Poetic Interlude XI

POEM PILE

I pile them up – and up they go

Poems galore like some gathering of confetti

After the wedding of holding hands

Leaves of paper ajar against the wall

For all to see and consider oblong or square?

Set on sideboard – what a place to be

Poems are meant to be

In professional-folder of professional-man

But instead lie-dishevelled in full view

So that they are disregarded as

Shoe-string or serviette, or chair-feet cups or…

Yet an odd visitor may ask

If they can look? – if they can read?

But silent after reading – their response to me

Let’s me know that again

I must suffer for my art

😎

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Spiritual Matters

SPIRITUAL MATTERS

When it comes to Divine matters, like a soaking cloth eventually wrung out to stiff dryness, we are comparatively barren in spiritual knowledge.

If someone tells us the message of the gospel – that message, if we get well into it, talks of things that are not easily understood. Not because the person doesn’t use plain English (or Greek?) when sharing the message, but because of the content of the message and it’s deeply spiritual nature.

Concerning Paul the Apostle we read:

16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.

One of the lessons from this is that, when we have questions we can’t answer, or see injustice in the world we don’t understand, – we must not blame the God of the Bible. The ‘untaught and unstable…’ can (to their own detriment) in their spiritual ignorance foolishly accuse the God of the Universe wrongly.

Our lack of true spiritual insight poses a dilemma. Not only to be faced by the, as yet, unbeliever, but also by the believer, who is also limited in his revelation of these deeply spiritual matters.

We talk of short attention spans in children. But it’s the same for adults. And especially in matters of a spiritual nature, spiritual attention span can be lost quickly.

The disciples of Jesus had been there and bought the T-shirt regarding the supernatural feeding of thousands, but failing again to understand The Lord, they illicit His response, and He said: Matthew 16/

9 Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?

10 Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?

They had experienced the supernatural, but quickly losed the reality of it.

Life is either too busy – or offering all kinds of things, to distract us, and we initially would prefer these things over spiritual truth and experience.

No man we are told in the Bible – straightaway desires the new wine of God, for he says that the old is better. Wine can be a metaphor for various things, keeping it simple – let’s say in this context – it is spiritual matters. (K.J.V – Luke 5/39: No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new: for he saith, The old is better).

We do not warm immediately to spiritual matters. There are hurdles we need to jump, hurdles of sin and unbelief, before we start to get to the finishing line and receive the prize of spiritual revelation. This cannot be done except with Christ’s help, help we must ask for.

It is true that we can mentally comprehend truth up to a point – even spiritual truth as in understanding the things of God. But this is a limited understanding.

We can liken this to reading the authors book without meeting the author, and therefore failing to get a developed insight into the story, by getting first hand knowledge straight as they say – from the horses mouth.

This conversation and the getting to know of the author adds greatly to the understanding we have of his work.

Comprehending The Lord Jesus Christ as The Son of The Living God – is a revelation.

Jesus told Peter and therefore us, that God the Father Himself, had enlightened Peter to the fact that regardless of who other men said Jesus was, Peter had received a revelation that this was indeed the Son of the Living God, the Christ, the Messiah.

K.J.V – Matthew 16/17: And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

John in the book of Revelation received the book ‘…in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day.’ (Revelation 1/10)

The book is entitled Revelation and spiritual revelation is needed to understand it.

Men love to debate doctrinal issues, and intellects vie for pre-eminence.

However the things of The Spirit of God, knows no man, except for The Spirit of God who lives within him, (He either does or doesn’t live in us, depending on whether we choose God’s offered gift of salvation in Christ, or sadly reject it). (I Corinthians 2/10-12).

Only The Holy Spirit of The Living God can open our eyes to spiritual matters. Only He can enlighten us to the meaning and application of Holy Writ.

Every Christian especially those who teach the Word of God, must periodically examine themselves, to see if they are becoming more dependent on their concordances and commentaries, rather than the sought help of God.

The bible, when it comes to the recipients of spiritual teaching, refers to babes, young men, sons, fathers, wives and so on.

Just as there is growth from the womb to maturity in the natural, so it is in the spiritual life.

It is possible for a yielded vessel of what man might consider a lesser intellect, to actually walk in greater revelation than those of superior natural education and intellectual prowess.

