wisdom encapsulated

WISDOM ENCAPSULATED expresses my inclination for concise bottom-line understanding of reality. The American church is in bed with the world, inebriated by materialism, and perilously unprepared for what is coming. Many are in presumption about their eternal destiny. Indoctrination has replaced personal revelation, repentance has become a cliche and the fear of God is mocked. Judgment is imminent, but it's not condemnation. It's God's mercy to purify and liberate us so we can LOVE!!

Saturday, November 21, 2015

Can We Really Trust The Bible?

It's a strange phenomenon that all Christians seem to naively accept the Bible as God's infallible word. Is this brain washing or is it supernatural? Many believers try to rationally convince themselves of the Bible's veracity. I don't know about you, but in spite of the impressive data, I could never entrust my soul to mere human intellectual conclusions.

However, absolute Truth can be known with unassailable assurance, not because you have analyzed it, but because you have become mystically one with it. “He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.”(1) If you haven't met the Author, the Bible will frustrate you, but when He dwells in you, scripture is illuminated and affirmed with wondrous certainty. Our primary goal is not knowing the book of the Lord, but knowing the Lord of the book.(2)

The issue here is not really the Bible, it's about Jesus Christ. He is called “The Living Word,”(3) and the Bible personifies Him. Jesus exposed a paramount deception regarding Bible interpretation when he confronted the religious bureaucrats: “You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. ...yet you refuse to come to me to have life. "(4) Eternal life is not found in a book, that's why we don't worship the Bible.

The language of the human spirit is image and symbolism. Written words are merely symbols. There's no life in the ink, or even in a concept, just inert images of reality. If a symbol was perfect it would literally be truth, not just an impotent shadow. Knowing and believing the truth behind words is what gives words power.

Biblical manuscripts (translated symbols) may be imperfect, yet the truth behind them is pure and unadulterated. Human language is a marred and fragmentary expression of fallen man, but if it's inspired by the Holy Spirit, it can be understood via the Holy Spirit. Jesus said “Everyone that is of the truth hears my voice.”(5) That's the key to the Bible!

When Peter realized that Jesus was God incarnate, Jesus said “Flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”(6) Jesus made it clear that even our most basic insights into His Word depend upon spiritual revelation, i.e. experience. “Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God,”(7) and “No one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit,”(8) unless you're a parrot.

The Bible is not a legal document, theology text or procedure manual. It's an anthology of personal encounters with God, and it makes no sense unless you've had your own Divine encounter. God said “He has placed His word above His name,”(9) but not above His presence! When the Bible, together with our re-born spirit and our brain, becomes a three-fold cord, then all life makes delightful sense.

Ever since the serpent said to Eve, “Did God really say?”(10) the Word of God has been perverted and attacked. The Bible is the most feared and hated book in the world, because it exposes and ultimately eradicates all evil. As the epic battle between light and darkness grows exponentially, everything will be reduced to Jesus Christ and the Bible versus all else.

This battle is the most serious thing in your life. Your earthly journey is merely a fleeting vapor. Don't live in presumption. Read the Bible, it's your most valuable earthly asset. The Living Word is knocking at your door. Enlightenment, assurance, peace, joy, hope, eternal purpose and mind-blowing love await you!

References:

1. 1 Corinthians 6:17

2. 2 Timothy 1:12

3. John 1:1

4. John 5:39-40

5. John 18:37 KJV

6. Matthew 16:16-17

7. John 3:3

8. 1 Corinthians 12:3

9. Psalm 138:2 KJV

10. Genesis 3:1

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Random Thoughts

Superior intelligence isn't an advantage for discerning ultimate Truth, because our greatest abilities are also our greatest liabilities. The greater our skills at manipulating people, the greater our ability for self deception. People with high emotional intelligence, often have the most emotional baggage. Thankfully, you don't have to be smart or psychologically whole to know God.

Jesus reduced us all to little children when he said, “Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” (1) Children are guileless, simple-minded and accessible. For an adult to reach that child-like state you must have “A broken and a contrite heart.” (2)

The tragedies of life will either break and humble you, or you will proudly refuse to admit your spiritual bankruptcy, and self-delusion will consume you. We are all in a time warped metamorphosis, and our choices in this dark cocoon seal our eternal destiny.

It's easy for prisoners on death row to seek and find God. But, we are all on death row! Seek Him with brutal honesty and desperation, and you will know with unmitigated assurance that Jesus doesn't merely represent the way, the truth and the life, but He literally IS the only Way, Truth and Life. (3)

This is not intellectual suicide. It's amazing enlightenment that satisfies reason at every level of our being. “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life." (4) Please don't remain a zombie!

