness of the Father are more in keeping with the
enjoyment life should offer rather than the fear of harm and suffering being
ever present. Therefore, by being content
with what one does, knowing that it is for the benefit of all, should produce
happiness from one’s occupation, knowing only too well that obeying God’s voice
and resting in the knowledge that He reigns is sufficient for each day.
Siddhattha Gotama made the
observation that there is much gained in earning a living that does not hurt
others. The fact that he came from nobility, and was used to having slaves and
peasants working so that the nobility might enjoy the comforts that this world
has to offer, may have had much to do with his insight regarding a right
livelihood. If nobody harms anyone, there is no reason for resentments or any
ill feeling. If what one does is for the benefit of others as well as oneself,
there is no need for suspicion. The Apostle Paul advised people in Philippi that
they ought to not only look after their own interests but also those of others
and not be selfish or conceited (Philippians 2:3-4). The gospel message is one
of peace and quiet living with all men (1 Timothy 2:2) for we are to rely upon
our Heavenly Father to provide our daily bread (Luke 11:3), but this does not
mean being idle. The Apostle Paul advises that we should work:
Now we command
you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw
yourselves from every brother who walks in rebellion, and not after the
tradition which they received from us. For you know how you ought to imitate
us. For we didn’t behave ourselves rebelliously among you, neither did we eat bread from anyone’s hand
without paying for it, but in labor and travail worked night and day, that we
might not burden any of you; not because we don’t have the right, but to make
ourselves an example to you, that you should imitate us. For even when we were
with you, we commanded you this: “If anyone will not work, don’t let him eat.
For we hear of some who walk among you in rebellion, who don’t work at all, but
are busybodies. Now those who are that
way, we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they
work, and eat their own bread. But you, brothers, don’t be weary in doing well.
(2 Thessalonians 3:6-13)
Finally then,
brothers, we beg and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us
how you ought to walk and to please God, that you abound more and more. For you
know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus... and that you make
it your ambition to lead a quiet life, and to do your own business, and to work
with your own hands, even as we instructed you; that you may walk properly
toward those who are outside, and may have need of nothing. (1 Thessalonians
4:1-2, 11-12)
There is a very important reason
for us to work and this is so that we can support the work of the Lord and grow
in faith doing so. In the book of Malachi, we learn that this is the reason why
we are to tithe, so that we can prove God in our lives and give Him the glory
for what He has done. Many ask, why do you believe in God when there is no
proof? The Lord invites us to prove Him by putting Him to the test and see
whether He honors His word (Malachi 3:6-12). This way we are given the
opportunity for our faith to grow. When we have put the Lord God to the test,
and He honors His word to us, we discover the truth about the Bible. Now if He
were not to honor His word, then we know that the God to Whom the Bible bears
witness is not true. For those who desire the truth, the only means of
livelihood that is acceptable to God is one in which He can demonstrate that He
is responsible for our well-being. Therefore, we are to work and to rest and
honor our God in doing so by bringing into Him the first fruits of our labors.
In the book of wisdom we read:
Trust in Yahweh
with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. In all your ways
acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Don’t be wise in your
own eyes. Fear Yahweh, and depart from evil. It will be health to your body,
and nourishment to your bones.
Honor
Yahweh with your substance, with the first fruits of all your increase: so your
barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.
(Proverbs 3:5-10)
The Sabbath is about trusting in
the Lord God. The tithe is about putting God to the test that our confidence in
Him might grow, and we can rest more securely in Him. This is different to the
Buddhist idea of right livelihood. The main components of the Buddha’s idea of
a right livelihood are to do what is necessary to meet one’s basic needs in an
honest and lawful way that is beneficial to the community, preferable with the
strength of arm and sweat of brow. In this respect, what the Buddha taught was
similar to that which the Apostle Paul wrote regarding work.
The Eighth Rung
The eighth rung of the ladder to
Heaven is about the name of God. Many Christians would see this as taking the
name of God in vain or blasphemy, which is saying “Jesus” or “God” or “Lord” in
an irreverent manner. Some would include phrases that include the words “virgin
mary” or “mother of god” expressed as expletives as blasphemous, but they are
not. However, such titles as “Mother of
God” are blasphemous when used reverently—instead of addressing the Heavenly
Father through Lord Jesus Christ.
To take the name of God in vain
really means to be a hypocrite. Hypocrites are people who claim that they are
Christians, but they do not live as the Lord God requires. Hypocrites do what
is contrary to the royal law and knowingly break God’s Law. Hypocrites say they
love God, but prefer to indulge in their hidden practices, rather than be
honest with themselves and others. God sees all, even the depth of the
hypocrites fall from grace. Yet hypocrites like to claim grace rather than
faith as the means of their salvation. However, if we are seeking to do the
will of God, and find ourselves misled, this is not hypocrisy; because this is
not making a false profession when we ought to be honest and confess the true
nature and intent of our heart. If people mislead us in our ignorance, this is
different to us misleading others in their ignorance; especially when our true
intent is one of honesty.
Claiming the name of God is no
small matter. Evidently the name of God was held in such high regard that the
Jews refused to mention THE NAME least they used it wrongly. This superstition
is so entrenched, that they would go to great efforts to avoid saying the name
of God. Even today, Jews will write G-d rather than God. Yet Jews will do any
manner of wrong and expect absolution of wrongdoing on Yom Kippur, the Day of
Atonement; which they believe enables them to be free from their sins of the
previous year. This, of course, is not what the Bible teaches. Jesus Christ is
the one that has fulfilled the requirements of the sacrificial offering for the
sins of the whole world and not just the Israelites. The name of God is not
something to be fear, but rather the truth to revere—and express with gratitude.
When it comes to taking the name of God in vain, this simply means claiming to
be chosen of God but not doing what God requires. If we are to make any effort
in respect to our salvation, it is to ensure that we are not found among the
hypocrites.
There is an irony regarding the
name of God, because the name of God is expressed as JHWH and this is on
everybody’s lips. Regardless, of who we are, everybody that breathes pronounces
(for what has become for the Jews, the inexpressible) name of God. Every time
we inhale and exhale, every living creature that has breath expresses the name
of God. The very essence of the name of God is life. We read in the Gospel of
John that in the beginning was the Word; the Word was God and in Him life
exists (John 1:1-4). The very last words
of the book of Psalms are:
Praise Yah! Praise God in his sanctuary! Praise him in his heavens for his acts of
power! Praise him for his mighty acts!
Praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with the sounding of the
trumpet! Praise him with harp and lyre!
Praise him with tambourine and dancing! Praise him with stringed instruments
and flute! Praise him with loud cymbals!
Praise him with resounding cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise Yah! Praise Yah! (Ps. 150)
The personal recognition of the
greatness of God is the ultimate conclusion about life that our powers of
reasoning must acknowledge if we are being honest. We can choose to reject this
or we can accept the truth that besides the Lord God—YHWH—there is no other. In
Him Alone is life. God is Life. Every
breath that we take acknowledges His name (effectively saying “Yah” as we draw
breath). When we inhale, we produce the consonantal sound “YH”, and when we
exhale, we pronounce the consonantal sound “WH”. To concentrate on the sound of
our breathing is to concentrate on the name of the Lord God. The irony being,
of course, the Jews do not want to pronounce God’s name wrongly so they never
voluntarily say YHWH, even though every time they inhale and exhale they
pronounce the name of the great I AM, besides Whom, there is no other.
In some respects, one would think
that having learned to rest in the knowledge that God is the Creator of the
Heavens and the Earth and has a purpose for us; it should be relatively easy to
do our bit and row our boat in the river of life. The Apostle Paul says:
So then, my
beloved, even as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now much
more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it
is God who works in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.
The analogy of being in a boat
rowing, or in a canoe paddling, up the river to our destination would be an apt
illustration of what it means to be resting in the Lord and yet having to work
out our own salvation. In a boat with two oars, it is simply a matter of
pulling both oars at the same time to propel the boat upriver while resting on
the seat. With a canoe, we would need to paddle alternating from one side to
the other. Imbalanced rowing or paddling, if we are not beached on the banks,
will result in us going around in circles and going in the opposite direction
as the current takes us towards the river’s mouth.
In saying that we are traveling up
the river of salvation, this analogy reflects the view that Heaven is up and
Hell is down. The waters of life flow down from Heaven. Each one of us has to
work out our own salvation and while we are rowing or paddling up stream, we
are getting closer to securing it. Likewise to use the metaphor of the ladder
to Heaven that Jacob saw (Genesis 28:12), we all know some effort is required
to climb a ladder. If we can imagine a
ladder with one thousand rungs and every one hundred rungs corresponds to the
temptations that we need to overcome regarding each commandment as we advance
to the next level, and then we have the picture of climbing the ladder from
Earth to Heaven. We are drawing nearer to God. Importantly, we must take note
of this fact: we are not talking about salvation by works, but working out our
salvation with God helping us in the process. The difference is like chalk and
cheese. One is distasteful and causes us to spit, when in our mouths, and the
other is flavorsome and morish, something we desire.
If we take the name of God and do
not secure our salvation, so that we can walk in it, we have in effect taken
His name in vain; which is a futile exercise.
The Buddhist view of right effort
that corresponds with our rung for taking the name of the Lord in vain is seen
as the catalyst that brings the aforementioned qualities together and animates
them. In this respect, the river of life is seen as one heading downhill
instead of going uphill, one needs to go with the downhill flow and only needs
to use oars or paddles to maintain balance.
One must not try too hard but one must exude effort, least one stagnates
or, using the analogy of the river, one is beached on the banks of the river or
crashes into the rocks of the rapids. Evidently, the Buddha defined right
effort thus:
“One generates
the desire to prevent the arising of unskilful states not yet arisen, the
desire to give up unskilful states already arisen, the desire to develop
skilful states not yet arisen and the desire to nurture and further develop
skilful states already arisen. One makes an effort, exerts energy, focuses and directs
the mind to these ends.”[34]
On the downward flow, one can
imagine coming down from the Himalayas on the Ganges River and heading towards
the ocean while in the process of developing the skills required to starve off
Hindu ideas and yet developing what skills a person has acquired to achieve
mindfulness. This is what the focusing on applying right effort as part of the
eight-fold pathway to end suffering and achieving nirvana means. Not that when
one achieves nirvana all suffering stops but that one has supposedly finished
suffering in one’s own life. The state
of bliss is one where there is no suffering but the Buddha sees it only from an
individual perspective. In many respects, this can be likened to falling into a
peaceful sleep: a state that many imagine death will be like; only when we have
a peaceful sleep, we wake to tell people how good it was. When the Buddha died,
unlike Jesus, he did not come back from the dead. He has remained dead and
people do not become enlightened by meeting him afterwards, as they do when
they encounter Lord Jesus Christ. Yet millions worship the dead Buddha.
When a person takes the name of
God, the person is calling upon the Lord to overcome suffering, not avoid
suffering. This is the difference between being a Buddhist and being a genuine Christian.
The revealed name of God is Lord Jesus Christ and to be a Christian means to
belong to the congregation of the anointed ones, who have received the baptism of
the Holy Spirit and are anointed of God. Jesus is Lord and the body of Christ
is the body of the anointed ones, therefore if we suffer for being a Christian
we bring glory to God.
Beloved, don’t
be astonished at the fiery trial which has come upon you, to test you, as
though a strange thing happened to you. But because you are partakers of
Christ’s sufferings, rejoice; that at the revelation of his glory you also may
rejoice with exceeding joy. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are
blessed; because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. On their part he
is blasphemed, but on your part he is glorified. For let none of you suffer as
a murderer, or a thief, or an evil doer, or a meddler in other men’s matters.
But if one of you suffers for being a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but
let him glorify God in this matter.
(1 Peter
4:12-16)
The aim of suffering for the
Christian is to produce holiness and the fruit of righteousness. What the
suffering Christian endures is actually described as discipline and even
chastening as we read in the book of Hebrews:
You have not yet
resisted to blood, striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation
which reasons with you as with children, “My son, don’t take lightly the
chastening of the Lord, nor faint when
you are reproved by him;6 For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.”
It
is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for
what son is there whom his father doesn’t discipline? But if you are without
discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then are you illegitimate,
and not children. Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us,
and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the
Father of spirits, and live? For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as
seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his
holiness. All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous;
yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have
been exercised thereby. (Heb. 12:6-11)
Obeying the voice of the Lord is
not just a matter of hearing Him speak; it is matter of doing what faith
requires. The voice of God in our hearts is what people know as their
conscience. When we speak of right effort, we would be better to think of
making the effort to comply with our conscience and not find ourselves
overriding its prompts as Saul of Tarsus did before he became a Christian. You
see, Saul believed in God, but he did not know the Son of God. Hence, in the
book of Acts we learn that Jesus points to Saul overriding his conscience when
He says: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick
against the pricks” (Acts 26:14). The
pricks of conscience that Saul felt were the consequence of his knowledge of
the law that it was wrong to commit murder and yet this is what he was
doing—seeking to murder Christians.