Paul (a man of good/great intellect) refers to those who are the called of Christ: 

For ye see in your calling, brethren, how not many wise men according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.

Notice the key expression here: wise men ‘…according to the flesh…’

In other words those who have strong natural abilities of intellect and perhaps educated understanding, are not automatically superior when it comes to spiritual understanding.

Often those intellectually capable beyond their fellows, can inform us beneficially regarding the ‘about’ of Christianity. 

Helping us through Greek or Hebrew scholarship or historic research to grasp an expanded view of words, or the culture of a given time. But this is only beneficial when we have first received spiritual insight, as given by God Himself.

Scholarship helps re-enforce any revelation we have received, but revelation is not dependent upon it.

The opposite is true also, that those with good or great intellectual capacity are not excluded either, if their intellect goes through the dealings and/or purgings of God, as He strips them of self-dependence, self-reliance, when it comes to spiritual matters.

Some of the men used of God to see Revival were men who knew God. They had intellectual ability. But they recognised their dependance on The Lord God, they knew the reality of the scripture that says:

If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Paul counted everything he had gained with his natural ability, as rubbish, in exchange for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ, that flesh and blood had not taught him. (King James version):

4 Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:

5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;

6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

He also tells us of how dependent he was on God’s revelation:

15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace,

16 To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood:

17 Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia, and returned again unto Damascus.

Conversely the gospel message in essence is simple. It has to be – in order to be understood by all men, so called high or low.

But the key to all spiritual understanding, is the influence of God upon the mind of the person hearing the message. 

When God ‘gets on your case’, though we do not straight away desire the ‘new wine’ He offers, His patience and long-suffering causes Him to continue to speak to us through His ordained means, namely the preaching of the gospel.

But the deep things of God, if they are to be revealed to us – must come as The Holy Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. (I Corinthians 2/10)

The regenerated spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, and in the human spirit, God works to reveal Christ and His knowledge to us, but always in harmony and accord with The Holy Bible. (Proverbs 20/27)

So the human spirit receives light, of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (II Corinthians 4/6).

If you have not yet grasped or received the spiritual revelation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and received Him as Lord and Saviour. Start by asking for His help.

If you are a babe in Christ, a ‘teenager’ in spiritual years, or a mature follower of Christ – be reminded, as I remind myself, that we really need God’s enablement, if we are to progress in our spiritual life.

Let’s unitedly ask for His help as the body of Christ, the church, on the earth.

Hidden wisdom

HIDDEN WISDOM

Regardless of what ‘times’ we are living in, and how close to the end of the world we are, it was, is, and will always be more than a matter of the prophetic outcome of the planet.

We are told that the times and the seasons God has set within His power (Acts 1/7). In other words God in divine wisdom has a way of letting man operate and function, in making his own choices, but He will order things in such a way that His total plan will not be hindered.

God is resisted and hindered from blessing the individual heart, on all sides, because of the rebellious will of man, but He will still both in pre-determinate counsel and in His response to man’s choices – bring to pass all the good pleasure of His will. And often of course God takes no pleasure in the actions He must take, unavoidably take, in response, to the awful choices and deeds of mankind.

God’s ways He tells us are ‘past finding out’ (Romans 11/33) – but He has revealed hidden mysteries, in New Testament times.

True Christians can partake of God’s hidden wisdom (I Corinthians 2/7). But there are things – yes secret things – that belong to God alone. (Deuteronomy 29/29).

Getting every conceivable answer to every conceivable question is not going to happen. And that frees us to realise that the foundation of faith in Christ is based on something else.

Our faith in Christ as the Saviour of the world is based on Him, not on understanding everything and therefore believing.

Yes I love to understand and receive revelation on The Word of God, but when I look at His life on earth, I am left speechless with regard to so many aspects of what He thought, said and did, I am left in admiration for the one they placed on the tree.

No man ever spoke like this man, nor did what He did. Laying down His life for mankind and taking it up again in resurrection power is the message to be believed. (John 10/18)

The voice of unbelief cries out perhaps like never before, man is wise in his own conceits – but the still small voice is still whispering to the human heart –

‘Follow me…’

Mis-Non-communication

Mis-Non-communication

I have been reflecting again on the communication dilemma that besets mankind.

Mankind is greatly handicapped when it comes to understanding his fellow man/woman.

