The Friend

receiving light

2011-10-08T16:21:00.001-07:00

Awake oh sleeper,
arise from the dead
and Christ shall give you light.

As observation
I find the saying
significant
in that
Christ is light
and the resource
of light in our life;
When we
dwell in the shadow,
we are
dead
to the light
of Christ,
which
has been
before the
manifestation
of this world;
While we yet sleep,
we see not the light;
The receiving of light
is an
arising
to the light.

The light is eternal;
It changes not;
As Christ is eternal
and has no variable of being.

Our world is "shadow"
whereas the world of
God is light.
Our world is temporal
whereas the world of
God is eternal.

We strive to find that realm;
The realm within;
The light within;
As though any other thing matters.

The world about us is mostly
"shadow"
(avoiding the word darkness);
It is consumed by things in the wings;
wanting in the making;
coveting what might be;
delerious of that which is not.

Rehearsing again:
Catholic (church);
Protestant (Bible);
Socinian (reason);
Quaker (experience).

Each is addressing
some form
that brings
man into
the
"perfection"
of the
saints.

This is attained
in the
Light,
as the Light
is both
eternal
and
perfect.

Each
fragment
of
Christendom
is attending
to achieve
that light,
though they may
call it
by
different
names
while
measuring
the desired
result
equally
different.

Three
of the four
do not
believe
in the
complete
absolvement of
sin.
As such
I feel
that
the light
is held
quite
out of
view.

The sleeper
becomes
unconscious
to the light;
Equally,
whether
Hebriac
temple
worship
or
systematic
reasoning
(whether science or scripture),
subscribes to the dead letter
of law and reason.

I believe it was
Descartes who
coined:
The leap of faith.
The Latin translates to:
I believe because it is absurd.

To science and similar humanistic reasoning,
Light within is absurd;
To similar rationalizing
through theology
expressed via
proving the
Scripture
by the
Scripture,
is again
absurdity.

With church
worship
sin is covered
through a
collective
of righteousness
that is accessed
through
the continual
coming to
the altar.

This cannot release one
from the sin or
embrace the
inner light.

The path to
Light
is through
Christ
out of the
slumber
and
death
march
of this
present
world.

The awakened
receive
Light
and will
seek it
more.

The
unawakened
seek not the
Light
though
it lies
within
every man
by one
measure
or another.

We can
use the talent
or lose
the talent.

We can awake
or sleep;
we can arise
from the dead
works or
remain
among
the
dead.

Receiving
the
Light
is as simple
or as difficult
as reaching
out to
accept the
gift of
God.

Query: Am I awakened to the Light within?

new life- new wineskin

2011-10-02T05:56:00.000-07:00

16 Noo man peceth and olde garment with a pece of newe cloothe. For then taketh he awaye ye pece agayne from the garmet and the rent ys made greater.
17 Nether do men put newe wyne into olde vessels for then the vessels breake and the wyne runneth oute and the vessels perysshe. But they powre newe wyne into newe vessels and so are both saved togeder.

This saying of Jesus
is one of the many
which show
the need
of a new life
with the
new birth.

In thinking of
a man,
a writer of
much greater
skill than I,
expresses
this thought
at length in
his tract
"No Cross -No Crown."
That writer is
of course
William Penn.

Where advances
are often
double-edged,
that one can
"Google"
and download
the tract for
the reading,
lay upon
the better
edge
of the
technology.

The cross
is an inward
crucifixion
of the
secular world.
The man
must take up
the cross
and
follow
the
Lord Jesus.

The new birth,
is the death
of the old
secular
being;
The death
of
the former
ways of
the world.

The man
is baptized
of the
Spirit
of
Christ
within;
Tis not
of an
outward
ceremony;
Tis of a
new
life.

Within
the much
weakened
Christendom
is the
indifference
to let go.

None have left
homeland,
field,
crop,
cattle,
family,
countrymen
for the
kingdom
of
God
and not
found
a hundredfold
better.

Yet
the
Christian
world
clings
to the
secular.

Thee cannot
patch
the world!
Thee cannot
pour the
new
wine
in the
old skin!

The skin will burst ;
The garment will rend;
The loss
at the end
will be
greater
then the
gain
at the
beginning.

The new life
must
begin
a new.

Christendom
has also
fallen
prey
to the
usage
of the
old wineskin
and to
the
patching
upon the
garment.

The
Israelites
left Egypt
and yet
in being
brought
from
bondage
chose
to carry
with them
the
"treasures"
of the Egyptian
world.

Of those who
left Egyptian
bondage
only two adults
(Joshua and Caleb)
entered into
the land of
promise.

Many were
the prophets
that plead
the err
of patching
spiritual
life onto
the secular.

Jesus,
brought
the way
of
redemption
to an unbelieving
Israel,
that chose
Caesar
under the
lip service
of God.

Within
forty
years
they also
perished.

The disciple Paul
urged against
a "juda-ized"
wine skin;
The disciple
called upon
the gentile
to abandon
the former
way;
The mystery
of
iniquity
was at work
already.

By the close of the first century,
Gnosticism
was an established
force
that would eventually
drive the pure faith
into the
wilderness.

By the year three hundred,
"offices" and
similar
furniture
became a part
of the
"Christian"
religion.

By 606 a.d.
man would govern
"the church"
according to
will worship,
whims,
notions
of protocol
and ceremony.

While
Protestantism
claimed
to begin anew,
nothing of the like
would be a forthcoming
reality.

Protestantism
exchanged
the infallible
Bible
for the
infallible
church.

It offered
a renewal
where the man
need not the
cleric as intercessor,
but there with
stitched their
new life
upon the church
garment.

Worship
was and still is
based upon
the pleasure
of man.

Protestantism
burst at the
seams and today
even yet remains
a fragmented
disbursement
that ranges from
fundamental
to a form
of ritualistic
science.

I do not believe
in the dishonest
practice
of judging
a religion
by its
hypocrites.
My contentions
at this time
pertain to the
sincere and
devout.

In the midst of the
Protestant
era
arose one
George Fox,
who then
proposed
a renewed
form of the
ancient faith
in Christ.

The furniture
was left for
an inward
life and
worship.
The Religious
Society
Of Friends
became
very
successful,
and especially
so in the new
colonies of
America.

The so-called
Quaker
was at one point
the dominant
Christian
faith of
the colonies.

Again,
upon the
short list
of suggested
reading,
William Penn
held
uncompromising
Christian views.
His success with
the native
people of the new land
was not because he held
some wishy-washy
you go your way and I will go mine
grey world belief
that everyone was
a redeemed
man of God.
That is a retro-fitted notion
within the much
fractured
realm of the
society of friends.
There is that of God
in every man is not
equivalent to
every man is saved
by God's
grace through
Christ.

Between
this-ite
and
that-ite,
the
Religious Society of Friends
has become
no different
than
the
Universal (Catholic),
the
Protestant,
or often
the
Science religious sects.

That may be a hard saying;
I, realize that it is;
And yet it is no harder,
nor less true
than it would be
to others
of the past
in the same
predicament.

The Religious Society of Friends
went from the top seed (so to speak)
American faith,
to a minute
scattering
of perhaps
100,000 + or -.

That is no more or less
of a bursting of the
wineskin than
has been seen
in Protestantism.

Some of the
glass cathedrals
bear little difference
from the Broadway musical
only performed in the name
of worship.

So-called missions
bear little difference
from the political
action committees
of the secular
government.
Again,
posed as a religious
exercise.

Yes, religion is to be practiced in life.
No, religion is not to be worn as a philactery.

Our kingdom is within;
it is not without.

Our allegiance is to the Spirit of God within,
not to reforming the secular world without.

We oppose injustice;
we condone not the evil;
we set an example of truth in life;
but to suggest that we may
reform the secular is as naive
as a doctrine that we may
reform the
prince of the power of the air
himself.

I am not naive to the
writings and teachings of
Rauschenbush's social gospel.
There was a time in my life
when I thought this notion
to be so;
yet no longer
live I in that world
that leadeth unto the
bursting.

The social gospel
is flawed in that
it assumes the need
to change that mans
circumstance
that he may
become endeared
to the gospel.

Rauschenbush proposed
that in so-called
hells kitchen
his sermons
were in vain
when the church-goer
would trod
back into
the secular
world for the week.

Thus the birth
of the social gospel
that changes the
environment
that the man may
live unhampered
in attendance
to God.

I again
in brotherhood
with Penn
propose:
No cross,
No crown!

The inter-relation
of Christian
with anything
else,
simply does
not work.
It will eventually
unravel with the damaged cloth,
or burst with the old wineskin.

I am given to say:
A good apple never makes the bad one good ;
A bad apple always makes the good apple bad.

By that I mean the same thing.

Query:
Am I putting new wine in old skins?

pearls and swine

2011-09-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

Geve not that which is holy to dogges nether cast ye youre pearles before swyne lest they treade them vnder their fete and ye other tourne agayne and all to rent you.

This Bible teaching has always grasped my attention.
I am not entirely sure why this day,
although occassions have arisen
that have brought it to remembrance
time and again.

It is with difficulty
that one
assesses
swine
(the unclean)
from the pure of heart,
but assess we ought.

When we love those who love us,
we do as the unbeliever
and fare neither
the better
nor
worse
for it.

We are taught to
love enemies,
do for those
who
despitefully
use thee.

Pray for enemies;
Turn the other cheek;
Go the twain;
Give the cloak;
Cast not pearls before the swine.

Thee hast either a contradiction
or a different subject application.

The first part warns of not giving that which is holy to the dogs;
The follow likens it to casting goodly pearls before swine.
Swine have no cognition of pearls.
The goodly value is wasted upon them
as regardless of the value
the boar given the
opportunity
will rend thee.

Bestowing
such a gift
upon a swine
is of no consequence,
it is of no value.

When the seeker
comes upon the treasure
of the field,
he sells all that he has to buy the field.

Thee hast sought, found and bought.
At no time
is the
asking
find,
sell all,
buy,
give the treasure for nought.

When the one
discovers the
goodly Pearl
he sells all
to buy the one.

Thee hast discerned the goodly.
Thee hast made provision to obtain it.
Thee has determined an action.
Thee hast made the buy off the goodly pearl.

The disciples were sent out,
without script,
without second coat,
and unto those who
received them not
they were to
"shake even the dust"
as a testimony
against
them.

Folk speak much of missions.
Folk assimilate much of the ancient.
Folk rarely embark such a mission,
it trod the ancient step.

The Christian
does not
lose
the
humanity;
Thee hast lost no
tender mercies;
Thou art
given to
a pledge of sorts
not to
expend
that gift
upon
the unmerciful
and unbelieving.
Thou mustn't
cast the
goodly pearls before
the swine.

The gifts of God
are not to be
thrown about
so as to artificially
bolster an
anti-Christ
world.

The dog is
anti-Christ.
The dog and the swine
are not the proper
recipients of the
holy gifts.

The dog would
drink of
the intoxicants
in the
treasured
vessels
while the
dance and
nudity
would proceed
over hallowed
ground.

One seeks, sells all, buys the treasure.
Another takes,
gives nothing,
and expends the treasure
on riotious living.

I do not give
goodly
holy
treasure
to the
dog.

I may not take the feeding
from the babe,
casting it into the street
where as the wild
beast and fowl
may devour
both the feeding
and eventually
the babe also.

Many greatly misunderstand this paradox;
the wise
give it
greater
consideration.

Because
modern
Christendom
has managed
to turn
almost
everything
on its head,
these words
likely
appear
strange.

In the world secular
many work places
are a resource
of mental
poison
as the words
are used against thee
to the support and
continuance
of sin.

The one makes all of the
contribution,
while the other
is the always
recipient.
Never reversed;
never changing;
the one gives
while the other
takes.

The taker
will use a
perverted
definition of love
to goad the giver on;
to rend and gore
that which is good
into something
evil.

The story of Job
is one example
of the satanic work
of punishing the righteous
with a perverted
trans-interpretation
of the good.

To the task
in the game of
turning the
tables,
American
politics
teaches
this evil
well.

In a similitude,
the persecutor
slaps thee on the cheek
saying "Jesus said turn the other cheek."
They do it again,
and again,
and again,
and again.

Suffering abuse
and continuing
to render the
good gifts
is not
a Biblical
principle.

God forgives
the truly
repentant;
God does not
forgive
the phony
sorry
hypocrite.

Thee
must
guard
against
the
Satan-Logic
that was
used against Job.
Job would not
curse God,
but owed
Satan
nothing.
Satan
sought
to
turn the tables,
using righteous
precepts
against
the
righteous
one.

Men were called upon
in times past
to serve in wars.
They declined
and suffered
for the cause.
They were not given
a license to
retaliate against
the persecutors;
They were not
given
bragging
rights
where-as
to foist
the self
as righteous
for a
cause;
They were not to
set an excuse
using a belief
simply for their
own preservation;
They were
not given to concede
the wrong,
working to
the comfort
of the evil-doer
that they might
prolong the same.

I believe the term is
passive resistance,
or perhaps
passive non-compliance.

One refuses the order;
The punishment for non-compliance
is accepted without the resistance.
At times the righteous
examples insisted
on not being exempted
of the consequence
for their
non-compliance.

Cyrus Pringle is one example;
Ghandi is another;
There are many,
some are known names
some are not.

Making a discernment
given a specific
situation
is a matter
that thee ought to
seek the higher guidance.

Caring unto the wounded,
making the meals,
cleaning the encampment,
it is compromise?
It is giving that which is holy into the dogs?

By creating a supporting role
regardless of how love oriented
it may appear to be,
remains supportive of the evil cause.
The specific
judgement
there into
is not
light tread.

I have lived
in the era
when these
United States
of
America
determined
for a season
that the people
of North
Viet Nam
were the enemy.
An enemy to be killed at will
because the yellow man
lived under a
government
that practiced
some form
of
communism.

These
United States
of
America
had a draft
of soldiers.
The young
were ordered
under
penalty of law
that the young
man would serve
to take up
arms against
the foe.

Some
became
conscientious
objectors.

Many protested
the war,
not because
they held religious
principle,
but because
they were
afraid of
the war.

This lot
would
no more die
for a good
than an
evil.

For the lack
of a better
term,
cowardice
was the objection
rather than the conscience.

This lot
decried
the war
while
upholding
addicts of
narcotics
who claimed
that they
could sing.

It was a horrible era.
So many sought sex
as though
they were born
to be an
animal.
So many
sought
intoxicants
of every
manner.
It was an era
of
unbridled
selfishness.

Somethings
are not
hard to
discern.

For the
free love
crowd,
Viet Nam
wasn't a
moral
issue;
It was self
preservation.

As such,
Christendom
sought
a common ground
to sell an
amoral
liberalized
evangelism,
appealing to the
times.

It has apparently
taken hold.

As such,
the holy
sacrifice
was
thrown
to the
dogs
and cast
before
the swine.

The swine don't care how compromised thou become;
The swine don't care how hindered thy prayers are;
The swine don't care of the degree under which thee becomes degraded and weakened in faith;
Given the opportunity,
the swine
will rend
thee.

The negligence
if not the
misunderstanding
of this principle
has lead to
the weakening
of religious faith
and not as many
suppose to the
strengthening
thereof.

Lending support to an evil
does not lessen the evil or
lessen the time of the evil;
Support does what the word implies: it supports.

Furthering the understanding
consider the holy,
given to the dogs.

I oppose war.
I do not pray for the state.
I do not pray for prisoners.
I do not pray for soldiers.
I do not pray for battles or successes.
I lend no support to this cause of my own volition.
Caesar takes his usury from my employer.
That usury is expended into many Caesar projects including war.
Caesars image is on the coin.
He may take at will his usury for his causes.
With the remainder that has not been confisgated,
over the which I have control,
none of it goes to wars
or other Satanic causes for that matter.
To do otherwise is to cast pearls before the swine.

I do not support unrighteous causes
financially,
with labor,
with support,
with prayer,
with hopes,
with empathy.

If a cause
does not fit
my narrow minded
view,
the cause
and subsequent
shareholders
are the dogs and swine.

I don't do "favors."
Ask of me in plain speech
or ask not at all.

"Would you do me a favor" isn't a question.
It is swine looking to trample goodly pearls and rend me.
The non-question falls outside of speaking truth.
It is always loaded with deception
as the asker feels me less than honorable
to do upon my word
without worldly
chicanery.
I have always thought
less
of the asker
for having reverted
to such
a manipulative
device.

A term that may not have been spoken
for a hundred years:
bow and scrape
also comes
to mind.

Giving reverence
to a man;
The respect of persons;
Holding of one above another
based upon position,
lineage,
birthright
or other similitude
May at times also giving the holy to the dogs.

Men quote the Bible,
and yet pretend that
they have never
read:
Call no man father, rabbi, master...

Titles are very prominent today.
The title implies one is greater,
the other is less.

Jesus cited specifics
of that which
is holy (names, titles, attributes)
of God,
and giving
to the dog.

Perhaps
it is time
to relearn
what
bow and scrape
means and why
holy men of old
would not have it.

The passage
comes to mind
now and again.
It is reflective;
It is very easy
to remember;
It is worthy of
the mindfulness.

Query: Am I casting pearls before the swine?

Troy Davis and the death penalty

2011-09-22T14:59:00.000-07:00

Troy Davis
was a man
that I have
never met.

Many may
argue the
details:
Was he
or
was he not
guilty?

I don't
know the answer.

If he was
guilty
he would have
a penalty.
What ever that penalty would be,
I can at no time concede that any man
or body of men
possess the right
to inflict a
penalty
of
execution.

I have never
favored
the "death penalty"
at any age
or time in
my life.

Regardless
of innocence
or guilt,
the execution
of this man
in Georgia
sickens
me.

The death penalty
is absolutely
contrary to
the teachings
of Christ.

Which teaching one may ask?
All of them!

It is contrary
to all of
civilization.

It is nothing more than a form of murder.
Murder
blindly
carried out by a
government
does not make it less so.

To suggest that the execution
of Troy Davis
brings
"closure"
to the victims
really begs the question.

One statement was to the effect of
executing an innocent man is the risk we take
in an adult world.
Not in my adult world!

No man should be executed
regardless of innocence
or guilt
in an
enlightened
world.

Capital punishment:
It is immoral.
It runs against every fiber
of my being.
It is against
every belief
that I hold dear.

When shall this killing cease to be?

From the Tyndale translation:
20 For I saye vnto you except youre rightewesnes excede the righetewesnes of ye Scribes and Pharises ye canot entre into ye kyngdome of heven.
21 Ye have herde howe it was sayd vnto the of ye olde tyme: Thou shalt not kyll. For whoso ever kylleth shall be in daunger of iudgemet.
22 But I say vnto you whosoever is angre with hys brother shalbe in daunger of iudgement. Whosoeuer sayeth vnto his brother Racha shalbe in dauger of a cousell. But whosoeuer sayeth thou fole shalbe in dauger of hell fyre.
23 Therfore whe thou offrest thy gifte at the altare and their remembrest that thy brother hath ought agaynst the:
24 leue there thyne offrynge before the altre and go thy waye first and be reconcyled to thy brother and then come and offre thy gyfte.
25 Agre with thyne adversary quicklye whyles thou arte in ye waye with hym lest that adversary deliver ye to ye iudge and ye iudge delivre ye to ye minister and the thou be cast into preson.
26 I say vnto ye verely: thou shalt not come out thece till thou have payed ye utmost farthige.
...
29 Wherfore yf thy right eye offende ye plucke hym out and caste him from the. Better it is for the yt one of thy membres perisshe then that thy hole bodye shuld be cast into hell.
30 Also if thy right honde offend ye cut hym of and caste hym from the. Better yt ys that one of thy membres perisshe then that all thy body shulde be caste in to hell.

city upon a hill

2011-09-18T05:00:00.000-07:00

Ye are ye light of the worlde.
A city yt is set on a hill cannot be hid. - Matthew 5:14

From the well known,
as it ought to be,
sermon on the mount,
these words come to us.

Sometimes
in the still
of the night,
or on a quiet morning,
a remembrance
of oft quoted
sayings comes
to the fore
of my thoughts.

I am not "old."
I am not young either.

Through my years
I have been
involved
in so many
things;
I have been
involved
in so many
directions.

The
glorious
lighted
city
to the which
Jesus
spake
is necessarily
contrasted
against the
vain glorious
cities
of the world.

Detrimental
places
where I want not
to be
need not be
the extremes
of living.

I don't need
a war torn
example
or one
of grave
persecution.

Our own
world
is dark
enough
that we
might seek
the
higher
purpose
and
light.

The details
of
who,
what,
or why
need not
to be
forth
coming
to
understand
that things
are often
as they are
because
men
create
their
own
cities
under which
they choose
their
abode.

I have been involved
perhaps a lifetime ago
with
people,
places,
and things of the
world
political.

I have pondered the change
of which men speak
and rarely
achieve.

Those of
the way that it has always been
and the way it will remain
rose up to keep their claim
thus all remains
as it was
from as long as
anyone can remember.

I have been
involved
in the
world
religious.

Those of
the way it has always been
and the way it will remain
rose up to keep their claim
thus all remains
as it was
from as long as
anyone can remember.

Change
to the
many
is
fear.

Unknown fear;
Abiding fear;
Fear of failure;
The fear of change.

The world abode
as it has been
represents neither
civility
nor
progress.

The world secular
is not light,
but rather
represents
darkness.

It represents
the devil we know,
and is upheld
by an imagined
"devil"
we don't.

Because something
is
unknown,
that doesn't
make it the devil's workshop.

Light is to
step
beyond
the bounds
of
safe.

It is why the way
is so
notably
different
from darkness.

Friends of old
were a peculiar people.
That isn't so much anymore.

The world religious
has become
homogenized.
There is no
standing out,
and thus no
outstanding
attributes
that separate
one religion
from another.

When folk spent their time in schooling,
whether secondary,
college
or other
studies,
the highlighter
becomes an implement
to the students
learning
experience.

Should a word be highlighted,
one notices and sees the
emphasis;
When paragraphs are
similarly marked,
the emphasis is
not so much;
When the whole of the page is highlighted,
nothing is.

When everything is emphasized,
nothing is.

In the depth of darkness,
a small glimmer
is intense.
That sliver of light
within darkness
is fully seen.
It cannot be missed.
It cannot be mistaken.
It is light,
not only breaking the darkness,
but defining it.

The light cannot be hidden
as the city that is set upon the hill
remains for all to see.

Most will say
What city?
What light?
These I cannot see!

To find the city,
to find the light,
one must ponder
to do so.

Before there can be find,
there must first be seek.

Before one may see light,
thee must first see darkness.

The science of today has become the religion.
Was it because of all of the turmoil of the 1960's?
Was it when so-called musicians instructed the masses?
Was it from the "liberal" theology,
when religious institutions secularized?
It was likely a combination of a lot of things
rather than any one thing.
I don't know that there is an answer.

The religion of American society
goes beyond its
"God is dead"
theology.
It proposes that God
never was.

The teaching is placed
again and again
upon the media
and often
publically
funded.

Science
wants
proof
of God.

If I cared
for science
or gave it
any regard,
I might
seek
to appease
that notion.

But I don't.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not yet seen.

Too many will peal open a Bible
and set to prove
what they believe
why
and
wherefore.

Nay!
I say,
here is light!
One may say
Where?
I see it not!
To this I reply,
Look more closely!
Should one not see light,
it is not the light that lacks,
but the dimness of the eye.

To see light,
one must want to.

If Jesus came to you this day
and said
lay aside your net,
come,
follow me.
Would you?

If you knew the presence
of Jesus at a certain time or place,
would you come?

Have ye oxen to yoke?
Have ye a new wife?
Have ye the objection ready?

Science kills and destroys;
A true religion breathes life where life has not been.

Friends wait upon God in worship.
The gathering is with Jesus in the midst.
(Or at least it used to be).

I guess what I am saying is that friends need to re-find their roots.
Should Jesus be in the midst of worshippers,
why not forsake all to find thyself in him?

Friends,
having borrowed notions
from Protestant acquaintances
think of missions
and
evangelism.

While a simple
notion,
will not the light
found of the city
draw more
than any
preaching
can?

Ye are light!
Ye are the light of the world!

The sun,
the stars,
the moon
are illuminaries;
Day and night are separated by the sun and moon.
Light and darkness are separated by ye? Me?

Bringing our inner light
to the world
lumines
the world
from
darkness
into
light.

Every once in a while,
though not often enough,
we see a certain city,
set upon a hill,
cannot be hidden,
cannot be darkened
shining light,
over an otherwise darkened place.
In those times,
we know
the presence
and the meaning
of God within.

Query:
Am I a light in this present age?

morals, scruples and integrity

2011-09-13T18:31:00.000-07:00

Too often folk try to find a rational resource to morality.
Too often they fail.

Morals
scruples
and
integrity
are from the
inside
out.

With many resources available
folks cite
the Bible
or perhaps
variant
Hindu
Buddhist
and similar
writings
for those of
non-christian
religions.

All of those resourced writings
contain
morality,
but to claim them as the source
places religion
at a dogmatic
and rigid
overpass
too often exercised today.

Morality became instilled within us
before we even knew simple language,
much less the reading of written language.

It may have been learned by experiment
as a babe learns to roll themselves over.
I don't know.
However we arrived at it,
we did.
It became
as much a part of our being
as eating,
breathing
or sleep.

Morality is both
unconscious
and
subconscious.
Our religion
simply
brings the deep internal
to the surface
where we rationalize things.
Our religion
brings
these things
to
light.

All men have a moral code within.
They may repress it
and
unfortunately
most do;
Repressed
or open,
it is there.

When we endeavor
to a higher calling,
this sense of God
bears witness
with our spirit
that we are the sons
of God.

A higher calling
demands
a higher
obedience
to the
moral
code
within.

The repressed
is released from
darkness to
light.

The chained
self repression
is unchained
elevating
the other
over
self
interest.

Where most men
seek the path of least resistance,
morality demands something more.

Integrity
calls upon one
to seek
the path of
greatest resistance.