Right effort then is to comply with
the commandment not to take the name of God in vain and bring His name into
disrepute. The Buddhists cannot understand this, as we have identified,
Siddhattha Gotama departed from seeking the true God when we got to the sixth
rung of the ladder, where acknowledgement of origins were required to continue
upwards, instead he honored the values he had developed rather than the
Creator. In determining that his observations were valid, Siddhattha also set
forth a philosophical system of thought to assist others to make what they
think are their own determinations rather than seek the truth. Nirvana then was
to become something a person sought through personal development of the
faculties to avoid suffering. Each individual would tread his or her own path
and create his or her own relativity within their situation. In other words,
each one’s personal values would become relative to the situation they
perceived existed, as has become evident when considering the third rung about
stealing and creativity and forming a right view. This results in concepts such
as relative morality and situational ethics and conforms to the idea of
evolutionary change. Opposed to this is the absolute righteousness of God as
expressed in the Ten Commandments. Yet for the Buddhist, whatever morals they
espouse, as long as it is does not harm others or cause suffering, then these
are acceptable. This thinking is acceptable to many who are made aware of the
ways of the world and are instilled with the ideals of utopia or desire
something better than what is currently on offer. Many people opt for the
Buddhist philosophy because they feel they can do what they like and there is
no reminder of judgment for sin or need for forgiveness and reconciliation with
others. Likewise, many reject Jesus based on what they perceive as a delusion
for many reasons, but primarily because they do not want to accept the
requirement for true humility. The Buddhist concept of personal effort, known
as right effort, appeals because this is how one supposedly develops
mindfulness and takes control of one’s life in the now, and forever, by
harnessing the evolutionary energy that is at work in every individual. To
quote the Guide To Buddhism:
Effort is the
catalyst that brings the other qualities on the path into being and then
animates them. Thus, for example, although we all have the potential to be
mindful we may never have been until we heard about it and appreciated its
value and utility. We might then make an effort to be mindful and become so.
In some respects, this statement
has parallels to what happens when we hear the gospel for the first time. We
all have the potential to be mindful of the call God makes on our lives.
Whether we respond to this call is another matter. If we do not appreciate the
value of the message, we are not going to give it a second thought. Much
depends on the quality of the values in life that we have observed and have
expected for ourselves. If we have no appreciation of what is required to
create the Universe, then it is highly unlikely we will not appreciate the call
of God on our lives and we will begin to resist. If we are truly conscious of
God, like Saul of Tarsus was, and if we are deluded, we will experience levels
of pain as we fight the pricks. In this case, we fit the description of lost
sheep who desire to be reconciled with our Heavenly Father, only we have lost
our way. These are the ones for whom Jesus said that He came: people who have a
genuine desire to do what is right, but because of circumstances have been lead
astray. Such individuals often hear the voice of God in ways that cause the
rest of us to marvel and envy, but then they experience levels of suffering and
torment that we would not envy, even though we may marvel at their endurance.
Indeed, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God, for the
Lord judges His people before He judges those who reject Him.
For we know him
who said, “Vengeance belongs to me,” says the Lord, “I will repay.” Again, “The
Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of
the living God. But remember the former days, in which, after you were
enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings; partly, being
exposed to both reproaches and oppressions; and partly, becoming partakers with
those who were treated so. For you both
had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your
possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an
enduring one in the heavens. Therefore
don’t throw away your boldness, which has a great reward. For you need endurance so that, having done
the will of God, you may receive the promise.
“In a very little while, he who comes will
come, and will not wait. But the
righteous will live by faith. If he
shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”
But
we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith
to the saving of the soul. (Hebrews 10:30-39)
The corresponding commandment to
the Buddhist concept of right effort says that the Lord will not hold us
guiltless if we take His name in vain. Each one of us possesses life and as we
breathe, we express the name of the Lord, YHWH. If we do not seek the truth, if
we do not acknowledge that our Creator is the source of life, every time we
breathe, we take God’s name in vain. For we utter the consonants YH (sounds
like “yhi” with a short vowel) and the consonants WH (sounds like “whi” with a
short vowel) but do not honor the One Who gives us breath. If anybody is to
make a right effort to be mindful, but is not mindful of this fact, then they
are obviously missing the mark and rejecting the truth of life. Obedience of
faith does not come from rejecting the truth, or shrinking back, when we have
the opportunity to be honoring God.
The Ninth Rung
The ninth rung in the ladder to
Heaven requires us to ensure that we put nothing before the Lord God and commit
idolatry. It is very easy to put things before God and not be mindful of Him
during the day. This is especially the case in the WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialized,
Rich and Democratic) world that many of us live. Even for many in what can be
regarded as Second World and Third World nations, it is easy to put other
things before God. These things are the many idols upon which we place our
focus. What we place our focus upon extends beyond looking to the other gods of
our ancestors. In reality, those gods were not God at all but elementary
spirits that still exist. The spirits lay claim over those who do not secure
salvation and keep the commandments of the Lord. Instead of wooden idols,
today, these idols can be celebrities in any field of endeavor or merely the
celebrities found in the entertainment arena. There are political idols and
then there is the idol of political philosophy and the worldviews espoused by
any political party. There are the idols of philosophy and humanistic systems
of thought that do not honor the Lord God because they are not in accord with
the law and the prophets (Isaiah 8:20). Some humanistic systems come in the
name of theology claiming to honor God. One such system is Calvinism, another
popular system is the self-esteem movement, and then there is the word of faith
movement, which becomes a humanistic system for a different reason.
Calvinism
Calvinism purports to honor God yet
it makes the Creator out to be a god who has created people for no other reason
than to torment them for eternity. Those who are not to be tormented forever
can do whatever they like, as long as they acknowledge the name of God and
defend their belief system, because they were chosen before the foundation of
the world. Calvinists put their ideas
before the truth that God desires all men to be saved and expects us to pray
for their salvation. This is what the Apostle Paul wrote regarding this:
I exhort
therefore, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and giving of
thanks, be made for all men: for
kings and all who are in high places; that we may lead a tranquil and quiet
life in all godliness and reverence. For
this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; who desires all
people to be saved and come to full knowledge of the truth.
(1 Timothy
2:1-3)
If the Lord God did not desire all
men to be saved, then there would not be the request to pray for all men.
Calvinists, contrary to what is written in the Bible reject this and pluck
various texts from its pages, out of context, to create their own doctrines of
total depravity, unconditional election, limited atonement, irresistible grace
and perseverance of the saints, otherwise known as by the acronym TULIP. In
effect, they worship a human philosophy and even make the mistake of claiming
the Bible is the actual Living Word of God, when this is denied in the very
book itself. To prove their point, about the Bible being the Living Word of God,
their favorite text is Hebrews, chapter four, verse twelve, which they pluck
out of context. Here is the text in context, also the verse from the Bible that
states Who really is the Living Word of God and another reference from the book
of Revelation confirming Who it is that searches the hearts and minds of each
individual.
Let us therefore
give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example
of disobedience. For the Word of God is
living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to
the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and
intentions of the heart. There is no creature that is hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and laid open
before the eyes of Him to Whom we must give an account. (Hebrews
4:11-13)
I saw the heaven
opened, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it is called Faithful and
True. In righteousness He judges and
makes war. His eyes are a flame of
fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has names written and a name written
which no one knows but he himself. He is clothed in a garment sprinkled with
blood. His name is called “The Word of God.”
(Revelation
19:11-13)
But I have this
against you, that you tolerate your woman, Jezebel, who calls herself a
prophetess. She teaches and seduces my servants to commit sexual immorality,
and to eat things sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she
refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her into a
bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great oppression, unless they
repent of her works. I will kill her children with Death, and all the
assemblies will know that I am He who
searches the minds and hearts. I will give to each one of you according to
your deeds. (Revelation 2:20-23)
As we can
see, we are being encouraged to enter God’s rest. The Word of God is the One
who determines whether we can enter God’s rest, as there is no creature hidden
from His sight and to Him we all have to give account because He is the Judge
of all. Not only are all to give an account, but each one will receive
according to each one’s deeds, as Lord Jesus told the church at Thyatira. One
thing is definite, the Living Word is not the Bible. The Living Word of God is
Lord Jesus Christ.
Self-Esteem Movement
The self-esteem movement is about
self-assertion within the world and leads people to putting their ideals before
worshiping God. They seek self-improvement in the name of God, but often the
goals become the idols that prevent them from securing what God desires of
them. Likewise, these people make the mistake of quoting Scripture out of
context and focus on verses they believe are inspirational rather than seeking
the truth and the true context of the meaning of the verse. The movement tends
to use the quotation from the King James Bible “as a man thinketh so is he” as
the basis for what they do. Actually, Donald Trump, the American businessman,
casino operator and successful United States Presidential candidate, is the
product of the self-esteem movement having, with his parents, attended the
church of which Norman Vincent Peale was the minister, who wrote The Power
of Positive Thinking. When we read this proverb within the context the
other proverbs a different picture emerges:
4 Labour not to
be rich: cease from thine own wisdom.
5 Wilt thou set
thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings;
they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.
6 Eat thou not
the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats:
7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:
Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.
8 The morsel
which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.
9 Speak not in
the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words.
10 Remove not
the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless:
11 For their
redeemer is mighty; he shall plead their cause with thee.
12 Apply thine
heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.
13 Withhold not
correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not
die.
14 Thou shalt
beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.
15 My son, if
thine heart be wise, my heart shall rejoice, even mine.
16 Yea, my reins
shall rejoice, when thy lips speak right things.
17 Let not thine
heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long.
18 For surely
there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off.
19 Hear thou, my
son, and be wise, and guide thine heart in the way. (Proverbs 23:4-19)
Proverbs are such that they can be
taken out of context to express a pithy truth that has a general application.
However, it is also important that the context of each proverb is understood,
if we are to appreciate the true implications of what is meant by the saying.
As we can see, the context of the
proverb under consideration is not about becoming rich, but about being wise
and not being envious of those in the world. Notice the admonition to raise a
child with the appropriate punishment if necessary, that he might be wise and
recognize that this life is but the beginning of existence, for eternity
beckons and each one needs to mindful of his or her way. A child that is
incorrectly raised, rather than being given every chance to discover for
himself or herself what God requires of him or her, will be easily snared by
the Devil to do his will; rather than seeking out the Heavenly Father.
The seven words “as a man thinketh,
so he is, although expressing a truth, are frequently quoted out of context.
Those within the self-esteem movement quote these seven words ad nauseam and
adherents begin to believe that everything is about them achieving rather than
striving to be chosen to enter God’s rest and securing their eternal salvation.
The deceit of the deceiver is ever so subtle.
The Word Of Faith Movement
The word of faith movement places a
focus on God doing what He says He will do, but unfortunately, adherents go beyond
God’s word when claiming that one has to have faith in one’s own faith. The
idea that God will provide everything in accordance to His word is correct and,
in this respect, we are to trust Him. The Bible teaches that God provides and
heals. We read this concerning Abraham and the Israelites:
Abraham called
the name of that place Yahweh Will Provide. As it is said to this day, “On
Yahweh’s mountain, it will be provided.” (Genesis 22:14)
And he said, “If
you will diligently listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, and will do that which
is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to his commandments, and keep all
his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you, which I have put on the
Egyptians; for I am Yahweh who heals you.” (Exodus 15:26)
Unfortunately, those that adhere to
the word of faith teachings tend to go beyond what the Bible actually teaches
and presumptuously believe that not their faith in Lord Jesus Christ but their
faith alone (which often merely self-confidence rather than faith in Lord
Jesus) is sufficient to secure eternal salvation and divine blessings. More
than this, instead of understanding what it means to reap one hundredfold in
accordance to what the Bible teaches, adherents wrongfully believe that the
hundredfold blessing applies to everything, and not to the responsibilities a
person would have if he or she were responsible for one hundred households. The
hundredfold blessing is based upon the following verse:
Jesus said,
“Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or
sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for my sake, and
for the sake of the Good News, but he will receive one hundred times more now
in this time, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land, with
persecutions; and in the age to come eternal life.
Adherents within the word of faith
movement overshoot the mark when they become presumptuous and expect God to do
miracles and bless them financially beyond their true measure of faith.
Forsaking confidence in their own abilities, they enter into the realm of
wishful thinking and may get burnt badly. Unfortunately, many adherents who
advocate the hundredfold blessing overlook brothers, sisters, mothers, children
and persecutions as part of their belief system, which is derisively known as
“name and claim” and “blab and grab”. The element of responsibility and what it
means to forsake what one currently possesses in order to promote the gospel is
not taken into account. While the idea of believing that God will provide
material needs and ensure good health is Biblical and forms part of the
promises given to us, material wealth without the responsibility of using it to
foster goodwill and bring blessing to other people and helping them to come to
an understanding of the gospel message is unbiblical. Consequently, many have
fallen away from believing the goodness of God, because the Devil has tapped
into their covetousness; as individuals who have fallen for the deceit of
worldly riches, rather than learning how to grow in faith in Lord Jesus Christ
and bear fruit unto eternal life.
What needs to be understood by
adherents of the Word of Faith movement is that while everything needs to be
done in accordance to one’s faith, placing faith in one’s own faith does not
work for salvation. This is because our faith is weak. On the other hand, if we
place our faith in Lord Jesus Christ, we are exercising faith towards God.
Fighting The Good Fight
The enemy lays numerous traps to
ensnare us in order to prevent us from securing the fullness of the blessing
that is available as Christians. These
will always come in the way of theological systems if not in some other way. We
might be ensnared into thinking we are glorifying God, but are really
practicing hypocrisy. We say we believe, but our actions tell a different
story. Instead of being mindful of our Lord Jesus Christ throughout the day, we
are more concerned about other matters. This might be because we put the Bible
before Lord Jesus and believe that our version of the Bible is the correct one.
We might be intent on seeking a career or gaining wealth or influence in the
community. We might be attempting to convert others and have faith in our own
faith rather than in Lord Jesus Christ to provide. All these things become
idols that we put before Lord Jesus when they become our focus. The following is what the Apostle Paul wrote
to Timothy:
Fight the good
fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you
confessed the good confession in the sight of many witnesses. I command you
before God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before
Pontius Pilate testified the good confession, that you keep the commandment
without spot, blameless, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ; which in
its own times he will show, who is the blessed and only Ruler, the King of
kings, and Lord of lords; who alone has
immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor can
see: to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen.
