Life really begins with 'I'm all in, Lord'

Paul begins Romans 12 with, [1] I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

"He's saying, 'I want you to do this because you love me,' " explains Preacher Richard Jordan. "The motivation of grace is that the love of Christ constrains you.

"When you have an appreciation of the first 11 chapters of Romans, Romans 12 will be what it's designed to be. You won't turn it into a set of rules and regulations. That's not the grace life.

"It's not formulas where, 'If I do this and this I'm successful.' It's really about living out of the identity you already have in Christ, and, 'Because of who I am in Christ this is the way I'm going to conduct my life.' This is the way grace is going to teach me to think.

"You ask yourself the question, 'How can I give God what He wants most? What does He want the most out of me? 'I beseech you that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice.'

"That's a personal choice; a personal course of action. I'm going to say, 'Lord, I want to honor you with my body. I'm yours; I know who I am in my liberty. Now I want to take my body, my life in all its details . . .'

" 'With my hands, my feet, my brains, I'm going to honor the Lord.' As Paul writes in Romans 6:13, 'But yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.'

"That's the idea of surrendering. There was a popular reality show involving some kind of card game where the guy, to win the pot at the end, would push in his pile of chips and say, 'I'm all in.'  That means, 'I risk it all, commit it all.' That's what this is. In your Christian life, the Lord says it all starts when you go 'all in' and say, 'I'm going to honor the Lord with my body.'

"As Paul says in Philippians 1, [20] According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death.
[21] For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

'Present your body. That's a choice that you make and everything begins with an understanding of that. 'I'm going to make a choice to live my life day by day as who I am, in the circumstances of my life, as the saint of the true and living God.'

"He says that's our reasonable service. That's an intellectual thing: 'This is how I reason this out that makes sense.' When Paul talks about service there, he's talking about more than just like working in a service job. That's a term in the Scripture that really is reflecting the idea of worship.

"Hebrews 9:1 says, [1] Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. You go down to verse 6: [6] Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God.

"The 'divine service' was when they would go into the tabernacle and worship. For Israel their worship was a reference to service. That's why in Romans 12:1, a lot of the new bibles actually translate that to 'your reasonable worship.'

"Worship in your Bible is not simply coming to a church meeting. It's you taking your body, your life, the details of who you are, and saying, 'Lord, I'm all in for you.'

"Nowadays worship is the singing part of the service. You know, words mean things. When you reduce worship to music . . . the song leader's now called the 'worship leader.' Well, what's the preacher then? 'Worship's over, now we're going to have to listen to the sermon.'

"Worship isn't what you do for two hours on Sunday morning. Worship's what you do 24/7 in your Christian life. I'm going to have my whole life committed to my relationship to God. I'm absolutely completely committed to honoring Him with my body, and the first way you solve problems is you come to the Word of God and say, 'Lord, here's the problem. You speak and I'll follow.' "

(new article tomorrow)

They go together like a horse and carriage

In an article on why young Americans are deciding not to marry (the lowest numbers in the country's history, according to Pew), psychologist Deborah Khoshaba informs that young adults today claim serious relationships are unnecessary to happiness.

She writes, "I see this conclusion as an expression of our youth's despair, rather than of uselessness of intimate relating to their happiness. Perhaps, the decline in marriage rate results more from young adults' growing inablity to cope with life's failing ideals and difficulties. It seems that a growing number of young adults have lowered their expectations of being able to cope effectively with an ever-increasingly insecure world. They've reduced themselves to the lowest common denominator in coping ability, and in vision and meaning.

"I'm reminded of a dialogue between the Emperor Commodus and his sister Lucilla from the movie Gladiator (2000). They are debating the usefulness of the Senate, a long-standing Roman institution, to Roman life. The Emperor Commodus believes that all you have to do to keep people happy is to appeal to their lower natures, to give them 'bread and circuses'. . .

"It takes vision to forge a deeply meaningful connection to another human being, especially to celebrate that connection through an institution, like marriage. . . Today's young people are saying that they plan to follow a different path to fulfillment. They want more than a job; they want to be happy, be creative, and they want to define relationships as they wish. I am all for the younger generation's desire for true happiness, deeper meaning, authentic being, and for creating the world through their vision. This is their right.

"I'm perplexed however that they would treat intimacy so casually and throw away marriage as a relationship option, as relationships, not sex, promise the depth of happiness and quality of meaning and fulfillment that they crave and that makes life so worthwhile. More so, I'm struck at what the no relationship commitment trend says about today's young adults' casual relationship to themselves.