Until one
finds
this path,
they will
not
find
their
true
self.

It is repression
that brings
men to bury this light
while denying
the power thereof.

At times
something may
yield this light
to the conscious self,
whereas
men then choose
to live in the light
or to repress it.

I don't believe that men need to be taught
not to lie;
I believe they know this inherently ;
Thus lying is a choice against nature.
The opposite side is
a realization that
truth
is
natural.

Truth is moral;
Morality is also natural;
Immorality is against nature
and thus incurs the consequence of actions.

If morality is natural
and I believe that it is,
then I must also concede
that
morality
is
universal.

Religion isn't morality
but all religions contain
a codified moral venue.

Morality is often discovered in religion,
while religion is not the origin
of moral scruple.

Our codified
written and verbal
sayings
bring to the
surface
the natural sense
of the moral man.

For man to be about
eating,
sleeping
and building
bigger barns,
he becomes lost
in himself.

He lives
against
higher
purpose
and is a
fool
indeed.

One gains the world
and loses his soul,
what shall he give
in exchange?

The question is no less
valid than it was
two thousand
years ago.

Query:
Do I make decisions based upon a moral value
rather than a rational one?

ten years later

2011-09-11T06:21:00.001-07:00

Having been away visiting my daughters
today is a day to rest and relax.
This day
I am reminded
marks the
now infamous
nine eleven
day.

Different folks
have different
impressions
and memories
of the event.

Having lived in a period of time
corresponding
to an event
does not necessarily
equate my experience
with another
more directly
involved.

I personally
knew
no one
who
died
on
nine eleven.

I have no Muslim associates
or family members.

I do know of a few who have gone to war.

Nevertheless, my reflections are from the outside.
So are the reflections of 99% of the American journalists and citizens since that time.

I was alive when the space shuttle Challenger exploded.
I saw the news,
the reports,
the pictures.

Some were directly affected.
The school children who watched;
Workers at NASA;
Families of those who perished.

Some were indirectly affected.
Industries dependent upon the space program;
Workers at NASA;
Workers of associated industries;
Products that were altered
for better or worse
due to a learning
in the midst
of tragedy.

I was not affected.

I was alive when Kennedy was assassinated.
I was in elementary school.
I remember the time and images.

This being a leader of the United States
may be a better parallel.

The wife and family
of course
were greatly
affected.

While a nation looked on
the shock
had an effect
that in a period
would disperse.
I will come back to the shock momentarily.

Because the structure of the United States is not of a royal nature,
the loss was of a president,
not a king.
The Vice President took over the role,
and inevitable policies continued to play themselves out.

Lyndon Baines Johnson
in taking over
did not create
the Viet Nam war
for example.
He inherited it;
He esculated it;
But did nothing different than Kennedy would have done
or that Richard Nixon did afterward.

None of these
were inherently
bad men.
Being a President
will inevitably place one in a
compromised
position.

Richard Nixon was raised in a Quaker household
but found himself
in the midst of
a war
and in scandal
that he could not
escape
the entrapment
thereof.

Many, many years ago,
I was involved in
the political
"scene" and processes.
Even as much as on a local level
I feel that the compromises
are too great
and too often
bidding.

The higher the level of government,
the more dominant and controlling
those compromises become.

I was alive and of an age close to what was then draft age in the now known waning years of Viet Nam.
I did know people who were affected,
those who were drafted,
those who were shipped into a war zone,
those who were killed.

Viet Nam was a war
that no one understood,
no one could define,
and that brought
a dividing
between folks
for a cause
that almost no one
understood.

That war was a separate event from the assassination
and subsequent policies of the 1960's.

The assassination itself,
though widely followed
had not as much of a real effect
as a perceived one
upon those living at that time.

The Viet Nam war did have,
as will any war have,
an effect upon all.

World War II did not start with the attack upon Pearl Harbor.
The war in Viet Nam did not start with LBJ.
That course was set many years prior to the events that led LBJ into the Presidency of the United States.
The war of the Middle East started long before nine eleven.

The war of the Middle East
it may be argued
tracing back to the creation of Israel/US
against the Arab world.

Many will say that this current conflict started with the "desert storm" tag line.
I disagree.
It started long before that surge to "free Kuwait."

Regardless of how it sounds,
many times truth has a chilling ring,
and its chime is as the scratch of the chalk.

Both Israel and the United States have a long history of war mongering.
The remainder are feints of justifications of the modern era of crusading.
If we would like to stop wearing the moniker of a war nation,
we must discontinue our actions subsequent to being a war nation.

Even if I accepted all of the stories of nine eleven as credible;
All of it begs the question against peace.

To the shock of a nation,
how can a people bear shock against violence,
while the creed of the living will is toward violence.

Our cities are of crime,
where crime is a fluid
enhanced and defined at will.
To lie and steal from the city coffer
is washed in shallow apologies.
Political, social and yes often religious leaders
exemplify polygamy and disregard to the value of others.
How often is a governor "sorry" for fornication?

There will be many speeches
and sermons
today about
peace and God
and the
need to love.

The well can not have both bitter and sweet water.
Words need to be fewer
and actions more.

The kingdom of Christ
is not an eye for eye
kingdom.

Generations come and pass,
and yet nations continue to rise
against nations.

These kinds of days
as it was ten years ago
bring forth the war drummers
while the peacemaker
is delegated to
disinheritance.

I will not recognize nor celebrate nine eleven.
There is nothing positive to be learned from it that could not be learned otherwise.
I refuse the "leadership" or "guidance" of atheists.
Any lesson that one may pose that I might allegedly learn
by the events of this day
I can (and mostly have) learned
from an ancient manuscript called:
the holy Bible.

Pertaining to the reflections of nine eleven: thanks but no thanks.

Queries:
Carriest thou a plowshare or a sword?
Can peace be grown of the seed of violence?
Dost thou feel the shadow of compromise before the darkness of concession?
Do I live for Christ or Caesar?
Art thou a peacemaker?
Do I believe in the power of the light within?
Is Christ thy councillor?
Is peace without or within?
What does peace mean to me?

prisms and rainbows

2011-08-15T04:57:00.000-07:00

Everyone is seemingly familiar with the rainbow;
The symbol of deliverance;
The mark of a promise;
The assurance of a world of living to come.

Science has long minimized the significance,
attesting to little more than a refraction of light.
With the moisture about following a rain,
light is broken down into fundamental elements.
The light is seen as through a prism
as colors broken into strips of hue.

A prism refracts light
turning it into
its several parts.

The rainbow
is a symbol
of a
promise
that the great flood
will not return.

Troubles and promises
often merge
into a
singular
scene.

A
cleansing
water flows
and the
whole
of the
several
parts
are clearly seen.

The
Father
the word
and the Holy Ghost
are
one.

The
Spirit
the water
and the blood
testify on earth
and agree as one.

Blood, from the beginning
has been symbiotic of life;
living upon the earth;
the water is a cleanser;
the spirit of light is within.

As life is melded into a canvas of greys and composite,
it becomes a passing of time in the mundane.
Within there is more!

Light through the prism,
through the rising of the
cleansing waters
shows a promise
of a higher calling.

The panels are broken
into their several hues,
each with a purpose to the whole.

As flesh and blood
may falter at the interpretation
of red
or green
or yellow
or purple;
We falter in our weakness
as earthen eyes
can focus upon earthen things;
The cleansing and the blood
need the spirit
to guide the understanding,
to guide the living.

For the flesh is weak,
and yet strength
is made perfect
in weakness;
When I am weak,
then am I strong.
Not of my own will,
but when my will is abandoned
into promises
that I have yet
to understand.

A promise
needs not
interpretation
but trust
in its being
so.

Query: Do I see the good of God in all things, regardless of the flesh?

wholesome learning, wholesome living

2011-07-31T04:52:00.000-07:00

From the Tyndale translation
Titus: Chapter 2

1 But speake thou that which becometh wholsome learninge.
2 That ye elder me be sober honest discrete sounde in the fayth in love and in paciece.

Setting aside the odd spellings
that have their own
quaint appeal--

Wholesome learning
Sober
Honest
Discrete

Sound in
Faith
Love
Patience

Sometimes men look too deep;
Sometimes the messages are too intricate;
Sometimes the plainness is lost to a more studious time;
Sometimes we need more to reflect and ponder,
rather than think.

As I understand things,
and I can understand
in error,
friends of old
sought not to be
doctrinal machines
or walking Bible
transliterators,
but wholesome
men and women
who had a
fundamental
passion
for truth
in its
plainest
of form.

That is not to say
as so many today
seemingly
elude to
that they
don't want
or need the
Bible
teaching
or guidance;
To affirm
upon them a
disregard
of the
bible
would be
dis-honest
in every
degree.

Founding friends
were not
agnostics
nor
non-christian.

The teaching,
instruction,
and
"soundness"
of the
learning
is
enhanced
and suplimented
through the
ancient
Christian
writings
rather than the
new age,
so to speak,
of
anti-christian
anti-bible
agnosticism
that simply doesn't work.

The
RELIGIOUS
society
of
friends,
in many regards
I think
needs to re-find
its
roots.

The
RELIGIOUS
society
of
friends
is not a political
PAC.

The opposition
to
wars
slavery
and
missions
of
compassion
were
and still should be
a
matter of conscience.

This is not to form
a
voting
or a
protest
group.

It is making
Life decisions
that
inevitably
become
visible
through
a
soundness
of
speech
and
action.

Among
Christian
groups of
our day,
friends
not excepted,
not only are the right and left hands
knowing
the actions of the other,
the actions are often
such as to be
"seen of men."

Thee will
receive
no accolades
for being
discrete
or toward
plain
honesty,
and yet the other
has received
their
reward.

What
churches,
meetings,
and religious organizations
really need in our day
is a heavy dose
of being religious
and
religiously indifferent
to all of the political
muck-ruck
that belongs
in the realm
of Caesar.

Christ was not a co-incidental
to the early Quaker faith,
but rightfully
was (and still should be)
at the center.
To lose that is to lose everything!
Gain the world,
lose the soul,
what shall ye give in exchange?

Sound in faith;
Honesty in religion;
Wholesome learning
does not
and cannot
for me
include
a hijacked
form
of agnosticism
or idolatry
posed as
"Christian."

One may call the dogs tail a leg,
but that doesn't give the dog five legs.
One cannot make a silk purse of a sows ear!

At some point one needs to make choices in their life;
Thee can be Christian or agnostic,
but thou canst be both.

Again,
warning by warning
of the ancient text,
Be not conformed to this world
but be ye transformed...
... &tc ...

With the full-jacket compromise on
is it any wonder why
so many
think it foolish
and prude
to seek
wholesome
living?

Wholesome
in food-stuffs
are proper proteins,
vitamins,
minerals.

Wholesome is balance,
good food for a healthy body.
A balance of exercise.
A sense of mental rest.

We understand wholesome!

Digesting rat poison,
inhalations of monoxides,
mental bottling of wrath,
intercourse with devils,
hatred of God and the
infusions of intoxicants
is not wholesome.

Think of wholesome;
Think of society;
Is there a wonder that good living is "peculiar?"

Query:
Am I committed to wholesome living?
To what things do I devote my learning?
Is Christ at the epicenter in as much as one will see Christ living in me?
Are my actions of this day sound in faith? In love? In patience?

sober

2011-07-30T03:31:00.000-07:00

The word is a simple one;
Five letters,
often misused,
mostly left undone.

Folk use this word to the contrast of drunken.
Certainly drunken is not sober.
Sober is not about drink.
Sober, as it is often properly used
in association
with grave,
is a state of
being;
A state of consciousness
that indeed is
peculiar
to the so-called
norms
of this world.

Grave in conduct;
Sober in thought;
Effectual in the world;
A "peculiar" state of living.

It is quite an odd thing
that regardless of all of the
technology and advances
that affect lifestyle,
little of our needs
actually
change.

The agrarian culture
was in no
less
nor
greater
need
of soberness
than our own.

Living in our time
is no more challenging
than of aeons
gone by.

Men seek rudeness and laughter;
Men seek flesh and gratification;
Men seek pleasure
to equate a
good
life
to the measure
of
pleasure.

There is nothing new to any of that.
How easy
it has always been
to be caught up in the
"joy of laughter."

If joy is in laughter,
why is it missed
by every
Biblical
writer?

That is not to say that
we find joy in
sorrow
and a
shroud
of
gloom.

What it does say
to me,
is that
a
genuine
joy
in
living
is resourced
elsewhere
(apart from jovial times).

That
good times
are not
so good
after all.

Since I want not to contrast
drunken
to
sober:
The anti-sober life is the natural manner of living.
It, not unlike lusts, etcetera, etcetera,
is a manner to be overcome.

Another conceptual ideal is natural living
and to what degree do we life according to nature?

The natural course,
more often than not,
is the
"path of least resistance."

That path is of the first Adam.
That path is rightfully resisted.

Soberness is not natural;
It is a character trait that requires work;
Soberness requires effort.

Should you think differently,
"behold" the world about you.
Is not so-called entertainment anti-sober?
Is not the lesson of the world
happiness in laughter and jovial living?

Men of our day
no more want
soberness
than they have
of any day.

And yet a deeper peace,
thus a more fundamental joy
is found in that which man resists.

Seek not the things that are below but above.

Making a
conscious
effort
to
soberness
bears its own
fruit
and reward.

Query:
Am I living soberly and righteously in this present world?

putting off evil communication

2011-07-29T03:42:00.000-07:00

Being risen with Christ,
brings a seeking of the above,
abandoning those things from below;
It is a change in venue;
It is a change in attitude.

The first stage
is to
mortify
the
members
of the flesh.

Having departed those things
we then
also
depart from
the evil
communications of
wrath,
anger,
malice,
blasphemy,
and
filthy communication.

These are manifest with the speech
that be-speaks
the guidance of our day
and life.

The two "listings"
of Colossians three
describe well
the timeless
short comings of man.

Getting through the first grouping
of the vice
and coveteousness
one is then brought
to keep the great ship aright.

What a small member is the tongue!
What great personal havoc does it bring?

One may break vice,
and I would hope for them that they do.
One will never tame the tongue.
For a lifetime
this small member
will avert to
be tamed.

Query:
Is thy speech befitting to thy calling?

easy commitments and hard choices

2011-07-14T09:19:00.000-07:00

Of the dilemmas
that I have pondered
this one surfaces
often
enough.

As an example
let me use
this:
I
knew of a man
actually
many such as he was;
This man
held a
very
strong
view
upon the
issue
of
abortion.

He would not have it!
He was adamant!
He was committed!
He was immovable!

This same man
was given
to
drink intoxicants ;
He was a
frequenter
of the gambling
casino.
He would lie
to
increase
his own wealth.

He attended
a
church
on
a
regular basis,
to my knowledge.

The tendency
among folks
is here
simply
to say:
that guy is a hypocrite!

And that would not be false!

But
why
the commitment
upon the
abortion
opposition,
while the rest is un-done?

The answer
to
this
I think
brings
the larger
issue
of
why
there are so
many
"hypocrites "
involved
in the
Christian
faith.

The answer:
This man was a man.
As such he would never be pregnant.
He had no children.
Again, the time to walk the walk
could not face him.

On the other grounds,
to avoid the intoxicants,
to abstain the gambling,
to find satisfaction and
contentment
in the things
that he has,
takes more of a
commitment
than he was
willing to
give.

Anyone
can make weak
commitments
and easy
decisions.

The reason
that
the Christian
faith
has so many
"hypocrites"
is that
the
"preaching"
is so weak
and non-commital.

Vocal ministry,
should be
the vocalization
of the internal
word.

Faith comes by hearing
and
hearing
by the
word of God.

If the seed is weak,
the plant will also be weak.

The televangelist is notorious in gaining disciples upon weak subjects.
The message: believe in Jesus.
That isn't difficult.

This message requires a little more:
Christians need to oppose the continuous
government sanctioned
killing
under the
marque
of some
"War on terrorism."

I will not support
wars
capital punishment
or any other
anti-peace
conveniences
of our time.

While this holds a little more commitment
for me
it is not
difficult.
I am
too old
for military
and will not
be called
upon
to sacrifice
for my
commitment.

Unlike the
man of
my story,
intoxicants
and
gambling
are not even
temptations.
I have zero
interest
in
either one.

Where do I find the fire to purge the dross?

Through my life
I have been asked
this question :
Do you think that Jesus really meant....

I have always liked that question because
I knew thhe answer
as did
the one
who queried me.

Now these are such as
the commitments
that you will never
hear from
the pulpits.

If a man shall strike thee upon the right cheek,
turn him the left also.

If a man shall take thy coat,
give him thy cloak also.

Commitment : non-resistance to evil.

The same Jesus who said
sware not at all
also
said
call thou no man
Rabbi, Father...

How often are we called upon to show
"respect of persons?"

Pray for thy enemies!

Commitment: to loving kindness.

The seemingly larger issues
are easy.
Who will object to not stealing, killing or lying?
And yet
men steal
from their workplace;
Men hate the neighbor;
Men lie the little lies
where
allegedly
none are harmed.

The end
never
justifies
the
means.

All lying is wrong
and
a
hinderance
to our prayers
and
Christian
living.

Lying is a
distrust
toward
God
to lead us
into
right
by
truth.

Lying is always intolerable.

When we focus upon
the details
generally speaking
the larger issues
take care of themselves.

Similarly,
focusing upon
the hard choices
however small
they may seem
will make the
commitments
much easier.

suits of the law

2011-07-12T03:50:00.000-07:00

Dare any of you having a matter against another
go to law
before the unjust
and not before the saints?

One can hardly turn on
television,
radio,
newspaper,
and with internet advertising
on the rise
and not know
the
epidemic
of law suits.

Get the money you have coming!
Are you injured?
Are you a victim of an accident?
Get!
Get!
Get more!

We have all heard the bizarre stories:
one lends a ladder to another;
the borrower falls off of the ladder
and sues the lender.

One purchases and uses cigarettes
when
(not if)
they have health issues
the law suit is on!

American society
has turned the
matter of law
into a for profit business.

While it is often said
and misquoted
"Judge not..."
I indeed shall not misquote
and
I will
pass judgement
upon this.

Secular society is unjust!

To equate the judgement of the Spirit
to the judgement
according to this world
is just plain wrong.

Ought the church to be a separatist society?
In some regard, yes it should.

The kingdom of Christ
is not of this world;
over and again we are taught to be
not "conformed" but to be "transformed."
The suffering of going the twain;
The giving of the cloak also;
The offering of the other cheek;
The sermon on the mount is simply
too widely known
in Christian circles
to excuse
the violations
for the more convenient of a season
or
just a little more "world."

The matter of going to law with another
is no different than the matter of an oath.
Neither is acceptable!

Paul was rightfully reprimanding
those of Corinth
and all who would
later hear.

The secular court is no place for a Christian.

There is no unity between
light
and
darkness;

There is no Concord
between
Christ
and
belial.

The Corinthians were following
the light of the Spirit
and discerning things
of
spiritual value,
yet they were
unable
to settle a matter
without the secular law?

The analogies are again plentiful:
The city set upon the hill that cannot be hidden;
The lamp upon the stand lighting the whole house;
An example to those without.

For what ever reason
Christians
do not want to be different
or "peculiar."

As such the "light" is good if it is not too bright.

Is it any wonder why many question:
The saints shall judge the world!

The matter of law,
as so many other things ought to
concede to the
transformation,
the renewal of the mind
and being
whereas
the law
becomes written
upon the heart
and not within
the halls
of the
Caesarean
Hallow.

The secular law,
beyond that we are not
anti-law abiding folk
has little to do with us.

The laws are subject to those who are themselves subjected to the law.
The inscription of Caesar is upon his law,
it is thus of secondary importance to me
and certainly not a subject of my concern.

I abide under the laws and governance of God.
If Caesar's law happens to agree with that,
all is well.
Should any dis-harmony arise:
I obey God and not man.

Listen to this!
Because
Caesar
has said that I may take one before a judge
to recompense
doesn't mean that
God
allows the same.

In truth, God allows nothing of the sort.
Suffer rather the loss...
Nothing within the realm of God allows such a thing.
Is it any wonder that Paul questioned: dare any....

It is as clear as we want it to be.
It is as mysterious as we make it.

Render not evil to evil,
eye for eye,
neither tooth for tooth.

Contrawise:
Render
blessing for curse
for so
shall your reward
be great
in those times
when it
matters
the most.

The suit of the law is darkness;
Forgiveness is light;
The choice is light or dark;
Light is success;
Darkness is failure;
I choose light.

dishwater

2011-07-05T03:39:00.000-07:00

The story of the washing of cups
and ceremony is pertinent even to our day.

As the progression of things religious
has gone through
the years,
there has also been an expansion
of dinnerware,
so to speak.

While certain ceremonies of the past have fallen into the antiquities,
others have emerged.

Beginning with water baptism:
The whole televangelist era
closed this tradition,
however,
not for the right reasons.

It was not because they found it to be wrong,
but with a stadium full of people
and the liabilities,
various (and often weak) arguements
emerged to the convenience of many.

The "conversion" factor that translates into more everything:
book sales, donations, church cred, name recognition, &tc.

I am prejudiced in this regard.
I have no
use,
interest
or regard
toward the televangelism phenomenon.
Sometimes the plainness of a truth seems harsh;
I don't say it in a mean spirited way,
but say it I must
if I am going to speak of truth in plain terms.

I can think of no good thing that has come out of televangelism.
It is a poor substitute for worship;
It teaches and has taught a strong version of Protestant pre-millennialism;
It fortifies the idea of careers in preaching ;
I am at a loss for the popularity of it outside of that
It promises much and delivers little at a minimal commitment.

Televangelism has thwarted baptism as it failed to meet the bill of convenience.
Subsequently, the arguments became increasingly silly:
Baptism did not become non-essential
because someone
who may be on their way to get baptized
and then got hit on the head with a tree limb
and died,
making the world wonder
whether they would be saved.

Baptism did not become non-essential
because of the thief on the cross.

Baptism did not become non-essential
because Paul came not to baptize.

These are weak (and used very often) excuses
that are made out of convenience.

This is the truth:
Baptism is an essential
and essential to understand
which baptism is applicable
to us today.
It is a part and parcel of the new birth:
Now doth baptism now also even save us,
not putting away of the filth of the flesh,
but the answer of a good conscience
toward God.

Water baptism was practiced by John the Baptist;
It was a ceremonious cleansing;
a tradition in the later Mosaic era.
The primitive church also practiced water baptism
as ceremony or tradition as it began with the Jew,
existed approximately ten years before the emergence
of the Gentile.

The tradition had little to do with the Gentile.
Cornelius and his household were water baptized
but
that was
only
after
they already had been
Spirit baptized.
Who could forbid water
that these also should be baptized
that have received the spirit
even as we have received.

Water baptism just as circumcision
was primarily
an early on carry-over
from Judaism
into the Christian world.

Paul declared in the spirit of unity
that there would be
One Lord
One faith
One baptism
One God and father of all...

This baptism is that of the Spirit.
There would no longer be:
John's baptism;
The Church baptism;
Baptism of the Spirit;
and any others that may be added to the list.

There would be one: that of the Spirit of Christ.

The hearing of the word of God;
being still;
following and discerning the leading of the spirit
just doesn't fit the sound bite
or salesmanship
of the televangelism world.

With that said
water baptism
is a tradition.
That tradition
takes the form of sprinkling babies
for original sin;
immersion in some circles;
triple imeraion in others;
but a tradition as traditions go.

Men sprinkle babies for original sin
and when they reach their eighteenth year
they place a rifle in their hands
and instruct them to kill
an enemy of a just war.

Is that not what the lord spoke of?

Outward religious traditions;
Inward transgressions.

The un-washen hands and cups cannot defile.
A man is defiled from within.

The list of vice, hatred, greed and so on come from within.
A man is not converted by outward traditions,
including preaching;
A man is convinced by inward light.

Preaching v convincement;
Hearing the word of God v listen to some man read and quote memorized Bible verses;
It does make a difference.

The religious men of Jesus day missed it;
Religions today continue to miss it.

Defilement cannot come from without,
only within.
Cleansing cannot come from without,
only within.

The things from without cannot harm you,
only those things from within.

To cleanse the outside does nothing;
To cleanse the inside,
cleanses all.

scripture within

2011-06-30T06:31:00.001-07:00

A very much quoted and much lectured upon bible verse reads:
All scripture
is inspired of God
and is profitable
for teaching, reproof,
instruction in righteousness...

First the teaching according the Protestant and Catholic church is similar to this:
Cite the reading;
Talk about Timothy and how his mother was a Jewess that read the bible to him as a baby;
He being greatly brought up in Scripture in spite of his Greek father went on to preach;
Having the Scriptures memorized and the Pauline letters he is able to reprove in righteousness;
We now have all of those Scriptures for doctrine;
To understand the Bible one then proves the Bible by the Bible;
According to Protestantism the Bible is "inspired" authority;
According to the Catholic, the church is the authority that interprets the inspired Scripture;
As a proof text,
this verse is more worn than any other.

As a guideline or
schoolmaster
that brings us to Christ--
by all means
I strongly encourage daily Bible reading.

Upon this interpretation however,
I feel the need to speak to it,
as the common teaching is wrong.

I am not a "Greek-speak" person
(i.e. the Greek means this, that, etcetera),
however, upon some occassions,
especially when something has been taught so wrong for so long,
I will concede
to even this means
that men may more excellently
know the way of the truth.

I don't claim to be of great intellegence;
I only seek the guidance of God in gaining an understanding of spiritual things.

As I understand the leading into this common verse:
At the core of it are the words
scripture and
inspiration.

Scripture is graphe ;
Inspired of God is all one word theopneutos;
Outside of the grammatical form, essentially God breath or God Spirit.
Basically it is theos-pneuma.

Preachers focus upon graphe instead of God breath.
That is of course where they go wrong.

Almost a lifetime ago,
fifteen or maybe even twenty years ago,
I read a book among the many religious and theological books
that changed my whole vision of Christen faith.