Charge
those who are rich in this present world that they not be haughty, nor have
their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God, who richly
provides us with everything to enjoy;
that they do good, that they be rich in good works, that they be ready
to distribute, willing to communicate;
laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to
come, that they may lay hold of eternal life.
Timothy,
guard that which is committed to you, turning away from the empty chatter and
oppositions of what is falsely called knowledge; which some profess, and thus
have wandered from the faith. Grace be with you. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:12-21)
The good fight of faith is not a
profession of belief; rather it is a confession of Lord Jesus working on our
behalf. Many think they need to defend their belief system when in fact they
really need Lord Jesus to defend them and have angels rebuke the Devil on their
behalf. This is what the Bible says:
My little
children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if
anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous.[35] (1
John 2:1)
But Michael, the
archangel, when contending with the Devil and arguing about the body of Moses,
dared not bring against him an abusive condemnation, but said, “May the Lord
rebuke you!” (Jude 1:9)
Bring the whole
tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now
in this,” says Yahweh of Armies, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven,
and pour you out a blessing, that there will not be room enough for. I will rebuke the devourer for your
sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your
vine cast its fruit before its time in the field,” says Yahweh of Armies. “All
nations shall call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,” says Yahweh
of Armies. (Malachi 3:10-12)
Too many people who believe in the
death and resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ to be a historical fact do not
realize where they stand before His throne in Heaven. They possess a sketchy
understanding of what God desires for them and only have a shallow
understanding of the gospel message.
Consequently, their faith is superficial rather than being sufficient to
overcome the Devil. Instead of relying upon the Lord to defend them, they feel
they have to justify their beliefs and are want to argue the point that they
are right. This is not only with unbelievers but also with believers who are of
a different persuasion to themselves. Those who are inclined to argue the most
are usually arrogant and place their confidence in the system of beliefs into
which they have been indoctrinated, which is based on human philosophy rather
than the truth; even if it contains some truth to provide plausibility. This we
are warned about in the book of Colossians, which states:
See to it that
no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human
tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not
according to Christ. For in him the
whole fulness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fulness of life in
him, who is the head of all rule and authority. (Colossians 2:8-10 RSV[36])
The idea that we can become prey is
something that we overlook as believers. This is because we think that by
reading the Bible we are learning the truth. However, while it is true, Lord
Jesus has appointed people to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and
teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, unless we are growing in
our personal revelation of Holy Spirit’s working in us, we are probably
latching on to something that is not of God. This happens more often than
people realize. The fact that groups major on what is often termed
non-essentials is a source of much division among people who believe Jesus paid
the price for sin and rose from the dead. Unfortunately, these errors become
stumbling blocks and prevent believers from growing in faith that enables them
to overcome the world (1John 5:4). This is particularly evident in the
doctrines of the Calvinists, where a text taken out of context becomes a
pretext for a putative propositional truth.
If we overlook that we are fighting
powers and principalities in Heavenly places and the cunning of the ruler of
this world, we can be deceived. Many are deceived because they do not desire
the truth, but are inclined towards what suits them. Any teaching that says we
are chosen of God is especially welcomed, as this means we have nothing more to
worry about. Only, if this were the case, there would not be the many warnings
about false teachings in the Bible.
The Devil does not come with
thorns, or revealing his horns, but as an angel of light with a system of
theology designed to appeal to the mindset of certain people. He is not going to
tell you get the log out of your eye; rather he is going to get you to lay down
your defenses and accept something that will lead you off track.
Look at Siddhattha Gotama, he only
made it half-way, and that is being generous, because he did not get to
acknowledge God. Those that follow his teachings seem to break the third rung
of the ladder towards discovering the truth about the Lord God and making it to
Heaven. Among Buddhists there are those who acknowledge that God the Creator
exists, and so does Heaven; only they then fall for the lie of reincarnation
and self-effort. As is found in the history of Christianity, within Buddhism
many sects possess different views. Similarly, even though many adherents of
Buddhism acknowledge God (although Westerners are attracted to the non-God view
of the Buddha), they restrict their
quest to know Him by accepting cultural systems of belief that incorporate
Siddhattha Gotama’s teachings. Consequently, these teachings lead them astray.
Within Christianity, the Devil has
deceived many individuals with teachings that pull people away from putting
their faith in Lord Jesus Christ into placing their faith in the Bible. In
particular, these are the teachings that claim the Bible saves rather than Lord
Jesus; the One to Whom the Scriptures bear witness. The system of faith based
on various texts pulled out of context is clearly an interpretation of the
Bible and not the truth. The idea of letting Scripture interpret Scripture is
merely given lip service more often than not, because when it comes to
accepting the truth about holiness, many suddenly start looking for excuses or
means by which they may justify their lack of its existence in their lives.
These excuses can come in many ways. If it is not tradition nor philosophy nor
theology, other forms of empty deceit sidetrack those who begin to see the
light but turn aside. Instead of being mindful of Lord Jesus and praying in the
Spirit at all times during the day, because there is no instant resurrection,
other things start to crowd people’s thinking and lead them away from a pure
devotion; this becomes idolatry.
Buddhists
have this view of mindfulness wherein a person is able to seize the moment and
live without pretentions to anything else.
Mindfulness is a
quality of mind which clearly apprehends experience and observes it in a
noninterfering, nonjudgmental manner. Normally, each experience we have
triggers desires, thoughts and memories and these prevent us from seeing the
experience as it actually is. The purpose of mindfulness meditation is to
strengthen the ability to be mindful and then use it to observe the body,
feelings, mind and the contents of the mind. In time these things come to be
seen as nonsubstantial, fleeting, impersonal phenomena and a calm detachment towards
them arises. Even from a mundane point of view this has numerous benefits. If
this mindful detachment can be maintained in daily life, one can remain
unruffled in the face of provocation and develop more contentment and peace of
mind. Thus the Buddha said: ‘Mindfulness is helpful everywhere.’
The idea of being non-interfering,
nonjudgmental and unconditionally accepting of matters appeals to the mindset
of the WEIRD.
Carl Rogers developed a client-centered clinical psychological therapy
technique that he called unconditional acceptance. This even sounds just like
the Calvinist doctrine of unconditional election for those who were chosen
before the foundation of the world to be saved. The difference being human-based
psychologists like Carl Rogers deny Jesus Christ, as do Buddhists. Calvinists
only deny Jesus Christ died to save all men. In effect, Calvinists deny the
divinity of Lord Jesus and the efficacy of His death on the cross to redeem
every human from the curse of Adam. In so doing, those who claim to be
Calvinists deny Lord Jesus Christ. The following is what the Bible says about
those who deny Lord Jesus Christ:
Whoever denies
the Son, the same doesn’t have the Father. He who confesses the Son has the
Father also. (1 John 2:23)
This saying is
trustworthy: "For if we died with him, we will also live with him. If we
endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If
we are faithless, he remains faithful. He can’t deny himself.” (2 Tim. 2:11-13)
The Buddhists are correct in saying
that mindfulness is helpful, but only if one is mindful of the Lord God,
Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, and not if one’s mindfulness is
concentrated solely on what is happening on this planet. Detachment from
suffering may be the goal of the Buddhist’s mindfulness, in that the
practitioner is mindful of the suffering that exists, but does not identify
with it. This detachment from the world and detachment from the Son of God is
not being mindful at all. More to the point, this is being made prey of by the Devil
himself. While Calvinists will reject Buddhism and psychologists will reject
Calvinism, apparently, the Buddhists are mindful of them both. Whatever the
case, the three systems of belief deny Jesus Christ having the power to save the
world as the Bible states:
As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God
so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in
him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God didn’t send his Son into
the world to judge the world, but that
the world should be saved through him. He who believes in him is not
judged. He who doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not
believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. (John 3:14-18)
My little
children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins,
we have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. And he is the
atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. (1 John
2:1-2)
Siddhattha Gotama taught the value
of developing mindfulness is that the external world can be recognized for what
it is and the practitioner of meditation no longer needs to react to its
stimulation of the senses by projecting ideas, values, assumptions and
expectations onto those who are caught up in the world. Evidently, the
practitioner of meditation is to withdraw from the world and disengage with it,
if he or she desires to be free from suffering. The Apostle Paul said something
similar in respect to being separated from certain aspects of the world when he
wrote:
But I say that
the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to
God, and I don’t desire that you would have fellowship with demons. You can’t
both drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can’t both partake of
the table of the Lord, and of the table of demons. Or do we provoke the Lord to
jealousy? Are we stronger than he? “All things are lawful for me,” but not all
things are profitable. “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things build
up. Let no one seek his own, but each one his neighbor’s good. (1 Cor.
10:20-24)
Or don’t you know
that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s Kingdom? Don’t be deceived. Neither
the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor
homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor
extortionists, will inherit God’s Kingdom. Such were some of you, but you were
washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord
Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God. “All things are lawful for me,” but not
all things are expedient. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be
brought under the power of anything. “Foods for the belly, and the belly for
foods,” but God will bring to nothing both it and them. But the body is not for
sexual immorality, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the body. Now God raised
up the Lord, and will also raise us up by his power. (1 Corinthians 6:9-14)
The mindfulness expected of a
Christian is much different to that of the Buddhist, even though there are
similarities. To be mindful of the Lord Jesus Christ is take every thought
captive and recognize that even though we are in the world, we are not of the
world. This is what the Bible says:
But now I come
to you, and I say these things in the world, that they may have my joy made
full in themselves. I have given them your word. The world hated them, because
they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. I pray not that you
would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one.
They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in your
truth. Your word is truth. (John 17:13-17)
For though we
walk in the flesh, we don’t wage war according to the flesh; for the weapons of
our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the throwing down of
strongholds, throwing down imaginations
and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing
every thought into captivity to the
obedience of Christ; and being in readiness to avenge all disobedience, when
your obedience will be made full.
(2 Corinthians
10:3-6)
Being sanctified in truth means
being set apart from the world and not owned by anything within the world;
because we are owned by Lord Jesus Christ, having recognized that He has
purchased the right to judge both the living and dead (2 Timothy 4:1). Since
the Lord has purchased us (body, soul and spirit), we will have to give an
account to Him (Romans 14:12); even as those who were dead had the gospel
preached to them were called into account and were made alive in the spirit when
Jesus died and rose from the dead (1 Peter 4:6).
There are no situational ethics or
relative morality to take into account. God’s law is final. As the Apostle Paul
writes:
Now we know that
whatever things the law says, it speaks
to those who are under the law, that
every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment
of God. Because by the works of the
law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the law, a righteousness of
God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets; even the
righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who
believe. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned, and fall short of
the glory of God. (Romans 3:19-23)
The Law spoken of here is that
which was delivered by Moses and not the Ten Commandments that were written by
God Himself. The Ten Commandments define sin and the other aspects of the Law,
which include the justice, mercy, faith and the love of God, were designed as a
physical expression attesting to the goodness of our Heavenly Father and His
desire for all men to be saved. Unfortunately, the physical expression found in
the sacrifices of animals and grain offerings could not truly deliver Israel from
the sin of Adam and therefore nobody can be justified by the works of the law.
For while Israel was given every opportunity to be a witness as a nation set
apart to glorify the name of God among the nations of the Earth, it failed to
do so. Nevertheless, the Law, as in the Ten Commandments, consists of the only
words ever recorded to have been written by the finger of God. Even though this
is not the audible voice of God, this equates to written instructions by which
we are to live our life in accordance without breaking any commandment at any
point or they will judge us as having failed to do so. The Ten Commandments are
God’s expectations of how we should live our life. If we are not mindful of the Ten
Commandments, which inform us how we should live, then we are not very mindful
of God at all. By being mindful of the Ten Commandments, we are able to
recognize thoughts that are sinful, take every one of them captive, and hand
them over to the Holy Spirit to remove, so that our mind may be still and
stayed on our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The Psalms tell us that the man
who meditates on the Law of God day and night is blessed (Psalm 1:2). This is a
reference to the Ten Commandments, so that we do learn delight in the fear of
God and hate evil. If we ignore this, then we do so at our peril. The same applies to other Psalms that
instruct to be still and wait on God, as per the following:
“Be still, and
know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in
the earth.” (Psalm 46:10)
Wait for Yahweh.
Be strong, and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for Yahweh.
(Psalm 27:14)
This is the difference between the
mindfulness of the Buddhists and that of the Lord (YHWH). The Buddhists might
listen to the sound of their breath and meditate that, but they do so in
ignorance. They might be mindful of their chant and meditate that, but they are
not mindful of the Lord (YHWH). We, who wait on the Lord as the Psalms say,
need to be still and know that the great I AM (YHWH) is LIFE and there is no
other. As Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6).
The Tenth Rung
The Tenth rung on the ladder to
Heaven requires us to believe, and not doubt, when we hear the voice of God.