"The most dangerous thing to treat casually is yourself. Meaningful connection to self, others and the world enriches us. To approach oneself and life as important and worthwhile is a psychological strength that motivates you to engage in whatever it is that you are doing. Casual, fun relationships with no emotional attachment are in contrast to meaningful engagement as a strength of being.

"To engage fully, you have to express yourself emotionally and spiritually. To disregard these areas of being that most make you, or, even worse, to ignore these areas of experience as non-existent, is a sickness of being."
*****

"In marriage, the thinking has been changed from independent to corporate thinking and in corporateness the couple sees that their uniqueness adds beauty and true greatness to the whole," writes Ernie Kroeger and his wife, Mary. "This is the hour of preparation."

"The Greek word for adorned is KOSMEO, and primarily means to arrange, to put in order. Our English word, cosmetics, is derived from it. The noun form, KOSMOS, which means a harmonious arrangement, is often mistranslated as world . . . 

"The bride is now fully prepared and matured, qualified and glorified. By right of marriage she takes his name; she is the complement and has joint-ownership of all his possessions . . . 

"During our lifetime we build with gold, silver, and precious jewels, or with wood, hay, and stubble. These elements and substances refer to the outer expression of our inner being. The hay, wood and stubble represent the works of religiosity - like keeping regulations, precepts and traditions. Fire reveals the source and quality of our works, and causes them to become either a precious jewel or a heap of ashes. Works that are not destroyed by fire have their source in life, and are an expression of Christ's life within us."

*****

In Isaiah 62, God promises, “Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
[5] For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.”

Jordan says, “That’s that thing about Beulah land—the word means ‘married’ and Hephzi-bah means ‘the one in whom I delight.’ God’s going to take Israel and marry them to the land. He’s going to put them in the land where they never depart again. And then He’s going to have them joined to Him so they’re never separated again.”

Beulah Land is a well-known gospel hymn dating from the late 1800s, in which the chorus goes:

O Beulah land, sweet Beulah land!

As on thy highest mount I stand,

I look away across the sea

Where mansions are prepared for me

And view the shining glory shore

My heaven, my home forever more.

Wikipedia defines Isaiah 62:4 as being “in reference to the return of the Jews from their exile in Babylon in which the Jews shall no longer be called Forsaken, but Hephzibah (My Delight Is in Her), and Jerusalem shall no longer be called Desolate, but Beulah (Married). This implies that the Jews have turned back to the worship of God.

“The idea the hymn presents that Heaven can be seen from Beulah land comes from John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress in which he states "Therefore it is, I say, that the Enchanted ground [i.e. Heaven] is placed so nigh to the land Beulah and so near the end of their race."

*****

Another very famous marriage passage, Jeremiah 31:31-33, states, “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
[32] Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
[33] But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

The implication is that what He’s going to do with Israel in the new covenant is to restore the marriage relationship that they’ve broken. He’s going to restore them back to Himself as His wife. That’s why Revelation talks about it being ‘the bride, the Lamb’s wife.’ She’s already His wife but now she’s going to be restored back to purity and fidelity.

*****

“What’s going on with Israel is they were committing spiritual adultery. They were going after all these other gods, and they were serially being unfaithful to God. They were spiritually polygamists, if you want to say that.

“People talk about polygamy, but I laugh at a culture . . . I was listening on the TV news recently about a Mormon guy in jail for having multiple wives. I’m thinking, ‘How in the world could a congressman put some dude in jail for having multiple wives when they believe in serial polygamy and most of them practice it!’

“Having one wife after another after another after another. I mean, it’s not a whole lot of difference, folks. If you’re going to have one wife and then get you a different one and then get another different one, okay you did it serially and the (Mormons) just did it all at once!

“Many times I’ve quoted (comics curmudgeon) Barney Google: ‘Pity the man with a soul so tough to say one wife is not enough.’ And I find that works the other way too.

“By the way, the passage people use to tell you the Body of Christ is the bride of Christ is generally Ephesians 5, where Paul’s talking about marriage. I scratch my head in wonderment why people would say our marriage is a picture of Christ when that passage says our relationship with Christ is a picture of our marriage. Would you want your marriage to be a picture of your relationship with Christ? Well, I hope not.”  

(new article tomorrow)

Top lesson for heart, soul of Christ life

"Over the years, the definition of humility has undergone a gradual but nonetheless profound change," explains a college professor of the New Testament. "Especially in the intellectual community. In the modern day, humility has basically become synonymous with another word: uncertainty. To be uncertain is to be humble. To be certain is to be arrogant. Thus, the cardinal sin in the intellectual world is to claim to know anything for sure."