The book was by Albert Schweitzer.
It was (and is called )
The Mysticism of Saint Paul the Apostle.

I learned from that writing a whole new world
based upon the in-Christ
religion of the Pauline teaching.

in-Christ varies from the light within,
and I will make a mental note to post the differences,
however, at this juncture
I do not want to muddle
a clear understanding of
the verse at hand.

If you will bear with me to this trust,
in-Christ is what I am;
The light within
is what
guides
my continuance
in-Christ.

Another writer that very much grasped the mystic nature of the Pauline doctrine was Rufus Jones.

Using a very few of many Bible examples:
The Passover became the Eucharist and that became the agape meal common to at least Corinthian churches and likely all.
Moses crossed the red sea and Israel was baptized, subsequently we are baptized in the Holy Ghost.
Men are circumcised by the "circumcision of Christ" buried with him in baptism like into death and risen to walk in a newness of life. (Baptism=immersion in Christ. It is wholly a spiritual act of God and not of man).
The baptism of the Holy Spirit of Christ is also a new birth (John) and to Paul the death, burial and resurrection of Christ in man, that the Spirit of Christ is not an outward phenomenon but an inward grace.

This Pauline epistle,
retaining a consistency
to it being "Pauline,"
it cannot,
it must not
disregard
the mystical nature of
everything
that he writes.

The emphasis for most,
if not all
sermonizing
is upon the wrong
subject.

The scripture here is indeed the word of God;
Profitable for doctrine;
For reproof;
For instruction in righteousness;
That the man of God may be "perfect"
thoroughly furnished to all good works.

What is "Scripture?"
The graphe is God breathed;
The same writer placed the tablets of stone given to Moses as the basis of law as "written on the heart."
The laws of God are internal;
The word of God is internal;
The graphe is also exactly the same internal:
Law,
Word,
Light within,
Still small voice,
"Scripture."

It is all the same thing!

What men once needed (in Timothy and his mother's day),
is now written upon the heart.
The body is the temple;
The Scripture is read in the temple;
Man comes to doctrine, reproof, and instruction in righteousness not by the hearing of the priest reading od Scripture on the Sabbath---
but
by quietly listening
as Friends have
contended
all along.

briars and herbs

2011-06-29T16:19:00.000-07:00

For that earth which drinketh in the rain,
which cometh oft upon it
and bringeth forth herbs
mete for them that dress it
receiveth the blessing of God;

But that ground that beareth
thorns and briars
is reproved
and is nigh into cursing
whose end is ready to be burned.

The natural lesson
learned many times over in life:
seed may fall upon good ground;
it may fall upon hard ground;
it may fall in briars and thorns being choked out.

The seed will not grow in bad soil.
Men say bad seed,
but it is not the seed
any more than it is bad rain.

The dressed ground produces the blessing of herbs;
The ground of briars and thorns produces cursing.

The rain falls upon the just and the unjust.
Both receive a natural blessing in as much as the natural world produces the same.

There is a world natural.
There is a world spiritual.

The rain falls upon the earth of briars and thorns.
The rain falls upon the dressed ground.

The briars and thorns
is an all too common world
of what is in it for me?

It is the pleasures of this world;
It is undressed ground;
It takes no effort;
It is left to the wild;
It is the secular and the humanist view of life.

A religion of humanism does not work.
Excuses and rationalizations abound.
The leaven of the secular will pervade the spiritual.
It will overtake the whole.
There is no treasury of opinion,
but that which is stored against our own judgement.

A briar is a plant;
A thorn bush is a plant;
Both are snarling;
Neither make it to the dinner table.

Herbs being what they are
come to an honest desire.
Left to the natural world
they also would be choked
and overtaken.

Herbs require dressing;
Herbs require nurturing;
Herbs are of value
however small the seedling
may appear.

Briars require nothing;
Thorns require no more;
Briars and thorns are a cursing to the dresser of the field;
They are nigh into uprooting and burning.

The world offers curse for blessing;
The world offers briars as herbs;
Given a God given sense to discern,
one would think that not one would choose
the briar
or the thorn
over the herb
(though the herb takes effort and diligence
while the briars and thorns do not).

Men choose intoxicants,
to poison the body and spirit.
Men choose lying
rather than truth.
Men choose deviance over virtue.
One may list a host and almost without end!

As troublesome as that is for one that has
never known
the way
nor hast found the light of truth,
it becomes more so
in the context
that those
once enlightened
who have been partakers of the holy ghost
and have tasted
the word of God--
to fall away
nigh unto cursing
to become as
briars and thorns
among herbs
is difficult
to accept and comprehend.

Is it a wonder that the Hebrew writer
says that renewal is impossible?

Folk ask: what is wrong with the church today?
The answer being manifold:
Too much play and not enough religion;
Too much acting but not enough action;
Too much ritual and not enough righteousness;
Too much world and not enough heaven;
Too much greed and not enough giving;
Too many briars and not enough brethren;
Too much the religion of milquetoast and not enough repentance in Christ.

Men are afraid to believe a simple gospel
that into this world was given the holiness of Jesus the Christ
the son of the living God.

Men are afraid to confess a life of faith
not of science
not the latest trend
but of God.

Men abhor sacrifice.
It's alright for another,
but not I!

"No cross, no crown!"
Thank you William Penn!

Just because I don't need a priest to do my religion for me
does not relinquish my own
yes, fallible
limitations and sins.

The hearing of the word of God
whereby faith comes
takes a cultivation,
an effort,
a desire,
a diligence
on our part.

As well,
it isn't a one time
occurrence.

For to enjoin the blessing
requires
the right rain,
the right earth,
the right seed,
the right dressing
and a lifetime of pursuit
for as much as some fall away.

Woe unto that one that falleth away!

births and beginnings

2011-06-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked the birth of our fifth grandchild Braden.
Grandchildren are a blessing in the fulness of light,
the living before God right.

In reflection,
I pondered these thoughts this morning:
Genesis records the beginnings of the flesh.
In the beginning the world was formed.
The man-kind came,
born of flesh.
As we are born in Adam,
we are born of flesh;
the flesh is weak;
the flesh is perishable.

John records the beginning of the spirit.
In the beginning was the word.
The logos is the word of God.
Because the record says as much;
Because that is what a logos is.

The word,
God,
became flesh.

This word is the light within;
The dwelling of the spirit of christ within;
The rebirth of a new Adam,
even Christ
that all who will come to his eternal light within
shall live.

For in Adam all die;
in Christ are all made alive.

The Scriptures are not the light,
but are brought by the light.
They are not the source of the word,
but a result of the word.

Man does not live by bread alone (Adam),
but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God (Christ).

The light came into the world
and the
darkness
cannot
overtake it.

For God who commanded the light
to shine out of the
darkness,
hath shined
in
our
hearts
to give knowledge of the
glory of God
in the
face
of
Christ Jesus. (2 cor. 4).

Men seek too much the things which are seen.
Those things are temporal.
They ought to seek
the unseen,
for that is
eternal.

That which is eternal is found in light.

The light overtakes the darkness
as the eternal overtakes the temporal.

God,
in the beginning of all things,
commanded light-
and it was so.

To our heart,
our inner self,
our hopes,
our doubts,
our highest aspirations,
our lowest despair:
Christ shines within;
to bring light to the day,
day before the night,
and a new birth within.

nature and beyond nature

2011-06-23T06:09:00.000-07:00

Along the theme of the inner light comes a contrast and merging of values.
Those values need to be resolved within our understanding that we may equally grasp what is inner light and what is not inner light.

Nature is experienced in the flesh.
Beyond nature is experienced in the spirit.

When I speak of nature
I am not speaking to the secular
as the secular is an ideal that
labors against the spirit
whereas nature does not.

Nature is an enhancement to the spirit.
The spirit is an enhancement to nature
raising our awareness of nature
to a realm that is
beyond nature.

Nature and beyond nature co-exist.

Nature is that which I experience of the flesh:
The rain fall brings a cooling sensation with a wetness;
Warm feels comforting to the flesh whereas hot offends the flesh.
Point A is here and point b is there;
Travelling over such and such of a territory at such and such of a speed will bring me to an arrival to a point at a certain time from now.

When I co-exist with nature, all remains well.
When I guard against known phenomenon of nature,
I may keep myself within the safe haven of living.

Nature teaches not to touch the hot stove or to stand in an open field with an umbrella in a lightning storm.

We take action (active) to co-exist within nature;
Nature follows its course
over which we have no control
or determination of the result (passive).

Beyond nature is that which I experience in the Spirit.
The quiet listening, prayer and worship brings an inner peace;
The abandonment of my will to seek, find and do the will of God brings a richer living experience that is not possible within the selfish ways of secular (not natural) living;
Spiritual point a is now,
spiritual point b is to come;
Travelling a spiritual road from point a by a course of a living will to arrive at point b will bring an arrival of spiritual growth through experience.

When I co-exist with the spirit all is well.
When I bring my spiritual living to the guiding by the inner light,
the light keeps me within the safe haven of living:
i.e. as a protection against the so-many dis-eases of the spirit (depression, various mania, etc).

The spirit teaches us that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds of the mouth of God.

We take action (active) to co-exist with the spirit;
The Spirit follows a course
over which we have no control
or determination of the result (passive).

Thus the will of God is actively sought;
I actively determine to implement that will
utilizing the guidance of the light within,
trusting in those leadings
more so than "notions"
aimed at pleasing and appeasing
the flesh alone.

Regardless of my efforts
there is an aspect
and there are attributes
that lay within
a realm over which
I cannot determine
the result
but passively accept
that the will of God
is done
and
sometimes
in the most
mysterious
of ways.

active and passive

2011-06-21T03:43:00.000-07:00

The two words
in pertaining to
religion oft addressed
as a positive and a negative;
That is not a necessary assumption.
In truth, those two words are often abused by the religious world.
The plainest manner that I can derive to define the terms as they ought to be is this:

The active faith is the side where action is taken by thee;
The passive faith is where action is taken by He.

I would like to look a little deeper into the inner light
as that is a prime element to the fullness of life.

While things spiritual are better experienced than explained,
I shall endeavor to attend the later.
As such a primary piece of understanding in this area of passive vs active,
I think merits the initial attention.

Simply because there are things that a man needs to do to,
or to act upon,
does not make his actions a work that is at variance to faith.

I am not suggesting that rituals or sacraments lead to salvation;
What I do herein address is that to set mans responsibility at nought retains no less consequence in matters spiritual than it does in matters natural.

A man should never think that he should live in darkness until the Lord shall wrestle him out of his untimely posture.
A man has a responsibility to live.
Living isn't natural and nature alone, but is also spiritual and by the Spirit.

I pause to clarify my tendency to say "man."
The word man as I use it has nothing whatsoever to do with gender.
Woman is man; child is man; male is man.
I have never been good at political correctness much less lost energies intentionally writing she and he meaning gender.

That clarified...

Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth of the mouth of God.

Man has a natural bread life;
Man has a spiritual word life.

Both lives, while merging into one are both active and passive.

My wife is a dear and more of a gardener than I will ever hope to be.
She actively does certain things with planting and nurturing.
She passively enjoins the harvest of he fruits and vegetables as they grow of elements that she simply possesses no power therewith.

God brings the rain;
God brings the branch;
God brings the leaf;
God brings the fruit.

My wife regardless of how pleasant and nurturing she may be,
cannot grow a harvest,
but that God giveth.

Someone may want to argue nature;
Perhaps with another they may;
I have no interest in contentions over science, nature, God and me.
Upon my posting God brings forth the fruit utilizing what we feeble beings (called man) call nature.

This plain illustration demonstrates that faith is both active and passive.
It also shows how that we must act to achieve a result;
It brings a concrete example to the work of God through natural elements.

Again, I fear too often men become deluded into believing that they should live like hell cometh while expecting the Lord to clobber them with an all at once righteousness.

It just doesn't work that way!
For a man to find the light within (passive),
he must want to find it (active).

a view of war

2011-06-18T18:05:00.000-07:00

Someone,
and I wish that I knew whom
has once said that:
war is a fools game that if men were wise they would not play.

Time and again
the jingoism
kicks in
and
men parade,
flag,
memorialize
and otherwise
celebrate
war.

The political preachers
thunder
an
eye
for
an
eye!

Justification abounds!

Ye have heard it said:
eye for eye
or
turn the other cheek?

Ye have heard it said:
eye for eye
or
walk the extra mile?

Ye have heard it said:
eye for eye
or
give the cloak also?

Ye have heard it said:
eye for eye
or
pray for thy enemies and for those who despitefully use you?

Would Jesus aim a rifle at another man and unleash its fire?
We all know better!

Perhaps my post is simply due to I am tired and wearied.
Through my entire lifetime
these United States
has made a market of war.

Killing of "Charlie" in Viet Nam because he believed in "communism."
Killing in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait and the whole terrorism mess because in our" Christian" nation crusade we take offense to a religion called Moslem.

When will the national "preachers" and "spiritual advisors" to the leaders of this nation rise to the occassion,
setting aside their personal gains of notoriety
and speak as spiritual men?

War accomplishes nothing of value.
There never has been nor ever will be a moral war.
Peace is never found in war and bloodshed.
Man is never justified in killing.
War can only lead to more war.
War is the most immoral act that a collective people can do to themselves and the other.
A man cannot kill and love simultaneous.

To those who champion the "infallible" Bible as the "word of God" and teach men war thereby,
perhaps I might suggest that one actually read the textbook. The book need not be either infallible or "the word" for one to gain that the morality of war is not in this book!

(The infallibility and word of God issue is for another time).

A final note:
The earth is not the inheritance to the war-maker;
It is to the peacemaker, and the peacemaker alone.

finding authority

2011-06-17T16:17:00.000-07:00

Authority
is an ideal that men often
ponder
and yet rarely
breach.

It may be that we want it
but
then again,
we don't.

In civil instance, authority is what is sought among the governments of the world.
Sought as a compliant, whereas most are already compliant.
Sought as an assurance against changing times or values.
Essential laws are in place to bring the whole into the fold of the social order.
Does it always work?
Not really.
Does it mostly work?
I am not particularly convinced.
I view laws as I do the "school master."
The teacher is to bring me to a certain understanding and an entry level;
After which I may excell my learning into perfection or a mastery in the study.
The teacher is not a permanent staple to living.
It is an employment intended to be effective,
and so much so that the success is founded in
impermanence.

Thus, authority is not simply viable,
but it is also plyable.

Gaining, developing
authority as short lived
while when success is thus rendered:
it is
long lived.

The ekklesia of the first century Christian set a modelling of simplicity
which is often greatly desired;
That model is a beginning stage;
While in many ways desirable, certainly more so than what has become "church" today;
And yet using it as a stringent authoritative model is fraught with danger.

That model grew into a law and alleged authority altogether "universal" (ie Catholic church).
The vein of authority as per the church remains strong today.
I might add, not enlightened: just strong.

Many evidences may be mounted against an infallible church.
The errors, the history, perhaps at another posting and time may be forth coming.
Many men and women have testified through many writings that almost any degree of honest research would sufficiently prove the point.

I quickly and with as much of an adamant gesture say that exactly the same instances will prove the failings of the infallible Bible as the "word of God."

The Protestants are no less guilty nor less innocent than the Catholic church is in this matter.
One has an infallible church while the other has an infallible textbook sanctioned by the self same church.

Many will say that the inner-light is too mysterious to be a safe guide;
That the inner-light lacks viable authority.

The "infallible" textbook teaches me that there is an inner-light;
that the light guides me into the truth (leadings).
Is the textbook infallible except upon that subject?
Is it not "safer" to trust a current indwelling of spiritual light for authoritative guidance over ancient text and text alone?

I suspect the resistance occurs from a lack of understanding upon the subject.
While there is a marginal variation between the light of Christ within according to the Synoptic gospel of John when compared to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the mystical letters of Paul:
at the end of the day we arrive at an internal light of divine light guiding our way.
That light leads to the fulness of Christ within;
The inner-spirit is authority school-mastering us to the mastery of Christ.
The Spirit is a guide, and is in fact perhaps the only authority that can be trusted in the long term.

It certainly is the authority of the living;
Beyond that time, I simply know not of what may be.

In looking back to the origin of the ekklesia
the disciples, the collection of the saints,
Christians, those of the way,
or as we may say the friends
had no text book;
The church as a central lawgiving organization simply did not exist;
Each ekklesia of a village stood as an independent group.
The worship and actions of the group were driven by the leading of the Spirit within.

I don't think it is possible for a "church" if 2011 to turn back to the "church" of 0033.
I do think that while growth and development within a different time may and should possess some differences,
Is it unreasonable to believe that at some points there probably ought to be some similarities also?

Attempting not do deviate too sharply from the subject at hand
I shall plainly say that it could and should be more similar than less.

Brethren of that long era ago sought inner-guidance;
It was an age of Spirit and spiritual authority.

I contend upon these final points:
That any evangelistic endeavor that moves in an otherwise direction will fail.
While the society of friends is not typically evangelistic by nature,
the soil is quite rich
in our day of religious muddlement
for the seed of an inner-truth.

I pray thee not to find me contentious in this:
I am puzzled as to why
Friends are reknown in serving the genuine needs of mankind;
faithful in exhibiting love toward others;
peacemakers;
and yet according to the parable of teaching the hungry how to fish
will send folks to the Catholic and Protestant churches for their spiritual well being.

It isn't in a manner of a mean-spirit
to earnestly contend for the faith.

The fact remains that man needs spiritual guidance,
enlightenment,
hope,
life
as equally as he needs food,
lest the body die.

I have never met an anti-spiritual man who is well.

That part of a man is as certain as is his flesh;
It isn't a matter of leaving the one
but to do the other also.

A man must be born again!

How can he possibly be born to a religion that denies the very essence of the new birth?
Authority is not of a text book;
It is not by another man doing thy religion for thee (ie church);

Authority is found within thyself
as the Spirit of Christ
leads one into the truth.

There is nothing to apologize for!
The truth is truth,
regardless of how stark-plain it is.

Speak with authority;
Speak from within;
Let your yea be yea
and nay
nay
in all matters,
religious authority
notwithstanding.

hamartia

2011-06-16T06:21:00.000-07:00

I use this word,
hamartia
untranslated,
as once translated
proposes images of darker ages.

It is very common today
to hear men speak
of no heaven
no hell
only the living
now
that once passed
leads to nothing
evermore.

Men of my generation
were raised in a world
of spiritual darkness
and a turning
to a baseless element
of so-called musicians,
rightfully called drug addicts
who lost their own lives,
incapable
of guiding mine.

Through the age of atheism,
empty men of no report
guided other lost souls
to the living of pig husking,
existent death,
of darkened souls
led by darker souls.

The age of the blind
leading
the
blind...

There once was a man
of whom
Jesus the blessed lord spake;
whom in darkness
had taken his inheritance
and pressed
his
way into
the world.

While having
wasted
his
substance
in riotous means;

While having
wasted
his
being
in an
existence
no different
than
I
have seen a
hundred
times over;

He was not
himself;
He was
a shell of
flesh
that
lost
himself,
somewhere
sometime
ago.

His
prodigal
return
was not to regain the
lost
riches, food stuffs, clothing or shelter:
however he had
lost
all
of these
things
in the
process.

His
prodigal
return
was to
re-gain
himself.

For
hamartia
had struck
her blow.

The
mark
in life
is to
find
ourselves;

Anything
more
or oftener
less
is to
miss the mark.

For by one man
hamartia
entered into the
world,
and
death
by
hamartia;
by
one
man
entered
life.

The
prodigal
first
chose
hamartia;
Upon
coming to
himself
found himself
in
life.

Life
is not
earthen
treasures;
for you brought
nothing
into the
world
and it is
certain
that ye shall
take
not one thing
again
upon
leaving.

Life
is not
external
but it is
internal;
It is formed
within.

Searching
without
can lead
no place
different
than that which is
illustrated
in this ancient
tale.

In
many
ways do we
all
miss the mark;
For all
have
hamartia,
there-by
incomplete
of the glory
of
God.

Hamartia
separates;
A
conscious
and
righteous
effort
to
live,
strikes the mark
of
truth
and
life.

One will not
perchance
inadvertently
strike upon the
mark;
To approach
living
in that way
can only
lead
to further
instances
of
hamartia.

Thus
sin
is not a
coincidence
but a
choice.

My
friend,
choose
wisely.

threads of living

2011-06-15T15:51:00.000-07:00

Living is comprised of various threads,
which when combined create
the cord of our lives.

One attribute or thread lay in science;
Another thread binds nature;
Additionally, there is a social thread;
There is also a spiritual thread.

Learning and science has abounded over the last fifty years.
The world limitations that I grew up with no longer prevail.
Our spiritual understanding cannot become either enthralled into science or anti-science.
I bear as well that there is "junk science,"
or pet views that are "supported" through manipulation.
As humankind,
we seek to uphold truth in all things;
To portray a treasured vantage with false science is dis-honest at best.

Nature has also been an area of growth.
The causes of dis-ease to physical health are bound within nature.
Nature, as science, calls upon us to be genuine in our appraisal.
A faith that is anti-nature is no more valid than that of anti-science.

Our social thread has seen a different response to the changing of the times.
While not a cured world by any measure,
the social structure is much more agreeable than it was in my youth.
Women have left second class citizenship behind.
The same can be said of "minorities," if there is such a thing.
Tolerance toward dis-similar faiths, beliefs or political positions has also taken great strides.

And then we come to the spiritual thread.
In spite of many churches, denominations, faiths and religious direction,
I can only wish that I could say spiritual and progress in the same vein.
But I cannot!

While religion has become less structured,
it has become more feeble,
pleasing the flesh
while starving the spirit.

The Bible is often fundamentally used as a stocks to punish the sins;
"Spiritual" programs create a 30 year old Jesus child who, if one knew not better would think that he apparently died for the latest church rodeo.
Church is as stiff as ever;
Church is a liberal in flesh pageantry as can be.
Men and women are not finding the inner light of God,
but the glass chapel in a steeplechase for membership.

The character of the Bible days is something remote;
Again, God aeons away;
Direct interaction storied from a past and removed in this day.

I feel that the mankind is trying to be living without being spiritual.
I don't for a moment believe that it can work.
I know it cannot!

Denying the inner-spirit is to deny life.
To continue along this road will unwind the remainder.
To leave this thread frayed will bring living to the breaking.

I would call upon my friends and fellows to find and strengthen this light within.
Contrary to what is taught on television and the classrooms,
religion and science and nature can and must co-exist.
One does not diminish the others;
Each binds the others into a more complete man.

honor among prophets

2011-06-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

The Bible reading,
a prophet is not without honor
except in his own country...
is one that I have always found a fondness of.
I am not exactly sure why though I trust for honorable reasons.

The synagogue leaders and goers,
being much consumed with the who-is-who
cared more for the why not than the why.

The wisdom,
the authority,
the great works wrought by his hand:
all lost to genealogy and tradesmanship.

How often do equally men today want Dr, dds, Lit upon a name to prove it so?

Essentially, that incident leads into the next:
His disciples two by two
would take no wallet, scrip, food, money, clothing--
or what missions set as essentials,
into the field of missionary work.

Upon being rejected,
which at some point is going to happen,
they shake the dust from their feet as a testimony
and warning
against the opposers of our faith.

I hear folk say,
"Charity begins at home."
Why don't we look after our own first?
Churches and missions never reply
so I will.
Because a prophet is not without honor except in his own country and among his own people.

I have heard the harsh words
against helping people of other lands
while we have "needy" here.

It doesn't make it right;
I make not excuse;
I simply speak here the plainness of the truth.

The work of the missions
will find a more open
if not a more appreciative reception
to their love gift
from a stranger in a foreign land
than among one's own.

The more difficult task
I am certain
that Christ gave to his twelve
was not in expending themselves
to those who loved in return;
The difficulty was to enter in love,
exit in love,
shaking the contamination of having offered oneself,
having that offering count for nought,
while holding none grudge
nor illness toward the rejector
of one's compassion.

To shake the dust,
move on,
expend no additional energies
either in delusion
or in ill will.

Some will not have it!

The small band,
having thus learned,
while love is always kind,
it is not always accepted.

In those times it becomes a testimony against
the one who keepeth more to hate
lest the love of Christ within
should move them
to also leave behind a world of wallet, scrip, coinage, clothing, eating.

The charge
so to speak
is to trust in the leading of the Lord
counting not to earthen things
but that seeking and finding of the kingdom of God
will measure enough to
the provision of those things we have need of.

As our love gift may be denounced of men,
turn not to evil speaking
nor to retaliations;
Turn ye the other cheek to thine enemies;
shaketh even the dust when one will not have thy gift of love;
move on to the glory of Christ
as we have an example of the same;
trust not in the promises of men;
trust in the promises that God will provision thy needs.

Men may waste your time and energies,
God will not.

Peace

what dimension is this world

2011-06-11T17:22:00.000-07:00

In fourteen ninety two,
or there-about,
one Christopher Columbus sailed.

Many of his world believed the world to be "flat"
or perhaps pancake like.
The world of the ancients believed in a plethora of vaults and heavens;
They sought commune into God through long-distance communication.
The earth was the center of the universe;
God vaulted in a manifold heaven number;
While I wouldn't exactly call Columbus a man of science,
his sailing venture in what ever land he discovered,
brought the darkness out of one age,
emerging then into another.

Too many parts of the Christendom fail to realize the fraughtful dangers of their dogma.

I am not a man of science,
though I know somewhat of it.
I am "hoplessly lost" in a mystic world.
I am not threatened by science;
I am not supported by science.

I believe the Latin credo absurdum est,
rings upon my inner self.
I look not for nor against evidence;
I seek no proofhood for the life of God within;
When pressed to the challenge am I quite at ease:
I believe because it is absurd!

The ether world of dark rings,
renaissance vaults of heavenly beings,
neither proof nor reproof moves me.

The life of God,
the life of Christ,
lay not in the outer atmosphere,
but within.