I believe – that man is born with sin ingrained in his nature. And although it’s somewhat of a mystery, it is clearly seen by it’s fruits of death. It greatly effects his ability to discern and judge properly.

I realise that not everyone takes that view.

Let me start by being overly-simplistic in my illustrations of what I would like to share in this post.

The number 4 – is what I mean. But you think I mean four. And someone else thinks I mean IV.

The same thing only different?

I saw a beautiful blue sky the other day – I meant cerulean but you thought I meant ultramarine.

Two friends sitting conversing, while the radio weather forecast is being shared. One friend heard: ‘Mist or fog will descend…’

The other friend was aghast at the weatherman treating us as children in sharing the forecast:

“Imagine…” she said – “referring to Fog as ‘Mister’…”

I speak of the resurrection of the dead, a fundamental belief in the Christian Faith – but you read into my statement – the idea of coming back from the dead as in re-incarnation, something I do not believe in. You have misunderstood my words.

I talk of freedom of spirit – you think I mean a so called: ‘free spirit’ – someone who dabbles indiscriminately in every experience under the sun, eventually experiencing the negative consequences. No I meant Christ setting us free.

‘Jimmy’ tells ‘Carol’ he loves her. Poor Carol goes away on a high, looking forward to the future romantic interlude with Jimmy. Failing to realise he should have added ‘As a friend…’

A lot of verbal argument is not so much to do with disagreeing as it is in misunderstanding the other person in the argument.

He thought you meant this – when you meant that.

Mis-communication is common to man.

‘Put the bin out…’ meant – for refuse collection. You ran for the fire extinguisher.

When it comes to sharing the Christian faith, many think what is shared is A-ok and even hit like buttons – when they have in actual fact misunderstood.

I was largely guilty of ignoring the signs, when God was trying to get through to me. Every prompt He sent my way I dismissed with my own reasoning.

This was not always a conscious act on my part.

I misunderstood.

Paul the apostle tells us of his pre-conversion days that the wrong he committed was done ignorantly and in unbelief – actually going way off-track – in that he thought he was actually pleasing God.

When any kind of message is sent our way – it can either create fear, indifference, annoyance, or we misunderstand it, and wrongly conclude what it actually means.

Think about this. Why do we so easily misunderstand? And misunderstand each other?

Man’s condition.

Just part of the result of a fallen world under the limitations of human flesh, the natural mind forms all kinds of wrong conclusions.

I love Candy.

No not the girl – the sweets – the confectionery. What did you think I meant?

Ephesians 3/4

Your kinda preaching?

(Just a preliminary note – I’m having a hit and miss scenario with ‘liking’ peoples blog posts. Some I can hit others I can’t – sorry if you haven’t received a ‘like’ for some time. I don’t expect to resolve this 😎 ?) Also – Even though I’ve checked through my older posts – I’m still not sure if I am posting or re-posting the following:

Your kinda PREACHING?

Everybody is different in their choice of preachers that please.

Everybody is different when it comes to likes and dislikes on the subject of preaching.

Some like to be entertained. Some like to get answers, because they have many questions regarding their spiritual life.

Others look for a particular type of delivery of the message. For some it must be loud and demonstrative. Others can’t be bothered with all ‘that shouting’. Some look to be greatly moved emotionally. Again others – greatly informed intellectually.

For some unless the preacher’s saliva is hitting the front row of the gathering – he isn’t really preaching properly.

And again some would walk out – as the noise level is deafening.

What about you?

And what does it matter about the delivery anyway – if what is being delivered is neither relevant to our spiritual life, nor biblical?

Some love many illustrations interwoven into the preacher’s message. A good story, they say, goes a long way.

Testimony of people’s real life experiences in which they have proven God to be ‘a very present help in time of trouble’, are hard to improve on. So some prefer this kind of ‘speaking’.

The Lord Jesus Christ – was not only The Master – but the master of the use of illustrations. We call them parables. Without which He rarely preached, unless perhaps conversing on a one to one basis.

He did speak to His disciples in a more direct fashion, without parables. It might be interesting to reflect upon the fact that perhaps Illustrations/parables should be less present when the saints (His disciples) are being addressed (?).