Paul tells us in I Corinthians 1 that "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty."

He then emphasizes, [30] But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
[31] That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Jordan says, "Knowledge 'puffs up' if you don't let it edify you; it doesn't have to puff you up. One of the things you learn as you go through the Christian life is that you grow, and as you grow you gain confidence, and then you come to the place where you say, 'Uh oh, it's not me.' You have to have that 'Not I' moment.

"Paul writes in Galatians 2:20, [20] I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

"You have to keep having those 'Not I' moments so that you'll back up and say, 'Well, it's Christ.' If you're walking, you make progress: 'Not I, aghhh, it's got to be Christ. Okay, now I can take another step,' and then you go another step. That's how you grow; you learn more and more that it's not you. The moment you think you've arrived that's the 'Not I' moment.

"Paul says, 'Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.' And old Southern preacher used to say, 'The closer you get to the light, the better you see the dirt.' Well, the closer you get to the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the more you see how inadequate you are in yourself and you see how wonderful that means He is for you.

"This lesson is the heart, the soul of the Christian life. It's not just that I'm going to die and go to heaven because my sins are forgiven. I have a fellowship with the Creator of heaven and earth through His Son. I have access unto the Father. The whole of the godhead I fellowship with.

"That's why you're transformed by the renewing of your mind. It's an internal thinking process. You replace the old human viewpoint with divine viewpoint and that Holy Spirit takes that doctrine, that divine viewpoint, and energizes.

"As Paul says in Romans 12, [2] And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
[3] For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

"It's the Word of God that works effectually in you that believe. It energizes your inner man and produces the activity. You do all that that you may prove; test and try something to demonstrate its value. When you prove something, you test it and you test it to see whether it works or not.

"You know how when you give a demonstration of something for someone, you say, 'Well, I hope it works this time.' God's Word ALWAYS works. That's why Paul says, 'I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.' He never questioned the fact that the gospel works. It will prove itself every time to somebody who trusts it."

*****

This Wednesday night at sundown marks the beginning of this year's Tisha B'AV. According to Wikipedia, Tisha B'AV is an annual fast day in Judaism, on which a number of disasters in Jewish history occurred, primarily the destruction of both Solomon's Temple by the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Second Temple by the Roman Empire in Jerusalem.

"Tisha B'Av is regarded as the saddest day in the Jewish calendar and it is thus believed to be a day which is destined for tragedy. Tisha B'Av falls in July or August in the Gregorian calendar.

"As the day has become associated with remembrance of other major calamities which have befallen the Jewish people, some kinnot also recall events such as the murder of the Ten Martyrs by the Romans, massacres in numerous medieval Jewish communities during the Crusades, and the Holocaust.

According to Chabad.org, "World War II and the Holocaust, historians conclude, was actually the long drawn-out conclusion of World War I that began in 1914. And yes, amazingly enough, Germany declared war on Russia, effectively catapulting the First World War into motion, on the 9th of Av, Tisha b'Av.

"What do you make of all this? Jews see this as another confirmation of the deeply held conviction that history isn't haphazard; events – even terrible ones – are part of a Divine plan and have spiritual meaning. The message of time is that everything has a rational purpose, even though we don't understand it."

In the year 1666, the kabbalistic false messiah Shabbetai Tzvi was arrested in Constantinople. "After a period of imprisonment — during which he held court as messiah, he replaced the fast of the 9th of Av (Tisha B’Av) with a festival celebrating his birthday and began to sign his letters, 'I am the Lord your God Shabbetai Tzvi' — he was denounced for fomenting sedition and brought before the sultan," explains the website My Jewish Learning. "Now in a depressive state, he denied ever having made messianic claims. Offered the choice of apostasy or death, he chose to convert to Islam. Shabbetai Tzvi became Aziz Mehmed Effendi, and, with a royal pension, lived until 1676, outwardly a Muslim but secretly participating in Jewish ritual. His letters reveal that at the time of his death, he still believed in his messianic mission.

"While Shabbetai Zevi’s conversion created a crisis of faith for most of his followers, the movement lived on, sustained by esoteric kabbalistic explanations for the apostasy and by its adherents’ psychological need to prevent their deep-seated religious world view from falling apart. The movement survived into the early 18th century, when the Shabbateans divided into two camps: moderates who combined their secret messianic faith with adherence to Jewish law and radicals who set about covertly spreading the heretical doctrine that the 'nullification of the  was its true fulfillment.' This radical wing of the Shabbatean movement achieved a short-lived revival under Jacob Frank, a Polish Jew who, in 1756, was heralded as the reincarnation of Shabbetai Zevi."