Science of atheism,
scoffs at having dis-proved God;
It is not so;
It is not possible.

That world is shapened in iniquity;
It is not my world.

Atheistic men of theology,
scorn the validity of the Bible.
Again, moving me not.

I never so claim infallibility upon an ancient text;
Yet by this text,
Through the internal light,
We happily find ourselves in God.

The Scriptures are made plain to me through the holy spirit of Christ who abides in me.
Theology, like science, is an interesting past time;
Yet, as Paul has also written:
When I was a child,
I acted as a child,
thought as a child,
but upon becoming a man,
put aside childish things.

Science and theology are two of many childish things of the which I have left behind in the cradle.

Christ is eternal;
he is the Logos (to the ancients Greek word: god);
as such I need no proof text of either the divine or humanity of Christ Jesus.
We commune daily.
Were there something that I was missing,
He would let me know!

Do I read the Scriptures?
Absolutely!
To read them under the full guidance of the holy spirit brings the inner light to the surface of living.
Again, as Paul has written:
It is not I that lives,
but Christ lives in me.

To again emphasize,
as sharpening our world more to the likeness of making:
My home is the house of God,
and my body the temple of the Holy Ghost --
Far further shall we be into eternal life,
and less consumed with external life.

God is not afar off in a distant galaxy;
God is within every man.
For it is the "syntersis" of light within the soul
ever bound to God,
ever afar,
always so close

Again, as we live and move and have our being,
so much that we ought not to think of the Godhead
as into gold or stone graven by art or mans device;
For these were the times of ignorance;
These were the times of winking;
Now is a time for repentance from the wiles of tradition and ignorance.

Some men lose their lives seeking God
others live finding him.

The dimension of the world is what we make it to be;
it properties are only bound by what that world is to me.

God in Christ is never far from any of us;
Should we listen quietly enough,
we shall here the stillness of his voice,
and shall feel the presence so sure,
that thee will hesitate to as much as say:
I believe;
But will be given simply to acknowledge:
I know.

Fog over primitive purity

2011-06-04T17:18:00.000-07:00

I, perhaps naively suppose,
that Christendom would altogether welcome a return to primitive Christian faith.
Perhaps that is patently false.

Simply because faith, not unlike other things tends to be progressive.
It tends to begin at a certain level;
opposing itself,
growing, changing
before returning to portions of the root fused to the developmental shafting of the various shoots and branches.

The primative order has suffered such evolution that one may but wonder to the possibilities of return.
The order was guided by direct revelation.
It was spiritualist.

Through the beginning time the church was a meeting within houses;
As the numeric growth somewhat dictated, meetings took to other facilities.

The order is also filled with a history of movements that altered the spiritual nature to an ecclesiastical union.
Likewise, most of us not being as familiar with history as we may choose to be,
We lose much of the context pertaining to first century to the second century and to the third.
Within that short window Christianity went through a priesthood and bishopric;
It saw Gnostic influences;
It saw lesser known pagan and spiritual influences.
To suggest that one can simply "study the Scriptures" and arrive at primitive Christian faith is a notion that I am not prepared to subscribe to.

Scripture study implies if not as much as requires books of men.
As such, the Scriptures are tainted by the assumptions of the writer of the resource.
A passage may be written seasoned with prejudices toward a particular dogma;
The seasoning may contain assumptions of elements foreign to A.D. twenty nine but introduced by one of the followings of the second or third century.
That some influences are obvious, makes not the less obvious clearly foreign.

Churches will cite Scripture: book, chapter and verse to show many things.
One of the grave dangers of the Bible is that one can prove virtually anything should the search the Scriptures long enough with patience to success.
Scriptures prove worship with singing, money collections, preaching, prayer and on I may go.
For clarity : the Scriptures prove none of this.
The proof texts and retro-fitting is come of those early centuries of deviation of primitive Christian faith.

The primitive church was essentially a family and extended family gathering that worshipped in the "unprogrammed" manner.
That is to say, vocal ministry was by the word of a prophet receiving a revelation.
There was no set priest and yet things were conducted decently by order.
They sought not the legalism of the Jew;
They sought not the secular rationalism of the Greek.

The mystery (or as our English counter part: mysticism) held the core of faith together.
I must here cite Rufus Jones upon the subject as pertaining to the apostle Paul:
"We must be very modest in making assertions about Paul's "central idea." But it is well on safe ground to say that his " Gospel" cannot be understood if one loses sight of this truth : The Christian must re-live Christ's life, by having Him formed within, as the source and power of the new life."

Furthermore,
Christianity affords the eternal Christ within us as the "word."
As Christ dwells within our life bonded into his life deeming unto us eternal life.
Not simply an eternal life here-after, but eternal life here and now.

This ideal may be taken into different applicable directions that moves contrary to contemporary Christendom.
The kingdom of Christ is within;
It is not an outward millennium of Christ to come;
It, like eternal life, is now within you.

Again, negative Christian eschatology is a development of the Church beyond the primitive spiritual form.
Friend, pardon my use of a word so outside of plain speech.

The whole of the doom and gloom dogma ( perhaps a better saying),
has had its seasons of ebb and flow in the religious world.
I have found, based upon my personal discovery alone,
that the notion gains proportionate following to the degree of ecclesiastical or legal form within the churching group.

Apostolic churches however in denial are quite both legalistic and ecclesiastical. Securing requirements of forms to baptisms, Eucharist, tithe and so on.
To this is added a form of givings into the holy spirit.
However, it should be noted with no small importance:
That God, Christ and the Holy Ghost are external to the Apostolic.
This is of a truth for the majority of Christendom.

The "Quaker" and perhaps small churches in the wilderness that I know nothing about are the only exceptions that I can think of.
To thee and me,
Christ is not afar off;
I seek not God among the stars;
I reckon the holy spirit not beyond the universe;
The divine nature of God the father, son and holy ghost reside within my mortal flesh.

My home is the house of God,
and my body is the temple of the holy ghost.
Christianity and its influence is within my living self.
One makes not the outside of the cup clean leaving the inside uncleansed.
Faith is internal. It is from the inside out, not the outside in.
Thus the noise venture,
Jangling,
And theatrical girations
Move me not.

Finding the simplicity of Christ is no further than the primitive church meetings ;
The difficulty will always lay in the fog of how that plain way
became contaminated by the influence of those beginning centuries
and the retro-fitting of doctrines into a context of the Bible as the (legal and last) word.

blessing and curse

2011-05-26T04:35:00.000-07:00

Oft the portrayal of a curse is framed within the mixed up sense of it all according to the fashion of this world.
The wrong view,
with the wrong perspective,
will give the wrong result.

Be ye not conformed to this world,
but be ye transformed,
by the renewal of your mind,
prove that good and acceptable will of God.

From the negative, a blessing is not:
Money;
Power;
Success;
A better job;
A higher income;
A new house;
A new automobile;
A new anything.

The trappings of this life-world are just that, trappings.
A house is a place of shelter.
It is not yet one other means to impress worldly people by.

The same is so for a car, a new computer, a new anything.
All such-like things are purposed implements to this world and this life alone.
Upon departure of the present life:
You brought nothing into this world and it is certain that you will take nothing out of it.
Subsequently, anything that is temporal is simply that: it is temporal.

Blessing is not temporal.

While not befitting the world view,
the opposite of blessing is curse;
There are clearly blessings;
There are clearly curses.
Some things may be neutral,
but then again, perhaps neutral is not an option.
What is not neutral is that an attribute that leads away from blessing to a curse.

The world,
properly, the domain of Satan,
is anti-blessing.

Beyond utility the "goods" of this world are a curse.

According to the fashion of the world,
financial success is a blessing;
It is a curse.
At no point should one crave or covet to financial success.
Financial failure is a blessing.

According to the fashion of this world,
abundance in anything is a blessing;
That also is a curse.

Because of the illness that pervades the so-called entertainment industry,
any genuine sense of value is lost to mimicking the life of Satan.

The life of Christ is plain.
My desires and passions need to be likewise plain.

I would suppose that to understand blessing v curse,
One would equally need to re-visit thine own perspective.
Creating a testing benchmark may be the best alternative;
Subsequently that test may be molded into a query.

Here are suggested queries:
How does the activity make me more fertile toward the indwelling holy spirit of Christ?
How does this activity help me to worship God in Christ?
Does the result make me less bound to the Satan world?
Can I take the result with me when I leave this world?

With the answers,
I think that it becomes obvious whether it is blessing
or a curse.

Reviewing these queries in the light of listening for the word of Jesus will determine thy leading.

roots of evil

2011-05-19T16:13:00.000-07:00

Money;
it is the god of the secular;
it is the joy of many men's lives;
it is a goal of achievement;
it is a standard of living;
it remains the root of all evil.

The doctrine of the abundant life
calls upon the disciple
to seek God
that he may find a reward.
The reward is abundance in living, accordingly.

Aside from that the doctrine is patently false,
it leads neither to thy best interest
nor beside the still waters.

The abundant life is a secular feint;
It is a phantom rescue ship that boards into piracy.

The blessing is not and can not be abundance;
For money always has been;
It always will be;
The root of evil.

Seekest thou plainness, not abundance.

Render to Caesar's secular world,
what belongs to the secular world of Caesar.
The image of coinage is not that of Christ.

One may argue the love of money versus the like of money;
Argue at will;
I shall have none of the discussion.

A man has never fallen into the snare by his temptation of the plain life;
A man has never fallen captive toward the hate of money;
Abundant life is excess;
Abundant life is self;
Abundant life is beholden to the secular;
Abundant life is the love of money.

Being thereby warned,
Plain seeks not abundance,
but protects its own plain living,
so as not to acquiesce to the hell chamber of the abundant life;
choosing rather a simplification of living
under the guide post of the spirit within.
That guidance un-hindered by the failings of abundance.

Man is so accordingly duped into earthen things
that he cannot hear the spirit within
for the secular noise
associated with abundant living.

When a rich young ruler approached our lord
he asked what needed he to do to inherit the kingdom of God.
The answer is very telling,
toward he,
and the many more who would live there after.
Sell what you have;
Give to the poor;
and you will have treasure in heaven.
He retired from the scene sorrowful,
for he had great wealth.

The doctrine of the abundant life fills stadiums and complexes;
It fills pews and massive steepled houses;
In almost every corner of Christendom lay the doctrine of the abundant life.
I cannot deny,
it will bring folk into the meetings.

Fine words,
dynamic speeches,
a cleric structure where Christendom is become an industry.
So called evangelism abounds,
the social gospel,
the abundant life,
affords a living wage,
upon where the believer attempts to purchase that of the Spirit.

Thou fool!
It cannot ever be.
Seek those things from above,
Abhor those things from below.

As upon finding that pearl of great price,
Sell what thou hast;
Buy the field;
Gain the heavenly treasure.

Neither dross
nor moth
nor thief
has entrance into the gate.

Rather than to talk around the root of all evil,
why not just accept what is and move on.

God within

2011-05-19T06:28:00.000-07:00

There are different views of God
as much as there are different religions
and sects within religions.

A commonly held view
is that
God created the universe
and stepped back
to let a course of natural selection occur.
That view may be marginally better than nature alone.
In matters of importance,
man should not live by the margins.

I am not given to attending whether it is better to hold a hybrid view,
or to shear the whole of the hog and become secular.
Neither appeals;
Both offer nothing.

Our nature is to strive.
Our nature is to achieve.
To be satisfied with the provisions of food and rainment,
one leaves living in the learch.

I speak not to physics;
I speak not to the abundant life;
I speak to a realization that the godly life is not a means to an end.

Regardless of the level that may be achieved,
there is more;
there is greater.

The secular view of science;
The church view of God afar off;
The Protestant view of God study,
where one looks to graduate into honors of Bible knowing;
Catholic and Orthodox hold a bishoprick;
The splinters of churches across north America hold also distant views;
All of these tend to require a telescope to look beyond the expanse of space to find God,
though he is no further than here and now.

As the kingdom,
so also is God,
not afar,
not lo here
not lo there,
but within.

served and serve

2011-05-11T18:31:00.000-07:00

I often struggle with myself;
A tangential line between a world of existence;
While seeing the same as passing away.

My consistencies are such
that they represent often inconsistencies altogether.

Within my struggling self,
Lay the knowing that self is failure
and the other is success.

Jesus gathered his disciples to wash their feet;
The one objected;
The objection was pronounced an evil among us.

The often missed lesson,
Even upon a contemporary society
Determined to create worship,
To create a system of will,
To settle among the briars,
Icons,
Implements,
Lord doth I this,
Blessed lord lest I do the other.

Men create;
Men create images of themselves;
Men create their own gods;
Men create their own ways.

How may a man come to worship?
With what devise will he be convinced?
He rattles a pulpit with wrangling;
He prays memorizations of the prayers others seek to please the hearing;
He devises mock storied tales of greatest pathos;
He draws the taut string to a melody of excellence,
Many Years learned;
Oft engaged ;
Destitute of truth.

Thou fool saith the lord,
for as we know not the morrow,
For as we know not the ways,
For as we devise,
For as we apply science,
We find reprimand,
be thou behind me Satan,
Seeking thine own,
Will worship,
Of the ages gone by,
Of the age to come.

For what greater worship is within a man
than as the Christ of the living God
Serve another as also Christ serveth thee.

Apprehend this thou my friend,
In silent measure,
For as the Spirit will in the days of thy visitation reveal,
The truth
That worship is as much serving
As being served.

The greatness of the lesson of Christ,
Will revive that darkening hour,
When at that time,
As a still light,
Consumes all darkness.

As Christ has said:
For as much as thou doest also to these,
doest thou also unto me.

rich men and lazarus living

2010-04-25T17:01:00.000-07:00

I have at times contemplated why things are as they are.
Sometimes we invite our own miseries.
Sometimes we want too much,
Or to be too much involved in the world about.

To recant for better and not to the worse;
There was that certain richman who fared sumptously;
And there was the beggar Lazarus.

One had all of the "good things."
The other ate from the crumbs among the dogs.

This present world,
in a general way,
is very material oriented.
When one is not of the world,
that one is as out of his element as the poor beggar.

The spirit does not guide thee into the health and wealth environment. That is of this present age wherein thou art a stranger in a foreign land.

This age,
this world,
is one of richmen and Lazarus'.

One must choose their own fatality.

I am brought to believe that many are brought to sadness and miserable living simply because they want to be Lazarus in the richmans world. To do so is there any wonder why one would find torment where thee seeketh peace?

The world of the spirit is one of comfort as it were in the arms of Abraham. This world has no value to the richman. He is tormented by it and cannot avail. Yet this is a resolve for peace for those who seek peace. It is a consolation to escape a beggarmans role in a fundamentally here and now age.

I ask how much of thy sorrow is caused by trying to be as the richman in the hopes that some time he will throw thee more than the dogs bone?

Again, be not conformed to the world but be transformed. That transformation is come by an abandonment of worldly want and vice. There in is the peace worth having.

ostriches

2010-03-05T17:23:00.000-08:00

I have never seen an ostrich bury it's head,
but I am told it is so.

I have seen many men do the figure there unto,
but hear often it is not so.

Many adages abound;
As men fail;
As men take no notice;
As men compare themselves;
And yet lay no standard of truth bearing upon themselves.

One may define a lie as being told to or by another,
and not rely upon that which is told to thee by thee.

The truth needs to be borne both upon the speaker and listener;
as he who speaks unto himself other than the plainness of truth is not wise.

managing to live

2010-02-26T17:46:00.000-08:00

Many aspects of our being seek a managing:
There is a managing of time;
Where the relentless clock ticks of events, moments, memories, places we have not been or those elements that await our arrival.

Managing of priorities;
Those things that are before us as pressing to the mark.
Upon what shall I labor a moment of time that shall never return.

Managing of life;
Can a life of grey,
A life of no commitment,
A life that refuses no wrong,
a life the weighs no right,
can that be a life of the living,
or an un-managed existence?

When things go undone, uncommited, without the courage to condemn, without the presense to confirm: life evolves.

An evolution of living is not a living guided by the spirit. It is a life left unmanaged, to be tossed through a listless series of crashing waves upon the sand. The sand is erroded. The wave returns. In time, all remains as it was from the beginning of time.

The light that lay within is a lamp that shines into a darkened place. It is a light that guides. It is a light that breaks the darkness. It is the truth of living in a world forbidding truth.

Lay thy existence to rest,
Join the living,
Open thy inner most being to that truth,
living is about differences,
Differences that exist as clearly as there is right and wrong
Truth and falsehood,
Paradise has been lost many times over,
Friends lived for truth
Yet truth was not as grey as the garments,
Neither was it untold,
Nor unmanaged,
Through a darkened world, ever compromising,
Void of a destiny in a world opposed.

Let the truth emerge.
Let a discipline give birth,
To a new age of pearls,
Often cast before swine,
Yet treasured in earthen vessels.

Lay thou the gift of living upon the altar,
None greater sacrifice could be given,
None lesser meaning could be found,
In the simple plain speech called truth.

brave three

2010-02-24T05:30:00.000-08:00

This is a third part in brave entries;

These posts are fraught with danger as they are subject to misinterpretation. Yet forging onward...

Of the friends the settled in Penn's woods, there was an understanding and a relationship the developed between the settling friends and the so called indians. I use the term for clarity only. I will agree that the term is demeaning as are the euphemisms.

The settlers came unarmed and with a foundation that speech was plain and plain truth. There was no need to sware that friends would not take the land since a friend spoke and that word was final. There was not going to be any attacks or any of the rest that plagued settler (mostly puritan) and indian relations (agh! That word again).

As a side note I do not see the term blank slash american as any less offensive. To my scruples the slash dialect of contempory vogue is more offensive than the terms folk are trying to euphemize. The reason is that it classes people based upon their race. The spirit of christ has neither gender nor race. I often use the term he when I don't mean male. The spirit of christ also knows no such thing as race. With that said as a simple truth, and it is: there are times that historically a race name has to be used to tell a story. At those points, the words are just words to validate what manner of "men" we ought to be.

The quaker way succeded in pennsylvania because the friends rightly recognized the so called indian as an equal man of God. The puritan failed because he saw the indian as an inferior to save and reform.

Eventually the community of friends became caught up in a form of dogmatizing that led to a numeric demise. That is a different subject for a different time. At this point I speak of the roots and the roots alone.

When thee honestly compares the roots of pennsylvania to the attempted reformations through the more puritan boston commons, a parallel may be seen between what is plain truth in living and what is social gospel. Bear thee in mind that the social gospel is to reform the conditions of the "sinner" so that the "sinner" may be able to live the "christian" life.

So called "hell's kitchen" was the birthplace of the social gospel. Rauschenbush found a dilema that he could not convert and maintain members within his church when they would hear his sermon on one day and have to live in conditions that countered his words with many temptations and at times contrary messages to survival. The root of that doctrine is to convert, make no mistake about it.

The puritan wanted to convert the indian/sinner to become a church go-er. The quaker interacted in a non confrontational manner toward the indian-equal human being because there is that of God in all men without "respect of persons."

But the early quaker had many a scrupple with paganism and the early american indian had a religion of paganism!

The months, the days and many things are relics of that. Plain speech is based upon anti-paganism. And yet the actions of those early friends was not to evangelize the indian.

The social gospel of causes and missions is rooted in puritanism. It assumes that one must be converted and further moves in the direction that men are as they are because of their outward condition.

Is the social gospel the direction that one ought to be in stream with?
Can a world of discontent be reformed?
Is truth evangelism or is it a living guide?

This returns to my dilema:
Is a "rapture" abandonment an eventual reality?
Is the kingdom of God a peaceful co-existence of separate worlds?
Can a friend co-exist within the confines of paganism without being compromisingly pagan?
Are friends too inter-active today with the non-truths of this age?
How will truth fare in the brave new world.

second entry into brave world

2010-02-21T05:26:00.000-08:00

Many friends are engaged in activities that parallel the social gospel. I am not sure that I agree or disagree.

I will hedge these words with qualification.

By social gospel I am thinking of the original ideals of that where the pioneers of that direction used the bible texts as proofs of a necessity to improve the lots cast upon generally the poor, the alcoholics, the gamblers, those caught in a world of vice. By utilizing volunteers and collections these were directed toward changing areas of living and presumably lives of those who live in undesirable conditions. The contemporaries of Walter Rauschenbusch are those I have in mind. It was a movement of a century ago.

What is called "social gospel" today is an absolute waste of time and effort (if it can be called effort). The new version is nothing more than gratifying as much flesh as possible and window dressing it with a meaningless term.

Set completely aside 2010 so-called social gospel as I refuse to recognize any value to "christian ski trips" or "christian annime boys club."

The social gospel of a century ago failed. Not because it was poorly planned. Not because Rauschenbusch was the wrong man for the job. It failed (in my opinion) for the same reason that political reformations have also failed. Not unlike communism or a similar social ordering, it assumes that men are as they are for external reasons. Should thee change the external, the internal will follow after.

Bible quoters know of the "washing of the inside of the cup" that the whole may be clean; and yet practice outward signs to an inward grace. I don't believe it can work. I am equally convinced that the social gospel will fail regardless of who or whom comes to practice it.

I have read all of Rauschenbusch's books and many of his contemporaries a number of years ago. This is not a subject that I personally lack a knowledge of. This is also a subject that I have given very much thought to. At this point in my life and reflection, I do not believe that it can work.

This brings me to the brave world.

Perhaps under the heading of query:
Is the social gospel counter productive?

Obviously, should I see my neighbor in need of my assistance, I do not pass by on the other side ignoring his condition. But the social gospel is not the Samaritan passing one who fell among thieves--it is LOOKING for those who have fallen among thieves. The Samaritan story is one where the good man of the tale found one injured. He did not ask why, wherefore, or what was your responsibility to avoid an area where theives are prominate. He acted upon a specific condition, and a specific condition to the end. Rather than a list of what he did, here is what he did not do:

He did not set up a non profit agency of the government that (not unlike robin hood) forces through coercion others to pay for situations they have never seen and have no knowledge of. There was no executive director. There was no soliciting donations.

The Samaritan did not leave his family in the thief infested area so that they could be molested while he did his good samaritan deed. This brings to mind something I read also many years ago, but in a different context. Does a man jump in the river at 30 degrees to rescue a "wine-o?" Before being too quick to answer think of the consequences.

Man jumps in the river and saves the wine bibber, but he perishes. His children are left in either a single parent home or as orphans. If he had a wife, she now needs to work a second job to cover the loss of her husband--in addition to the anguish of the loss. The wine-o now saved from that debacle goes back to his life of drink.

The answer isn't as simple as the preacher makes it out to be. One does not need to be facitious or cynical to grasp potential consequences unseen in a superficial tale.

This is where the dilema of the social gospel begins. Does one clean the outside of the cup so that the rescue is worthwhile? Can the loss of one life for the other be justified?

What else does not occur?

The samaritan didn't get in the pulpit and preach about he who fell among thieves. He acted alone at the moment and moved on. When he took care of his wounds and saw to it for his recovery, he never promised nor implied that this one would be his ward for life.

The samaritan did not get the camera crews out and look to flash his mug and story.

The samaritan did not goad his neighbors with guilt showing photos of the wounds; giving stats on how many more will fall among thieves if nothing is done.

From this starting place---think about the last rescue news. For ease of column comparison, call one saint and the other sinner. The saint column is extraordinary and probably didn't reach the 6 o'clock news. This didn't have an organization and may have been little more than your power went off, why not stay with us for a couple of days.

The sinner column is one where it makes the news. It is a massive relief effort. Donations pour in from people who cheat on their wives; from child molesters; from entertainers who who write plays like "jesus is a laugh!" Send in soldiers to roll up their sleeves to get on television and feel good as the nightly good samaritan story. Yesterday they killed, today they save!

This provokes the thought: is the kingdom of God about saving the world or is it about separating from the world (escape). It could be argued on both sides and yet it is equally definitive by that answer the remainder of the direction one will take with their life.

More to come in later entries....

brave new world

2010-02-20T03:45:00.000-08:00

There is a new world on the horizon;
For this one has waxed old;
It is tattered as an old garment;
It cannot be patched, but must go away.

This new age is not a different planet or dwelling,
But is the fulnesss of time.
The old cannot merge to the new;
As the new wine would burst the old wineskin;
And the patch would pull at the worn cloak.

The present age is one that is fostered from cradle to grave in greed, lust and violence. There may well be sub headings, yet these three make the primary failings of this present world.

The "entertainment" is but the writers fantasy. When one sees (or is entertained) by cruelity toward another, that "pretend" world is the desire of the writer and the poison of the hearer.

The voice of God, is the spirit of Christ within. As there is that of God in all, there is the potential to hear that word. So say the scriptures of old: faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. That word is not the bible texts, yet the bible texts are based upon the one time hearing.

The world portrayed in "entertainment" is contrary to any degree of goodness. Killing, torture, inordinate affections, greed, and similar things are not the spirit of Christ.

Too much of the religions either ignore or worse yet sanction this deviate manner of living. The common arguement is that it's television! It is only a play! It is just a...

To speak against it is to gainsay. The critics of evil are deemed as evil. At some point one has to realize that I cannot change this present age. I cannot reform this world.

With that said, I shall use a word that comes via the denominational christian churches: rapture.

I am certain they mean something very different by it than what I do. I use the word as in a separation from the unclean thing; a break from the wiles of this present age; a leaving behind the world of sodom and Gomorrah.

Again as is written, be ye separate...ye cannot serve God and mammon. The call is to be a distinctive people. The religions of this age are clammoring to look like the rest of the world. Blend in religion. Profess lip service to a life of righteousness, but live like the "devil."

At some point and I know not when, folk are going to come to the conclusion that the rapture effect is not the cure, but the escape. And that is as it should be.

According to the rapture theory (as taught in churches), one day the world will awake to many missing. I don't subscribe to that theory as commonly taught, however I could find myself in a camp that would put a less than literal application to that theory. I could see collections of folks leaving a sin scarred world behind to move on to a better way. To various degrees that has happened in "cults."