Matthew 13:9-11 (NKJV)

9 He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” 10 And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” 11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven…

Anyway, it is true to say that He passed on to others His teaching, illustrating His truth with examples from everyday life. We are told in the Bible that the ‘common people’ heard Him gladly. Mark 12:37

He spoke their language, when it came to the use of illustrations. In other words the parables He used were based on everyday life.

So it’s safe to say that illustrations were acceptable with Him, when it came to preaching or teaching, without being dogmatic about their use or absence in sermon making.

But it is also true to say that the words of Jesus were more than simply good illustrations, given to interest, amuse or in some way show Him to be a good ‘public speaker’.

The words He spoke (and no man ever spoke like this man) – were ‘Spirit and Life’.

The same words He spoke when He called everything into being, spoken from eternity, when He was still in heaven. Spoken in co-operative unity with the Godhead, and before He took upon Himself the form of a man. All things were made by Him, and without Him there was nothing made that was made.

He is the creator of the universe. Bearing in mind that He created all things before He took upon Himself the body of a man, we also therefore need to realise that when He speaks, His goal is not to impress, – it is to reveal, enlighten, change, comfort, exhort, correct, heal, instruct, deliver… and so we could go on.

He doesn’t need a pat on the back for giving a good illustration, or preaching a good sermon, nor does He need the response: ‘Good speaker that chap’.

He wants us instead to believe what He says, but also to ‘eat’ His words, let them sink deep down through our ears into our spirits, where the dynamic power that indwells His every word will work in us to once again create something new!

So next time you critique the preacher’s sermon, and reflect on the good illustrations, the humorous anecdotes, or that he was full of ‘blood and thunder’, ask yourself the question: ‘What did The Lord Jesus just say to me through this preacher’s words’?

I Am – sent me

I AM – SENT ME

People often talk of the Peace they sense in nature

In their nature walks –

they feel some kind of peace when nobody talks

Some refer to it as getting closer to God

But to move from busy hubbub to calm and relaxed

Can be simply that –

nothing more profound or complex

God is not nature neither is He – in – what He has created

A tree is not his dwelling place

Else we can worship the work of his hands

if indeed He is impersonal and a figment of

man’s intellectual demands

If indeed He is impersonal then

He can dwell in temples made with hands

If He is electricity or some abstract force of nature

He is the figment of the imagination of the creature

Instead of a Personal Saviour – with a divine nature

We can make Him all kinds of things –

But Jesus – speaks and brings

His Word to bear upon us 

To keep us right, on track, in a sound mind

‘I Am that I Am’ is His address to Moses

Say to them: ‘I Am has sent me…’

(Acts 7/48, 17/24) (Exodus 3/14)

Chaotic Maelstrom

Calm in the midst of terror (Watercolour – Ken Riddles)

CHAOTIC MAELSTROM

One of the things I marvel at is the slow-slide downhill from truth. that is taking place on this planet. The only reason I am not overly surprised is because we are warned prophetically in the Bible, that such will be the case (II Timothy 3). 

I should categorise the area where truth is being eroded, by pointing out that I mostly refer to spiritual and moral truth (with no reference for example to political ideologies). 

Some moral standards that were 100% in place in our societies are almost eroded away.

Normally, examples would follow when making such a statement. And of course the daggers would come out if I became politically incorrect in my statements. Political correctness can be an attempt to impose rules that forbid us to correct the violation of Christ’s standards, lest we offend.

But giving shameful lists of acts of moral decay is not the purpose of this short piece.

I simply want to ask the question: Are we asleep, or using another analogy: are we adrift at sea in the maelstrom of moral chaos?

Will we wake up before it is too late?

We can of course only wake up individually, before we wake up corporately. Enough people waking up to the moral decline in an ‘anything-goes’ world, will bring the corporate change.

Without a moral compass we will continue to drift on the ocean-waves of depravity.

Christian preachers will go on preaching, and people will go on ignoring, until they wake up!? (or not).

It’s complicated I know. But as you reject hypocritical religion – sound the tuning fork of your own conscience and it will give you the right note.

Buy the lie – and anything goes.

Anything goes – all the way to man’s destruction.

Mentioning destruction – “What are you?” I hear you say. “Some kinda hell preacher?”

Yep – ‘Fire preacher’ – You burn your waste in the fire. You do not believe Hitler deserves a place in heaven – right?