Hymn writer: 'Oh, how real He became!'

"Over the years, the definition of humility has undergone a gradual but nonetheless profound change," explains a college professor of the New Testament. "Especially in the intellectual community. In the modern day, humility has basically become synonymous with another word: uncertainty. To be uncertain is to be humble. To be certain is to be arrogant. Thus, the cardinal sin in the intellectual world is to claim to know anything for sure."

Paul tells us in I Corinthians 1 that "God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty."

He then emphasizes, [30] But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
[31] That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Jordan says, "Knowledge 'puffs up' if you don't let it edify you; it doesn't have to puff you up. One of the things you learn as you go through the Christian life is that you grow, and as you grow you gain confidence, and then you come to the place where you say, 'Uh oh, it's not me.' You have to have that 'Not I' moment.

"Paul writes in Galatians 2:20, [20] I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

"You have to keep having those 'Not I' moments so that you'll back up and say, 'Well, it's Christ.' If you're walking, you make progress: 'Not I, aghhh, it's got to be Christ. Okay, now I can take another step,' and then you go another step. That's how you grow; you learn more and more that it's not you. The moment you think you've arrived that's the 'Not I' moment.

"Paul says, 'Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.' And old Southern preacher used to say, 'The closer you get to the light, the better you see the dirt.' Well, the closer you get to the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, the more you see how inadequate you are in yourself and you see how wonderful that means He is for you.

"This lesson is the heart, the soul of the Christian life. It's not just that I'm going to die and go to heaven because my sins are forgiven. I have a fellowship with the Creator of heaven and earth through His Son. I have access unto the Father. The whole of the godhead I fellowship with.

"That's why you're transformed by the renewing of your mind. It's an internal thinking process. You replace the old human viewpoint with divine viewpoint and that Holy Spirit takes that doctrine, that divine viewpoint, and energizes.

"As Paul says in Romans 12, [2] And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
[3] For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

"It's the Word of God that works effectually in you that believe. It energizes your inner man and produces the activity. You do all that that you may prove; test and try something to demonstrate its value. When you prove something, you test it and you test it to see whether it works or not.

"You know how when you give a demonstration of something for someone, you say, 'Well, I hope it works this time.' God's Word ALWAYS works. That's why Paul says, 'I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.' He never questioned the fact that the gospel works. It will prove itself every time to somebody who trusts it."

*****

This Wednesday night at sundown marks the beginning of this year's Tisha B'AV. According to Wikipedia, Tisha B'AV is an annual fast day in Judaism, on which a number of disasters in Jewish history occurred, primarily the destruction of both Solomon's Temple by the Neo-Babylonian Empire and the Second Temple by the Roman Empire in Jerusalem.

"Tisha B'Av is regarded as the saddest day in the Jewish calendar and it is thus believed to be a day which is destined for tragedy. Tisha B'Av falls in July or August in the Gregorian calendar.

"As the day has become associated with remembrance of other major calamities which have befallen the Jewish people, some kinnot also recall events such as the murder of the Ten Martyrs by the Romans, massacres in numerous medieval Jewish communities during the Crusades, and the Holocaust.

According to Chabad.org, "World War II and the Holocaust, historians conclude, was actually the long drawn-out conclusion of World War I that began in 1914. And yes, amazingly enough, Germany declared war on Russia, effectively catapulting the First World War into motion, on the 9th of Av, Tisha b'Av.

"What do you make of all this? Jews see this as another confirmation of the deeply held conviction that history isn't haphazard; events – even terrible ones – are part of a Divine plan and have spiritual meaning. The message of time is that everything has a rational purpose, even though we don't understand it."

In the year 1666, the kabbalistic false messiah Shabbetai Tzvi was arrested in Constantinople. "After a period of imprisonment — during which he held court as messiah, he replaced the fast of the 9th of Av (Tisha B’Av) with a festival celebrating his birthday and began to sign his letters, 'I am the Lord your God Shabbetai Tzvi' — he was denounced for fomenting sedition and brought before the sultan," explains the website My Jewish Learning. "Now in a depressive state, he denied ever having made messianic claims. Offered the choice of apostasy or death, he chose to convert to Islam. Shabbetai Tzvi became Aziz Mehmed Effendi, and, with a royal pension, lived until 1676, outwardly a Muslim but secretly participating in Jewish ritual. His letters reveal that at the time of his death, he still believed in his messianic mission.