I don't think I like the word cult because of how it is used to label those who don't subscribe, who don't participate, and condemn practices that are anti-christian.

This brave world may enlight us sooner than later. When this world of rapture comes, as on the bumper tag: this vehicle will be un-manned.

queries

2010-02-14T08:38:00.000-08:00

A reflection by query beneficial.
Why is this not more popular as an alternative to resolutions?
I am not quite certain.
Nevertheless, here are a few...

How shall I incorporate what I believe in what I do?
Is thy action toward another as it would be toward thyself?
How am I showing peace?
Are my gifts of meaning or superficial gainsaying in the marketplace?
How shall I cope with interruptions to an accomplished end?
What measure of good might I return to the evil received?
What defines a life of non-resistance?
How might a thing be done more plainly?
What is careful listener?

free truth

2010-02-14T05:43:00.000-08:00

At the automotive show,
That has coinciental kiosks that have nothing to do with the automotive world,
I came upon one late in the evening.

This one volunteers solicited signatures.
The signatures were not for a petition of grievances,
Nor were they for a "free" drawing that I also would not be a part of. The signatures were for a letter "supporting" the troops. The woman called out to all passing by with a cry that it is free. They weren't selling anything.

To begin, she was selling something. She was selling war. She was selling the propaganda that killing is a justified means of achieving a social or economic means. She was selling not steel and rubber, but hate and bloodshed.

If one buys an automobile, that one buys a lot of things. One element may be freedom: the freedom to travel to a place too far to walk, or to travel within the time of another.

War mongering is not free. The moniker is well worn thin, yet this free signature was one that pledged the life of the signer to the continued path of a collective sanction of murder.

What is accomplished by the troop?
Bombing of cities that are become unlivable and non productive.
Gunfire and killing in singular combat.
The terrorizing of one society by another.
Loss of life, loss of possibilities, loss of moral.
The proposition is that man does not have that of god within: one must of necessity believe otherwise, else they could never bring fire into the other creature.
War is the ultimate denial of faith.
War is the denial that there is light in any man.
Christ is crucified fresh;
His cross is the brass casing;
His agony is the flesh torn of the lead slug bursting the vitals;
His gall is the destruction of all social orders involved;
While the victor wears the crown of thorns to the end of a generation.

Someone once said that war is a fools game that if men were wise they would not play. To that I would add, war is the death of man.

There never has been, neither will there ever be a justified war.

While well intentioned,
And altogether well deceived,
That signature was not free.

The kiosk of freedom is when men lay down the arms,
as spoken exchanging swords for plowshares, and spears for pruning hooks. Let nation cease from rising against another. Let men neither learn war any more.

Yes my friend, freedom is not free. But that meaneth different things to different folk.

May that day pass when one must consult a dictionary to learn the meaning of the archaic practice: war- ancient practice of mass murder to celebrate tribalism. To kill many. See terrorism...

worldly treasures

2010-02-12T17:49:00.000-08:00

Life, as we know it is hidden in earthen vessels;
Treasures of living;
Streams of random acts strung together that formulate our life.

As I progress through the element of time;
I am brought to wonder;
Why things are so.

As a young man;
Never concerned,
Ill prepared
Not knowing what I did not know.

The world
The realm about as time progresses seems so petty.

How can it be that my class of the living is consumed in the trivial?
what longing lay before this area called future?
Can humankind be slain between the animal bound to the slaughterhouse and the imbecile,
Living for sport,
living for gaming,
Living for vice,
Living for over eating,
Living for indulgence,
Living for fantasy,
Living to lie, so as thy truth be that unknown?

Shall a man born of the woman live and die as solemn memories?
Shall he pursue to eat, drink, be merry
Filled with a passion to achieve mediocrity?

Shall we live, die, and be as nothing?
The vainglory of others,
The normalacy of go along, get by, live for the days of trophic glories.

Somebody won a game,
Or perhaps another staged one to entertain the misery of the masses,
Lest the see the vanity of the living.

Theatre is a lie, a pretense of contrived living to decieve;
Sport is as real as the stage,
Vain glory shewing life as vain.

What hath a man to live,
Yet into that abyss must we all pass,
Whereas knowing is no more,
Thou hast passed and another shall take thy helm,
Press into the night of the living,
Soon forgotten,
All is vain.

Found before the processional,
Thy generation is wanting,
Condemned of self,
Petty and grieved,
With foundations and maskings,
A generation void of moral standard,
A generation void of judgement,
Beyond the days pleasure,
As dost thou as the brute,
Despised of self,
Wallowing in vice,
Afraid of the truth,
Wimper as doth the dog,
Owned by a world of sensuous device.

Loveth money?
Loveth lies?
Loveth vice?
Loveth the vomit?

The truth is lost on a generation;
evident is the rise of its own dereliction;
When shall a man wander?
When shall a man wonder?
The question of the ages: what is truth?

tests one can't study for

2010-02-11T03:33:00.000-08:00

Thee may prepare many mansions,
Yet living is not prepared at all.
Living is a series of tests
Testing what one or a group of ones believes.

This snowfall has shown a lot of that.

When it is a politically and notorious endeavor,
Folk wave the flag,
Yes, I believe in Haiti.

But do these same,
Be that an organization,
Or an individual,
Believe in the aid of the one next door?

Some faced this test and did show their belief in goodness.
Others wrote their check to send to a far away place.

With the relatively small amount of snow that we had,
When compared to areas beyond
Yet it was sufficient to bring down power, heat, and make life difficult for a few days.

Churches were closed.
Warming centers set up by county and government benevalent agencies.
Apparently churches preach, others do.

This is exactly what I expect.
Churches are founded upon the sand:
Study the infallible text or be punished;
Listen to the professional preacher goad with guilt and "earn" two to three times what the fixed income patron supplier earns;
When it is time to heal on the sabbath day, none to be found.

The government has no place in benevolence,
The churhes saw the opportunity to act instead of talk and let that pass by.

Life can't be learned.
Life is not in a book.
Not any book,
Be that a protestant bible
Or a catholic prayer book.

The bridegroom came and the churhes were out getting oil for the next sermon on how to study the bible as the word of god.

The test wasn't on distance learning. The test was with thine own heart: what do you believe?

candlemas

2010-02-02T18:21:00.001-08:00

It is almost too ridiculous to recognize;
And yet to bound in the throes of paganism to ignore;
Candlemas, even the name sounds ultimately foolish in nature.

This preceding eucharist countdown that pretends to predict the continuation of the winter season not untypically is veiled and hidden within a fantasy. An act of a common beast. A mole sees the sunlight and the day is christ ordained to extend the cold winter.

Who could possibly believe that? If it is not believed, why is it continued as an element which holds not a shread of truth?

There are patrons of catholic paganism that look to the infallible church. This "celebration" is within that church.

The Protestants oppose the infallible church fo the infallible bible. Throughout, they follow the ancient order of silly women laden with sin. To deny the ritual of the mass and yet hold a secular recogition may not be worse that the mass--but it isn't any better either.

To the list of neo-pagan religious practices, one may here-in add the worship of the ground hog who can guide the universe and conditions of the planet by divine signs seen in the shadow of the sun.

Even if it had no pagan ties, such a day is too foolish and beneath creatures of God. As for the candlemas of the ground hog I willingly pass.

change one

2010-02-01T03:51:00.000-08:00

Whether we acknowledge the progress of time
it continues for the better or the worse.

Through the stages of time,
Comes change.

Change is a political icon;
Change is a political football;
Change is what some promise for love and money.

Change is one of those groups of letters that fills exactly this muh space:
Change

It bears no meaning;
It bears every meaning.

Change is how to not do something and commit by swearing that thee will.

Change is what has happened to speech. To say or write thee sounds strange and is taken with intent on the avoidence of you. We (collective plural) through change hast (singular) lost the meaning of the tradition of thee (singular) over the boorish you (plural). Friends have turned from you because it represents a plural in the individual, and by implication a plural diety of the pagan world.

The living done among all is now open as the rising of the day, and closure of the night. Folk blog. Folk twitter. Folk facebook. Folk text. The line of laundering is freshly hung on a basis not measured in days but in moments.

In the revolution of change, the simple life is lost. The life where in an honest day one worked in honesty.

In webousphere, folk are called friends who are not necessarily friends much less Friends. A relative, a sister, a son in the world of meaningless words is a "friend."

This new age is one that lacks the creative force that drives one to think for themselves. Rather than creatively think, thee chooses to steal the thoughts and words of another. The so called intellectual property rights are only property should I be robbed of thee.

Hast thou stolen today?

thoughts on love and hate

2010-01-30T17:24:00.000-08:00

There are many areas where folk look for grey-outs.
What I mean by that is that quest for the non-commitment called grey.

Subsequently, that world is formed of an imprisoned mire;
A permanent state of the forming of the deep;
A work in progress as said, yet the plain speech is a world of unclear principle hidden behind a veil;
Beyond the boundaries of this present age,
Let thee find the peace of plainness of truth.

Work is not in progress;
It is either to be taken to be done, or it is not.

Truth, to use the color scheme: is black or white.
Truth is either light or darkness.

To say it is but dawn,
Beg thee thine excused from stating plainly a position that cannot be unrendered.

One loves or hates. One may love less or more, yet one loves the same.

One hates. One can hate less or more, yet hate the same.

When couched in words of truth and plainness, the ambiguous dislike and neutral feeling is dissolved in the language which many ones dare not bear.

Love comes from the purity of heart;
Hate comes from another.

By any other word,
All remains the same.

Finally friend,
Seek truth where in one finds the depths of love;
For in love, riches dwell;
In hate is poverty of life.

seasons

2009-12-23T05:37:00.000-08:00

This is an oddity of human nature;
A season where folks celebrate the halls of hypocrisy
There is a season of guilt to be inflicted on non-celebrants;
Who choose a more sober notion of lifes regards.

It is a season of pagan traditions;
It is a season;
where over the last fifty years folks have stopped pretending that it was the birthday of Jesus,
and have come to a more realistic view.

Since at least in the Americas atheism has gained its due,
There is little goading with the guilt of being anti Christ,
So now the goading is one of being anti children.

When the regard for a day becomes this twisted, one surely recognizes the redflag of evil doing.

Yet, as in other industry;
The redflag is cast as a hindrance to the deal.

Make the deal and then assume the pretense of one who knoweh not.

Unfortunately, the reality is that christmas is about witchcraft,
It is about pagan worship,
It is about wizards and all of the themes of magic.
It is not based in reality at all;
It is not based in hope;
The basis is the worst elements of human nature:
Manipulation.
Guilt.
Deceit.
Regard of persons.
In short, Biblical themes abandoned!

It is Monday and thors day;
It is janus ary and mars ch;
This is not a season to celebrate the goodness of the human spirit but its gullibility.

In three days it will be over for another year giving human wisdom something to really celebrate.

know and known

2009-11-20T15:32:00.000-08:00

To know and be known;
By an order or knowledge that cometh not by observation,
One is found in the midst of knowing or not knowing at all.

The protest-ant churches lament the catholic universal church, yet subsidize the universal bible fronted as the word of God. Through this "word" mankind knows and gains a knowledge of God.

However in the scope of the real world;
That world that moves and actually has our being;
That simply is not so.

One can "give diligence" to the word, tet one cannot study it as in highlighter markers, notebooks, pens and books are concerned.

The word of God is inward alone.
It is not a written treatise regardless of the age of the writing. That word can only be heard from the inside.

"Study" to shew thyself approved... Is just plain old retro-fitting a notion into a doctrine. To give diligence to shew thyself approved as a workman that needeth not to be ashamed is quite different than the highlighter mid-week (pagan wednesday or what ever elf or gnome is worshiped with a day name) classes celebrated by protest christians and so-called universalists.

Thee does not study in that protest model. To read and understand the historic scriptures can be a value of itself. A study of those as to attain the historical value can be worthwhile.

To be of God;
To know of God;
To hear the word of God;
Is that necessary?

Absolutely not!

If thee never lay the eye upon the scripture, thee could know god from within thy being as sure as on who diligently understood the scripture of ancient times.

However, there is a value in the guidance of ancient times that binds us as a civilization progressing to that mark of the highest calling.

By my understanding of the past I can more quickly progress to gain the state of being, the aspirations and inspirations of those ancient times.

I look not to once again establish the mark of the ancient times, but to press on to the higher callings found in that word: Christ within.

light in a darkened world

2009-11-15T14:07:00.000-08:00

How often does one look at their world through the eyes of the flesh?

More often than not?

Eye has not seen and ear has not heard what God hast prepared for the righteous.

The eye of the flesh cannot see;
The ear of the flesh cannot hear;
The ways of the law of israel are not the ways of the lord.

To concede by rite;
To condescend to ritual;
To count the days,
The new moons,
The service of a church;
The severence of laws written on tablets of stone;
Is to miss the word written upon the heart of humankind.

God speaks in mysterious ways.
God speaks in none other way.

The bible has lead thee to christ and christ alone. It is finished. There was not an unspoken query to where God would lay his laws out on scattered sheets of parchment. A law that is requisite that all men everywhere ought obey.

The bible is what is left of letters and communications to churches that are no more. We learn from the ancients and their understandings of that way of truth--yet to maintain a way as difinitive as a rulebook composed and enforced by churches is not truth.

It is control by proxy.

God speaks to those who will hear. In the personified way "he" does not speak by the bible as "his" word. Yet God is a spirit disregarding either he or she.

Christ as the root of grace, the charasimata of truth speaks inwardly and inwardly alone. Truth is not a string of memorized bible "verses."

The bible shows what those before have believed. Thus it can, when utilized properly be a tool to understanding. As that record tell us, in the beginning was the word. The word was with God. The word was God. That word is Christ and christ within is the light of truth.

Outside of that is the darkness of human understanding and a foundation of a religious non-profit organization.

One can build however many steeple houses;
However many appointments of respective titles as to priests, reverends or paid clergy;
The steeple house is a house of straw;
And the clergy is a mound of sand.

Neither can be but temporary shelter, unfit for the higher callings within.

The word of truth can only be found within--thus an overmuch of scripture study is an exercise of worldly appeal. It impresses others who concede to the scrape and bow, but does nothing to move us closer to the truth within.

Our vision is who we are and what we believe. When we sow to the flesh, of the flesh we reap corruption. When thee sows to the spirit, of the spirit thee gains the kingdom within.

Seek peace and pursue it. Seek that peace that passes the human understanding.

That peace is lasting beyond generations. In this peace is found the kingdom of God.

wrong message

2009-11-14T17:19:00.000-08:00

A saying that continues to come up is:
When the right message is delivered by the wrong man, it is the wrong message.

For reasons the escape me,
How often is a message well intended and delivered by the wrong messenger?

An all too common aspect of the Christian circle is hypocrisy. Folks say it all of the time. "Preachers" will claim that the flawed message doesn't change the message. It may change the perception and receipt of the message, but it doesn't change the "truth."

Hogwash!

The eastern religions have it right. The flawed messenger DOES change the message.

It isn't what my ears will hear,
or what my eyes choose to see,
it is the reality of what is before me.

The clerics get this non-sense from the infalibility of the bible theory. Under that theory, as long as someone is acurately quoting the scripture and (at least allegedly) properly telling you what it means
then the message is truth and the messenger is flawed.

Yet their own scripture which they cite also document to try the spirit to determine whether it is of God. Presumably one would try the spirit because there are many false prophets gone into the world. Why would I try the spirit or concern myself about false or true prophets if I am going to hear the message anyway?

I try the spirit because the spirit speaks through the prophet and a false prophet will always have a false message.

The "right" message by the wrong messenger is why there is so much error in the world. I would take it this far so as to eliminate all doubt.

Any message by the wrong messenger is always the wrong message.

Civilization has advanced in many ways;
In many ways we have not advanced at all.

In religion human kind was on the cusp of the kingdom of God, and yet rather than lighting the lamp of truth, with one giant step backward civilization rejected the light of christ, grieved the holy spirit within and chose a path of sight by theologian and false prophet.

Christian faith has become a fantasy of children's stories told by flawed characters that discipline by a law of subscription to the ancient clerical world.

Thou, O christ within;
That man may find the light that cometh unto thee in the dark hour;
That by the foundation of thy holy spirit within;
That truth may be truth;
That the wiles of the demons of churches may be slain;
That a new generation may find christ;
Within and not without by a false word;
That men and women may find that truth that Christ is the word;
That thee art in christ and christ is within thee;
That the bible quoting ignorance of the showman is the way of error and devilish truth that leads unto thy destruction.

O! Christ who art within every man, both bond and free, both male and female.

Shineth the light within that I might see the complete collapse of this false kingdom of church that the kingdom of God may be borne forever.

Thou who readeth;
Join the rank;
Join the file;
Reject the error;
Hold to the truth;
Christ is within thee;
Thou who speaketh speaketh as Christ.

Reject the church.
Reject the error.
Reject the false messenger who lays claim that the bible is the word of God.

The word is within thee at this moment.
Thee needeth not the world, nor her sorrows.
Listen to the voice within, the truth, thy freedom forever.

Let it be verily so.

dare to believe

2009-11-12T04:18:00.000-08:00

The kingdom of God is not meat and drink;
But righteousness;
And peace;
And joy in the Holy Ghost.

Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and the things wherewith one may edify another.

Common words with uncommon communications.

Often scriptures are cited to talk about peace;
To talk about the blood-letting;
To talk of wars;
To talk about times;
To talk about the world politic.

This message was to the Romans,
not to Caesar.
It was to Julius and to Juliana.
It was to common folk doing common things.
It was of common faults in an uncommon time.

Meat and drink was idolatry.
Meat and drink is our own worship of this world that we live in.

Much Christian faith reel in idolatry. One need not look to the near, mid or far east to find a meat and drink world. Ikons of wood and stone graven by art and mans device suffice to meat and drink.

Meat and drink was as bound in the
weakness as is common of our day.

We can't hear a prayer of silence,
Yet we see the representative ikon of gold.

The ancients molded the golden calf;
Graven by art and mans device;
In times of ignorance;
Once winked;
As were days of an era and a generation long gone.

Righteousness, joy and peace in the Holy Ghost has nothing to do with the world of meat and drink. Spiritual gifts can neither be found nor obtained in a meat and drink world.

My times of failing;
My times of weakness;
Are not;
Neither will they ever be;
Sourced in the spirit,
But of the flesh.

The self-righteous world confirms itself in meat and drink.

It builds the citadels and towers of Babel. Its priesthood and preacherhood offers meat and
drink to the famine of eyes that must see and ears that must hear.

Faith is when I have no evidence.
Faith is when I have no sight.
Faith is an act taken beyond what should be, or what may be found in the logical sequence of the meat and drink world.

Dare we simply to believe?

finding self

2009-08-05T05:50:00.000-07:00

Our world is not so different from generations ago;
We somehow seem to think of the good old days;
We tend to look to the past as good,
or the future as bad.

The world in its philosophic sense is one of contradictions. But it always has been that way.

As we strive to that which is right and good for us, life gets in the way.

There are three avenues: selfish, selfless and self.

Selfish is where we deny everyone else what we take pleasure in.

Selfless is where we deny ourselves what we allow in others.

Self is the reality of life.

Self is the righteousness of life. You cannot attain righteousness apart from self.

Churches and religions in general (regardless of what the public assembly may be called) error greviously on this.

For the lack of understanding;
For the lack of faith;
In a denial of life;
In a proposition of living death;
Self is denied or it is turned so deeply inward that it comsumes itself.

There is that of God in every man. If there is that light within the self, why then also would there not be an upholding of self and that inner guidance independent of the outside affluences?

A principle of church is borrowed from catholicism--that the individual needs the church. Goaded by guilt, christian reformers turned to their religion of the infallible bible and yet continued the harbinger of church. They did not erradicate the error, but sent the self into a deeper dungeon by burying one error beneath another.

Church is collective;
It is where the self is lost in the selfless;
It is where the selfish is in denial until the bells ring and the hands shake and the fornlorned self is sent into a world of dark, bouyed by the guilt of the first day calamity.

The songs of mystery echo in their hypnotic trance;
The preaching lingers of past guilt and future sin;
All have sinned and fall short: thus one needs to return for the weekly purge to lead another week of sin.

Church does not open the way of freedom, but is a prison of guilt and confinement. Those who comply are given a life sentence of tithes and taxes to support an institution and a priesthood to purge them of their evil for living.

This is not living! This is the darkness of death where man is but another plant in the eco-system of creating movement in one planet making it superior to the others which have no movement.

Self is developed not by stealing off of another their independence. It is not developed by becoming a slave either. Self is found by that guidance of the inner light alone.

Collective programs are often little more than the selling off of a part of the self for the approval of another. Through others we find a consolation, if not a consultation that we are not wrong headed. And yet if the whole of the world believed that a thing is true or false, does it make it so?

I am not given to collective thinking, nor to a necessity of belonging.

Whether selfish or selfless, the groundwork is laid for a life guided by denial and guilt rather than light and living.

It is time for man to leave the dark ages and set to light the truth of self.

fuel for the fire

2009-07-19T16:46:00.000-07:00

The story of the wise and foolish virgins reminds us of the need to keep fueled.

The story is as simple as that!

We have the light within us;
That calling;
The word;
Yet all need nurturing;
A flame will kindle only as long as there is kindling.

A lack of activity;
A lack of prayer;
And in the opposite direction:
An abundance of worldly pleasure;
Is sure fire to quench the Spirit.

When the light grows dim,
Look inwardly,
For none of us know when those opportunities will come,
When the wedding feast is begun,
And we are out fetching oil.

childish things

2009-07-17T03:40:00.000-07:00

When I was a child, I thought as a child, I acted as a child;
When I became a man I put away childish things.

This is a passage of scripture that is very much quoted today.It is one that I have been given to speak of for many, many years.

Even the US President cited it in his innaguration.

How true is that rite of passage from childhood to manhood.

My familiarity with it comes as I observe what could only be described as childish behaviour in adults. This scripture is the opposite side of the "Peter Pan" world that too many want to live in. Far too many simply do not want to grow up.

Teenagers talk about getting drunk and parties. So do 50 year old teenagers who will not put away childish things.

The same can be said of games, sex-vice,gambling and other deviations of manhood.

The "economy" of the geography called United States is perpetually undermined by aged children who will not put away childish things.

So-called Christian churches are also in lock-step with the gaming of irresponsibility. For fear of not attracting numbers churches foist a fun-house and get all cool about Jesus. In my life experience and in observation of this whole "religious" world I am very hesitant to even use the word christian in relation to any of it.

Denominationalism is in my opinion "brain damage." There is no gravity, there is no formidable basis, there is no sense that separates it from any secular political or social action group.

While those who also call themselves friends think they stand separate from this, think again. Go on an internet search and look at that activities. If it is essentially the "social gospel" it is the same thing.

The people of God were called to be a separate people. Do you find the Jews of the law and prophets social gospelling? Were they holding political action meetings? Were they soliciting caesar or emperors to act in social justice?

All of this is the childish "me too" religion of the world about us!

In life;
In religion;
There is a time to put away childish things.

seeking for light in dark corners

2009-07-16T18:57:00.000-07:00

The title says it all.

There are plenty of darkened corners;
There are plenty of opportunities for finding the errors and troubles;
Finding light may be more difficult,
Or perhaps,
It is easier if we try.

The world is by nature a place of darkness;
It is a domain of the prince of the power of the air;
And yet nothing overcomes darkness so much as light,
And vice-versa.

Where ever there is darkness,
There is the absence of light:
For light dispells the darkness.

Would it not seem reasonable (although sometimes in an unreasonable manner of living),
That when we seek the light,
When we light the candle and place it high in the stand,
We are better able to find the lost coins, the hidden treasures, and the pearls of price?

It is perfectly reasonable and rational, though it need be neither.

So why should we not cure our darkened moments with light?

When we begin to live thus,
We will find the silver linings rather than the darkened clouds.

new jerusalem

2009-07-15T15:28:00.000-07:00

Tarry in Jerusalem until ye receive power from on high...

The well known instruction in the acts is much quoted, yet left upon the heap of ancient history.

Since a blog is often bite sized pieces of our inner thoughts, it is susceptable to mis-interpretation until the later parts come along.

I have often spoke in the forum as to the bible not being the word of God. And it is not! I have been so careful as to hedge my words that they come not back as a denial of the scriptures.

As these words spoken to those early disciples need also to come to us all of every age.

Jerusalem is a place of peace and quiet. Tarry ye there until as with these holy men of old ye be filled with power from on high.

In short, quote me not the scriptures until thee can with all honesty speak to me that thou hast come by the Spirit as these ones have in that day. That thou tarriest in a quiet place and hast received the guidance of the Spirit so that thy understanding of those scriptures is as moved by the holy spirit.

No man travels long without a roadmap or some semblance of where he is going. In time past one may have considered the dangers of the sea or travels along the rivers. In our day, what sampling might be known to spark our senses?

Should I try to fly a plane though I have never before and none instruction on throttles or controls? The result would surely be a disaster.

How shall I negotiate the scriptures blindly led by the blind cleric or commentator that denies the very essence of those scriptures?

Let us seek truth through the patient tarrying in new Jerusalem, waiting on that power that will lead us safely through all.

choose light

2009-07-15T10:46:00.000-07:00

Of the difficulties in spiritual matters is that of balance.

What I mean by that is where there is the need to show the over zealous nature of one aspect risks the disregard of another.

The bible, as I have written upon numerous occassions is a guide. It is not the word of God. However, in a proper perspective it is a valuable guide when read by spiritual guidance.

I learn of Jesus;
I learn of the early developments of Christian faith;
I learn of the law and prophets;
Just because it is not "the" word does not make it something to be flagrantly dis-regarded.

There is a tendency to resistance as the protestant world insists upon a supreme authority above all in the bible. Subsequently, a counter resistance envelopes and is a real danger in this realm of balance. Yet I will not concede either.

To create a world of strict and literal dogma of biblical concepts is the envelopment of darkness and a forbodance of light.