Well guess what? No one does – except we be born again, according to The Lord Jesus Christ.

For it is by the unmerited favour of God’s gift – that a man or woman enters the promise of heaven on acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Saviour.

John 3/3:

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

That’s it in a nutshell.

Some receive this – some reject this. There’s no need to tell me of your vehement rejection, I don’t need an explanation as to why, I reckon I’ve heard enough over the years.

It’s just that God’s long-suffering – after ‘the long’ is over – will run out.

And the disease will have to be burned up.

The disease that is the root cause of every conceivable violation of justice and every moral misdeed, and reception of lies.

Who is going to hell?

Not for me to say – who am I that I should judge you, in the context of hell?

God is the judge of all the earth. But is there a place that will end the degradation and destruction caused by the spirits (human and demonic) behind the chaos?

Yes.

Most of us, have either an inkling, or through the process of bad experiences – a conviction – that the world has gone terribly wrong.

Trouble is – many won’t acknowledge that wrong (sin) is why it has all gone wrong.

The solution to every problem is to put the wrong – right.

Too mammoth a task for you or I to make a mammoth difference?

Self-preservation is a basic instinct in mankind.

Here is the dictionary definition of self-preservation:

1. Protection of oneself from harm or destruction.

2. The instinct for individual preservation; the innate desire to stay alive.

So it begins with the individual who can find the truth through their own individual quest.

Aware of the many sometimes intricate and varied philosophies that people allow themselves to drift into – one thing is common to many of them: they start with self – continue with self – are worked out by self – and leave ‘the divine’ – out of the mix.

Most self-help programmes – good or bad – revolve around the individual ‘sorting themselves out’ through the application of the instructions of the given programme of teaching.

In contrast – 

The Christian ethos is basically – ‘we can’t make it – we need help from above’.

Here is my first paragraph copied and pasted again:

One of the things I marvel at is the slow slide downhill from truth that is taking place on this planet. The only reason I am not overly surprised is because we are warned prophetically in the Bible, that such will be the case (II Timothy 3).

To have actually experienced help from God Almighty through His Son The Lord Jesus Christ – was the most tremendous experience in my life.

There is salvation in none other:

Acts 4:12

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Examine other philosophies or religions and the emphasis is on man as the source of his own salvation, when it comes to self-preservation or deliverance from ‘wrong’ – the Christian solution is to call upon the one (prayer), who offers His gift of Eternal Life. So I reckon this is: God-preservation.

I Thessalonians 5/23:

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There is a bombardment upon the mind of the human race and the result is untold damage. This bombardment is from the spirits of darkness. It is chaotic. Now we must have the invasion of God’s hand and angels – released to provide the help man cannot provide for himself.

Poetic Interlude X

BEST

Best addressed

This way

Best seen not heard

So they say

Best arranged in this manner

Day after day

Best take the elevator

Depending on how much you weigh

Best stay at home

There’s such a rainy spray

Best open a tin for tea

Just forget the buffet

Best leave before its dark

It’s raining – protect your toupee

Best wear a jumper – too cold

Even in the Subway

Best set the alarm for early rise

Perhaps more lessons in ballet

Best stop before it’s too late

Better to stop and pray

Poetic Interlude IX

A WALK IN NATURE

Down by the slippery tree –

never searched-out why it might be

And kicking through blades of grass

I stop to stare at swans as they pass

My hands on hips my stare intact

I notice their regal look and feathers perfect

White as white can be and undisturbed 

By you or me

They take their time as Regals should

This way – then that – depending on their mood

Their orange bill-pointer at large

delves into their feathery down

And then sequentially dives beneath

the water’s Carmel brown

I wonder what she snatched

Perhaps a young insect not long hatched?

Time to trundle-on along the river side

Take-in all nature has,

maybe pull up a stump and abide

I stay there – ’til soon it’s past noon

The morning walk is over

“Be home soon”

I tell the better-half on the mobile

But I linger –

excusing myself for staying another while

Who am I addressing?

WHO AM I ADDRESSING?

The subject of ‘How to live the Christian Life’, occupies the ministers of God’s word in their capacity as Pastor, Minister, Padre, Teacher or whatever job description they choose for themselves.

The ‘How to’ covers the outworking of thoughts, words and deeds, rather than just the ‘academic’ aspect of bible study, which is not what it is all about.