References:

1. Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17

2. Psalm 51:17

3. John 14:6

4. 1 John 5:11-12

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Aborting Abortion

The pro-life position derives its logic from the knowledge that absolute immutable truth exists, while the logic of pro-choice is founded on unsustainable relativism. The two sides are not even speaking the same language. I cannot intellectually prove to a skeptic that abortion is murder, with eternal consequences, because moral reasoning is limited to the scope of one's spiritual revelation. Nevertheless, I must try.

Abortion intuitively and profoundly transcends the heartless perception of science. How else can you explain the emotional trauma that abortion wreaks in mothers? “Pro-choice” flagrantly contradicts every fiber of maternal instincts. Even wild beasts naturally sacrifice their own lives to protect their young. The inevitable fallout of remorse and shame following an abortion is one of the industry's dirty secrets. Nevertheless, I assure you that if you've participated in an abortion, forgiveness and restoration are available through Jesus Christ.

It's scientifically irrefutable that the baby in the womb is not the Mother's body. Therefore, the euphemistic term “pro-choice” is invalid. The unique human in the womb, and the mother, are genetically diverse and antagonistic Every unborn child expresses antigens incompatible with the mother, and yet miraculously it's not rejected by the maternal immune system! This blatantly contradicts the absurdity of evolution. How could evolution anticipate and resolve such a reproduction incongruity? Human reproduction is a pantheon of similar miracles that all point to God.

It's easy to understand the passionate pro-life stance, if you realize that murder is the issue. But how do you explain such aggressive resistance by the pro-abortion mentality? "The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” There's something occult and diabolical here. The pro-abortion camp refuses, with uncanny determination, to admit that abortion is murder because that would imply personal accountability, and jeopardize their libertarian illusion.

Those hypothetical extreme cases used to justify abortion laws, are simply an indictment of man's inability to solve complex moral dilemmas without God. To justify the taking of innocent life because of rape, incest or birth defects, requires the same diabolical self-deification that motivated Nazism. It's called eugenics. The combined wisdom of humanity is incapable of resolving these ethical dilemmas that haunt our degenerating culture. You cannot remedy one evil by applying a greater evil – infanticide!

The ultimate evil is the shedding of innocent blood, which the Bible warns, brings a curse upon a nation.(1) What is more innocent than an unborn child? Every year, Americans slaughter innocent children by the millions. This is a true Holocaust, making ISIS and MS13 look like wimps. It's been said that the most dangerous place for an American to be is in the womb.

Abortion is not some sanitized scientific dogma, it's unmitigated murder, and therefore, it's a spiritual matter. This is an epic battle between good and evil. It is, like all wars, inescapably religious. Just because abortion is obfuscated with psychobabble, doesn't negate the fact that it's actually satanic child sacrifice. “For everything that is hidden will eventually be brought into the open, and every secret will be brought to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let them hear."(2) There are only two kinds of people in the earth: Those who can hear Jesus Christ and those who refuse.

You cannot contemplate abortion without coming face to face with God. You may refuse or be unable to recognize Him, but I guarantee He's speaking. If you are brutally honest, you will hear Him in your conscience. Think about it. If I were actively opposing God, I'd sure want to know. It's a sobering fact that the first person to recognize Jesus was an unborn child! (3)

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 106:38-40

2. Mark 4:22-23

3. Luke 1:41

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Gay Marriage License

To my Christian friends: This will incite lots of vitriol, but I have my flak vest on. I'm troubled by the glorification of the Kentucky clerk's violation of the gay marriage law. Yes, we are to obey God rather than man. But when? The only report of New Testament believers rebelling against bureaucrats was when they were forbidden to preach the Kingdom of God. Was she really preaching (embodying) the Gospel?

If this clerk risked jail to avoid any appearance of endorsing gay marriage, why didn't she also take a lesser risk, and refuse to give licenses to couples who were fornicators, chronically angry, drug addicts, liars, Muslims or atheists? Why are homosexuals so excoriated by Christians? All humans are in the same boat before we come to Christ, and Christians are not superior. We are just receivers of Jesus' pardon, with access to God's transforming love.

Our role as Christians is to manifest and proclaim Jesus, not to condemn unbelievers. The Bible says: “It is not my business to judge those who are not part of the church. God will judge them. But you must judge the people who are part of the church.” “God...alone has the power to save or to destroy. So what right do you have to judge your neighbor?”

History sadly confirms that forcing your morality on someone is anti-Christ. You cannot manifest Jesus without love and mercy. Jesus treated unbelievers with compassion and tenderness, but he was harsh toward religious bigots, not because he hated them, but because religious arrogance is the greatest deception.