"While Shabbetai Zevi’s conversion created a crisis of faith for most of his followers, the movement lived on, sustained by esoteric kabbalistic explanations for the apostasy and by its adherents’ psychological need to prevent their deep-seated religious world view from falling apart. The movement survived into the early 18th century, when the Shabbateans divided into two camps: moderates who combined their secret messianic faith with adherence to Jewish law and radicals who set about covertly spreading the heretical doctrine that the 'nullification of the  was its true fulfillment.' This radical wing of the Shabbatean movement achieved a short-lived revival under Jacob Frank, a Polish Jew who, in 1756, was heralded as the reincarnation of Shabbetai Zevi."

Neil Diamond: They're Coming to America

The definition of Sinicisation is "a process whereby non-Chinese societies come under the influence of Chinese culture, particularly Han Chinese culture, language, societal norms, and ethnic identity," says Wikipedia. "Areas of influence include diet, writing, industry, education, language, law, lifestyle, politics, philosophy, religion, science and technology, culture, and value systems. More broadly, 'Sinicization' may refer to policies of acculturation, assimilation, or cultural imperialism imposed by China."

In today's London Daily Mail is news about Chinese governmental authorities forcing Christians to personally destroy their crosses and pictures of Jesus from their residential homes: "President Xi Jinping has ordered that all religions must 'Sinicise' to ensure they are loyal to the officially atheistic party. Late last year, the Chinese central government ordered its censors to review and edit all translated versions of classic religious books to make sure that their messages reflect the principles of Socialism.

"The new editions must not contain any content that goes against the beliefs of the Communist Party, according to the country's top officials on religious matters. Wang Yang, Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, stressed that religious authorities must follow President Xi's instructions and interpret the ideologies of different religions in accordance with 'the core values of Socialism' and 'the requirements of the era'. He urged the officials to build 'a religious system with Chinese characteristics'."

*****

In a so-called "celebration" of Juneteenth last month, "protesters" pulled down and burned the statue of Confederate General Albert Pike in D.C.’s Judiciary Square.

Pike, one of the top, top names in Scottish Rite Freemasonry and considered their Plato/Socrates, is the only Confederate Civil War general honored with a statue in our nation's Capital by the side that won. 

Immediately after Pike's toppling, President Trump personally called Interior Secretary David Bernhardt to request that the statue be restored. When asked about this call by news outlets, the White House declined comment.

According to the Washington Post: "One conspiracy-minded website claims that Pike is a favorite of the 'occultic groups in control of the puppet government in Washington, D.C.' "

An article in the Post from October, 2016, begins: "His name is Albert Pike and, oh, does he have a backstory. The words engraved on the memorial describe the multitalented Pike (1809-1891) thusly: AUTHOR, POET, SCHOLAR, SOLDIER, JURIST, ORATOR, PHILANTHROPIST and PHILOSOPHER. Hmm, did we leave anything out? Why, yes: Racist. 

"It’s a sentiment that would have confused Pike, who — among his other achievements — rewrote the lyrics to 'Dixie' so they were more likely to inspire Confederate soldiers. It was said of Pike, 'He found Freemasonry in a log cabin and left it in a Temple.' His body is interred in the House of the Temple, headquarters of the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, at 16th and S streets NW, where there is a museum in his honor and the contents of his library are kept.

"Even if Pike wasn’t involved with the Ku Klux Klan, he did believe that the races should not mix. He was against integrating Masonic lodges.

"It’s hard to judge the claims made about Pike’s prowess in the field of letters. His doorstop of a magnum opus, Morals and Dogma (which his statue carries), is pretty much unreadable by modern audiences. His poetry has not aged well. He is revered in the Masonic movement, but unless you’re a Mason it’s hard to understand exactly why."

*****

In 1871, Pike wrote his famous "Three World War Letter." It reads:

The First World War must be brought about in order to permit the Illuminati to overthrow the power of the Czars in Russia and of making that country a fortress of atheistic Communism. The divergences caused by the “agentur” (agents) of the Illuminati between the British and Germanic Empires will be used to foment this war. At the end of the war, Communism will be built and used in order to destroy the other governments and in order to weaken the religions.

The Second World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences between the Fascists and the political Zionists. This war must be brought about so that Nazism is destroyed and that the political Zionism be strong enough to institute a sovereign state of Israel in Palestine. During the Second World War, International Communism must become strong enough in order to balance Christendom, which would be then restrained and held in check until the time when we would need it for the final social cataclysm."