I have lived that world. I have been dis-owned of that world and will not prodigal myself to a re-entrance there unto.

Man in eden chose to seek his own way; to be as gods rather than to wait upon the divine guidance.

His flesh and blood was not that which sinned, but that blood of the spirit is that where upon he did surely die that day.

As dressers of the same garden, we opportune to hear the guidance and by light to partake of the tree of life. Without light, I should not see mine own hand though it be before my face. In light do I know the shapes and forms of that which is about me.

To grope in darkness is to guess the forms and shapes of that which is or is to come. To seek the light is to clearly move with no stumbling or wondering before me.

It was not the literal martyrdom of Jesus or a flesh of blood that takes away sin, but that blood of the Spirit of Christ come into the world and sprinkled as a cleansing.

The bible as a guide is to be guided by the Spirit and seen for all of its allusions, figures and anti-types rather than a literal lawbook founded upon chains of darkness.

Faith is developmental as it is experimental. That is what makes it living. When it turns to laws and ordinances it is a dead letter of bondage.

Our choice is then one of freedom unto righteousness or the bondage into a past world of darkness where we will be forever held in the prison houses of sin.

Of these, choose I light.

schoolmaster

2009-07-14T04:01:00.000-07:00

The bible is a guide,
It is a point of reference as it provides a window into the past.

As such we can peer through the beginnings of the christian faith and weigh the developments to our day.

The bible is a resource.It is one resource yet not the only resource. To the protestant church that is an offense. For the basis of the protestant church is that the bible is the "word of God." As such, is singular in authority.

Having grown up in protestantism, this has been a difficult point for me to learn. If the bible is not the singular authority; if it is not the infalible word of God: what is?

For me the bible is the schoolmaster that leads to Christ. Once I have found Christ, there is not the need of the schoolmaster.

The ekklesia of those early disciples did not have a bible. How could they be Christians without a bible?

They searched the scriptures to see that certain things were so. Searched what scriptures? Some portion of the law or prophets? Were they bound by the mosaic law or did it simply provide an insight as to whether these things were so?

Our scriptures teach us of the historical landmarks of early disciples and the teachings of Jesus. But, that is the end of the matter. The bible is a guideline not a lawbook.

Being familiar with it is good. Yet good taken to excess is not good. Chocolate is good unless I decide to eat 46# of it at a sitting!

This is the equivalent of what protestantism does. It is a faith in the translation of book chapter and verse (which for the record is an addition to that record). Faith is not in the mystery of Christ, but in the proving by various texts of the bible.

Regardless of talk-arounds, this was not the way of those early friends of the truth.

Truth is begun with a quiet and sober seeking of that inner light;
When it is found it sheds the true light of guidance and faith.

Learn by the schoolmaster,
But worship Christ within.

protestantism v friend

2009-07-13T18:39:00.000-07:00

As begun,
The nature of protestantism,
Though meant to reform the roman church,
Turned in a completely different direction.

The reformation simply turned the revering of one authority to the revering of another.

From the church which was declared now falible,
To the attention being placed upon a collection of ancient writings here declared as infalible.

The tenants of both tend toward a need to verify a belief as true or false.

For all of the bible quotation it seems a little odd to me that one would not make the connection between seeking verification and a lack of faith rather than verification being faith.

Perhaps folks don't like the term quaker, and subsequently turn away before a hearing, and yet is this not a way that more closely assimlates the practices of the "primitive" church?

Quaker was a derogatory term just as was christian to those early disciples. Friend is not derogatory, so let's use that!

My beliefs mirror that of other friends. What makes me a friend isn't a permission slip from clergy or a verification of book chapter and verse.

I believe in the direct operation of the spirit. I am a friend.

I do not believe in the so-called full gospel. I do not believe in AN operation of the spirit that works under the premise of the bible as the infalible text, or as it is sometimes referred to as the word of God. I am not a "pentecostal" or a methodist.

I believe that the Spirit of God leads man directly. I am a friend.

I do not believe that the bible is the only guide where one speaks where the bible speaks and speaks not where the bible is silent. I am not a fundamentalist.

I trust the internal voice of the Spirit only. No writing, no sermon, no other authority can override that voice. I am a friend.

I do not seek the council of the clergy. I am not either Lutheran nor Catholic.

I sware no oath. I hold no allegence. I hold no offices. Politically I am an anarchist, religiously I am a friend.

I seek no political gain nor use for a secular society. I am a friend, and the only society that I regard is the society of friends.

I oppose war. I oppose capital punishment. I believe in peaceful non-resistance. I render no evil for evil. I seek no recourse under law. I am a friend.

While these principles are in the bible, I would follow them even if they were not. The bible is a guide book, not a rule book.

I believe that there is that of God in every man. Therefore man is not pre-destined to be depraved, but all have the capacity of holiness and a nature open to good.

I believe that evil is learned. Man is born innocent. Through his years and experience man is taught to subdue the internal light of Christ and thus develop a tendency to do evil.

When the light of Christ is strengthened in man, he becomes moral and good.

Darkness is defeated in light. Yet men are taught error.

Men are taught to seek idolatry. They are taught to seek the clergy (or the shaman). Man is taught that faith alone is preposterious and cannot be trusted. In its place a series of laws, creeds, ordinances, proof texts and evidence is shown as an alternative to faith.

I believe in faith, not sight. I believe in the substance of things hoped for with evidence unseen.

I believe in a proper use of the bible as a guide, yet not an infalible resource. The only guide that never fails is the light within;
The word of God;
The presence of christ;
The gift of the holy Spirit;
Abiding in every man;
And speaking to any,
If he will take the time to listen;
That word will bring forth light;
Hear ye that word:
Call me not protestant Christian,
Simply call me thy friend.

protestantism intro

2009-07-13T05:07:00.000-07:00

Protestantism, in a similar fashion to catholicism, chooses an outside resource to set as authoritative. With the catholic religion it is the church and clergy; with the protestant it is the bible and then its church vs the others (as to who most closely speaks where the bible speaks).

Neither recognize the internal working of God upon the individual.

As such while there is an appearance of authority, that authority is flawed and evidentally more than what is supposed.

More to come-

opening the absolute

2009-07-12T13:37:00.000-07:00

Man has always been resistant to truth.

He has been more open and willing to the relative versions,
Yet the absolute that requires a bit of commitment is pressed aside.

An example of relative versus absolute that I read of recently was with the rising of the sun.

While saying the sun rises, that is a relative truth. The sun does not actually rise at all. The sun remains where it is and the earth turns. The effect is that the sun must then rise and set.

In religion, there are many relative truths. Sometimes the absolute version is beyond my understanding. Yet it remains.

That leaves me at times in a position of saying:
I don't know, but I do know that this particular explanation isn't right!

Summed this idea comes down to this:
It is better to acknowledge that I don't know than what it is to substitute a relative truth for an absolute one.

in the absence of darkness

2009-07-11T16:23:00.000-07:00

Life is a prospectus of opposites. The asian culture has somewhat championed that through the ying and yang.

There is the push and pull;
There is the balance;
There are opposing forces that neutralize each other.

I will take this however into another direction. While recognizing that there are opposing elements, rather than seeking balance, I herein seek defeat of one by the other.

Here is what I mean:
Some believe in God as the great punisher;
As one who pursues sin to the corners of the world.

I would confess that this is an error, however popular of a notion that it is (and it is popular).

God and the nature of God is better understood in a positive light rather than a negative darkness: so is man for that matter.

Darkness is the absence of light;
Sin is the absence of righteousness;
Lost is the absence of saved;
Illness is the absence of health.

Other examples could easily follow!

God did not set man upon the earth depraved and worthy of punishment at every turn. God is not pitching lightning bolts at depraved man while Christ catches them.

When man seeks righteousness, he stops seeking un-righteousness. When man seeks the light, he turns from the darkness. As he seeks the love of God, he stops pursuing the hatred of the world.

It then stands to reason that light will dispell darkness. Seeking the light is a choice. Seeking love is a choice. Seeking righteousness is a choice.

Man is not born depraved;
Man becomes depraved by choice but not by nature.

Overcoming the darkness is as simple as letting the light within to ignite by not surpressing it.

God will lead us in the way that is right, yet we choose whether to follow or to resist.

Light will shine ever so brightly in the absence of darkness, or vice versa.

is Christ divided?

2009-07-10T17:19:00.000-07:00

One saith I am of paul,
Another of cephas,
Another of apollos,
And another of Christ.

Is Christ divided?

Among Christianist churches,
There is much division.

When I was a child there may have been a few hundred denominations; a few hundred too many, yet not 1200 and then 1500 and then thousands!

The friends saw splits between Orthodox and Hicksites;
And then Gurney and Wilbur:
Each with a distinction and yet a flight from the other.

Without choosing sides to rival,
Each had an element of that brought a confrontal to truth.

For Hicks who rejected the scripture in favor of an inner light,
I am hard pressed to argue,
And yet cannot concede to mere moralizing on conscience.

I don't believe that this is what Hicks had in mind however it all seemed to turn that way.

Gurney spoke of the authority of the scripture until scripture banded itself into a law not unlike the denominations of his day.

I don't believe that Gurney planned it so before it became as such.

Wilbur sought to return to the roots of orthodoxy. His conservatism became constrictive in a changing world. The society largely mulled in a stagnation, while I am again certain that this was not according to any intent.

What is the lesson? Is it go along, get along? God forbid! Else where is the conviction? Where is the foundation stones upon which the church is lain?

We can learn from others when we are willing in love to listen to their speaking. Though it be the tongues of angels or men, the patience of love will resolve those walls of partition that divide us.

Let the veil be rent!
Between the Jew and the Muslim;
Between the catholic and protestant;
Between the hindu and the christian;
Between the friends and the bible chapels;

That does not mean that we compromise our hopes, but that we don't live our fears.

For there is that of Christ in every man,
And that of Christ within us all to know that truth.

Let us then discipline our prejudices and disciple every man as our beloved kindred in the light.

be ye angry not

2009-07-10T15:12:00.000-07:00

The scripture says:
Be ye angry and sin not;
Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.

And yet also Jesus taught to settle your disputes in the way;
Lay aside the animosity among brethren before bringing the gift to the altar.

It is easy enough to become confused,
It is even easier to justify anger.

What becomes important is a clarification. A clarification on what is anger? A clarification on what is the sin specific to that scripture?

What meaning that we derive from this, let it not be said that this is a permission slip to exercise the senses of anger.

The anger is not one where one man lays his ill feelings upon another.

In context put away lying;
speak truth;
put on the new man;
give no place to the devil.

This is a text about holiness, to superimpose anger justification in the midst begs the context.

Ephesians iv.31
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and evil speaking, be put away from you with all malice.

This is but a few verses later!

The anger is an indignation against the former manner of life. It is not directed toward or against another man.

You have put on the new man;
Put away the old;
Be ye angry over the sin of that former self and former way,
Yet sin not by venting wrath against others. For as the Spirit of grace leadeth thee, theee might lead another in the spirit of meekness.

To become overwhelmed by the sin about you, leaves thee soiled in the stain of the sin.

Be ye angry against the idolatry that ye have engaged, yet a new day is come and let not the sun set upon these days. It is not a time to live or reflect upon the former days, but a rising of the new day.

The former, however bitter is done. Reflect unto this no more. Grieve not the spirit that called thee out of darkness and into the kingdom of the dear Son of God.

Anger and wrath and bitterness and clamor and evil speaking are all destructive and will fill with venom those who live there by.

The sooner that anger can be put away, the better. It is even best that anger be not within thy inner being: give not a place to the devil, and thy days will be long and full of peace.

query on the day

2009-07-09T03:40:00.000-07:00

Of each day it may be said:
What will this day be?

It is not a complicated query;
It doesn't need a particular structure;
It requires no context.

Each day is different;
Each day has similar qualities.

As beings of habit, we follow certain a routine. Perhaps in the routine we too often search for some significance, that isn't there.

Routine has a negative connotation for most. It bears the marks of being "average."

Our world is one that looks for peaks. Life is to be on the edge. Success is principled on accomplishment.

Why is there such great attraction to sport? For this same cause, it disarms the routine, the mundane, the sense of average. It is where life is super-imposed upon another. Their great play is ours. The trophy is held in the shared showcase.

Friends of old frequently opposed such diversions. Where they recognized that while one was busy in a diversion, they were wasting what time might be otherwise profitably spent.

What will this day be?

It will be what we determine it to be.

This could be a day where we make life better for another,
Or it could be where we do our alms before men.

This could be a day of quiet seeking of the word of God,
Or it could be where we trumpet a righteousness of men before men.

This could be a day where we pray in a closet,
Or a day to broaden phylactries.

Each day is what we make of it;
Each day is a microcosm of the life we choose;
Each day is a guidepost;
Each day is a benchmark.

My friend, call upon this day to be that day where there is no trophy, there is no glory among men, there is no gain to thyself but only to another.

Call upon the day as one where thy guidance will come from within.
Call upon the day where there will be no great or small; where there will be no respect of persons; where the day will be one of peace.
Call upon the day where (singular) thee takes responsibility for (singular) thy actions.

Reflect upon: what will this day be.

let the dead, bury the dead

2009-07-08T16:08:00.000-07:00

Since I distracted on two occassions;
I return here to the fundamentals of faith.

As Jesus said:
Let the dead bury the dead,
Come,
Follow me.

The christian world spends an inordinate time engaged in conversations about times and seasons over which they have no knowledge nor control.

The fundamentals are summed thusly:
Come, follow me!

Worried about the future?
Living in the past?
Concerned with getting a permission slip from others as to what thee might believe?

None of this is new!

One man has to try his new yoke of oxen;
Another has a new wife;
One has to bury the dead.

Everything is an excuse from the moment;
Everything is an escape from commitment;
Everything is more important;
And yet none of it is!

Men put off the calling of the Lord,
Until such a time as they hear not that call anymore.

Man squanders his youth;
Man busies his mid-life in a frenzy to accomplish;
Mans later years are filled with the strain of end times.

Though he try many yoke of oxen,
And sometimes many wives,
His life is one funeral after another,
Burying the dead,
Preserving his own honor,
His own heritage,
His own memory.

The time of life is now!
Whether young or old,
The time to follow is now.

What man having left the plow in the field to follow Christ has returned to regret?

Two shall be called, the other left!

When Christ calleth thee,
Leave all,
Leave now,
Come and follow,
Asking nothing.

Our lives are befuddled when we try to do rather than follow.

Christ calleth not unto death,
But to the living,
To live.

Let then the dead so bury the dead,
Come,
Follow him!

rapture myth

2009-07-08T06:15:00.000-07:00

Protestant churches have taken various passages and turned a theory that had not been known 150 years ago. This theory is the "millenium" doctrine.

Aside from a literal interpretation of Revelation, other scriptures are tied in such as this one:

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

For the lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the lord.

Setting aside what all this passage does mean for the time: focus on what it does not say.

It says nothing about a thousand years;
It says nothing about the destruction of the world;
It says nothing about the world burning;
It says nothing about people waking up and finding others missing;
It says nothing about establishing a kingdom;
It says nothing about the end of the world;
It says nothing about heaven or hell;

On the other hand, what is actually said:

One group (the alive and remaining) cannot prevent the other group (those who sleep);

The dead in Christ shall rise and those who remain shall be caught up with them;

They (the dead and living) shall meet the Lord;

So shall we (the dead in Christ and the living) ever be with the Lord.

There may be things about this that I don't understand, but what I do understand is that there is neither rapture nor a thousand year reign of Christ found here.

Folks also want to focus on a single word or phrase such as "in the air." See! That's the rapture!

Focusing on single words especially in translations is fraught with danger.

When I come into the presence of Christ, I am no more or less "in the air" than what Paul speaks of.

How ever the dead are enjoined into the presence of Christ is not hindered by the living or vice versa. As such, our presence does not affect theirs and theirs does not affect ours.

The whole context is such that we ought to be mindful of how we live and not to take two verses out of many and enter into some rapture theory.

the Rapture

2009-07-05T18:57:00.000-07:00

From a recent conversation that I was within a distance of overhearing the rapture was spoken of.

It occured to me in that how this was not the actual conversation, yet was spoken in such a natural way that those involved never raised a question pertaining to what is that.

The rapture theory is one where jesus comes and so many people fly from the planet into the heavens and return at some later time.

It is all based on the millenium theology.What is striking is that this teaching is so indoctrinated into the christian churches of today that no question is ever raised. It is assumed correct.

From a bible view it is wholly outside of any legitimate teaching. The word does not occur. Without piecing a number of fragments together and again out of any viable context, the theology is born.

Set that aside and question why? Why did Jesus come into the world, fail, decide to at some later time to establish a kingdom that will be done by removing people from the earth, destroying the earth, and then placing these same folks back. Why all of the hi-jinx? Why does there need to be a rapture to establish a kingdom that he allegedly did not accomplish previously? Why do folks have to leave the world for this? Is the world today any better than what it was 2,000 years ago? If he needed to get rid of the evil by burning the world, why did he not do that the first time?

I could ask questions all night. Instead of that, here is the answer: the rapture is a myth!

There is no rapture coming. Not now. Not ever.

That there can be conversations assuming mythology only demonstrates the gravity of the work ahead.

There are sincere people who simply don't know the truth.

This is the truth: Men ought to be quietly waiting on the word of the Lord rather than some man-made rapture.

query on war

2009-07-05T05:59:00.000-07:00

Can thee oppose war and yet sanction its celebration?

On the seventh month and fourth day there were flags all about;
There were parades;
There were fireworks;
There were picnics;
There was a cessation of commerce;
There were speeches around memorials.

In this land;
Men call it a day of independence.

It surrounds a declaration of independence and the war between the new world colonies and Britian.

The fireworks are symbolic of the bombs bursting in air, I suppose.

The speeches are all filled with hate language about people of other lands that "we" will kill for an ideal of freedom.

The flags are a further oath/pledge to a government.

The memorials are to celebrate killing.

Can thee sanction without becoming a part of the doing?

Jesus taught us to turn the other cheek;
Jesus taught to not resist evil;
Jesus taught love thy enemies;
Jesus never taught to murder another when things goest not thy way.

In the times when those men of the bible lived:
The slaves were not given instruction in the righteousness to murder the master for freedom.

Yet man celebrates murder as an holy-day with sanction of the many of the churches.

Men say the bible is the infallible word of God;
Yet obey it not.

The bible, while not the word of God: condemns the celebration of conquest and murder.

The light of the truth;
The Holy Spirit within;
Speaks to me of our failures in this part of the world:

This land began with those who came to the new world;
Of these there were mostly quakers and puritans;
The quakers were a people of peace and the puritans developed into a people of persecution.

In the midst of the various persecutions the quakers were gaining in that this land seemed destined to be a land of the society of Friends.

At a time it appeared that truly the kingdom of God had been found among men.

The puritans continued a demise into the abyss of the murder and conquest of the world.

There was a war against the British;
There was a war against the French;
There was a war between northern states and southern ones;
There was a war against the so-called indians;
There was a war against Europe;
And then a second one;
There were wars against Asians:
Japan, Korea, Viet Nam;
The killing then turned against middle eastern peoples:
Lebanese, Iran, Iraq, Iraq, Pakistan.

This land is a land of bloodshed, hatred and the celebration of murder and conquest.

Can thee endorse and not be guilty of all?

The kingdom of God cannot be found because men are blinded by their own hatred.

The children of the puritans (protestantism) devise bible manipulation and say that some day Christ will come. They find among obscure scriptures prophecies of a kingdom. For the lack of faith, believing that Jesus failed, other notions are wrested until all becomes a literal transliteration of a "left behind" world founded upon the teachings of Charles Russell and other post civil war millenialists.

That killing field left behind a world of extreme negativism. With the poverty and devastation the soil was fertile for the seed of millenialism. The doctrine of the blackness of this world that will be subdued in some future time by the kingdom; that the world will grow worse and worse; that man must be destroyed; it's all very clear in the bible that you can't understand unless some man guide thee!

The die was then cast in the Americas against the Quaker ideal. The later end would be worse than the persecutions of the Puritans. The truth would be buried in a world of false that would relegate the Quaker to obscurity.

The waves of revivalism would proclaim that Jesus is again coming: doubters and sinners will perish in the wake!

Neither the Holy Ghost given word of God (Christ within), nor the record of ancient times (bible) teaches any such thing.

The presence of Christ is now:
Where two or three are gathered there am I in the midst as spoken of Jesus.

Jesus is present with those "in his name." Jesus is not present in a circle of murder and hatred.

The kingdom of christ is now;
It is a peacable kingdom among those who make peace.

The kingdom of Christ is not for conquest and murder;
Peace is not sought in violence, nor attained by murder.

The puritan's children cannot see the kingdom because of the unrighteousness of their faith. It is not faith but a belief in the sight of authority: it is the same faith of the Roman church.

A quest for authority is not faith: it is sight. It is let me see the prints of the nails and I will believe. It is show me the book chapter and verse and I will believe. It is tell me the word handed down by the pope, and I will believe.

The Quaker way is not of authority;
It is not a proving ground;
It is the faith in an internal word, a light of truth within.

This is not the conscience;
This is not feelings;
This is of Christ within,
The Word of Truth.

I believe because I know;
Because I have experienced;
I hold to faith, yet require no demonstration,
Though that is not far from any one of us.

One cannot believe in murder;
One cannot believe in persecution;
One cannot deny the Spirit;
One cannot substitute some man-made authority for faith;
One cannot create a clammor for worship in the face of self imposed darkness;
And find the kingdom of God.

The kingdom of Christ is not:
Lo here,
Or lo there!

There is no failed mission of Jesus where he has to return. The millenium and subsequent doctrines are all contrived within the ignorance of man. There is no truth of it at all.

If the presence of Jesus is among the two or three,
Where is the coming again?

Men are blinded to the truth by their conquest and murder.

The celebration of such is epitomized in the seventh month holiday!

Again:
Can thee oppose war and sanction its celebration?

evangelium

2009-07-01T17:49:00.000-07:00

Evangelium is the Latin counter part to the english gospel.

In the old English it would have been godspel; the Greek is close to the Latin.

The worst translation or word substitution is good news.

I suspect that good news is popular as it is less commitive.

Evangelium certainly has a good ring to it;
Evangelium is a heralding of truth;

The good news almost makes it all more secular than religious. Take the latin of Romans 1.xvi-

non enim erubesco evangelium virtus enim Dei est in salutem omni credenti Iudaeo primum et Graeco

Erubesco is essentially to blush. Other words are recognizable in their English counter-parts:
Virtus-of high moral character;
Salutem-as to greet;
Credenti-credential;
Enim-therefore or a continuation of the context.

Of the gravest concerns with the evangelium is that folk are embarrassed. Subsequently, they are willing to herald a less commitive and more worldly message than the truth of the evangelium.

Here is the unblushed bride of truth:

The bible is not infallible;
The church is not infallible;
There is no hiarchy of clergy;
There is no evidence of things unseen;
All that I believe is taken by a blind and unproven faith in that it is so.

A Christian is such if in truth they are wholly given to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit;
The word of God is within and is often not expressable in human language;
The light within is not the conscience, it is the divine nature, it is Christ within.

Jesus Christ is present in the world today;
The kingdom is now and equally found within;
The body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.

Prayers that are spiritual are heard-carnal prayers are not;
Worship of Christ is not a program, it is a waiting upon the Lord;
God never instructed folks to publically play instruments and call it worship;
God does not instruct christians to collect tithes or pay a clergy.

Anything that could have been done in the so-called primitive church can equally be done in this time however God is not mocked;
"Lead me from temptation" pertains to man tempting God (ie above: prove god by wonders, if you grant me this I will do that).

Public preaching can be done privately but is not worship.

There is that of God in every man.

The individual man has no cause to retaliate;
Resist not evil;
Collective men have never a cause to murder as in all war;
No war (even on terrorists or Hitler) is ever justifiable;
Governments (which are run by men) have no right to murder citizens as in "capital punishment;"
We are obliged to love not hate;
We are obliged to forgive not punish;
I pledge allegiance to no state;
I sware no oath;
I never take a man to law;
I do not serve in government offices;
Yet I obey the measures of law as they conflict not with the will of God;
I never serve in military;
As much as lies within my power to do so and within my knowledge, I neither sanction nor support that which is contrary to the will of God.

I practice no idolatry;
Care is taken of the body because it is the temple of the Holy Ghost;

All things are good in their moderation,as nothing is unclean of itself: yet some things are given to excess and temperance is of saving virtue;

I practice no gambling as it employs often deception, taking undue advantage, a mental assent to chance where saints prosper and sinners perish or vice versa;

I employ truth always regardless of the outcome;

My word is my bond: it is to be kept regardless again of the end result.

This is but a point of starting, a calling into the evangelium. As one grows, these foundation stones will preserve the building of the faith through all of the trials.

These are but the first principles, and yet how many Christians of age would blush to confess all?

the snare

2009-06-28T18:14:00.000-07:00

It would seem that perhaps a title of the snare would be predictible.

Perhaps that of various sins that mankind has a weakness toward;
Perhaps that is something of another time.

The snare that I am currently thinking of is that which befell the Jews and Christians in later generations.

The snare of the Jew was that the handwriting of ordinances was against us, and contrary to us.

The kingdom was achievable to those of old, yet the spirit was clouded: it was as in a glass darkly.

The prophets called to seek the kingdom, yet with imperfect communication as words often fail to express spiritual leadings, so also was it in those ancient of days.

That which is of the spirit is spiritual and not discoverable by the flesh. There is the natural man and the spiritual man.

Religion, or as it is called theology attempts to discover that of the spirit through natural terms. This is nothing new; this will bring nothing short of failure.

Religious folks sing as worship, yet singing is a flesh act and often to please the flesh. Preaching is another flesh act. The "sacraments" are yet another activity that excites the flesh to think spiritual things.

But worship is not thinking;
Worship is not flesh.

Subsequently, as the infallible church, bible, synods, committees, leaders and popes all unleash a certain cry for authority: so also is the snare set.