The Ten Commandments are the written word of God; the only words written by
Himself; but when we read them correctly, we learn a very important truth that
is overlooked. This is what is recorded:
God spoke all
these words, saying, “I am Yahweh [YHWH] your God, who brought you out of the
land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before
me.” (Ex 20:1-3)
He gave to
Moses, when he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of
the testimony, stone tablets, written with God’s finger. (Exodus 31:18)
When we read the Law of God and
understand what is right and wrong, and then when we seek our Heavenly Father,
we usually do so because we have fallen short of keeping the requirements laid
out in the Ten Commandments. Of course,
if we are unaware of them, then it is less likely that we will seek God to be
forgiven of our sin and expect to receive the assurance of our
forgiveness. Through the law comes
knowledge of sin, but also the knowledge of God. When we have knowledge of God,
and Who He is, then we understand that not to put our complete trust in Him is
very foolish indeed. For only the Heavenly Father, our Creator, is the source
of life. This life has been made manifest through His Son, and all who call
upon His name are provided with this life unto eternity. The knowledge of God
is like the word of faith; it is like the understanding that the sound of the
breath we take is on our lips and in our heart. For what does the Scripture
say:
The word is near you, in your mouth, and in
your heart”; that is, the word of faith, which we preach: that if you will
confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God
raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one believes
unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
(Romans 10:8-10)
We who know the name of God, have
knowledge of the Lord God Almighty. That name is revealed in the Son of God,
Lord Jesus Christ; the Light of Life that shines in the darkness.
The Bible tells us the Heavens
declare the glory and knowledge of God, yet for Siddhattha Gotama this was not
something that he realized. Suffering is what he saw and instead of crying out
to the God of Glory, the Creator of Life, Siddhattha revolted against his Hindu
roots. He was seeking a better way. By using his own powers of observation,
Siddhattha concluded that if suffering were eliminated then pain would be no
more.
Some suffering is unavoidable.
Suffering due to natural causes can be unavoidable if we are not aware of the
cause before it happens. If we are aware of the dangers of being bitten by a
snake, we make every effort to avoid being bitten by every slithering fanged creature
we encounter. Likewise, tigers are not animals we decide to befriend when we
are aware of the fact they have been known to develop a taste for humans. If
possible, we avoid dangerous animals, as well as rockslides and avalanches.
Earthquakes are not so avoidable and neither are typhoons (hurricanes,
cyclones) that are too wide to outrun; of course, tornadoes are a different
matter all together.
When it comes to suffering as a
consequence of decisions that humans make, by possessing the knowledge of the
eight-fold path these could be avoided. The eight-fold path teaches that right
understanding produces the right thoughts to enable right speech, which follows
through with right actions that bring about right livelihood, because of right
effort; this enables the doer to possess right mindfulness, so that he would be
able to focus on having right concentration to avoid suffering. Most suffering
that has to do with other humans is easily avoided by observing the commandment
you shall not covet. However, this is not easily done due to our selfish nature
and natural desire to possess what we see and what others have. For the
Buddhist, the way to overcome this is to practice concentrating on breathing.
The mindfulness of breathing is how the practitioner develops this ability to
concentrate. The person meditating concentrates on the sound of breathing, and
at the same time, practices ignoring unwanted intrusive thoughts. Once the
person meditating is able to focus on breathing for extended periods, the
person can change focus from concentrating on the sound of breathing to
concentrating on objects such as flowers, trees, various animals, etc. Oddly, for some reason, meditating on the
Creator of the night sky is not something that Buddhists do. Maybe this stems
from having one’s eyes shut when meditating and being under a tree in a forest
or in a cave.
The Buddhist is taught to
concentrate on the breath of life until he or she can focus on something that
is living, like a plant. Instead of graduating to recognizing the truth about
the breath of life when listening to the sound of God’s name (YHWH) as they
breathe, Buddhists practice idolatry and meditate creation (a form of worship)
rather than the Creator, Who is Blessed forever. There is no salvation for the
Buddhist. Many of the people living in countries where Buddhism is the main
religious practice believe in a Creator God, but they also believe in
reincarnation and practice superstition and idolatry. The indoctrinated
Buddhists who practice Theravada Buddhism do not believe in a Creator, they
theorize that everything comes from energy, and life is a happenstance. A
fortuitous accident according to the atheists; yet it is amazing how this
chance circumstance that brought the Universe into being, contrary to the
accepted principles of logic and reason, has such law and order and like the
seasons can be relied upon. Likewise, we would expect anything that was
instigated by the Lord God Almighty to be true and trustworthy.
In the Bible, we read the words
“Obey my voice” numerous times. Many think that obeying God is about obeying a
set of rules or regulations as is outlined in the books of Moses, but while
keeping God’s charge, his commandments, statutes and laws are important, none
of this can be done without obeying God’s voice. The importance of obeying
God’s voice exceeds anything else for priority. This becomes evident when we
read the reason God said Abraham was blessed:
All the nations
of the earth will be blessed by your offspring, because you have obeyed my
voice.” (Genesis 22:18)
There is blessing in seeking God’s
voice and obeying. As we have already acknowledged, it is impossible to see the
only Infinite One that exists, but it is not impossible to hear His voice and
obey. Seeking to hear the voice of God; seeking to obey the voice of God;
seeking to know the voice of God is of utmost importance to us all. The evidence of our Creator is plain for all
to see, chance does not produce the day and night and the seasons as regularly
as a clock ticks away the time. We all need to hear the comforting sound of our
Heavenly Father’s voice and know for real that He means us when he says,
“Child, I love you. Let me be your Deliverer, your Healer, your Comforter, your
Counselor and your Provider.” Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, is indeed all
these things and more.
Having An Ear To Hear
Many people would be delighted to
hear the voice of God. The disciples heard the Father’s voice when they were at
the baptism of Jesus and on the Mount of Transfiguration. They also heard God’s
voice at the feast of Tabernacles, after Jesus had raised Lazarus. How
fortunate they were. How often have I heard people tell me, “If only I could
hear God’s voice.”
Over the years, I have met many
people who have told me that they hear God’s voice and they get personal
messages from the Lord. Some of these people have genuinely heard the voice of
the Lord. Many have not and, in fact, entertain demons in the form of familiar
spirits. One woman I know says she hears both the voice of the Lord and demons
and often has trouble sorting them out. Many people I have met who claim that
God talks to them are similar to the woman, who says she hears both God and
demons, and they have been admitted to psychiatric care. What they perceive to
be God talking to them often does not make sense, and instead of possessing a
sound mind, for want of a better term, they are scatter-brained; their thoughts
are all over the place.
Because of the people who end up
being in psychiatric care, many people think that it is impossible to hear the
voice of God. Some believe that God’s voice has only been heard as recorded in
the pages of the Bible. What they are saying is that up until the New
Testament, the Old Testament was all God had said to anyone on Earth. Other
people believe that God did speak to people outside of what was recorded in the
Bible, but only up until the time that the book of Revelation was written. Since
then God has not spoken to anybody, instead, He communicates to us through the
pages of the Bible. However, many people believe that this is not the case. God
is capable of speaking to us today, even if we personally have not heard His
audible voice.
One young woman wrote to a person
who claims to be an authority on spiritual matters asking if he could help her
to hear God’s voice, because she had friends who often spoke of hearing from
the Lord, and she could not understand why she could not hear His voice. The
advice she received began with the usual warning about trying to hear God’s
voice. That there are many counterfeit voices in the world and the best way to
learn how to understand God’s voice is to acquaint oneself with the Bible. Now
there is nothing wrong with this advice to acquaint oneself with the Bible.
This is exactly the tone that Apostle Paul writes to Timothy:
But you remain
in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from
whom you have learned them. From infancy,
you have known the holy Scriptures which
are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ
Jesus. Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that the man of
God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy
3:14-17)
As we can see, the Scriptures are
able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Lord Jesus Christ. By reading the Bible, we are able to learn
how we can be saved through faith in Lord Jesus. The Bible is not
able to save us itself, but it is able to instruct us how we can be saved. As the Apostle
Paul has clearly stated, salvation is obtained through faith in Lord Jesus
Christ. Without faith in Lord Jesus, we are not going to be saved no
matter what we do. In many respects, whatever we do is a waste of time if we do
not have faith in Lord Jesus. But once we have faith in Lord Jesus Christ, we
can expect to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and this is an important factor in
being able to understand the Bible and the truths of God.
We also notice that the above text
says that every Scripture is God-breathed. Many take this to mean that the
Bible was actually breathed out by God Himself. For some this means that only
the King James Version was God-breathed and all other versions are poor
imitations. However, others scoff at this claim, especially atheists, because
there are different Bibles and numerous manuscripts from which the canon of
Scripture we have today has been put together. Those who claim the Bible is the
Inerrant, Infallible, Living Word of God fume at the idea that people would
scoff at them for believing what they claim about the book. In fact, there are
so many different views regarding the Bible and what is true and what is not,
in many cases, it is just a matter of personal belief—and what people want to
believe is up to them. Of course, if we really want to know the truth, this
raises a different matter. Just to make sure that you are on the ball, an
important distinction that some of the Scriptures were not God-breathed has
been mentioned already, since God wrote them with His Own Finger and then
handed them to Moses. The truth is very important when we are talking about
matters of eternal significance.
Why would we want the truth? Jesus
said that if we continued in His word, we would know the truth and the truth
would set us free (John 8:31-32). Now because it is a good idea to quote full
texts as often as possible, this is what we read in the World English Bible,
with an important proviso that follows:
Jesus therefore
said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you remain in my word, then you
are truly my disciples. You will know the truth, and the truth will make you
free.”…
If therefore the
Son makes you free, you will be free indeed. (John 8:31-32, 36)
For us to be in need of being set
free from something, this means that we need to be held captive, otherwise
there is no need to be set free. Nobody
who is not in captivity needs setting free. If we were kidnapped, then we would
be taken captive by our kidnappers and having lost our freedom, we would need
to be set free, so we can do what we were doing before or what we really want
to do. So when Jesus says that the truth will set us free, we have to have been
taken captive by someone, ensnared by something, or be imprisoned by our
ignorance for His word to set us free.
The Jews were offended when Jesus
told them that they needed to be set free. They claimed that they were not held
captive by anybody and were sons of Abraham. Obviously, they understood what
Jesus was talking about at the time. Jesus was saying they were held captive to
sin. Many like to think sin is a myth. Others like to think they are unaffected
by sin because they were born into the right family or the right tribe or the
right religion. From a Christian perspective, we understand that we are born
into a world that is governed by sin, and we need to be set free from the world
and the tentacles it has that traps us into doing the Devil’s desires.
If we are to understand the truth
about whether we can hear God’s voice or not, we need to consider all these
things that have been touched on so far. The most important thing, of course,
is that we know the truth. Without a sound knowledge of the truth, we are not
going to establish what is right or wrong, good or evil, or what is false. This
is why we need to go beyond our personal beliefs, begin questioning matters,
and genuinely seek to know the truth and whether we can hear God’s voice or
not.
As we have noted, Jesus said that
He sets people free. Evidently, Jesus also said that if people continue in His
word they will know the truth and the truth would set them free. What we have
learned is Jesus can set us free and we can be set free also by continuing in His
word. Some questions need asking here as to whether Jesus is talking about two
different matters or the same thing. Is Jesus saying that if His word sets us
free? Is this the same as Jesus setting us free?
If we place the Scriptures we have
quoted from the Gospel of John, chapter six, in some more context (which
usually helps), we will get a better understanding. Here are the Scriptures in
context:
Jesus therefore
said to those Jews who had believed him, “If you remain in my word, then
you are truly my disciples. You will
know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”
They
answered him, “We are Abraham’s offspring, and have never been in bondage to
anyone. How do you say, ‘You will be made free’?”
Jesus
answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, everyone who commits sin is the
bondservant of sin. A bondservant doesn’t live in the house forever. A son
remains forever. If therefore the Son
makes you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham’s offspring,
yet you seek to kill me, because my word finds no place in you. (John 8:30-37)
This tells us an interesting tale.
Jesus is talking to those people who claim they believe in Him and yet He says
they really want to kill Him because His word finds no place in them. Very few
people notice this. But it is there for us all to read. Here are people
claiming they are believers in Jesus and, according to Him, they are seeking to
kill Him. Jesus, of course, could read their minds and knew their hearts.
Many people today claim they
believe in Jesus, yet when a servant of God comes along, they immediately
malign the person. Such people say that they believe in Jesus but, in fact, we
are left wondering whether they do really believe in Him. We should be astonished when we read the last
sentence of those Scriptures quoted from the Gospel of John, chapter eight. It
is so difficult to imagine how a person could believe in Jesus and yet really
desire to kill Him. Most people who claim they believe in Jesus do so because
of the love He expresses, yet we find that this is not the case, for many are
merely religionists—proud and arrogant believers in a system of philosophy
purported to be theology and, according to them, the truth that sets people
free. Yet, when people point out the truth to them, they are maligned. This is
what Jesus said:
It is enough for
the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If
they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they
malign the members of his household! (Matthew 10:25 NASB[37])
Jesus said that as they did to Him,
so too, would people desire to harm His servants. In every generation, there
are unbelievers who persecute those who bring the truth. These unbelievers
claim to be believers. They claim they have faith in God. They claim they
believe what is written in the Bible. They claim to be God’s people; only, like
Saul of Tarsus, they think nothing about persecuting and even signing the death
warrants of those who do believe in Lord Jesus Christ. Just as we read in the
Gospel of John about these people claiming to believe in Jesus but, really, are
ready to kill Him.
The reason the people who claimed
to believe in Jesus wanted to kill Him is because the word of God did not truly
reside in their hearts. Essentially, they would be following the passions of
the spirit of the Prince of the Power of the Air. Jesus said that if they knew
the truth; this would set them free. In saying this, He meant the truth would
enable them to make the choice to resist evil rather than ignorantly commit
sin. In order for people to know the truth, they need to understand the
precepts of God. This is what the Psalmist said:
I will walk in
liberty, for I have sought your precepts. (Psalm 119:45).