The Third World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences caused by the “agentur” of the “Illuminati” between the political Zionists and the leaders of Islamic World. The war must be conducted in such a way that Islam and political Zionism mutually destroy each other. Meanwhile the other nations, once more divided on this issue will be constrained to fight to the point of complete physical, moral, spiritual and economical exhaustion…

We shall unleash the Nihilists and the atheists, and we shall provoke a formidable social cataclysm which in all its horror will show clearly to the nations the effect of absolute atheism, origin of savagery and of the most bloody turmoil.

Then everywhere, the citizens, obliged to defend themselves against the world minority of revolutionaries, will exterminate those destroyers of civilization, and the multitude, disillusioned with Christianity, whose deistic spirits will from that moment be without compass or direction, anxious for an ideal, but without knowing where to render its adoration, will receive the true light through the universal manifestation of the pure doctrine of Lucifer, brought finally out in the public view.

This manifestation will result from the general reactionary movement which will follow the destruction of Christianity and atheism, both conquered and exterminated at the same time.

Just as Christ relates to God

Paul explains in I Corinthians 2:14-16, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ."

Jordan says, “What happens to you and me is we’ve been put into a position in Christ of having the complete total thinking of the Godhead available to us right there. 

“We relate to God just as Jesus Christ relates to Him. Jesus Christ, by virtue of whom He is—as glorified humanity, the God-man glorified— knows and understands everything; He has all the information and you share His mind! Okay?! It’s the Spirit of God who teaches you that Book, isn’t it?”

*****

"I John 2:5 says,[5] But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.

“Where obedience exists, it’s the completion and the perfection of love. Love reaches its completion, it’s filling up, by being obedient to the will of God.

“Love is never complete without obedience and it’s a verse like that, and a truth like that, that says, ‘See, that’s what we need today! We need to be obedient so we need to completely . . . ’ and you take that principal and apply it to us and pretty soon people go into I John . . .

“I know grace preachers that use I John and believe I John is the greatest impetus to Christian living there could ever be, and the way they do it is the way the Baptist brothers do it, and it’s that they go into the passage and pull out verses like this but take a blinder to the other verses and what the passages really say, and instead they conclude, ‘See, if you really love Him then you need to obey Him.’

“Now, is that a true statement? Well, it’s hard to argue with that. But this passage is saying a WHOLE lot more than that.

“By the way, you notice verse 5 says, ‘But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected’? It’s perfected by their obedience, by their keeping the commandments. They’re going to need some perfected love.

*****

“Look at I John 4: [17] Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
[18] There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
[19] We love him, because he first loved us.

“Tell me something. If you had perfect love, would it be a benefit for these people? It'd cast out fear. It gives them boldness in the day of judgment.

“When the persecutions come on them they understand how; they have a mental attitude of understanding that gives them the ability to sustain through the problems. But how did they get their love perfected?

“Their love is perfected by keeping His Word. Because they kept His Word they had a mature, complete love; an obedience that came out of that love that gave them the capacity, when the persecutions came, to endure through them without the fear, without the paralysis, or the phobia.

*****

“You know what the problem is with these verses in I John? They aren’t the way God deals with us. They represent performance-based acceptance; legalism.

“It's all about how you’re accepted and blessed and get the reward because you served. Performance motivation. Conditional blessings based upon your performance. That’s what the law is. We’re not under the law system, so you know what the law won’t do? 

“Paul says in Galatians 5:18, ‘[18] But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 

“What would the Spirit of God lead you to do? Live under grace. We perform not to get something but because of who we are, and how can we live any other way than consistent with who we are already?

“Our ambassadorship is carried on in our inner man, in our new man. It’s the life that’s IN us, and as that life in us lives out through our bodies of flesh, then the flesh gets to do something. Because it’s internally motivated by what God’s doing in our inner man."

  

(new article tomorrow)

Intake re-educates processes of thinking

Paul writes in II Corinthians 3:17-18, [17] Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

[18] But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Jordan explains, “The glass there is defined in James 1 as the Word of God. ‘So we with open face . . . ’ Our face just hanging out, looking clearly at it, the Word of God.

“The whole point in this passage is the Word rightly divided. You see in verse 10 that he’s comparing the law and grace. The old and the new; the performance-based system based on the flesh and the grace system based upon God’s Spirit working.

“Verses 10-11: [10] For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.
[11] For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.

“If the law had a glory, grace is going to have a greater glory. There’s a dispensational contrast here. If you’re going to see this greater glory, you’ve got to rightly divide the Word. What happens if you behold in God’s rightly divided Word the glory of the Lord? You’re changed, transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of God.