There is faith and there is sight: we must choose one or the other.

The bible will tell me certain things about Jesus and the churchmen: yet it cannot be the sourcebook of faith.

Men must come to rely upon the direct word of God: that light within.
Not the church;
Not the bible;
Not the clergy;
Not the creed;
But an earth shaking faith in a light, a small still voice within, where the word of God reaches the heart and guides in all of the ways of truth.

Truth is experienced, it is not taught.

The earth is round;
The moon controls the tide;
The clouds bring the rain;
Many things I have been taught from my youth.

Are these things true or false? Neither! They are either fact or fiction as facts are learned by science and knowledge. Truth as I use the word here is experienced and is known by experience.

I cannot prove God by science, yet believe by experience. In a sense, I defy the world of science by truth. I equally defy the world of religion by that self same word.

I need not cite any bible verse to authorize what I say as I am not beholden to a collection of writings that neither protestants nor catholics can manage to agree upon. And yet both despise what I say as truth.

The bible was a school master that led me to Christ: I now have not the need of the tutor. That school master has been taken away as surely as has been the law of ordinances and ceremonies.

The Jew of old regarded the snare beyond freedom. Christians today do the same.

I need not preaching;
I need not the church;
I need not the structured institutions, or the accepted norms of world righteousness.

The snare is the not seeing the forest for the trees. The snare is missing the gospel for the bible. The snare is forbidding righteousness because on seeks authority.

The bible has a story about a group of virgins who foolishly go out to buy oil while the bridegroom comes. They are locked out and the great wedding passes them by.

So also are they that grope for scriptures, for the blessing of the cleric, for the sanction of the religious world and their church while the light has always been within each of us. We cover the light with the bushel basket of authority while the calling of the Spirit of grace passes us by.

The snare is as ancient as the days of earth. Yet so also is the truth that sets one free.

beyond authority

2009-06-26T18:48:00.000-07:00

Authority is the often sought catch phrase. By what authority does one speak; By what authority has belief been formed.

The various forms have been written of and discussed for hundreds of years. Whether the authority is of the church, the representatives of a particular church, a clergy, the bible or of otherwise sources: that authority is more often sought as infallible.

Why must authority be infallible? Is an authority that errs of no consequence? Is the authority tainted because it is less than perfect?

God is by nature infallible: in God there is no error. All else contains error.

While difficult to apprehend, there is the light within man. That light is the nature of God in man.
Our calling is by that light;
This light is not to be confused with conscience;
It is a divine light within and is thus the final authority.

God is a spirit. Communication and communion is by a spiritual means. Flesh language is not the communication language of the spirit.

Here comes the leap of faith!

To utilize any other authority to confirm the light within makes that authority infallible.

Protestantism claims the infallibility of scripture;
Catholicism claims the infallibility of the church and subsequently the pope;

In the primitive church and among those first disciples there was no infallible teacher beyond Christ and no infallible doctrine beyond the Holy Spirit within.

I believe that they were right and through the process of time with faith lacking man devised authority: as it is easier to see the prints of the nails and thrust the hand into the side than to blindly walk by a faith in that which can neither be confirmed or proved.

I do not believe because it is in the bible;
I do not believe because it is church doctrine;
I do not believe because it is in the creed book;
I do not believe because some man taught me;
I do not believe because it is logical;
I do not believe because I can express the words;
I do not believe because it is popular;
I do not believe by conscience.

I believe that there is that divine Spirit in every man (regardless of gender);
I believe that the Holy Spirit calls one into faith;
I believe that man must heed to that call, and as he does, man is brought into a communion with Christ.

That calling can be rejected, and thus "the unpardonable sin" of blaspheme and grieving causes one to reject the Holy Ghost of God. From there, where is one to go? Thus it is "unpardonable."

I believe that God communicates in this way; that god is infallible; that by the light of his Holy Spirit his "word" is given.

I believe that the body is the temple of the Holy Ghost and that is the only temple. Thus the body must be kept pure as a sacred temple.

One naturally concludes that I claim that a part of my being is natural and another divine. By that in-dwelling that is of necessity a truth.

With that, my natural resists the divine and the natural must be brought into subjugation. Subsequently, the communication within the natural man is imperfect, whereas God within is perfect. The communication between Christ and eventually my natural man begins in the infallible perfection of Christ yet the weakness of the flesh can taint my understanding in the flesh.

Yet, this is the true spirit of the gospel and not then compensating the weakness of the flesh by a fabricated doctrine of the infallible bible or church.

For this there is no proof text, but only a living faith.

the realm within

2009-06-24T15:48:00.000-07:00

Jesus spoke to those of his time of the kingdom of God.

That kingdom was not obscure,
That is any more obscure than what a man can make it.

The prophets of old spoke of this kingdom within;
It was within the reach of man from the ancients;
Yet they sought other kings,
They sought ceremonies,
They sought signs,
They sought difficult sayings,
Yet they could not seek the kingdom and the righteousness of God from within.

God the word,
Made in flesh,
To redeem they of the flesh.

Thousands of years,
And man still seeks as he did in the ancient of times.

Man still is looking for when the kingdom will come. Most of the professing Christian world does not believe that the kingdom of God is already, and not a future event.

That realm,
That ruling,
Is from within.

What mankind needs to seek is that light of Christ within. In discovering the word,
Then shall the dark things be made plain;
Then shall he discover the kingdom of God from within.

almost

2009-06-23T05:04:00.000-07:00

Paul before the pomp and ceremony;
Before Agrippa and Festus;
Recounts:

To open their eyes
and to turn them from darkness to light,
and from the power of satan unto God,
that they may receive forgiveness of sins
and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

The testimony comes to the many times quoted:
Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

As in my previous post and in this one in brief;
The objections to a faith that is beyond ceremony,
Beyond man,
Beyond a dependency upon a church structure,
Beyond the non-commitment of this present world,
is the fear of being persuaded.

Fear raises objections.
The objections are not real,
They are a front lest one be convinced and by conscience led from the path of darkness into the light.

Mankind, as a general rule, does not favor the light. Darkness is a state of less responsibility, less committment, of the ambiguous.

To accept darkness that is comfortable, over light that is unknown: most men will choose the darkness.

Fear is of the ages are are Pauls words: I could wish that thou and all who hear me were almost and altogether as I, except these bonds.

waiting

2009-06-22T18:43:00.000-07:00

Of criticisms,
Especially those which lack foundation,
I find certain more trying than others.

If all you do in church is sit there in silence,
Why go to church?

The objection,
Which is exactly what it is,
Falls to the rubbish heap of all of lifes objections when the objection is a front,
A lie,
A deceitful tactic to say I'm not interested.

While we are being offensive there is an old saw in sales:
When can you tell that the customer is lying?
When they open their mouth!

Negative railings are easy;
Truth is not.

The truth is that thee hast no interest in quaker worship:
So just say it!
Don't hide behind an empty objection that has no validity.

To that objection I ask: if our worship was not silent, would you become a friend?

Oh! It's not that but something else,
And then something else,
And then something else,
And then something else,
Ad finitum!

Now that the negative is out of the way-silence is a manner of prayer and worship because as the disciples were to tarry and wait upon the Lord, so ought we also to do the same.

Worship isn't about pleasing me!

If God had wanted all kinds of singing, commotion or cutting the rug,at some point I would think that would have been revealed.

The devotion of silent worship is well pleasing to the Lord and edifying to those who participate.

We erase all worldliness,
thoughts and notions,
And humbly
And quietly wait upon the word of the lord.
As such we believe that where two or three are gathered,
Jesus is in the midst.

I don't believe that one can achieve that with the noise of preaching and instruments.

I as well don't believe that is something that can be programmed through various rituals.

Rather than criticize,
Perhaps one ought to try it,
Unless thou is afraid,
That there shall be no turning back,
Once the power of the Holy Spirit would over take thee!

seek truth

2009-06-20T16:43:00.000-07:00

Truth is often what we don't want;
It is said that I want the truth,
and yet what is meant is but a selective portion of the truth.

As the much quoted prophet has said:
Teach me lies and deceipt!

Truth is usually cold and as rigid as steel.

Have you ever given your yea or nay to something only to have the circumstance change to where your initial course will be detrimental?

My question is this: Having given my word on something, given a change in circumstance, am I at liberty to leave my word unfulfilled?

If I change my mind because of the change of circumstance, is my yea, yea? Or my yea,nay?

While this will occur many times over in our lives, I think it begs to a fundamental principle of the value of our word;
Or more so the value that we place in the truth!

Jesus prayed to let this cup pass from me;
Yet not my will be done, but thine!

Folks sign contracts to pay a certain amount for a certain service: when the service is done, how can we not pay?

Folks promise on a loan to return to the banker so much at a time to repay the loan plus usuary. As the agreement is made, how do we not repay in a timely manner?

I agree to buy a product for so much: do I re-neg or search for a better deal?

I say that this is my part and I will do it: shall my part be left incomplete?

Truth goes beyond the written page. It goes beyond a bible text.

How much weight that we put in our word has a parallel to the weight that we hold to a life of truth.

Jesus forbade the oath. But he did not forbid the truth!

We cannot refuse the oath only to have a weak and meaningless word.

When I give my word,
that should be enough!

Regardless of my personal benefit or detriment,
That word must always be truth and right.

It is a simple yet fundamental principle that is all to often lacking in our society.

in Christ

2009-06-17T11:46:00.000-07:00

A central theme of the scriptures is one of living in Christ.

In short, that is the basis of our lives and direction as one is guided by Christ within.

There is the light within us all;
That light of the life of Christ directs us in the ways that we are to go.

The Holy Spirit reveals;
The Holy spirit leads;
By the word of God we are called and brought to the presence of Christ.

The word calls: Open thy life to Jesus.
Nothing doubting we obey!

As the Spirit is within,
We are directed and led to the way of truth.

Worship becomes a leading;
Prayer becomes a leading;
Hours of meditation,
Times of rest,
Are all one in the leading of the Spirit of Christ within.

Our discipline is in Christ;
Our life is in Christ;
Apart from Christ there is nothing,
Yet in christ,
There is life, hope, godliness and love.

I love as Christ first loved me: for as much as I do to these my brethren, do I also to God my saviour.

I don't believe in the magic shows;
the programmed church;
the sermon of manipulation;
the science of religion;
theology;
the rites and rituals of the shaman.

I believe in the truth;
revealed by the Holy Ghost in me;
that in Christ,
I can do all things.

There may to the unsuspecting world be "miracles" and wonders of the faith.

In Christ,
all things are possible,
but all things are not expedient, regardless of a name tag.

If God wills to move a mountain by my hand, it shall be so!

If God shall stay the mountain, it shall never be moved though all of heaven and earth should shake against it.

In Christ all things are possible, though all things are not expedient.

In Christ is an open admission of the divine nature and presence of Jesus Christ in me. Not some reference to an ancient manuscript of an ancient time: but Christ here and Christ now as it was in those ancient of days when the Holy Ghost sat down upon each of them as cloven tongues of fire.

Christianity is a mystery religion not a scientific treatise of doing good.

In Christ is not a candle burning at both ends.

Either that same Jesus that was risen from the dead is in me as a light of the truth, as the word of the divine truth, or I am of all men the most miserable:
as I believe in one that is not risen;
and speak to one that is not;
and hear the voice of my imagination and subscribe it to the renewal of the Holy Ghost in me.

My flesh is then vain;
My blood is then vain;
My spirit is oft in a far region;
of a truth must it also be that by much learning it has made me mad.

And yet I believe: credo absurdum est!

I live in Christ;
I die in Christ;
I shall live evermore,
In Christ

commit to Christ

2009-06-14T05:06:00.000-07:00

According to sport,
There is the element of commitment.

As a season progresses and the further it winds into its own rounds of championships the greater the commitment becomes.

Often the difference that makes any difference is that of who wants it more.

Training, exercise is one part,
Yet the mental aspect of sport is greater than all of that. Champions are crowned on the mental "toughness" more so than the physical.

In life,
Folks often talk about saving for a rainy day.

They pass on opportunity after opportunity to horde the treasure that may be needed on that day of rain.

Many opportunities come and go and yet when the rain comes, no amount of savings is sufficient.

I speak here in of Christ.

Leave nothing on the playing field;
Today it is raining!

To wake of sleep, how much greater is it to thy well being to begin in Christ.

Today, I shall leave no devotion undone!

My life and thine is that where:

Flesh is but a mantle of the flesh of Jesus in me;
The blood of Christ flows in my flesh as bond servant;
The spirit of the Holy Ghost is my leading and life.

I am not left to some free-will agency or how ever that notion is expressed. I sold the whole of my life, however long or short that may be to the complete ownership of Jesus Christ. I am not my own, but bought with a price.

Thus my day ought not to begin with what shall I do this day;
Rather it is what shall Jesus Christ do with me this day?

Every moment of every day is one of opportunity:
The opportunity to worship;
The opportunity to be used by Christ for another;
The blessing where another gains the whole of the benefit and I receive none;
The opportunity to prophecy;
The opportunity to pray;
The opportunity to witness to the miracle of Christ;

We write our own history in that we decide whether we are among the champions of Christ.

Commitment is where nothing is left on the field, nothing is saved for the rainy day.

Commitment is driven by the depth of our devotion. Who wants it more?

When I love Jesus Christ and I burn in passion for the Holy Ghost how could I have less than a burning passion to devote all of my life, my death, my being to serve in all faith my master.

It is wonderful to be a slave of the Holiness of Jesus. It is wonderful not to have a will, but to live and listen to when the Holy Ghost of Christ blesses with a leading to do the will of Christ my saviour. It is even more wonderful when I can serve and receive no gain.

Commitment is parallel to faith;
Commitment is parallel to love.

Seek ye at the beginning of every day how that thee may find Christ in life.

to rebuke

2009-06-12T03:53:00.000-07:00

Often the scriptures entail a charge to rebuke. This charge is a valid part of our new life.

Maintaining the proper attitude of love and kindness;
Maintaining a discipline of devotion;
Maintaining what is called today tolerance;
We never forget that there is that of God in every man;
Yet not all do rightly.

I cannot participate in a practice of evil,
Nor can I have pleasure in those that practice the same.

Jesus faced evil in his day and spoke a rebuke against that evil. Jesus did not stop loving the offender.

In the realm of rebuke there is no room for hatred;
In the realm of rebuke there is no element of fear.

Two fold there are failures in this area:

The failure to depart from the practice (that is to say not to rebuke it) under the guise of a false sense of tolerance and love.

The failure exercise a truth of love where the rebuke becomes condescending and filled with self righteousness.

Neither has a place in the new birth. The best guidance in this point is that which is not your own. Follow the leading which the Holy Spirit brings, setting aside thy will for the will of God in Christ Jesus.

from faith to faith

2009-06-11T04:59:00.000-07:00

In Romans i;
Paul writes a well known segment of the scripture;
This scripture finds its way into many sermons;
I am not ashamed of the gospel,
It is the power of God unto salvation.

Again there he lists a number of negative attributes;
Yet another series of sermonizing.

Two things I would briefly note that are not generally spoken on:
1. The idea of faith to faith.
2. The transposing of our beliefs onto the scripture as proof texts.

On the first point:
The idea of "faith to faith" is one of a growth process. Often this is related as Judaism led to Christianity and so forth.

While an arguement can be made on that, it isn't one without exception. The gentiles became Christians without Judaism and removed from the mosaic law.

I believe it to be of a much simplier sort:
Faith grows;
Faith leads to greater faith.

In my own years I have found that my weaknesses are overcome by a development of faith. My intolerances of the past become and are becoming more of an understanding spirit.

I have found that as William Penn embraced the so called savage by seeing that of god in every man, so also can I learn from an example of Christian living.

I have found that when I receive others who hold to religions that I don't understand and I do so with the spirit of love knowing that there is that of God in every man, my relations and faith is builded: from faith to faith.

Faith is a growth process.
Faith is not simply about disciplines;
It is not about doctrines;
It is not about memorized bible verses,
Or saying the right thing at the right time.
Faith is about living.
Faith is as much of a growing as what living is as well.

We grow to understand more;
We grow to be more loving;
We grow to be more tolerant;
We grow to be more respectful and respectable.

On the second point, the text speaks of men and women turning from a natural to an un-natural use of their bodies.

The text is often used as a proof against homosexuals. What ever may or may not be said on that subject, this reference pertains to sexual activity in idolatrous worship. Whether men with men, women with women or men with women, the subject is idolatry.

I am what folks call straight. Because I don't understand or relate to these kinds of choices I cannot hate those who are different than what I am in this regard.

Again the subject is idolatry, and this reference is specific to that. The gnostics are one example of this kind of religious activity. Obviously there are sex cults today as well.

With the sex cult, the sexual behaviour becomes the worship and the center piece of the idolatry. Essentially, the act of sex is a sacrifice of flesh.

Yes, appetites need to be curbed. Appetites the become vice need to be contained. Behaviours that tend to the detriment need to be brought under control: and yet that same thing can and should be said about relations between men and women as otherwise.

I, At this point will not go down the road to condone or condemn, especially not on the basis of this scripture.

In this regard we can learn from William Penn in his relations with the so-called indian. He saw them through the prism of the light within: they were God's creatures as every man has that of God within.

While the rest of the settlers (outside of Penn's Woods) sought to displace the savage and to steal the land on promises soon to be broken, Penn set a godly example of tolerance toward those different than what he was.

Tolerance isn't placing thy self upon the pedastool and allowing the other to be thy foot stool.

Tolerance isn't attacking those different when they fail to be thy servant.

Charity is long suffering;
Charity is patient;
Charity is easy to be entreated;
Charity is kind;
Charity is the benefit of the doubt.

Charity is not finding proof texts in the bible to persecute those who think differently than thee.

silent moments

2009-06-07T16:05:00.000-07:00

Life is often fast paced;
Movements of little consequence;
Changes of the moment;
Changes of the conversation;
What is next?
What was before?
What is now?
What will be?

The exercise wheel of the rat race turns;
One runs and goes neither forward or back.

The treadmill does the same;
It is the human version of the exercise wheel.

Man looks upon the creature and wonders why they should behave so,
and yet does the same with simple enjoyment.

Bodily exercise maintains movement. It is the act of doing and tiring the muscle fiber until such a time as the fiber is builded up by use.

The treadmill is not unlike the exercise wheel of the mouse. The use of the devise keeps the body fit and maintained to its purpose.

The body requires movement;
The spirit requires stillness.

There is no treadmill of the spirit. The spirit thrives in a state of inactivity. The exercise that builds the spirit is that of bringing the body into a stillness that the spirit may move as the wind that blows. Not the creation of wind, but the capture of the winds of the spirit.

Many church services,
Sometimes called as worship service,
Is an affair where the bodies are in motion and the air is stirred by sounds and actions.

Those things do not exercise the spirit to its development.

Our bibles personify God. That is neither all together good or bad. That personification leads to thinking of God in the bodily sense.

God is not within a body as we think of such;
God is not a generic everythingness either;
God is a spirit and they that worship do so in spirit and truth.

To worship with music is to worship according to the body as to please the "ears" of the Lord.

To worship with acting and plays is to worship according to the body as to please the "eyes" of the lord.

Our bible speaks to "the eyes of the lord are over the righteous and his ears open to their prayers.."

With this and similar scripture we tend to again personify God with bodily attributes. The idea expressed is that the Lord knows our needs, our wants and knows our prayers as though hearing and seeing all.

For flesh to grasp a concept of the spirit will oft times be that which is beyond our weakness of the flesh: thus tenets of faith are expressed in terms that the flesh can understand.

God is a spirit;
God is worshipped by the spirit, not the flesh.

The spirit is exercised in stillness;
waiting upon the word of the lord;
praying in the spirit;
and a quietness that is contrary to the flesh.

The flesh wants to think;
The flesh wants to do;
The flesh wants motion;
The flesh thrives in chaos;
But it is not so with the spirit.

Some friends call it "centering." It is a conscious activity of inactivity.

It is in the waiting and stillness that the word becomes clarified to us. Activity of the flesh is often at a variance to the receiving of that word.

Spiritual exercise in silent moments;
Be ye still and wait on the word of the lord.

the common weal

2009-06-06T03:56:00.000-07:00

Let no man seek his own,
But every man another's weal.

The calling to seek another's wealth, or more properly weal, is a reminder that we are not our own.

We are not of life to live life according to the ways of the world,
That is to say according to the profane.

The people under Moses were led out of Egyptian bondage;
That bondage is a type;
Our escape from the society of this age;
To the society of the friends of the truth,
Is an anti-type.

The scripture of 1 Corinthians X shows us the anti-type.

Many were overthrown in the wilderness to the intent of an example of lusting after evil things.

The people sat down to eat and rose up to play.

Negative warnings:
Neither be ye idolators;
Neither let us commit fornication;
Neither let us tempt Christ;
Neither murmur.

These things are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

There is no temptation but that is common;
God will with the temptation make a way of escape that ye may be able to bear it.

In this profane world,
Men turn not to their beloved brethren in Christ;
They turn not to their beloved family;
They turn not to the beloved Lord of hosts.

Men turn to government agencies and programs of the state for to worship at the idol that the state may save;
These things should not be so!

Men fall in the wilderness of this age for their turning from the love of the Holy Ghost of Christ.

I cannot alleviate your temptation or suffering;
The Holy Christ can.

For when we cast our cares upon him,
He careth for us.

Temptations are that: temptations.

The way of escape is not the removal of the temptation;
But with the temptation is the way of escape found.

We must not live the ungodly life and call upon the Lord to provide the way;
Let us not tempt Christ.

Much of the suffering of life is caused by seeking our own.

Seek not your life;
Seek the life of Christ within.

The life of Christ within is where I seek not my own wealth;
I seek that of others;
Not as men pleasers;
Not to the other's pleasure;
But the other's good,
as that is the glory of Christ working in me.

While I am seeking another's weal:
Where is the time for murmuring?
Where is the time for fornication against the Holy Ghost?
Where are the idols?
Where is the throwing of myself into the fires of this present world and crying out Christ, save me!

Seek the other's weal:
For as much as ye do to the least of these,
Ye do also unto my Lord Jesus Christ.

refuse the profane

2009-06-04T04:20:00.000-07:00

Refuse the profane;
Refuse the wives' tales;
Refuse the commonality of this present age.

For this present age is passing away;
It is temporal;
It is fleeting;
It has a show of godliness while denying the power whereof.

Profane is the common:
The common answer to the nature of God;
The common logic of this world;
The common analogy;
The common enlightenment;
The common path of righteousness- so called.

What God has cleansed,
Call thou not common (or profane).

The opposite side is that which God has not cleansed:
The philosophy;
The psychology;
The council of this world.

Lives are called;
Lives are spent;
In heeding to the calls:
Whether unto God,
Or the profane.

Mankind loves the world;
Mankind treasures life;
The world is physical,
It is of the earth,
Earthy.

The world of flesh and blood is easier to understand;
It is easier to grasp.
We look around and with the senses live the world. But it is common. It is profane.

Whosoever shall lose his life for Christs sake shall find it.

Who has abandoned the friendship of this world and not found a hundred-fold more.

The Spirit leads us to separate from the world;
Separate from the profane.

The flesh world cannot be the standard of right.

The way of the Spirit of God is in an opposite direction.

The profane treasures money, objects of wealth, man-glory, health, power and pride.

The Spirit treasures life.

Life is not the elements of earth, but that which is not earthen.
Life that is not lead by the Holy Ghost is not life;
It is existence.

Behold the lilies of the field...

By reality and not lip service, when we seek the blessed presence of Jesus Christ in every part of our lives and every moment as we have breath, little is left to entertain the profane. I would much rather know the miracle of Christ than earthy pleasures. For in Christ hath this world ended already and in Christ have I seen his coming in glory.

Refuse the profane,
Embrace the uncommon glory of Christ within.

Righteous

2009-05-31T05:04:00.000-07:00

There is none righteous,
No not one!

This scripture,
Calls upon the truth;
That any righteousness,
That is not the righteousness of God,
Is not righteous at all.

Self righteousness is not righteous at all.

Righteousness cometh not by the will of man;
Righteousness is a gift:
Given by the Holy Spirit of Christ.

The word is often sought to be:
According to man;
According to the will of man;
As defined by man;
As implemented by man;
According to some work;
According to some collection of doctrines;
According to some faith;
As one thinks,
So is he.

Righteousness is of God,
Jesus Christ is God in righteousness;
For as I live in Christ;
According to his light within;
According to his Holy Spirit;
Live by his will having died in the flesh;
It is not I that liveth,
But that of Christ in me.

I am not holy: Christ is holy in me.
I am not righteous: Christ is righteous in me.
My life is not defined according to the fashion of this world: I am in Christ,
My life is the sum total of whatever Christ chooses to do through me.
I am a flesh and blood implement, a tool, the chatel property of Christ.

Regarless of what my flesh may or may not suffer to be,
I have life for a certain time;
To a certain purpose;
That may or may not be known,
To any but my Lord Jesus Christ.

Righteousness is accomplished through me,perhaps;
Or it may be that a man suffers his own will,
To serve the god of this world in unrighteousness according to the flesh.

I cannot accomplish righteousness.
I can sell my life and whole being for the price of the blood of the only begotten son of God.

Having been bought,
Christ can show his righteousness through his full ownership of me.

In as much as his Holy Ghost leads me to his will;
That I should have the glory of being called: the servant of Christ.

I am not righteous,
But I have seen the righteouness of Christ about me.

For the glory of my saviour Jesus Christ is righteous:
As it is written, the ways of the Lord are righteous altogether.

And though I live,
Christ lives in me.
Though I depart,
I depart unto Christ:
Blessed be thee in whom it is said, Christ is all.

beginnings

2009-05-30T03:58:00.000-07:00

In the beginning;
God created.

The beginning of life;
The end of days;
All bound in the mystery.

It is unknown;
It is all known;
By the mystic;
Of christ.

thy standards are not my standards,
Saith the lord;
Thy ways are not my ways.