The government has no right to legislate religious preferences. Therefore, they had to eliminate God from their definition of marriage, defaulting to a mere civil union. However, if you believe that marriage is a covenant with God and not the state, then the government's approval of all marriages is morally inert. What does a marriage license have to do with God? Nothing! Then, why are you so freaked out over this? Why despise and fear someone whose definition of marriage is different than yours?

The reason America has morally disintegrated, is not the government's fault, it's the church's lack of love. Neither legislation nor insurrection will resolve America's moral cataclysm. Only an awakening to Jesus Christ can transform this nation, person by person. If someone's life style offends you, look inside and repent of cold-hearted pride. We aren't allowed to hate anyone.

Choose your battles carefully! Are you motivated by prejudice (pre-condemnation) or the Holy Spirit who is Love? We aren't fighting against flesh and blood, but against spiritual powers. Persecution is inevitable for all who walk the love walk, but there is also persecution for religious pretense that will reap profound regret. Civil disobedience is valid when the Holy Spirit directs it, but be prepared to pay the price.

The only Biblical definition of the church is a “house of prayer for all nations.” That's it. It's that simple! Our bodies are now the temple of God and prayer is the main event. The church's primal mission is not to legislate morality or impose a fascist agenda, but to pray! If prayer is marginalized, and we keep poking the government in the eye, the persecution will become so horrific that desperate intercession will flow like a wild river. It doesn't have to get that bad if we passionately pray now, motivated by love for others.

Our nation aches to see Christ's redemptive love, not condemnation and hatred.

Friday, January 2, 2015

"Believe in Yourself" ??

I often see Face Book posts that capsulize this generation's religion: “Believe in yourself.” “Your imagination creates your reality.” “If you can dream it, you can do it.” “Think and grow rich.”..etc. It all sounds virtuous, but such optimistic buzzwords are really tentacles of an insidious veiled philosophy.

As the world's turmoil escalates, it's going to become shockingly clear that everything in life can be reduced to two incompatible realities: light or darkness, truth or deception, life or death, heaven or hell, Jesus Christ or evil. Accordingly, there are two sources of thoughts in the universe by which our innate ability to BELIEVE can operate: The wisdom from above or the wisdom from below, the Holy Spirit or the demonic. (1)

It's blindness to assume that all reality is unified, and therefore all spiritual powers represent God. “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” - Or the “teachings handed down by human beings and from the ruling spirits of the universe.”(2)

To believe that you can initiate and empower your own destiny is an illusion. Humans are not autonomous. We are intrinsically dependent. “Do you not know, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (3) That's a universal Law. “You are not your own; you were bought with a price.” (4) Anyone not submitted to Jesus Christ is by default a legal slave of Satan, regardless of your elevated thoughts and wonderful life.

Jesus revealed that there are only two kinds of people on the planet: those who hear Him and those who won't. (5) Many assume that God will endorse their intentional and noble believing when in fact He may not. We see this at the infamous Tower of Babel where man's unified purpose, language and self confidence prompted God to reveal this astonishing fact: “Nothing shall be restrained from them which they have imagined to do.”(6) This stunning potential of focused imagination is an innate God given ability, but it can operate without God's sanction or power.

The saga of the Tower of Babel may seem infantile to our modern conceit, but its motive of self-exaltation is alive and well. "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves.” (7) That is the delusional deification of man!

The seduction of human-potential principles is their ability to function without God, even in a “Christian” context. Jesus said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”(8) We can freely imagine and initiate, but without a literal interchange with Christ it's a malignant exercise. "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing.”(9) If Jesus in his humanity, restricted His thinking and believing to God's input, isn't that a model for us? “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."(10) That's the key to true fulfillment and achievement!

Believing in yourself, quantum physics or the life force, is NOT Biblical faith. Even though all humans have a natural capacity for faith, the Bible says that not everyone actually has faith.(11) This is a vital distinction that many fail to grasp, and it's not just semantics. Trusting and believing are fundamental qualities of human nature. However, neither trusting nor believing is faith, they are actions. Faith is a noun, not some capricious leap in the dark initiated by our imagination.

The reason that not all have faith is that it's a divine virtue alien to corrupt flesh, and it must be imparted, because “in my flesh, dwells no good thing.” (12) The Bible describes faith as “substance” and “evidence.” (13) Faith has actual existence that transcends our three dimensional world. There is nothing comparable to faith. The Bible calls it a fruit of the Holy Spirit and a gift that is found only in Jesus Christ. (14) Believing is our mental response to faith. Trusting is our emotional response to faith. But without this divine gift of faith, my believing and trusting will automatically revert to some futile false security or bewitching power.

You were created to passionately participate in God's eternal love and creativity, and it can only happen by 'hearing' the word of God. (15) It's not merely a printed word on a page, but a spiritual exchange with the Living Word of God, that produces faith. “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”(16)