God gives His word to change us.

To live the Christian life, is – in the eyes of most fair-minded people – to do with being good.

You profess to be a Christian – you therefore, it is assumed – profess to be good.

However “I’m a  good person”, can be an oft repeated phrase from the mouths of Christians or non-Christians, alike. It would take another post to expound and examine the scripture that tells us: They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”

Christian Blog posts offer encouragement in this ‘How to live the Victorious Christian Life’ endeavour, i.e. how to live as a Christian should.

How to overcome life’s problems, how to have confidence, how to think positively, how to handle adversity, overcome fear, share the faith – one could continue the list of topics. All relevant to Victorious Christian Living.

Prophesying as described in the New Testament must include edification, exhortation and comfort. (I Corinthians 14/3)

And who doesn’t need those?

Christian writing attempts to edify the believer, exhort them to better things, and provide the comfort that the Christian needs in an alien environment, where Christianity is mis-understood and maligned out-of-hand.

However, there is a saying about ‘putting the cart before the horse’. And I sometimes question that when it comes to Christian posting this can happen.

I have asked myself the question when posting: ‘Who am I addressing?’ And of course it is, in one sense, a limited audience, and we cannot answer the question exactly.

But it does need to be stated that Christian teaching apart from the preaching of the message of ‘Salvation through Christ’, is not always for everyone.

By that I mean that children in Primary school are not taught adult themes, unless the teachers are mis-guided and unwise.

There is ‘growth level’ to be considered, before many subjects can be approached. If a child asks an adult-themed question, then of course paring-it-down to their level, without too much incomprehensible detail, should be done. 

Rather than dismissing the subject and rejecting the child’s genuine enquiry. This calls for wisdom of the first order.

So when handing-out different exhortations to Christians, it might be fair to ask: ‘who is listening in?’

The Christian life can be lived on a natural plain, by good-living people. Humanists perhaps claim to be just as good as any Christian, and they don’t see the need for all the ‘super-spiritual’ stuff.

So what do they do with the teaching on ‘how to live’ from the Bible?

Leave out the supernatural aspect of Christianity and there is nothing left.

I can teach you ‘person of the planet’, alive and well on planet earth guy or gal, how to live a morally correct life, without you being a Christian!

But what a contradiction! I’m simply informing your humanist quest for good or moral living. Appealing to your sense of moral fair-play, but in all of this you remain an unbeliever, relying on your own self-effort and attempts to – be good, overcome, be positive, fulfil your dreams, be confident – all of this can be equally un-Christian as Christian, for one reason only:

You have not yet received, encountered, met or had a revelation of Jesus Christ.

So who is my audience? To whom do I address my posts? To whom are Christian posts directed?

To stand a chance of getting what is said, there must be what the scripture talks of as a starting point, a place of first principle(s):

Referring to Christians who should have matured more than they had – the writer says:

12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food…

First is first – we can’t benefit as we should from all the other principles ie. the second, third, fourth, fifth, and so on principle, until we have embraced the first principles of repentance from dead works and faith in Christ as Saviour.

The good news is however, that the work of conversion to Christ is not the work of man’s hand, but God’s. That means He has His own way of feeding your mind with truth, and there is no set formula, or learnt mantra that you must possess in order to grasp the things of God.

There is a progression, as there is in most things, but if you get chapter six read-to- you in a book, without the first five chapters, you may in fact still get the gist of what is being written, ie. get an idea of the story.

God can use any Christian teaching to penetrate the human heart, and there will be something, even though addressed to Christians, something in there, that He can use, to bring you to Himself. So I encourage you to read Christian posts.

But coming to first things first we read in the bible:

For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,

Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Dogmatic as this may seem to the unbeliever – it is true-truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Get this and your understanding begins to flower in the things of God and Christianity.

Those Christian blogs then begin to address you as a believer who has a relationship with the one who has the words of eternal life.

I pray for blessings in your quest to find Him.

Uncool language

UNCOOL LANGUAGE

The next generation considers the last generation uncool.

Nothing new under the sun.

That’s just how it is. Mindsets change in art, fashion, culture, taste, etc etc. and if we do not conform to the majority’s take on things – we are relegated to the ‘uncool’ waste bin by others.