As man explores the beginning of ages,
He fails;
His standards fail;
His discernment fails;
His exploration comes to nought,
As also it should,
As he puts God to trial.

Mysteries of God are not to be understood.
Believe the secrets,
Or dis-believe,
But thou shalt not discern.

The origin of the universe is by God;
The origin of life is by God;
God is the author of the living;
God is the author of the dead;
God is knowing;
God is unknown.

Jesus is the word of God,
Made flesh,
And dwelt among men.

I praise the presence of Christ;
I worship in the presence of Christ;
I find birth by the Holy Spirit;
I hear God by the self same Spirit.

God dwells in me as I dwell in him;
I dwell in Christ as Christ is in me;
It is not I who lives,
But Christ lives in me.

These are mysteries of the ages,
By which no man can discern according to the flesh.

Such is the beginning of days,
Both now and ever more.

lost gospel

2009-05-27T10:03:00.000-07:00

But if our gospel be hid;
It is hidden to the lost:
In whom the god of this world hath blinded the eyes of them which believe not;
Lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
Who is the image of God,
should shine unto them.

Again:
Shall the blind lead the blind and they both not fall to the ditch?

The world of christian churches,
And beliefs,
And tenets of faith,
And cathechisms,
And creeds,
And marks of faith,
Are many.

As are the pathways of history,
Which have led us from the primitive to the complex;
That hath led us from the pure to that which needeth to be cleansed;
And yet we use not the fuller of Christ to purge,
And to cleanse,
And to purify,
Lest it shine so brightly,
That it should be beyond recognition to a darkened world,
That loveth the dark places,
And hateth the light.

Through three centuries christian men opposed waring;
They stood,
Even to death,
In their refusal to join the fighting armies of murder.

As the church became corrupted,
As the church became mixed,
So also did the light become dim,
And men exchanged the valour of Christ,
For the false valour of men.

Leaders of nations,
Call upon the churches to pronounce their blessing,
Upon the murderous rampage of war;
Far too many,
Most without exception,
Concede the blessing as though the blessing of Christ may be bestowed by any man.

The word of God,
Dwells within me,
To the forbiddence of all war.

The word of God,
Dwells in me,
To the forbidence of sanction in any form of all war.

The scriptures do the same!

Nations call upon leaders of the christian faith:
The blind calls the blind,
To lead all into the ditch.

The glory of christ shineth everywhere,
Yet men fear the purity,
They fear the holiness,
They fear to know the word by the Holy Ghost given.

Light is too evasive;
Light covers the darkness;
Light purges the hidden truths;
Light is too wonderful.

For as the prince of darkness,
The god of this world,
Loveth the darkness,
Lest the purity of Christ be seen in every man.

Men seek the darkness;
Men seek the blindness;
The god of this world brings them into compliance,
Lest they give their lives to the holiness of Jesus Christ.

The gospel is hidden to the lost.

Mankind is willingly ignorant of the power of the holy spirit of Christ;
Mankind is willingly ignorant of the life of Christ,
The light of Christ within.

The gospel is hidden to the lost.

For if man should give his life;
Give it all,
Give it to the Spirit of Christ.
Lose his will in thine, O Lord;
Then shall light shine unto him;
That he can no longer walk in darkness;
Not according to the prince of the power of the air;
But in the light as also christ is in light,
As also Christ is light,
And purge the sin,
And breath his life within.

Be thee not deceived,
Nor blinded by the false pleasures of this world;
But let that glorious light of Christ shine within.

The lost gospel is found within.

preach the word

2009-05-25T09:04:00.000-07:00

Preach the word;
Be instant;
in season and out.

Preaching is a core value among churches;
Some,
If not many,
Hold preaching centered worship.

Faith come by hearing the word of God!

Preaching is a legitimate part of the great commission.

Go ye into all nations;
Go ye to the jews;
Go ye to the gentiles;
And preach the baptism into the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

That baptism is the baptism of Christ, not John. Borrowing snips from one who assessed a more concise wording:

All power is given to me in Heaven and in earth;
In virtue of my power or authority;
I will give you power also.

I will confer upon you the gift of the Holy Spirit.

When you have received it,
go into different and distant lands.

Go to the Gentiles who live in ignorance, darkness, and idolatry, and make them disciples of my new dispensation.

Burning the chaff of their corrupt affections by the active fire of the Holy Spirit, that accompanies your preaching, that they may be made partakers of the divine nature and walk in a newness of life.

I, will be with you;
with this my spirit in the work,until the end of the world.

Perhaps a wordy version of the great commission;
However, given the common interpretations;
Wordy becomes a necessity.

When one tells some certain tales long enough,
Often enough,
However absurd,
It becomes credible,
It becomes a "truth."

So also is that commission iterated so often in churches as the baptism of water (ie John's baptism),
That these words I have written would appear as a strange thing.

Preaching and the baptism of fire occur together;
Faith comes by hearing that word;
Preaching is by the same word;
So how is it that preaching in our world is a speech of sorts?

If the word of God is from within,
And it is;
If the word of God is revealed in me and thee;
How does memorized sermons,
Planned homiletic,
Enter into preaching?

I don't have an answer other than to say that it doesn't.

Part of the confusion is that folk are told that the bible is the word of God.
Thus, to study and to expand upon the bible as the word of God justifies planned and structured preaching as expounding that word.

The problem is that the bible is not the word of God!
The bible is a guide;
It tells us of Jesus as the word;
Properly used it is of great value;
Yet the bible as scripture is understood by the word of God within.

The bible will not be contrary to the word (ie Jesus in me);
But scripture centered worship is not Spirit centered worship.

Preaching is extemporous;
There is no study;
There is no act where the word is enveloped in the preacher;
But with all plainness of speech;
The word is spoken;
To lead the hearer into the faith in the Holy Spirit of Christ.

That is the constituency of instant in season preaching of the word of God.

It may not impress the world;
But it will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sin.

many mansions

2009-05-24T13:47:00.000-07:00

The scripture is read:

Let not your heart be troubled,
Ye believe in God,
Believe also in me;
For in my fathers house are many mansions.

This scripture is often sited to the end:
I am the way,
The truth,
And the life;
No man cometh to the father but by me.

The scripture is a "proof text" to many,
And inevitably is applied to after earth life is done.

I wind this back;
re-wind if thee will;
The kingdom come is already!

The kingdom of God is within you!

Coming there unto the father,
Is by Jesus Christ;
There are many mansions;
There are many rooms.

Jesus has prepared for us a place,
A room,
A mansion;
Not out of this world;
Not in the sky;
But within.

The presense of Christ is now;
The presense of christ is within;
The abode is in our body;
The abode is that temple of the Holy ghost;
The abode is prepared for the purity of the Spirit;
By the grace of Christ in me.

The scripture also reads:
There are three that bear witness;
The Father, the word, the Holy Ghost.
And they agree in one.

Again Jesus saith, "I and my father are one."

The fathers house is the house of Jesus;
For they are one.

Per chance one may say that the presence of Jesus is in the meeting house;
To that I would not contend;
The meeting;
The church;
The gathering of two or three where Jesus is in the midst;
The house of God;
All such seems synonymous or at least not contrary.

Jesus prepared the way that the disciples would be baptised in fire;
So also prepares friends today that the word of God may abide in them.

To us,
These mansions are come.

baptism of fire

2009-05-24T05:23:00.000-07:00

While any particular entry;
Any particular word;
Is not all inclusive;
Yet sets within the context of the subject at hand.

Baptism has been a contention within the christian realm for as long as I can recall.

I, like others have had uncertainties;
Have had reservations;
Have had and heard the whole gammut of doctrine of baptism.

It is simply resolved as other elements of judaism;
It bears no relationship to those of Christ today.

One need not travel down the endless road of proof texts,
For righteousness comes not by texts of scripture,
However profitable,
But by the Holy Ghost.

Baptism that saves is one that man cannot implement;
It is the baptism of fire;
The baptism of the Holy ghost;

To suggest that not everyone receives the Holy Spirit is anti-Christ;
Or that thou art not baptised in the Holy Spirit,
Same thing!

The word of God is by the Holy Spirit of Christ;
It is Christ in me;
How then say some that one must obey a doctrine of the law given to Moses,
That was taken away?

John baptised with water (baptism 1: by water);
But he that cometh after me shall baptise with the Holy Ghost and fire (baptism 2: by "fire").

Not only is baptism,
As men speak today,
That is of water for sin,
Unnecessary;
It is preaching "another doctrine!"

We have no more business baptising,
Than what we would requiring the washing of feet;
Than what we would requiring circumcision;
Than what we would animal sacrifices;
Than what we would the paying of tithes to a levitical priesthood;
Than what we would calling upon the obedience to the whole of the law:
For he who obeys the law is a debtor to keep the whole law.

Baptism was a cleansing ceremony.
Those in the days of the baptist recognized that.
They saw nothing out of the ordinary;
They saw no new or strange thing in John baptising.

But my friend;
Baptism,
or any earthy ordinance;
Or any rite;
Or any particular tradition;
Can not,
And should not,
Be called upon today,
Much less,
Required.

We should not baptise today!
It isn't a matter of: does one HAVE to be baptised?
One should not be baptised (as in the ordinance of men).

The "great commission is not that we baptise,
But that we make disciples of all nations,
Where as they are baptised according to,
That is to say BY,
The father son and Holy Ghost.

They are baptised by that which only the Spirit of Jesus Christ can implement.

Some churches suggest that baptism is an outward sign of an inward grace.

If baptism doesn't "save,"
Why do it?

The baptism that does save is the (correct translation) antitype of that which immersed and purged the world in the days of Noah.

The antitype is that winnowing fire of Christ;
The baptism of fire;
The baptism of the Holy Ghost;
Which no man can implement.

The gospel that I preach;
The gospel that thee should preach also:
Is that I need not man;
I need not the ordinances of man;
I need not the religious fraternity of rites and judgements;
But that the holy ghost dwells in me;
That christ dwells in me!

By the waiting upon the word of the Lord,
That is to say Jesus Christ who is present with me always,
I live the fulness of the spirit;
The fulness of grace,
Having been baptised in the fire of the Holy Ghost.

If Jesus speaks to me: and he does;
If the Holy Ghost directs my life and being: and he does;
If I can know the mysteries by Christ who is in me;
What possible want,
Much less NEED,
Could I have for a ritual of man?

I am not of Jewish lineage,
Thus neither passover,
Nor circumcision,
Nor baptism,
Nor tithes,
Nor seasons,
Nor sabbath days,
Nor holy days,
Nor holy seasons,
Nor and such-like thing has one whit to do with me:
Why then should I be subject to those ordinances which are put away?

I am subject to one,
And one alone:
Christ in me!

If it isn't Christ in me,
It isn't open for discussion.

Reality of Christ

2009-05-22T15:08:00.000-07:00

I post as a friend of the truth;
That is what I am;
Though at this day;
I possess no formal affilations.

Paul was called into the gospel;
He conferred with no man;
He spake as an oracle.

Paul was an apostle,
Though none confirmed his apostleship.

As one reviews my foundation of faith;
My truth of Christ in me;
My truth that I commune with Christ Jesus;
As he was raised from the dead;
And lives presently.

I hold to the truth that the Holy Spirit reveals;
The Holy Spirit dwells;
Literally within me;
And not I alone;
But that of God is in every man;
But especially those of the household of faith.

I believe the truth that the word of God is given to me;
Not the scriptures,
But that word of God in me.

That God the Holy Spirit of Christ;
Is the word of God in me;
That upon silent waiting;
That upon silent prayer;
Where as I speak not;
But pray in the fulness of Christ in me.

The language is not the words of man;
But the Holy Ghost prays;
As I hold in the stillness of Christ.

I worship daily;
In quiet;
Allowing the presence of Christ before me;
Not to be interned by the cares or pleasures of this present world.

Yet there is no pleasure of this world apart from that of the glory of Jesus Christ.

I do not believe in doctrines,
But in leadings of the Holy Ghost of Jesus Christ.

I do not believe that a single ritual or rite of any church is necessary,
And is often a hinderance of faith.

I refuse to acknowledge an oath,
Or sware by one.

I refuse to acknowledge war as other than the evil of equally un-necessary governments.

I refuse allegiance to any country as one above another.

I am co-incidentally born in the so-called United States;
But its "flag" bears no greater meaning to me than any other;
Politically if one were to put a name to it would be anarchist,
Or at least if that is according to my understanding of a complete disregard for all governments.

A contemporary government,
is no more or less "corrupted" than any other,
through any age.

The single purpose of any government is to subject its subjects to slavery.

I am a servant of Jesus Christ;
Therefore I can serve no other in any conscience.

I refuse service and am thankful that I was not in my youth "drafted" (ie forced) to kill for a government.

As governments go,
I also condemn the "death penalty."

No man has the right to murder another;
For any cause;
For any justification;
For any pleasure;
As apparently murdering other human beings is pleasure to the rulers and subjects of this present age.

I condemn idolatry;
I condem witchcraft;
I condemn hatred;
I condemn variances and strife;
I condemn in-ordinate affection (fornication);
I condemn envy;
I condemn murder;
I condemn drunkeness;
And all similar in-appropriate beliefs and actions against the Holy Ghost and the temple (my body) of the Holy Ghost.

This is the fruit of the tree of the world;
And not the fruit of Christ.

My beliefs;
My truth;
Follows the traditional friends disciplines.

Many disciplines today are more eccumenical;
And affiliations for me are difficult as many find mine ways to be "narrow minded."
And they are!

I find most so-called entertainment not entertaining;
Yet worse in that it runs against the truth of Christ.

I am not as stubborn,
I say that in respect and love,
As friends of the past.

I would agree that learning to be proficient in music expends a lot of time that could have been spent learning Christ and listening to the Spirit.

The same can be said of so many things in life;
And yet I can appreciate the art;
Especially if there is at least an attempt for balance.

What friends of the past recognized however that rarely is any balance sought;
Devotion is replaced by the pride of performing.

This is why I am careful in deviating from the traditions of the friends of the past,
And certainly respect their views.

I do believe that there is preaching;
That preaching is viable;
However, preaching cannot be according to the homletics of the religious world at large.

If thee preach;
Preach as it were an oracle of God.

No pre-planned "sermons;"
No up-staged,
preacher centered message.

All speaking must be spontaneous;
It must be spoke without intentional attention given to the speaker.

A sermon worth saying?
Then let it be by the Holy Spirit!

I do believe in structure as it applies to the organized church,
And so desire to be with those of a similar faith;
Yet many meetings are too "liberal" (for a lack of a better term).

I don't mean dis-respect;
But I just wouldn't fit in with a church that recognizes unitarian, christian, buddahist, and other faiths as equal in truth.

I don't hold as tightly to the plain speech as many of my peers.

I do however acknowledge the origins of the names of days and months as paganistic;
I will often refer to dates by numbers,
Yet not always or even mostly.

I have no use for the "holy days" as those are too apparent in origin and meaning.

Secular "holy days" such as one of this week-end are equally anathema;
This is the celebration of the conquests of war;
The justification of millions of murders;
And a government holy day.

As this post is not all inclusive,
It does illustrate my faith is that of the friends,
As there is far more similar than dis-similar;
Although I am still on the fence with the word "quaker." ;)

called in peace

2009-05-20T05:46:00.000-07:00

Called in peace,
Unto they that love peace;
And again,
They shall cry peace, peace and there shall be no peace.

My friend of the living truth in the Holy Ghost,
Thee hast been called to peace.

For as much as lies within,
Live peacably with all men.

We carry the banter of peace,
And yet peace is not reckoned.

We live in a nation;
A nation of war;
A nation of bloodshed;
A nation that seeks peace;
And yet does not pursue it.

The kingdoms of this world;
Are based upon bloodshed;
They are all found wanting;
For where is thy kingdom come;
That hath been established;
That hath been called;
That seeks peace and pursues it.

One leader of this nation;
I recall;
Spoke from the scripture;
Whaereas the lion lay down with the lamb;
And then spake the contrary,
In as much to say:
But I want to be the lion!

The lion is not more than the lamb;
The lion is not greater fierce;
The lion is not king, and the lamb subject;
The lion is not predator;
The lamb is not food.

The kingdom of the Holy Christ;
Is a kingdom where,
The swords are plowshares,
The spears are pruning hooks,
Nations do not rise one against the other,
Men learn war no more.

The nature of the lion is no longer;
It is not king of the land;
It is not fed upon the flesh of the lamb;
It is not strong;
But in thy weakness is the grace sufficient for thee.

The lamb is strong;
The lamb is empowered;
The lamb is filled in its flesh with that of Christ.

O! Christ my savior!
O! Christ my fortress!
O! Christ my life!

I need not learn war,
I need to learn Christ in me!

Christ in me has no need of a sword, and wouldn't know what to do with them though I have many swords.

A spear as an implement of war?
With such I have no skill!

Men depend upon nations and governments ruled by men.
They pledge themselves;
They sware their oaths;
They give their lives;
Sacrifice unto war;
That one people may rule another,
And another again.

I am the subject of no nation,
But of that kingdom of Christ in me.

I serve Father, Son and Holy Ghost;
There in is my pledge;
There in is my only allegiance.

I refuse the immorality of war;
Of murder;
Of hatred;
Of strife;
Of inflicting death;
Of subjection;
Of the rhetoric of justifiable war;
Of the fear of nations.

I live unto Christ;
If so be that I shall die unto Christ,
Then so be it!
I thank God that I should be found worthy of the incidental sufferings of this life that Christ might live in me!

All murder is Sin from the ancient of days;
Let not the righteous blood of Abel cry unto the ears of the Lord of the Sabboath,
Wherein thou sayeth,
Am I my brothers keeper?

Peace is within;
Peace is a gift of the Holy Spirit;
Such gifts are by grace;
By love;
Never by the murder of one flesh by another.

By the blessed mercies of Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit, hold fast to those words of truth, which also the scripture saith:
Seek peace and pursue it!

allusions of the spirit

2009-05-19T17:57:00.000-07:00

The scriptures allude;
The Spirit quickens.

The scriptures are the letter;
The Spirit is life.

The often spoken word;
The word is within;
The often spoke scripture;
The scripture is without.

The scriptures were given by the word of God;
But the scriptures are not the word of God.

The word is that within;
Moved by the spirit of Christ;
The presence of Christ in me;
That in the quiet;
The quiet of waiting;
Waiting for the word to move within me;
To bring me the light of Christ;
The light of the living waters;
The reflection of life,
Of light,
Of Christ,
In me.

examinations of faith

2009-05-19T03:35:00.000-07:00

Examine yourselves;
Whether ye be in the faith;
Prove your own selves;
Know ye not your own selves,
How that Jesus Christ is in you,
Except ye be reprobates.

And again:
For we can do nothing against the truth,
But for the truth.

To be reprobate is to be abandoned;
To be un-principled;
To live in reckless abandonment.

This scripture,
Begs the Corinthians,
The examine;
To ever examine themselves;
By principle;
By truth;
By the holy ghost of Jesus christ that lives in me.

Yet that same power of the lord God my savior;
Even Jesus Christ;
That life within;
That truth within;
Yet not as a principle alone;
But Christ in me.

Examination:
How can some say the resurrection is past?
How can some say that Jesus is history, but not God?
How can some say that the temple is here, or lo there?
How can some say that the spirit is not?
How say some other than that living truth;
That Christ is in me;
Except they be reprobate?

Do no evil, but live that living truth;
Drink ye of the still waters of christ in me;
Except ye be reprobate.

Be ye approved;
As in that day where the holy ghost baptised ye into the faith of the Christ of God.

Be ye not reprobate.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy ghost be with you all.

Men say lord,
And yet subject themselves unto themselves;
Quit ye as men except ye be reprobate.

Men call for grace,
And yet show no mercy;
And yet show no grace of christ within;
For as much as ye have fone to others,
Ye do unto the Christ of life;
Unprincipled,
And reprobate.

The truth is that the Holy Ghost dwells within;
The truth is that Jesus christ is the word of God;
The truth is that Jesus Christ is God;
The truth is that should I wait upon the voice of God;
Should I wait on the presence of Christ;
Should I giveth my death to the carnal that I may live in Christ,
Shall I then find the truth!
Yea, I shall be the truth,
But not I,
But Christ in me!

The world at large;
Even those who call Jesus Lord;
Largely through ritual,
And through inordinate affection to "religion,"
Know not that the truth is that Christ Jesus is now,
Not a future manifestation,
But now present within.

To find Christ in the stillness;
And the abandonment of will;
In the truth;
In the Holy Ghost;
By principle;
By faith;
By grace;
By calling;
By love;
By life;
By death,
By all of being,
For here-in testifies the truth of Christ in me,
Except ye be reprobate;
Yet I believe better of thee as did that apostle write:
That grace O Christ is sufficient for me!

Born of Spirit

2009-05-17T16:23:00.000-07:00

In the well known dialogue between Christ and Nicodemus, the truth is spoken: you must be born again!

Much over the centuries has been written on these few words;
Few words full of power;
Few words full of grace.

The regeneration of the new birth is that which friends have held to since the days of George Fox;
And yet there are those who publish in our day an almost humanist doctrine (exercising kindness)that excludes Christ as the word of God, and subsequently then the truth of the Spirit within:ie to be or not be born of the Spirit of Christ.

The Spirit is of that nature as the wind cometh and bloweth where it listeth. The new birth correlates to the transformation writen also in the scriptures by that apostle: Be ye not conformed to this world but be ye transformed by the renewal of your mind.

The body is the temple of the Holy Ghost that dwells within the new creature. The temple is kept pure and escapist from the carnality of this age.

There is no more relationship between the secular age in which we live and the regenerated temple (that is thou my friend) than what there is between Christ and Belial,
Christianity and Paganism,
good and evil,
Christ and Satan,
truth and humanism or what ever brand of grey man can bring to the table of imagination.

New birth is a new life of love,
of compassion,
of patience,
of longsuffering,
of giving,
of opportunity,
of charity,
of all that may be said to be fruitful;
And yet not all is fruitful.

Under no guise had Christ greyed the dogma of the pharisee; while he yet loved, he reproved.

This is what leads to the new birth:
One is born of flesh;
Born into this secular world.
We are guided and as often misguided in an age or world that we came into naked.

Naked came I from the womb, naked shall I return again.

I came into a world as in Adam, so as in Adam all die.

In my new being I am "striped" of the carnality of the flesh and with it the desires of this present age.

When that time has come,
I put to death the earthly ordinances,
those earthly members that are enumerated in the scriptures: Adam in me has died!

Enter the new birth, the presence of Christ in me. In a moment, the twinkling of the eye, the Holy Spirit moves over me. Into this and at what moment, I know not: for the wind bloweth where it listeth, so also is the mystery of the age of God.

One may or may not be baptized by an earthly ordinance;
One may or may not be circumcized by an earthly ordinance;
And yet as circumcision (or the ritual of baptism) availeth nothing, neither does un-circumcision (or un-baptism for that matter);
But a new creature.

Alas, one is born not by the will of man (inclusive of his own will), but of God.

The only baptism that avails is the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and no man can administer that;
And no man can pick and choose when and whither the Spirit listeth.

The water was an ablution (to use the theological term). The washing of the sacrifice was according to the judeo custom in that age (judaism).

Circumcision
was also of the same age,
with the strength,
of the same law of ordinances that were against us (gentiles) contrary to us (gentiles) and taken out of the way (for the gentiles) nailing it (in a figure) to his (Jesus Christ) cross: thus is written by the apostle of the gentiles.

Circumcision never was for the gentile. Baptism (ablution) was also a practise of the early Jewish Christians, who were prone to impose jewish customs upon the gentile converts.

If one were baptised
or not baptised in our age,
let us not make this a point of contention or a test of faith of it.

To avoid the similar contention Paul allowed timothy to be circumcised, and yet I know of no church today that requires circumcision.

I speak to the ecumenical discord within Christendom.

The new birth is specific to the spirit of Christ, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the baptism of the Holy Spirit,
if such is to be read into that,
is all that would be applicable to those of us living in this age.

Discussing the baptism of the Holy Spirit;
Discussing the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ;
Discussing Jesus Christ as the word, and so on would be a refreshing revival of the truth.

Let us not labor to once again lay what should be the first principles of the oracles of God,
but grow,
as those who are of age,
into the fulness of Christ within;
pressing ever onward to the high calling in Christ Jesus.

fifth month 17

2009-05-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

Rejoice in hope; patient in tribulation; instant in prayer.

Three attributes that are fully dependent upon the presence of the Spirit of Christ within;
of simplicity, founded in truth.

Hope that is true bears rejoicing.

Tribulation beyond that hope pales in the effulgence of Christ's glory within. For if I have the Spirit of Christ, what tribulation can befall me that is not absolutely trivialized by the hope that lay within.

Prayer is instant!

Often I have through the years of my life failed to grasp the beauty. While I spent much of my life resisting, the truth has always been there, however, invisible to me.

In churches in general, and according to Christian teaching in general, prayer like other aspects of Christian life is programmed.

Worship is programmed (for a lack of a better term). It is said to fit within certain parameters. For some it is preaching and singing; for others it is a ritual of the altar and eucharist.

When I came to the realization, as did the prodigal of Jesus' parable, that it is far better to be a servant in my Fathers house than to squander life:
I then understood.

The word of God is not the memorized text of the bible. The word of God is the Holy Spirit of Christ within. Attaining that realization is not by talking, but by listening! Be Still! Listen to the word of Christ within.

Similarly, prayer is for many too much talk and not enough listen. To silently pray by listening and letting the Holy Spirit pray those things which cannot be uttered is instantaneous and in another sense combustionable.

In silence one reflects, in noise one grows weary and tense. In silence one realizes the fullness as the Apostle said of "Christ in me!"

Awaking unto righteousness is a matter of (if I may put it so rudely) shutting up.

The more I quietly pray, the more "instant" my prayer is. The more often prayer becomes the greater my hope; the greater the hope, the greater the rejoicing--can you see where I am going from here?

When tribulation affronts, prayer and hope absolves.