The Psalmist understood what it
means to walk in the freedom of the Lord because he understood the law of
liberty was a course of action that a person undertook, as it is when we
continue to walk in the words of Jesus. This is the royal law of which James,
the brother of Lord Jesus spoke:
However, if you
fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, “You shall love your
neighbor as yourself,” you do well. (James 2:8)
Instead of walking in the precepts
of the Lord God, the people who claimed to be believers in Jesus as the Messiah
were still trapped in their sin. They had sin in their hearts. They desired to
kill Jesus because of the sin nature that resided within. Their hearts were
ruled by the Devil. This is what the Apostle Paul spoke about in the book of
Ephesians:
You were made alive when you were dead in
transgressions and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of
this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now
works in the children of disobedience;
among whom we also all once lived in the lust of our flesh, doing
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath,
even as the rest. (Eph. 2:1-3)
The Apostle Paul is writing to the
Ephesians and says that they are now alive. However, the people who claimed that they
believed in Jesus were not alive; they were still dead in their transgressions
and needed to be set free. These people were bound by sin and even though they
read the Scriptures, and heard them being read in the synagogues and the
Temple, they were still dead in their sins. Instead of taking note of what the
Scriptures said, they were keener to do the Devil’s desires. Rather than
obeying what was written down, they decided to disobey and demonstrate how they
thought things should be done. These people exalted man instead of God, and
this under the pretense they were honoring the Heavenly Father. The people spoken of here by Lord Jesus and,
those to whom the Apostle Paul refers, are those who have yet to be set free
from sin and made alive. Unless a person accepts the word of the God, the word
of Lord Jesus, into his or her heart, then that person is dead in sin and
without hope of anything better than the consequences for rejecting the truth.
What is the course of the world?
The course of the world is destined for death and destruction. This is because
rather than obey the voice of God, those in the world obey the voice that
dictates evil. They disobey God by listening to the dictates of the Devil.
Instead of rejoicing in what is good, they rejoice in evil. Instead of finding
delight in doing right, these individuals choose to knowingly do what is wrong.
What they do to others, they would hate others to do to themselves. Yet they
rejoice in the misery of those whom they hate, because they do not delight in
doing what is right. We are talking about religionists. We are not talking of
secular people who have rejected God because of the hypocrisy they see in the
people who claim that they were chosen to be Christians before the foundation
of the world. The Jews held to this same claim; they saw themselves as having
been chosen by God as special people regardless of what they did—they still do.
This we have seen in a previous mentioned text, when they said they were
children of Abraham and had not been born into sin.
When the Devil wants to deceive, he
does not come to people with what is obviously preposterous, because no one
would believe Him. Instead, he comes with a half-truth (or that which is
9/10ths truth), a subtlety that he designs to appeal to a person’s carnal
desires, whether this is of the flesh or of the eye or the pride of life often
depends upon the individual. If the
Devil is able to hook a person on some addiction, then disobedience is easy to
control. People become addicted to fleshly desires and hanker after food,
booze, sex, and drugs that destroy their ability to function as they were
designed to do. Their minds are always thinking about their fleshly craving,
when they can get their next fix. Those who are caught up in the lust of the
eye, think about beautiful things, look at themselves for long hours in the
mirror, have to wear the best clothes, drive the most expensive car, live in
opulent houses or the best they can afford. The lust for money, the god of
mammon, drives their thinking; it also drives their souls to perdition. Those
who are bent on acquiring knowledge; those who like to think they are better
than others because of what they think they know; those who like to think they
are somebody important; these are the ones destined to suffer because of pride.
As religionists, who say they believe in the resurrection, instead of being
prepared to be caught up in the air to meet Jesus, they are caught up in the
pride of life. The ultimate exaltation of man occurs when the lawless one
commits the desecration of abomination. These religionists will believe the lie
that the man who exalts himself against all gods is Lord Jesus having returned
to bring peace and rule the Earth for the thousand years as prophesied in the
Bible. These religionists will be deceived because they have not got a personal
relationship with the Heavenly Father through faith in Lord Jesus Christ and they
are not walking in guidance of the Holy Spirit. This is when those with an ear
to hear will be caught to meet the glorified Lord Jesus in the air. This is what
the Apostle Paul stated:
For the Lord
himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s
call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will
rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be
with the Lord. (1 Thess. 4:16-17 RSV)
Now concerning
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our assembling to meet him, we beg you,
brethren, not to be quickly shaken in mind or excited, either by spirit or by
word, or by letter purporting to be from us, to the effect that the day of the
Lord has come. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come,
unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the
son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or
object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming
himself to be God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told
you this? And you know what is restraining him now so that he may be revealed
in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now
restrains it will do so until he is out of the way. And then the lawless one
will be revealed, and the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth
and destroy him by his appearing and his coming. The coming of the lawless one
by the activity of Satan will be with all power and with pretended signs and
wonders, and with all wicked deception for those who are to perish, because
they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends upon them a
strong delusion, to make them believe what is false, so that all may be
condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. (2
Thessalonians 2:1-12 RSV)
Within the world of Christendom,
religionists are people who look for a philosophy of religion that suits their
liking; something in which they can pride themselves because of what they think
they know. They consider themselves deep thinkers because of the knowledge they
possess of a particular worldview based on the Bible; yet they do not realize
how shallow their perceptions are really.
These people will often have pretexts based on texts taken out of context
and a system of doctrines that are not what the Bible teaches. Like the Jews of
old, they like to claim they were divinely chosen beforehand. These people are
easy to identify because they do not know Lord Jesus and will reject every
Scripture that says we need to come to Him and reach out to Him through faith.
These two criteria are sufficient to identify them—their lack of faith and
their denial of the need to enter into God’s rest. However, what is also a
feature of this kind of person is their willingness to condemn and speak of an
angry God rather than the One Who so loved the world that He sent His Only Son
that whosoever believes in Him will have eternal life (John 3:16).
Importantly, if we do not believe
that Jesus Christ came to die for the sin of the world, and because He had the
power over death, He rose from the dead, we cannot be saved. This is what the
Bible states:
For God so loved
the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him
should not perish, but have eternal life. For God didn’t send his Son into the world to
judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him. He who believes in him is not judged. He who
doesn’t believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the
name of the one and only Son of God. (John 3:16-18)
By this God’s
love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world
that we might live through him. In this
is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the
atoning sacrifice for our sins.
(1 John 4:9-10)
Whoever believes
that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God. Whoever loves the Father also
loves the child who is born of him. By
this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments.
For this is the love of God, that we
keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous. For whatever is born of God over-comes the
world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith. Who is he
who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus
Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and the blood. It is the
Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three who testify: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and the
three agree as one. If we receive the
witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is God’s testimony
which he has testified concerning his Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the testimony
in himself. He who doesn’t believe God has made him a liar, because he has not
believed in the testimony that God has given concerning his Son. The testimony is this, that God gave to us
eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has the life. He who
doesn’t have God’s Son doesn’t have the life. These things I have written to you who believe
in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life,
and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. (John
5:1-13)
Clearly, from these Scriptures we
can see that Jesus came to save the world, but this salvation is conditional
upon believing in Him. However, believing in Jesus is more than simply saying
we believe in Him or professing a knowledge of what we believe. We have to
overcome the world though obedience of faith and walk in the precepts of God;
that is, keep His commandments. We cannot say we believe and then by our
actions demonstrate that we do not really believe. People do this for all sorts
of reasons, but at the base of their profession in Lord Jesus is doubt and
unbelief and not obedience of faith.
The following is what the Apostle
Paul said that he had been commissioned to do:
Paul, a bond-servant
of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His
prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant
of David according to the flesh, who was
declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according
to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and
apostleship to bring about the obedience
of faith among all the Gentiles for His name’s sake. (Romans 1:1-5
NASB)
Here we see the Apostle assert his
calling, acknowledge the death and resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ and claim
that his commission is to bring about obedience of faith among all the nations. Without faith towards God, we are not able to
overcome the world and neither are we able to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Faith
is an essential element in all that we do. The question is, though: In what or
whom do we need to have faith?
The people who claimed they
believed in Jesus but were really seeking to kill Him, had no faith in Him. If
they did, they would not have revolted against His assertion that only those
who continued in His word would be set free. These people boasted that God had
already chosen them beforehand. They claimed they were not born into sin
because of this fact.
There are people who claim this
today. Some claim because they were chosen before the foundation of the world
that they have no need to repent of anything. However, among those who claim
that they were chosen before the foundation of the world, there are those who
claim that their hearts are deceitful, that every man and woman is so wicked
that they are deserving of the wrath of God. Those who claim that everybody is
deserving of the wrath of God also claim there are people who are
exempt—themselves, of course. These people claim they are saved because they
read the Bible. They say the Bible is more than just a book that bears witness
to Lord Jesus Christ. According to them
the Bible is alive and active and the very Living Word of God. Reading it
provides them not only with salvation but every word is the very literal word
of God. There is no other revelation about God other than what is written in
the Bible. According to these people, there is no other way to hear God’s
voice.
The problem with this view is there
is more than one Bible and there are so many different manuscripts, we cannot
know which one was breathed by God. Because of this, the King James Only
doctrine was created. Those who adhere to this doctrine believe every other
Bible is of the Devil and people cannot hear God’s voice reading them.
Evidently, the god they believe in is not as powerful as the Creator of the
Universe; who discerns the thoughts and intentions of people’s hearts.
For people who desire truth,
assumptions do not cut it. For instance, atheistic evolutionists base their
beliefs on an assumption that there is no Creator, even though there is plenty
of evidence to the contrary. Those who claim the Bible is God-breathed do the
very same thing. They make assertions about the Bible that are actually
contradicted within its own pages. This is because rather than read the whole
Bible, they prefer to cut and paste and create their own version of what it
should say, while ignoring anything that contradicts their point of view.
Rather than being truth-seekers, they prefer to be deniers of the truth and see
the name of God blasphemed by others who reject the Creator on account of their
false witness. Such people are not deterred by this because they believe that
only those who were chosen before the foundation of the world accept their
teachings. Those who reject them are obviously predestined to eternal torment.
Indeed the Bible teaches every Scripture God-breathed is
definitely profitable for reproof, correction and teaching; so that we can be
equipped to rightly handle the word of truth. However, we need to have a
correct understanding of which Scriptures are God-breathed; otherwise, we could
be following the wrong text. For instance, not only are there numerous Bible
translations in English that have different slants on particular texts, but
also this is reflected in the many different translations that exist in the
various languages of the world. Many of these translations are like paraphrases
and not word for word equivalent to the Greek or Hebrew texts from which they
are translated. In numerous instances, the reason for paraphrase is many
languages around the world do not possess the ideas that are expressed within
the Greek and Hebrew texts. This is because the languages are reflective of the
cultures of the ethnic groups to which the people belong. Things like olives
and grapes are foreign to the Eskimos, whose language is expressive of a land
filled with snow; in as much, a similar situation exists for many of the tribes
that live in the jungles or the deserts of the world. These are minor points in
some respects, but when it comes to the significance of the anointing oil made
from olives and the wine that represents the blood of Jesus, understanding what
these mean can take on a different dimension in lands where the produce is
foreign. A similar problem arises when translating the Bible into English so
that those of the various subcultures of society can understand the text more
easily.
In respect to the original
languages, these are not the original texts that are being referenced. These
are copies of copies that have been handed down throughout the generations and
Hebrew and Greek and Aramaic language scholars have done their best to compare
the various fragments of texts to see what is the most reliable. Surprisingly,
ancient language scholars tell us the percentages of variation in the many
ancient texts that exist are few. What variations that do exist are relatively
minor and are often a different spelling of a word, which sometimes requires
the context of a sentence to determine what the word might be. In some
instances, there are number of words where the meaning could go different ways,
but this is still minor. For instance, among Hebrew words, the consonants are
used only and in many instances, the vowels are orally supplied by the context.
One such word is that which means milk (חָלָב milk) but could mean fat (חֵלֶב fat), depending on the vowels. The
consonants are the same, but the vowel marks below are distinguishable by dots
and dashes. The problem is that the two dots under לָב (fat) could be easily, wrongly transcribed as dashes, and confusion
begins to reign, because the next person to read the text does not know whether
it should be fat or milk. Actually, a scribe from a following generation could
incorrectly interpret two smudged dots as a dash instead of two dots. An
interpretation is made and we could easily be misled. An example of this is
found in the book of Exodus:
“You shall not
offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. The fat of my feast shall
not remain all night until the morning. The first of the first fruits of your
ground you shall bring into the house of Yahweh your God.
“You
shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. (Exodus 23:18-19)
The idea about boiling a young goat
in the milk of its mother does not really make sense. Confusion exists because various
translators and commentators have not understood the truth here. One reason is
they are working from their own mindset. Another reason is they do not possess
the Spirit of God, even though they may claim to believe in the death and
resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ. Besides this, commentators are probably
trying to demonstrate they are knowledgeable and feel they have to give some
plausible answer that is different to what other expositors have proffered,
otherwise there would be no need for their commentary. Various commentators
have had many attempts at explaining this oddity, some even referring to
heathen traditions, because of their lack of insight.
The truth about this Scripture is
that the word should be “fat” and not “milk”. The word that is translated boil
in this text can also be translated roasted. Now if we read, “You shall not
roast a baby in its mother’s fat” the Scripture makes sense in respect to the
context of the text overall. For most people this probably does not make sense
because they think no one would be so foolish to cook a firstborn animal in its
mother’s fat, because they would no longer have the mother from which to breed.