“II Corinthians 4:6 says, [6] For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

“You get the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Now, as Paul says in verse 3:18, ‘with open face we behold’ and then we see the face of the Lord Jesus Christ and His glory. There’s a reflection back and forth, image to image. His likeness reflected in us.

“The way you identify yourself, the way people identify you, is facial recognition. You behold the glory of God in the appreciation of the identity of who Jesus Christ really is.

“Listen, the Father believes and is convinced that if you could see in His Son what He sees in His Son (the treasure, the value, the worth, the excellency of glory) you’d love Him just like He does. That’s why verse 4:7 says, [7] But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

“There’s an excellency of power and that changes you; it transforms you. It can’t be the same once you see who He is. You’re transformed by the renewing of your mind. That’s that re-educating of your thinking process, understanding who He is, what He’s accomplished and, consequently, who He’s made you in His Son.

“When you see that, it’s a transforming kind of thing. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit to use the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ to change your thinking process. It then changes your outward behavior, but the outward isn’t changed until the inward's changed. That’s that internal transformation that comes from the intake.

“All the doctrine you’ve learned in Romans 1-11; now you’re going to BELIEVE it! You’re going to trust it in the details of life and you’re going to work it into life by making these adjustments: ‘I’m going to think this way, not that way; God’s way not my way.’

“ ‘I’m going to think the Scripture's way, not the old way. I’m going to trust His resources, not mine.’ That process of doing that transforms you. That’s the Holy Spirit’s work to do that.”

(new article tomorrow)

If the books that should be written aren't

When Obama gave a virtual commencement address to the high school class of 2020 from his home in May, TV people noted that his enormous white bookcases in the background were largely absent of books. Then the same thing happened with a Biden canned message. Very few books on the big bookshelves.

 "Schools across the country have jumped on the education technology bandwagon in recent years, with the encouragement of technophile philanthropists like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg," says a paper by MIT Technology Review. "Gallup found near-universal enthusiasm for technology on the part of educators. Among administrators and principals, 96% fully or somewhat support 'the increased use of digital learning tools in their school,' with almost as much support (85%) coming from teachers. But it’s not clear this fervor is based in evidence. When asked if 'there is a lot of information available about the effectiveness' of the digital tools they used, only 18% of administrators said yes, along with about a quarter of teachers and principals. Another quarter of teachers said they had little or no information. In fact, the evidence is equivocal at best.

" . . . But much of the data shows a negative impact at a range of grade levels. A study of millions of high school students in the 36 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that those who used computers heavily at school 'do a lot worse in most learning outcomes, even after accounting for social background and student demographics.' According to other studies, college students in the US who used laptops or digital devices in their classes did worse on exams. Eighth graders who took Algebra I online did much worse than those who took the course in person. And fourth graders who used tablets in all or almost all their classes had, on average, reading scores 14 points lower than those who never used them—a differential equivalent to an entire grade level. In some states, the gap was significantly larger."

Preacher Richard Jordan says, "I want you to think for a moment and consider how privileged we have been and think about some of the things we've taken for granted.

"I Corinthians 8 says:[1] Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.
[2] And if any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.

"II Timothy 2:15 says, [15] Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

"The word study means 'the application of the mind to the acquisition of knowledge as by reading, investigation or reflection; to research, or a detailed examination and analysis of a subject.' The verb form is 'to apply oneself to the acquisition of knowledge; to endeavor, to think deeply, to reflect, to consider.'

"If you look at Ephesians 3:4 ('Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ') and I Thessalonians 5:27 ('I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren'), there's an issue of taking God's Word and reading God's Word and considering God's Word and thinking about God's Word.

"Romans 10:17-18 says, [17] So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
[18] But I say, Have they not heard? Yes verily, their sound went into all the earth, and their words unto the ends of the world.

"You notice it didn't say faith comes by reading? How in the world has their sound gone into all the world and their words unto the ends of the world? How did that happen? Well, that's a quote from Psalm 19 where he talks about 'the heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.'

"There's not a language where the testimony of God's reality isn't made through His Creation. That's why when you talk to an atheist you don't have to argue about God. Everybody knows there's a God. You can't live in creation and not know there's a creator. Creation witnesses and your conscience witnesses. God fixed you that way.

"Romans 10:14-15 says, [14] How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
[15] And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

"There's a process that brings faith to people. There's a sending and a preaching and a hearing and a believing. It was heard because it was preached, because someone was sent. It starts with the possession of His word, but it also starts with taking that Word and preaching it. Being a minister, putting it out there--the heralding of it and the hearing of it creates faith in what's said."