Then the pendulum swings and certain things return – back in vogue again.

The traditional ‘whatever’- has a certain appeal and many are interested in everything historical, but they don’t think of using a gas light to light their bedroom, or wash their clothes by hand to save electricity. I speak generally of course – western world – and all that.

So we visit museums, and read books to re-enforce our interest, if it happens to be in the things of the past.

What about religion?

Because two thousand years has passed since Christ walked the earth – there is the inevitable historic-context-aspect of all things Christian.

Don’t let the historical context deceive you into thinking it is not relevant for today. We are talking eternal truth here!

In a previous blog I drew our attention to religion as a label for things not necessarily desirable. To sum this up – Isaiah 29/13:

Therefore the Lord said: “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths And honour Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,

That for me sums up the bad aspect of religion. We look for bad religion personified in the Pharisees, and Pharaisical hypocrisy. It’s a paying of lip-service only, to spiritual matters.

An outward conforming to rituals and a system, but one void of compassion, tenderness, heart or spirit, and relationship with God.

But sometimes when we encounter in a piece of writing – an old fashioned means of expression, it can rob us of the relevant content of the utterances, simply because we straightaway relegate the wording to a bygone era, and dismiss the content as uncool, and irrelevant in today’s world, simply because of it’s tone, or it’s King James English.

We too-quickly overlook the message because the wording smacks of a dead and buried past.

There are many different expressions of Christianity – and if we are wise we will bypass the awkwardness of the language, or the off-putting phrases and ambiguous language and seek the heart of the message.

Receiving or rejecting it on it’s content only, not on it’s choice of words.

If the heart of the message is good then listen more attentively. If the message is true-truth, then embrace it.

Pilate with The Lord Jesus Christ standing before him, asked the question: ‘What is truth?’.

Well – he missed it completely! But of course, there is nothing wrong with the question.

Pilgrim’s Progress is full of truth (circa 1678). For those who don’t know, it is a book written by John Bunyan. 

There have been re-written, more modern, versions of the book, as far as I know.

But grab a copy of the original – sift your way through it – to find sound, revelatory truth – good for all peoples.

It’s about a journey, the journey we are all on. And it is based fully on Biblical truth.

Read of Pilgrim’s progress through the many obstacles that stand in the way of those who sincerely, one hundred percent, want to know true-truth.

You are fighting against the odds increasingly in these days, but find the ancient message in ancient language or otherwise. Sift your way to the true-truth of Eternal Life!

Poetic Interlude VIII

IF IT’S ALL THE SAME TO YOU?

I saw across the crowded room

Nothing more than a glimpse

Of mankind and all it’s worth

All-bound-by-all-there-is – in the same way

All thrashing about in the pool

Unable to swim against it’s own tide

And while I contemplated the momentary glance

And all the sameness struck a chord

If I could grow a giant hand

I would reach out

And with a pat upon mankind’s head

Try to encourage all

In their mad pursuit of difference

As each vie for admiration

And clutch at vanity’s straws

Boxing clever and strutting stuff

Eyeballing cameras and posing aimlessly

Or kicking harder in having a shot

Ball juggling onto the head

And down again in keepy-up glitz-style

Or turmoiling emotions

And screwing up their insides

To give an Oscar performance

Here today in limelights green shroud

Whilst tomorrow repenting at leisure

Money money money the thing they love

Money money money the thing they hate

Money we need to survive

Talent and restless need to create

Giving way to the sway of money

Monet has painted and the hand moves on

On the scene/screen another arrives

in digital pre-eminence

Just to say:

“I’m different” –  for a day

While the sameness magnifies itself 

In contemplated momentary glance

Across the room – across the sky

We live we breath – et al

Nothing to say – it’s all here today

No difference – docked in originality’s bay

Of Biscay –

Take the humorous approach

And have a biscuit with your coffee

Sorry – but you are going to have to admit

Hands and feet and mouths and noses

Greetings and sleep and holiday

And jobs and exercise and sleepless nights

And buying and trying to keep ‘er lit

And tossing and turning and fingers in every pie

And rags to riches and gesticulation awry

And appointments and you scratch my back

And…

Out on the town

Old meal in old place called new

Mankind is – all the same – doing the same

Talking the same – aspiring en masse

Everyone the same as the last