Yet this is what the Scripture is talking about, because the context is about
the seasons, sowing and reaping the winter crop and not eating everything but
keeping seed over for the summer crop. God uses the natural to teach us about
the supernatural; this instance is no different. This was especially the case
in respect to the Mosaic Covenant. For we read:
“You shall
observe a feast to me three times a year. You shall observe the feast of
unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded
you, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it you came out of Egypt),
and no one shall appear before me empty. And the feast of harvest, the first
fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field; and the feast of
ingathering, at the end of the year, when you gather in your labors out of the
field. Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord
Yahweh. (Exodus 23:14-17)
The first feast was of unleavened
bread, which Jesus taught was about keeping false teaching and ideas out of
what God has put in place.
Jesus said to
them, “Take heed and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” …Then
they understood that he didn’t tell them to beware of the yeast of bread, but
of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. (Matt. 16:6, 12)
Meanwhile, when
a multitude of many thousands had gathered together, so much so that they
trampled on each other, he began to tell his disciples first of all, “Beware of
the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. (Luke 12:1)
The principles of God are not to be
compromised, and those who do so, are to be held to account. However, in order
to compromise the principles of God, we have to alter the truth of the
Scriptures—we have just seen one such Scripture that has been altered.
In pointing this out, this does not
mean that Bible is not reliable because it is; only we need the Holy Spirit to
understand it fully. Nevertheless, those who apply the principles contained
within the Scriptures find that they are true and bear witness to how we can be
saved through faith in Lord Jesus Christ. Once we have the assurance of
this salvation as part of our own experience, we can begin to have a valid
reason for relying upon the Scriptures. The problem occurs when people make
alterations to fit their worldview and this is evident in many Bibles. Even
though, overall, people might seem to be saying the same thing, often they are
not. The Devil gets in where he can and leads people astray by taking texts
from Scripture out of context to become a pretext; upon which they build a
belief that is contradicted by the overall tenor of progressive revelation of
truth from Genesis to Revelation. To illustrate the point of how to interpret
Scripture using progressive revelation, the following is how the Bible reads at
the very beginning, with the Son of God indicated in the book of Proverbs and
revealed in the last book. We also learn what the Apostle Paul declares the
Gospel to be in respect to the Son of God in the second book of Corinthians:
In the beginning,
God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty.
Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the
surface of the waters.
God said, “Let there be light,” and there was
light. God saw the light, and saw that it was good. God divided the light from
the darkness. God called the light
“day”, and the darkness he called “night”. There was evening and there was
morning, the first day. (Genesis 1:1-5)
“Yahweh
possessed me in the beginning of his work, before his deeds of old. I was set
up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth existed. When there
were no depths, I was born, when there were no springs abounding with water.
Before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was born; while
as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust
of the world. When he established the heavens, I was there; when he set a
circle on the surface of the deep. (Pr 8:22-27)
I have not
learned wisdom, nor have I knowledge of the Holy One. Who has ascended to
heaven and come down? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has wrapped
up the waters in a garment? Who has
established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s
name? Surely you know! (Proverbs 30:3-4)
Therefore seeing
we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we don’t faint. But we have renounced the hidden things of
shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but
by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s
conscience in the sight of God. Even if
our Good News is veiled, it is veiled in those who perish; in whom the god of this world has blinded the
minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the Good News of the glory of
Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them. For we don’t preach ourselves, but Christ
Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake; seeing it is God who said, “Light will shine
out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts, to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
(2 Corinthians
4:1-6)
This is the
Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the
things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his
servant, John, who testified to God’s word, and of the testimony of Jesus
Christ, about everything that he saw. Blessed is he who reads and those who
hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it, for
the time is at hand. (Revelation 1:1-3)
I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify these
things to you for the assemblies. I am the root and the offspring of David; the
Bright and Morning Star.”
The
Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” He who hears, let him say, “Come!” He who is
thirsty, let him come. He who desires, let him take the water of life freely. I
testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone
adds to them, may God add to him the plagues which are written in this book. If
anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, may God take
away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city, which are
written in this book. He who testifies these things says, “Yes, I come
quickly.”
Amen!
Yes, come, Lord Jesus.
The
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with all the saints. Amen. (Revelation
22:16-21)
As we can see the Son of God was in
the beginning and is the reason for the preaching of the good news of the
Gospel, so we who desire to know truth can have the light of knowledge shine in
our hearts. Anyone who does not acknowledge the truth about the revelation of
Jesus Christ, will have their name taken out of the Book of Life and no longer
have access to the Tree of Life. As Christians, once we have come to know Lord
Jesus Christ personally, we are able to begin to understand the truths
contained within Scripture.
We need to recognize though that
there is a need for due diligence and we must not make a text a pretext nor be
presumptuous and make claims that are not true.
When the light of the knowledge of Lord Jesus Christ begins to shine in
our own lives, then we will begin to understand truth; only we cannot
understand any more than what has been revealed to us personally; regardless of
how much we study or think we know. Every one of us is at a different level of
understanding and, if we are wise, we are humble and recognize we stand before
the Lord and our fellow saints who are companions in our journey from Earth to
Heaven.
As for the Bible being the Living
Word of God, we have so far considered that there are many different
translations and there are many ancient manuscripts and fragments of
manuscripts, which call this concept into question. We have also discussed how
it is possible for Scripture to be tampered with or wrongly translated. Besides
this, there are no original manuscripts, so for the claim that the Bible is the
Living Word of God to be accurate, one has to begin questioning this. Indeed, atheists call this into account. In
fact, many people do not follow through on their parent’s beliefs regarding
Jesus having been raised from the dead because of lack of proof that the Bible
is the Living Word of God, from a basic historical perspective. The evidence all points to the Bible being
copies of copies, with the original Scriptures being lost or destroyed.
Those who claim the King James
Version is the only true Bible and is inerrant, believe that this version is
reliable without question. If there is a question mark raised over the King
James Version being the inerrant, infallible written Word of God, those who
believe this claim of infallibility and inerrancy disregard any proof to the
contrary. They put their trust in their belief that the King James
Version is what they claim. Those who are known as “King James Only” believers
are not the only people who insist that the Bible is the inerrant, infallible,
Living Word of God. However, those who
are King James Bible Only believers insist that any other version of the Bible
is a corruption of the message that God has inspired authors to write.
One author who adheres to the what
he calls the Bible language of the King James Bible, points to the use of
“yeast” being used in modern translations rather the using the term “unleavened
bread”. This author makes a compelling
case for what he calls Bible language.
Instead of there being just one Bible language today, there is a mixed
language because of the many different translations. For this author, the
Church today consists of a mixed people who cannot speak the language of the
Bible, just as they were in the days of Nehemiah. He quotes Nehemiah arguing
that as the people were a mixed multitude in his day, speaking the languages of
Asdod, Ammon and Moab, but not that of the Jews, so too, people today cannot
speak the Bible language of the King James Version. This is what is written in
Nehemiah:
In those days
also saw I the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab: and their children spoke half in the speech of
Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews’ language, but according to the
language of each people. I contended
with them, and cursed them, and struck certain of them, and plucked off their
hair, and made them swear by God, “You shall not give your daughters to their
sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves.
Now this author, to whom I am
referring, truly loves the Lord Jesus Christ and possesses an enviable
knowledge of the Scriptures, having been a Christian for over forty years and
studied them diligently. However, can we detect something being taken out of
context here and applied wrongly to the King James Version of the Bible?
God desires us to be of one mind,
speak the same language, so that we might understand each other, and come
together in the unity of the Spirit. This is true—absolutely! The Apostle Paul
speaks of this in his writings. Here are two extracts:
If there is
therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any
fellowship of the Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassion, make my joy full, by being like-minded,
having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind; doing nothing through
rivalry or through conceit, but in humility, each counting others better than
himself; each of you not just looking to his own things, but each of you also
to the things of others.
Have
this in your mind, which was also in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 2:1-5)
I therefore, the
prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk worthily of the calling with which you
were called, with all lowliness and humility, with patience, bearing with one
another in love; being eager to keep the
unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit,
even as you also were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith,
one baptism, one God and Father of all,
who is over all, and through all, and in us ... He gave some to be apostles;
and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and
teachers; for the perfecting of the
saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ; until
we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of
God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of
Christ; that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried
about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after
the wiles of error; but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things
into him, who is the head, Christ; from whom all the body, being fitted and
knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working
in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up
of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:1-6, 11-16)
For us to understand each other we
need to be able to communicate in the same language and have the same
understanding of the meaning of the words. We have to acknowledge that if it is
God’s desire for us all to speak the one language and we come from different
parts of the world, and the Bible is translated into many different languages
and does not read as the King James Version, someone is being presumptuous. In
fact, translators from the Bible translation societies are actively translating
the Scriptures into every one of the six thousand nine hundred (6900) odd languages
that exist on Earth, so that the prophesy of Jesus that He will not return
until every ethnic group has the gospel will be fulfilled. According to Barna
Research, “Of the world’s 6,901 languages actively used as first languages,
less than half have a completed Bible or even a completed Bible portion.”[38]
Not all of us have the same
experiences in life and when we attempt to superimpose something over what the
Spirit of God is doing in our lives, we fall into a trap of the Devil that will
lead us astray. This is done with knowledge. The sin of bibliolatry, putting
the Bible before the Lord is such a subtle sin, that many are unaware that they
are guilty of this sin. The particular person whom I have referred to that has
an extraordinary knowledge of the Scriptures is unaware that he is guilty of
this. Another author, who comes from the same tradition (which is a movement
that began in the 1950s) has written some eighty books. He memorized much of
the Bible, but does exactly the same thing as this author just mentioned and
puts his understanding of the Scriptures before that of walking with the Lord,
even if it is only so slight. Both of these individuals are very godly men (in
that they have great reverence for God) and possess knowledge of the Bible that
outstrips the majority of commentators. However, we want to walk in all the
truth and not just sixty per cent of it—which does not say much for most other
commentators.
Many people possess knowledge of
history and have the ability to regurgitate what they have read, even even writing
books. Possessing the truth and knowing the power of God in one’s life is a
different matter. One truth realized about our salvation elevates us and draws
us closer to our omniscient Father in Heaven. Other people might possess
knowledge about many subjects, but be heading to the wrong place because they
neglected the truth about their salvation. Among people who claim to be
Christians, many books are written that are not worth reading (to which I
myself can testify having spent many hours in theological libraries over the
years). They do nothing to enlighten one about how to escape the clutches of
the Devil or the designs of his crafty ways. They are merely words written
about words and arguments about other people’s argument (and in some respects
this author is guilty of this too—although the aim of this manuscript is to
encourage you to seek the voice of God and have an intimate relationship with
Lord Jesus Christ). Compared to this
book, the majority of the books have nothing to do with the truth at all.
When we come to people who claim
that the Bible is the Living Word of God, we discover what they claim is
written in the Scriptures is not exactly the truth. For instance, to reiterate
the point, we will start with the key Scripture used to demonstrate that Bible
itself claims it is the Living Word of God. This is found in the book of
Hebrews:
For the word of
God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even
to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to
discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)
This Scripture for many is absolute
proof that the Bible is the Living Word of God. An immediate objection to this
claim is neither the word “Bible” nor the word “Scriptures” are mentioned. A
second objection to this claim is the text needs to be seen in context, so we
can determine whether it is referring to the Bible; that is, the Scriptures
otherwise known as the Old Testament. Let us look at some context:
There is no
creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and
laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.
Having then a great high priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the
Son of God, let us hold tightly to our confession. (Heb. 4:13-14)
What we notice when we read verse
twelve in context with the following verses (thirteen and fourteen), it becomes
very clear that the Word of God is the Son of God. Now this makes sense because
we also find this in the book of Revelation:
His eyes are a
flame of fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has names written and a name
written which no one knows but he himself. He is clothed in a garment sprinkled with
blood. His name is called “The Word of God.” The armies which are in heaven
followed him on white horses, clothed in white, pure, fine linen. (Revelation
19:12-14)
Jesus is the Word of God who is
alive and active and searches the hearts of each one of us to see whether we
are hypocrites or the real deal and desire to be with Him rather than in the
world. The Bible is not able to discern the difference between our thoughts and
the intentions of our hearts; nor can the Bible pierce the divide between our
spirit and our soul. Jesus can. Yet those who adamantly believe that the Bible
is the Living Word of God will argue with vehement hostility and vitriol that
it is so. The Devil hates to be caught out. He is the one who influences people
to believe the Bible is the Living Word of God and seems to motivate such individuals
to become more in line with his own nature rather than the Spirit of God. If
the Bible is not the Living Word of God, then their contention that it
is God-breathed and able to impart life comes under question. There is a major
difference between the Bible itself being the Living Word of God that breathes
life and merely being a collection of writings that is profitable for
instruction for salvation and for teaching, reproof, correction, and instruction
in righteousness. Really, we could compare the Bible to a treasure map, because
it instructs us how to find the most valuable possession we could ever
obtain—eternal life! In fact, this is what Jesus said concerning the
Scriptures:
You search the
Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are
they which testify about me. Yet you will not come to me, that you may
have life. (John 5:39-40)
Jesus clearly stated that the
Scriptures are unable to give eternal life, or even life for that
matter. The only way a person is able to obtain life—and true life is
eternal—is by coming to Lord Jesus Christ in person. This is not to say that
the Bible is to be disregarded. On the contrary, we uphold the written code and
recognize that from the book of Genesis to the very end of the book of
Revelation, the Scriptures all testify to Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
What the Bible does is enable us to
have knowledge of what God requires of us. The one thing we all need to do is
seek out God. Many say that this is impossible. How else are we to come to
Jesus if we do not seek Him out? First, we need to seek out God’s voice.