(sorry for long absence. new article tomorrow...)

OK to look 'weak' when wonderfully made

Acts 17:28 says, [28] For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

David writes in Psalm 139, [13] For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.
[14] I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
[15] My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
[16] Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
[17] How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
[18] If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

One of the greatest lessons learned under grace is it’s okay to look weak; to look as if you're losing. 

Paul writes in II Corinthians 4, [11] For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.

“What that’s talking about is what Romans 12’s talking about; how it happens,” explains Jordan.

“Romans 12 begins, [1] I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
[2] And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

“There are three checkpoints in the issue of presenting your body to the Father for Him to use. In I Corinthians, Paul says [19] What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
[20] For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

“Your soul is the issue of where your will is. He says glorify God in your spirit (obey God’s Word) and your body (that’s where it lives out). And it’s based on ‘the mercies of God.’

“When he says, ‘Present your bodies a living sacrifice,’ God desires a vehicle. He purchases you, puts His Spirit in you in order to dwell there and manifest the life of His Son in you. So our bodies are important vehicles.

“You’re buried with Him and then you’re raised with Him to 'walk in newness of life.' So what you really are is, ‘I’m crucified with Christ nevertheless I live.’ We're a LIVING sacrifice. How did you get to be a living dead person? That’s part of the provision God made you in His Son. It’s ALREADY who you are.

“All Romans 12 is telling you is just live in the reality of who God's already made you. He’s not telling you to do something so you can be something. He’s telling you, ‘Go be who you are.’ 

“He's saying, 'This is who you are so yield yourself to that.' Romans 6:13 says, [13] Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

“He’s not saying, ‘Go make yourself these things.’ He’s saying, ‘That’s who you are so just let that be what the reality of your life is.’ You make a personal choice to say, ‘I’m going to make this what’s real with my body.’

“You need to have your own personal convictions about your life. ‘Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind’ is the issue of taking an understanding of God’s Word and APPLYING it.

“And as you walk in the truth of God’s Word about who you are in Christ, it’s not a bunch of rules and regulations where, ‘If I do this I get there.’ It’s just, ‘This is who I am,’ and you’re transformed.

“Again, Romans 12:2 says, [2] And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

“By the way, the world wants to conform you to its mold. How does it do that? Paul tells you in Romans 1. There’s a thinking process that produces conformity to the world.

“There’s a long passage in II Corinthians 3 comparing the glory of the Mosaic Covenant to the glory of the New Covenant and Paul says the glory of the New Covenant is so much bigger and better than the glory of the Old Covenant.

“Paul ends the chapter by saying in verse 18, [18] But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

“The law won’t transform you but you get transformed when you’re changed from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of God.

“Galatians 5:18 says that the Spirit will not lead you to be under the law. The Spirit of God leads you to be under grace.

*****

“When you make the choice to ‘present your body,’ you make a choice to use your body for Him: ‘I’m going to let Him be the vehicle through which His truth lives and functions. I’m going to be filled with the fruits of righteousness.’ Fruits are the inward life and product of His righteousness unto the praise and glory of God.

“When you move from law (or performance-based acceptance where it’s what I do that gets me accepted and gets me blessed) to grace, it’s, ‘God’s provided it for me and I’m just going to let that be what lives and I’m going to yield to that. I’m going to present that as my thinking process.’ That’s where the transformation is; that’s where the changing is.

“Here’s why you want that. When Paul says ‘that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God,’ that’s not a ‘good, better and best’ kind of a thing. Something that’s good is valuable.

“You know what you discover when you do what that verse is talking about; what the will of God is? People say, ‘Well, if I present my body a living sacrifice and tell God to just use it for His glory, I’m going to miss out on a lot.’

“No, you know what you discover the will of God is? It’s a treasure; it’s valuable. And when you treasure Him, you make choices in life because you value Him more than anything else. That’s really how you make the choices.

“What do you really choose to make the most valuable in your life? That renewed mind gives you the capacity to prove and demonstrate, to say, ‘There is the thing that is of greatest value and treasure to me.’

“The way Jesus Christ is glorified in your life is when people see what you see. When others see that you value Him more than all these other things, that will make you different than everybody else around you and it will make you different for the right reasons. It’s the essence of maturity. It’s the demonstration of what maturity is really all about. Absolute, complete, maximum fulfillment is when I take my life and function in a way that produces all that.”

(new article tomorrow)