Virtually everyone has and still is eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. This concept of christian religion was started early on, just after the crucifixion. For the Apostle Paul had to confront it several times during his walk. Paul knew what he was talking about, when combating the religious orders of each town that he went through, for he himself came from a deeply rooted religious belief, being a Pharisee of Pharisee’s. But in his face to face encounter with Jesus on the road going to Damascus, he was shown a Truth that the many years of his sect couldn’t give him. He wasn’t just changed to become a better man, he was recreated from the inside out, he saw Truth. Blinded by this encounter, he was shown the condition that he had led his life with up to then, couldn’t see a thing. But when prayed for and the scales came off, he was now looking at a different world, at least on the inside.
It was the many different religious beliefs that landed him in prisons, and were used to persecute him relentlessly. Pauls’ blindness is what Jesus used to give him his sight for the very first time. His outside was being turned in, for he was given the blessing of being shown who he had always been up to this point, the chief among sinners. Wow, what a change in an inner mans’ life, you know the rest of the story.
All see through a dark glass, and I guess that’s because we’re limited in this three dimensional world, but most are completely blinded by the rhetoric being spewed out by those that say they know what they’re talking about, the institutionalized layman. ‘If you can’t make it right, make it look good’ is the motto of the millennium. Folks, again I say, if the hype that’s being fed was going work, don’t you think it would have by now? As long as the law, and especially tithing, is taught in our wonderful dispensation of Grace and Mercy, that boat won’t float. For no one is going to figure out how to mix that water with oil. I’ve been taught by Gods’ Christ to Love the people, but never again will I embrace the religious crap that flows so freely from every denomination, sect, corner building with their steeple, or anyone else that tries to keep their people bound by some set of rules and regulations. The law was up until John the baptizer, and he was used by God to commission Jesus to a new era of Love and Grace. Paul said that the law and the letter of the law kills, and is unto death, but when that which is perfect Love, comes, then that of old is done away with. There will never be freedom in the heart of Gods’ people until the heart is changed, and that begins in repentance, a changing of the mind. A pouring out of the old mind, being renewed, recreated, and filled with the new mind of Christ, and is the only answer, and won’t be found in these places where the lust of the flesh is being taught. Your personal relationship with God and His Christ, our Lord, will not be flaunted in a display of self-righteousness.
Of course those embedded in the institution are going to say that I’m nuts, that includes all, whether laymen, clergy, the elected back-ups, or just the parishioners. Nobody caught up in this flesh worship is ever going to admit to the truth that the True Church of God does not resemble this ‘thing called church’. The apostle Paul had to deal with all the people that made their living from the idol of the goddess Diana of the Ephesians. There was a fight, for no one was willing to give up their vocations, or beliefs, not to some nut preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This sure ain’t the only time that Paul or any number of others were confronted with this problem of ‘don’t mess in our sand box’ attitude.
Moses had a chaotic thing going on with his beloved brother Aaron and the people of Israel when descending the mountain with the oracles of God. We too, like Israel, have built a golden calf, and thought we were doing the right thing, we thought. The golden calf is alive and well, worshipped weekly in these institutions, and will fight to the bitter end before they give their idols of the flesh.
Again, most will think what I’m saying is from the devil, out-of-line, some cult thought, or any other devise to shoot down what God has given me to give others. They have to, how else will those that make their living selling Christ, or those so manipulated into thinking that this is Gods’ ways, bear the burden of laying down their life in a true sense, and following the Way, Truth, and Life. The way I see it, is that following after Christ will cost us everything, especially our lives. Sure, a laborer is worthy of being paid for his labors, but preaching, teaching and spreading the ‘Good News’ is not laborious. It’s a Love, a privilege, maybe a way of life, but not a vocation, It is a joy that can’t and won’t be measured in dollars. In second Chronicles-seven fourteen says, and God’s speaking; “if My people, that are called by My name, will humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. And that land is us. For God is looking for His ears and heart to be perpetual, not man lifting up man. So is it that hard to see that this wonderful and valuable gift, us, the Church, has been pulled down to some street level attitude created by man and what he got from the tree of knowledge?
Of a Truth, the ones involved in the destruction of the sanctity of the church, are loved by our Lord. Yes every bit as much as those that have kept it Holy, but are missing out on the relationship that God provided from the beginning at the Garden. Will that stop them from attacking those that come against their sand-box playground? Of course not, they have to protect their dignity and livelihood, for the involvement is so deeply rooted, and so deeply accepted by their peers doing the same things, that they feel they have no choice but to tear down any opposition.
Please think about this. How can man go to school, talk with the traditional old-men of the past, put on their shiny clothes, rehearse their weekly sermon, draw their pay check and think that they have come up with a way-of-life that’s actually going to change others in a Godly direction? If I’m seeing right, then is not the Holy Spirit that knows all things, and teaches all things, anointing men to expound on the things of God? Again of course, it wouldn’t matter what type of clothes we wear, or if we have a Rolex watch, some institutionalized seminary training, or maybe just a gift of gab, since the people world-wide have been trained through the centuries to accept the status-quo. A person like me, probably won’t even make a dent in the attitude of those worshipping the ‘church’ and thinking that it’s pleasing to God, it ain’t. Some can sing hymns so well that they can make chills run up your spine, but some are like me and just make a noise, but then again when I sing silently within myself, it’s a beautiful sound. But then again, God’s not looking for educated preachers or great singers, they are a dime a dozen, but He is looking for those that seek His Heart. Those that will lay their life down, walk away from it, and follow Jesus as He walks us through every trial, every tribulation, and anything else that it takes to purge us and temper us into His Life and Arms, are those that are cradled in His arms of Peace.
No one has lived a ‘good’ life, no one is without a detrimental past, all have sinned, but the past can lie where it is, in the past. For there is no condemnation, nor separation to those that give up on any kind of pretty or ugly past, simply turn around and follow Jesus, the only one that man can call upon for salvation, there is no other. And we don’t need me or any other man to show us how, God is capable, willing and ready to look at His Son in you, and see nothing but the beauty.
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I reckon we should at least touch on a couple of subjects that no one wants to hear, or if they’ve already heard would rather not talk about, and that is the pagan practice that so many do today and call it christmas and easter. Both were celebrated some thousand years before Jesus was born, and therefore have their roots in the pagans that practiced them. With their yule-tide logs, a crazy man mad flying around, and their orgies that lasted nearly two weeks. All in the worship of some god, which I won’t even name, to get drunk and parade up and down the street until what was wanted, was achieved. The holiday easter was started about the same time period by some goddess called Ishtar, and again was about procreation and fertility, as seen in the bunny rabbit or the eggs. Both were brought to us by a compromise, by a so-called pope to appease his subjects and bring the masses together. Neither have anything to do with God or His Christ. Sure Jesus had a birthday, some say September the eleventh, but it was never mentioned about a celebration. And Jesus did rise from the grave, which is the greatest of all feats for us, but easter as we know it has nothing to do with Christ, even if we do mention His name a time or two in our massive service. Both are still today celebrated to appease the masses.