One person whom I asked to explain
what the scripture above from the Gospel of John (5:39-40) means, wrote:
John 5:39 means
that "there is none that seek after God, no not one." You have to study your Bible! There are
doctrines of predestination, of election, of God's choice in salvation, of
effectual calling (all the called will come and are saved). John 5:39 does not
conflict with these doctrines. How can you read from John 5:39 that some people
DO come to Christ on their own? Look at
John 6:37 and John 6:44..."No man CAN come to me except it were given him
of my Father."
Romans
1,2,3 tell us why men refuse to come to Jesus...Jesus said is because men love
darkness, rather than light because their deeds are evil.
I simply do not
read hidden doctrines that are NOT in John 5 in the first place.
There is nothing hidden when it
comes to Jesus saying, “You will not come to me”. Instead, this person, who
also claims that the text does not mean what it states, when the Bible says,
“God so loved the world that He gave His Only Son, so that whoever believes in
Him will not perish but have eternal life”. According to this person, and his
coterie of fellow believers, that famous Scripture (John 3:16) means something
else. For, according to this lot, God did not love the world, as the Gospel of
John states, and only gave His Son to save people like them. As we can see from
his answer in respect to coming to Jesus, he claims none seek after God, and we
need to know certain doctrines. The irony is that I sought God to know Jesus
and found Him. In addition, I know others who have sought God to find Jesus and
now have a relationship with Him.
If we were to use texts of Scripture
as pretexts, we could say that we cannot come to Jesus unless we are called by
the Heavenly Father. One the one hand, we could say, why should we wait until
we are called? If we have learned that reading the Bible is not going to save
us, but only a person relationship with Lord Jesus Christ, obviously we need to
take action. The most pressing thought in each of our minds, at the time, would
have to be—I need to find Jesus!
There is an argument put forth that
it does not matter what we think because we are wicked and possess deceitful
hearts (Jeremiah 17:9) therefore we cannot find Jesus unless God calls us or
draws us. This argument that we cannot find Jesus unless God calls us or draws
us is based on texts taken from the passage of Scripture below, from which we
discover that Jesus is talking about those who are with Him at the time, for
one who is chosen is a devil. We read:
When the
multitude therefore saw that Jesus wasn’t there, nor his disciples, they
themselves got into the boats, and came to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. When they
found him on the other side of the sea, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you
come here?”
Jesus
answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, you
seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves, and
were filled. Don’t work for the food
which perishes, but for the food which
remains to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For God the
Father has sealed him.”
They
said therefore to him, “What must we do, that we may work the works of God?”
Jesus
answered them, “This is the work of
God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.”
They
said therefore to him, “What then do you do for a sign, that we may see, and
believe you? What work do you do? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness.
As it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’”
Jesus
therefore said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, it wasn’t Moses who gave
you the bread out of heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread out of
heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven, and gives
life to the world.”
They
said therefore to him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”
Jesus
said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not be hungry,
and he who believes in me will never
be thirsty. But I told you that you have seen me, and yet you don’t believe.
All those whom the Father gives me will come to me. He who comes to me I will in no way throw out. For I have come down
from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is
the will of my Father who sent me, that of all he has given to me I should lose
nothing, but should raise him up at the last day. This is the will of the one who sent me, that everyone who sees
the Son, and believes in him, should have eternal life; and I will raise
him up at the last day.”
The
Jews therefore murmured concerning him, because he said, “I am the bread which
came down out of heaven.” They said, “Isn’t this Jesus, the son of Joseph,
whose father and mother we know? How then does he say, ‘I have come down out of
heaven?’”
Therefore
Jesus answered them, “Don’t murmur among yourselves. No one can come to me
unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last
day. It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Therefore
everyone who hears from the Father, and has learned, comes to me. Not that
anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father.
Most certainly, I tell you, he who
believes in me has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate
the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down
out of heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread
which came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.
Yes, the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
The
Jews therefore contended with one another, saying, “How can this man give us
his flesh to eat?”
Jesus
therefore said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of
the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have life in yourselves. He who
eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at
the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who
eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me, and I in him. As the living
Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he who feeds on me, he
will also live because of me. This is the bread which came down out of
heaven—not as our fathers ate the manna, and died. He who eats this bread will
live forever.” He said these things in the synagogue, as he taught in
Capernaum.
Therefore
many of his disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a hard saying! Who
can listen to it?”
But
Jesus knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at this, said to them,
“Does this cause you to stumble? Then what if you would see the Son of Man
ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh
profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and are life. But
there are some of you who don’t believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who
they were who didn’t believe, and who it was who would betray him. He said,
“For this cause have I said to you that no one can come to me, unless it is
given to him by my Father.”
At
this, many of his disciples went back,
and walked no more with him. Jesus said therefore to the twelve, “You
don’t also want to go away, do you?”
Simon
Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would
we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know
that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Jesus answered
them, “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” (John
6:24-70).
As is obvious, the Scriptures
highlighted in bold confirm what is written in the Gospel of John:
As Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God
so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in
him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God didn’t send his Son into
the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through him.
(John 3:14-17)
People can interpret the Bible as
they like and pull Scriptures out of context, but when we read everything in
context the meaning becomes clear and is supported elsewhere by other Scripture
without having to take them out of context.
In the above text from the Gospel
of John, chapter six, where the Calvinists get their doctrine of effectual
calling from (John 6:37,44), Jesus has just fed the multitudes but they are
still chasing the free food. When Jesus gives them a lesson about Who He really
is, they are not interested because they are only concerned with what this life
has to offer rather than life itself. Jesus makes a point of telling the people
this and refers to their heritage, which the Jews like to boast about, even
though they themselves scoff at doing what is right. (Every year the Jews, even
today, believe that on the Day of Atonement, their past sins are forgiven, so
they can sin more during the next year and be forgiven at the next Yom Kippur,
as it is called.) The flesh and the deeds of the flesh profit nobody. Only the
Spirit of God gives life, not the deeds of the flesh.
Regarding the Jews, they thought
they were chosen of God because of their heritage in the flesh, but Jesus was
saying to them that they need to seek spiritual things rather than the flesh.
When they realized that Jesus was saying that He was not of this Earth, they
pointed out that they knew not only His mother but also His father, Joseph.
Jesus says to them that from those who are drawn by God to Him are the ones He
chooses. As for those there, He had only chose twelve, and one was a devil. Is
this to say that no one else was to be chosen?
We know this could not be true, because three thousand became Christians
on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:41). What was Jesus talking about then? Jesus
was talking about those whom He had chosen, and one was a devil, in order to
fulfill His Earthly ministry. Many of the disciples that were following Jesus
had to have been drawn by the Father, but they turned back. Why did they turn
back? They had the choice to stay or turn back, but did not believe that Jesus
was the Messiah. Jesus chose those who stayed with Him. There seems to be a
principle throughout the Scriptures that the Son of God chooses those who choose to seek Him because they
hate evil, injustice, and futility, and they are looking for answers for their
existence.
However, there are a number of
principles to be found in what Jesus stated, which are truths that apply to
salvation.
The greater work is to
believe in Jesus rather than witness signs being performed. The words that
Jesus spoke are spirit and life. God draws people to Jesus. However, Jesus only
chooses those who are acceptable to Him. The reason why Jesus chooses people
for His purpose is different to the reason why people are able to be saved.
Nevertheless, whoever partakes of Jesus’ life shall live forever. This means
being part of the vine or the body of Christ. For we read:
“I am the true
vine, and my Father is the farmer. Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit,
he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more
fruit. You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to
you. Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself,
unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. I
am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me, and I in him, the same
bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man doesn’t remain
in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them,
throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you remain in me, and my
words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for
you.
“In this is my Father glorified, that you bear
much fruit; and so you will be my disciples.
(John 15:1-8)
The cup of
blessing which we bless, isn’t it a sharing of the blood of Christ? The bread
which we break, isn’t it a sharing of the body of Christ? Because there is one
loaf of bread, we, who are many, are one body; for we all partake of the one
loaf of bread. (1 Corinthians 10:16-17)
The
Apostle Paul in another place writes:
To me, the very
least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable
riches of Christ, and to make all men see what is the administration of the
mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through
Jesus Christ; to the intent that now through the assembly the manifold wisdom
of God might be made known to the principalities and the powers in the heavenly
places, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord; in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in
him. (Ephesians 3:8-12)
The life that we are to live is to
be found in the Body of Christ, otherwise known as the assembly of those who
have been made righteous through faith in Jesus Christ. To a large extent, this is being dead to
ourselves and alive to Jesus Christ and the needs of the other members of the
Body of Christ, as directed by the Lord. Those of us who do not bear fruit will
be cut off, because we have not learned to obey the voice of the Spirit and
exercise obedience of faith. In a similar fashion, we can see how this
principle of being called and chosen or becoming a disciple and then turning
away is evident in the text from John, where Jesus was talking about the bread.
For we read that many of the disciples who had believed in Him turned back. In
as much today, many disciples who do not bear fruit will be cut off. How are
they cut off from the vine? They find doing the will of God not to their liking,
so they withdraw from listening to the
word of the Lord; that is, hearing God’s voice. As in the text, some believed in Jesus, until
He spoke of the need to be set free from sin. Once their belief system was
exposed and it became obvious they did not really believe; they were not
prepared to continue in His word. Jesus said to His disciples that the word He
spoke to them made them clean, and enabled them to bear fruit. This is because
they were listening and desired to do the will of God. If we are not listening
with an ear to hear, it is impossible to do the will of God. People can hear
but they are not actually listening. They hear the sound of a voice, but do not
understand. This is not because they do not understand the meaning of the words,
but because they are not listening at all and they are thinking about other
matters. For us to be plugged into what God is saying, we have to be a part of
an assembly where we can actively participate by means of contribution to the
lives of other people and thereby grow into maturity.
Our Heavenly Father has chosen to
make a display of His greatness to the powers and principalities that are
opposed to His eternal purpose through the Body of Christ. Originally, it was not God’s design for
humankind to be captive to sin, but when this occurred, the new plan that was
brought into operation was designed to demonstrate His righteousness to the
powers and principalities in the Heavenly places that opposed Him. By giving
people freewill, it was not God’s intention that Adam and Eve sin and break
faith with Him. Unfortunately, this is what happened because the Devil sinned
and introduced evil into the equation. God could have wiped Adam and Eve out
and started again, but the need for justice would have still cried out. Therefore,
our Heavenly Father has executed a means by which He execute justice for all
through the death and resurrection of Lord Jesus Christ. We have to learn to
hear God’s voice and understand His will, if we are to be members of the Body
of Christ. This does not happen if we possess a false belief system.
Epilogue
Having written the previous chapters, it occurred
to me that many people often put up defense mechanisms when they are
challenged. It is so easily done. Denial seems to come easier to us than
acceptance of the truth. The axiom that truth hurts is something we do not like
admitting. When we are struck with deep grief, this is when we realize truth;
our pain cannot be denied, regardless of how much we wished it did not exist.
People who suffer loss go through the pangs of
grief. The first instinct is to deny that the bad news is true. “It can’t be
true!” is often heard from individuals having been told the news that they have
just lost a loved one or a close friend unexpectedly, or are served with an
unsuspected divorce application order.
Death is something we cannot deny. We need to
address this fact and the sooner that we do, life can take on new meaning as it
transfers from being merely temporal to an eternal state. However, we cannot do
this without hearing the voice of God. We need to hear God’s voice and respond
to the call and then grow in our knowledge of Him and become acquainted with
what He is saying to us on a daily basis. Intimate relationships are in fact
even more interactive than just being on a daily basis. Nevertheless, learning
how to communicate with God and hear His voice is imperative if we are to
develop a more meaningful relationship with our Heavenly Father through Lord
Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The Devil will do everything he can to dissuade us
from drawing near to God. The one thing he does not need is another person
becoming a light in the darkness; for this is what happens when we learn how to
communicate with God and hear His voice in a way that we can trust.
Consequently, we may find ourselves making excuses for not following up on
seeking out the Lord in the manner we might have at first thought we would.
Confession is a very important component of the
Christian experience, but the Devil would rather that we repress any urge to
confess any sins that we particularly do not want to remember. Sometimes past
trauma and sins can be difficult to confess in front of others. Nevertheless,
we need to do this when prompted by the Spirit and not fall prey to repressing
things, because in our walk with God we need to be honest. Even when it comes
to seeking God, Jesus searches our hearts to see whether we are honest, before
we are actually going to be chosen of Him to be highly favored. Dishonest folk
do not get to Heaven, they are the ones who think they can sin and it does not
matter. Therefore, whenever the urge arises to repress bad experiences or sins,
it is better to admit they occurred and confess what happened rather than
repress them.
Sometimes we will feel we are making good progress
in our walk with the Lord and then something will happen that will trip us up,
and instead of being a light to the world, we feel like the power has been
turned off at the main. At times like this, we might feel somewhat angry and
start to regress to old habits. This occurs often when we point the finger at
others, when really we are being challenged ourselves to step up to the plate
and demonstrate that we are lights to the world rather than reflections of
someone else’s light. On other occasions, this can happen when we have gotten
all fired up and found ourselves on a limb, because we have become presumptuous
about our beliefs. Being brought into line, we react and, instead of coming
back into the vine, we decide that we are stars and desire some limelight.
Unfortunately, the lime takes the shine of the light and we make fools of
ourselves. Instead of being what we might have hoped to be, we find ourselves
regressing to when we once threw tantrums. When this happens, unless we get
right quickly with all concerned, including the Lord God, we may find ourselves
doing many laps in the wilderness of sin. The Israelites who came out of Egypt
spent forty years in the wilderness because of their disobedience. This is what
the Bible actually says about those who refused to obey God’s voice:
Yahweh’s
anger burned against Israel, and he made them wander back and forth in the
wilderness forty years, until all the generation, who had done evil in Yahweh’s
sight, was consumed. (Numbers 32:13)
If we are in the wilderness, one thing that might
happen is we start blaming other people for our circumstances. It is never our
fault, so we find scapegoats. We will say that God is angry, when in fact He
loves us but His righteousness is such that our sin permits the Devil to reign
in our lives. Ironically, we are the ones who are getting the bruising because
of what we have done; yet we refuse to accept personal responsibility, so we
will look for others to blame. This may even happen before we find ourselves
out in the wilderness. We may say something against someone or do neglect to
perform what is required and expected of us for some reason; but instead of
accepting responsibility, we look for a scapegoat. If we fall into this habit, we
are not going to make any spiritual progress and neither are we going to be
heard of God. Everyone else will be at fault, and we will end up feeling so
self-righteous, we will start expressing how good we are compared to other
people.
A natural outcome of refusing to accept
responsibility is to not only cast aspersions of negligence and blame onto
other people but also we will begin to think people are having nasty thoughts
about us, when in fact they may not. If we accept responsibility for something and
own up to it, we might lose some personal prestige, but at least the Lord God
will show us mercy, and people will give us another chance. However, if we
start becoming paranoid about what other people are thinking about us or saying
behind our backs, we are not going to be seeking the Lord. Instead, we will
become suspicious of people’s intentions and find ourselves becoming very
cynical and distrustful of even those who are our friends. Instead of
cultivating a spirit of goodwill, we will start to grow a root of bitterness
and disbelieve the good that exists is true. This, of course, opens us up to
other voices other than God’s voice, which is what we need to hear if we are
going to travel on the Holy Way that leads to Heaven and all its blessings,
even here on Earth.
Sometimes people find themselves seeking comfort in
forms of sin that they may not have been aware existed, or if they did, they
took no interest. Nevertheless, because of their suspiciousness of others, the
temptation to find out about other sinful occupations that can arise. Usually
this is in the area of lust of the flesh. It could be indulging in binge eating
or alcohol or pornography, prostitution or illicit affairs. The thoughts of doing such things or even
having had the occasional indulgence can create an aggressive dislike towards
anybody who practices such things. Instead of bearing fruit for the Kingdom of
God, often people develop outward moral crusades to hide these things, such as
visiting prostitutes to warn them of their wicked ways or attending hard core
pornography films, so they can be more knowledgeable about the subject they
abhor. Moral crusaders often have been found to possess unresolved and
undisclosed secrets about the very vice they are seeking to have banned. In
fact, any form of issue that becomes a crusade is usually the result from
unresolved issues about some matter residing within the person’s own
subconscious.
One way people deal with issues is to disengage
completely from any hurt it brings. Rather than addressing the cause of the
hurt and taking responsibility to rectify the situation, other interests will
become more important. For many this is playing computer games or being engaged
in conversations on discussion boards or blogs. People do this when they feel that
God is not hearing them even though they believe they are drawing near to Him.
If this is us: we need to be mindful of how we are seeking God. If we are not
seeking God because we desire to know Him and His love for us, then this might
be the reason why matters are not progressing. Usually, not being mindful of
the Lord is the reason for us having other preoccupations.
We can easily justify our preoccupations by finding
excuses for doing what we do. When we start doing this, we will find ourselves
falling victim to other things about which we would be embarrassed if found
out. The one thing we are not doing is seeking to find out what God’s will is
for us and acknowledging that He is the Omniscient One and knows more than us.
When we lose sight of this fact, we are beginning to wander too far and
self-deception will be setting in at a pace. Consequently, we are likely to begin
believing that seeking the will God is meaningless.
What can happen is that once we have sufficient
excuses as to why we do not need to seek God’s voice and discover His will for
our lives, we may begin to pursue other avenues of activity such as a form of
leisure or adventure, or business, creative and sporting pursuits. We can even
do this believing that God will back us up. We may even think it does not
matter at all because believing that we have been once saved, we believe we are
always saved; therefore, we can do whatever we like. Instead of seeing
ourselves as sinners saved by grace through faith in Lord Jesus Christ, we
start to see ourselves just as good as others, if not better and begin to focus
on different objectives other than seeking to know God’s voice.
The reason we would be wise in seeking God’s voice
is omniscience is something we do not possess. Now if we were to pursue any
activity, we would first need to learn about it. Then we would have to start
practicing the things that we learn. Often we will seek out people to teach us
what has to be done and coaches to train us in what we need to do. Whatever the
case, nobody becomes a physician without first having studied at university and
having had hands on experience in a hospital. Yet people think that they can
become Christians overnight and read the Bible or study theology and they know
the will of God for their lives, when the very Scriptures themselves state:
Therefore I
urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. Don’t be
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so
that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God. (Rom. 12:1-2)
Being a living sacrifice goes beyond merely reading
the Bible or studying theology. What we
are told is we need to prove the will of God. Proving the will of God in our
lives definitely sounds like an activity that requires dedication. This is even
more so, if we consider that a transformation is to take place that involves
the renewing of our minds.
In the book of Revelation, Jesus speaks to the
church of Ephesus and says:
But I have
this against you, that you left your first love. Remember therefore from where
you have fallen, and repent and do the first works; or else I am coming to you
swiftly, and will move your lamp stand out of its place, unless you repent.
(Revelation 2:4-5)
Lord Jesus spoke those very stern words so that we
might recognize that losing our first love can be very real. However, if we
reflect upon the fact that it is when we repress feelings and experiences
rather than confessing them, we find that this is what causes our first love to
wane. On the other hand, if we are to grow in the knowledge of God and prove
His will in our lives, then we are going to present ourselves to Him as living
sacrifices and be willing to acknowledge our sins, repent of our past actions,
deal with traumatic experiences that inhibit us, and seek His voice. Without
learning how to hear God’s voice, we are not going to learn what He requires of
us. Everyone one of us is an individual and each one of us is unique. While the
Bible might present us with the general will of God that He desires everyone to
be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth; only through personal intimacy
with the Holy Spirit are we able to learn the truth about ourselves in
particular.
God being omniscient is able to show us how to gain
the most enjoyment and achieve the fulfillment and satisfaction that we desire
in life. Without His guidance, we are stumbling in the dark. We are like a
person claiming to be a brain surgeon and turning up to do surgery with a saw,
a hammer and a chisel. Unless we submit to the Lord and allow Him to guide us,
we will never obtain the very things that we desire most. Often we do not know
what they are ourselves. However, the promise of Scripture is that if we
acknowledge the Lord God in all our ways, He will give us the desires of our
heart and establish our plans. For some this might seem like copping out and
being like a child that is dependent upon his or her parents. However, as indicated
above, ask such individuals if they would like to be operated upon by somebody
who has not had any training under qualified supervision.
Indeed, we become as children when we are born
again. For we have to learn what God requires of us, so we can prove to be His
beloved children. This is only possible if we learn to hear God’s voice and in
humility exercise obedience of faith.
Might I suggest that Mark Virkler’s book How To Hear God’s Voice is a good place to start, if you would like
further guidance. It is obtainable at www.CWGministries.org
[1] A Commentary,
Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments by Robert
Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
[2] Benson, Joseph.
"Commentary on Revelation.". Joseph Benson's Commentary.Text Courtesy
of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission
[3] Charles's Secret
Numerology Beliefs www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/04/03/charles-s-secret-numerology-beliefs.html —retrieved April 5, 2015.
[4] Revised Standard
Version of the Bible, copyright © 1971 the Division of Christian Education of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[5] From sarah and 'el;
he will rule as God; Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of
his posterity: --Israel.—Strong’s
Exhaustive Concordance
Israel also is said to mean “God
strives”. “Strives with God”, “Prince of
God”, “ruling with God” but when one considers the essence of its meaning, “God
rules” reflects the fact that as a nation, Israel was meant to be ruled by God
as its King, and those who were to be children of Abraham to rule with God in
respect to other nations, and thereby would be princes or kings. Hence, we have Jesus being the King of kings
and Lord of lords.
[6] Thayers Greek Lexicon. “a
hearing” “flat nosed”.
[7] Lemon Tree written by Will Holt (late 1950s)—Wikipedia
[8] Blowin’ in the Wind--Wikipedia
[10] Added for clarity by
author.
[11]Steyn Mark, After
America: Get Ready for Armageddon Regnery Publishing, Inc. Washington. DC.
2011. P.263-5.
http://www.steynonline.com/
[12] Charlie Hebdo Attack
Fails to Kill Satire, Stop Muhammad Cartoons
[13] Von Ward, Paul. Evidence For Reincarnation of 13th Dalai Lama
as the 14th (Source: Memoirs of his
mother Diki Tsering in Dalai Lama: My Sonbased on notes taken by her daughter
in 1970's—1980's and edited by her son in 1990's. Published by Compass Books,
New.York,..2000) www.reincarnationexperiment.org/home/dalailamaplid.html —
retrieved 18th Jan. 2015
[14] Glenn H. Mullin,
"Faces of the Dalai Lama: Reflections on the Man and the Tradition,"
Quest, vol. 6, no. 3, Autumn 1993, p. 80—sourced Wikipedia Jan. 18. 2015
[15] Sunday Times Perth
13/12/53 www.trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/59682930/4527748?zoomLevel=3 —
retrieved April 6, 2015.
[16] 'Devil made me do it'
defense fails for man convicted of killing brother in St. Louis County www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/devil-made-me-do-it-defense-fails-for-man-convicted/article_5b80a07c-a8b5-5d00-9269-09dea9518ea9.html —
retrieved April 6, 2015.
[17] They actually get
eaten by the spider and are reconstructed the following evening.
[18] From sandcastles to
solid rock www.sciencewa.net.au/topics/technology-a-innovation/item/863-from-sandcastles-to-solid-rock/863-from-sandcastles-to-solid-rock —
retrieved 18th Jan. 2015
[19] Amplified Bible (AMP)
Copyright © 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
[20] Brian White 1993,
(with thanks to Ven S. Dhammika.) Buddhanet Basic Buddhism Guide: A Five Minute
Introduction. http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/5minbud.htm
— retrieved Jan. 19. 2014.
[21] Robert Ellis, The second precept: avoiding taking the
not-given. http://www.clear-vision.org/Schools/Students/Ages-17-18/Buddhist-ethics/2nd-precept.aspx retrieved—May 17, 2015
[22] At the time of
writing, stealing is not mentioned as a subject in the Guide To Buddhism A To
Z. The subject of same sex marriage and
masturbation is listed, though. www.buddhisma2z.com/about.html —last checked May 17, 2015. This suggests that
stealing is given a low priority among Buddhists as is being industrious. Although this is not the case for Barbara O’
Brien who takes the high ground, while denigrating the commandment “You shall
not steal” as being an external measure and not an internal one. http://buddhism.about.com/od/theprecepts/a/The-Second-Precept.htm
—May 17, 2015.
[23] Bhante Shravasti
Dhammika, Guide To Buddhism A To Z www.buddhisma2z.com/about.html
[24] Ibid Adultery
[25]
Author’s remark
because “intercrural” is defined by the Websters dictionary as “Between crura;
- applied especially to the interneural plates in the vertebral column of many
cartilaginous fishes.” The “crura” as the “shank or shin of the leg”. Also some
leg like object, like a root.
[26] Ibid Sexual Behavior Attribution is made to
the book Buddhism and Sex, M. O’C
Walsh, 1986.
[27] Why are Buddhist monks attacking
Muslims? BBC News May 2013 http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-22356306 —
retrieved Jan. 22, 2015
[28] Jerryson, Michael
(ed), Juergensmeyer Mark (ed). Buddhist Warfare. January 8, 2010.
Amazon.
[30]. http://www.buddhisma2z.com/content.php?id=352
Bhante Shravasti Dhammika, Samsara —retrieved Jan. 22, 2015
[31] Ibid. Dhamma.
[32] Nirvana literally
means “blown out” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nirvana
[33] ibid Dhamma, BUDDHA
AND JESUS, referencing Two Masters One Message, Roy Amore, 1978.
—retrieved Jan. 22, 2015
[34] Ibid Right Effort.
[35] English Standard Version. The Holy Bible,
English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of
Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[36] Revised Standard
Version of the Bible, copyright © 1971 the Division of Christian Education of
the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
[37] New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Copyright © 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
[38] Americans' Perceptions of the Bible's
Global Reach: Is the Bible Available To All People. April 7, 2015 https://www.barna.org/barna-update/culture/715-americans-perception-of-the-bible-s-reach-globally#.VSiDM9yUede
—retrieved April 11,2015
Recommended Further Reading
Prayers That Heal The Heart by Patti and Mark Virkler
How To Hear God’s Voice by Mark Virkler
Obtainable at www.CWGministrries.org
Other works by the Author
Saved By Grace Through Faith In Lord Jesus Christ
The Only Words Written By The Finger Of God
How To Have An Effective Bible Study
You Will Know Them By Their Fruits
Return To The Lord Of Blessings
Jesus: Son Of God, Son Of Man
How to Overcome The Devil
The Prodigal Son of God
The Milk Of The Word
Shine Like A Star
Jacob’s Trouble