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How do Christians Forgive?

The word forgive in the New Testament is usually written using two Greek words. Strong’s Concordance entry 863 ἀφίημι (aphiemi) comes from two Greek root words. Word Origin: From ἀπό (apo, meaning “off”) and ἵημι (hiemi, meaning “to send” or “to let go”). With the proper interpretation, this word means to ‘off put’ or ‘to not send’ or ‘to not give’: forgive. A more subtle form of forgive as in ‘to release’.

Strong’s Concordance entry 868 ἀφίστημι (aphistemi) comes also from two Greek root words. Word Origin: From ἀπό (apo, meaning “from”) and ἵστημι (histemi, meaning “to stand”); a stronger form of forgive as in ‘to withdraw’.

The first version is used 10 times more often in the New Testament.

To forgive is an action. Not a feeling. It was originally meant in the context of holding back punishment to those who took something from you or caused you harm and deserved retribution. Jesus’ teaching was revolutionary in so many ways, but one striking thing he is noted for is twisting the literal interpretations of the Pharisees and Sadducees into figurative interpretations. As Jesus did with so many concepts in the natural realm, He also applied them to the spiritual realm, and turned the meaning of forgiveness from something observable to something more related to the heart, exemplified by the Lord’s Prayer and explained in the book of Matthew.

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

“For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. ~Matthew 6:9-15

So we can see that it is necessary to forgive, as illustrated above. But HOW Christians forgive is not explained above. Biblical scripture all works together in bits and pieces (or jots and tittles 🙂 ) to teach us everything we need to know to love God and love our neighbor; in essence to please God. Our scripture is sufficient. But to get the full meaning, we must study all the words in the bible to put it all together. That is what systematic theology does. One section of verses might tell us one thing, while another fleshes out the story. That is the case with forgiveness, and how to forgive. Each verse is not necessarily exhaustive, but it might be. In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus tells us we must forgive, and why we must forgive, but He doesn’t tell us in this particular passage how to forgive. That is brought to us by Jesus through Luke, who travelled with the Apostle Paul as in the passage below:

Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.” ~Luke 17:1-4

So HOW Christians forgive one another, is to off-send or off-cast or for-give an offense done to you after the person repents.

Forgiveness is an act of mercy for the person who sins against you, not a thought-experiment for you to feel better.

If God is our example for everything, we should ask, “How does God forgive us?” Does He just forgive us instantly when we sin? NO! We must repent to Him first, then he will forgive us: If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ~1 John 1:9 “Therefore, repent and turn to God, so that your sins may be erased…~Acts 3:19

As with everything in the world (which is run by the devil) he flips the script and people–especially Christians–walk around with the wrong concept of what forgiveness means. Most would say that forgiveness is something that only needs to happen in the heart, that it is an act of thought or willfulness that you will not harbor ill will toward someone who has wronged you. This is accurate but is only half of the story. The most important part of forgiveness is left out of this equation. The bible teaches clearly that if you are the one who was sinned against, you are to go to your brethren and tell him his fault between you and he alone. See below:

If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. ~Matthew 18:15

We are commanded to do this. If he or she will not listen to you, then you are to go seek one or two other folks who can go with you to make your case against them. This is important because the most important thing for our well-being as Christians is for a sinner to repent of his sin unto God first and foremost! Otherwise, to remain in unrepentant sin is a very bad thing: But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. ~Romans 2:5

Against You only have I sinned and done evil in Your sight; that you may be found just when You speak and blameless when You judge.

The devil is duping Christians into a false understanding of forgiveness, so that we are not helping our brethren to get right with God by pointing out their sin. If we only pray and think about forgiving someone who has hurt us and we do not go to that person and tell him/her sin against us, we are actually sinning against God and our neighbor, because we are not doing what the scriptures command us to do. Ironic, isn’t it?

Now, if we are never approached by our sinful brethren when they sin against us, or if they refuse to repent to us for their wrongdoing when we confront them, we are still commanded to not harbor hate in our hearts. But this is a constant commandment from Jesus, for he who hates his brother in his heart has already committed murder against him. How do we do this? How do we not harbor hatred against those who have sinned against us? We use our armor given to us by God. We use our shield of faith with which we quench all the fiery darts of the wicked ones, because our battle is not with flesh and blood anyway. We use our feet to spread the gospel of peace. We have our helmet on which provides salvation for us. We overcome hate with love:

Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; and pray for those who spitefully use you. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Christians do not need a thought-experiment in their secret place to ‘forgive’ their perpetrators. Jesus has already told us how to conduct ourselves as Christians.

The other way we deal with forgiveness is when we ourselves sin against another. Again, Jesus and the entire bible tells us clearly how to navigate this. You simply repent and ask for forgiveness. But that isn’t the end of the story. God does call Christians to a higher level of communion with each other than we would have with those in the world, or unbelievers. He discusses this in some passages where He also shows how Christians should differ in their heart from the orthodox Jews of the time.

Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. ~Matthew 5:23-24

The Greek word here for ‘against you’ means intense opposition. This could mean an enemy, or it could mean just that person with whom you give a wide berth to. Jesus is showing that Christians should not have fences around themselves but should be loving one another and living in communion with one another. That is the ideal way Christians should live. God doesn’t want us making offerings to Him (to love Him) when we are not getting along and loving each other the way He wants us to.

In SUMMARY:

You sin > Ask for forgiveness

Your brethren sins > Go and tell him his fault; convict him of his sin, taking as many witnesses as needed to help him repent and turn. If he repents, then forgive him as often as he repents.

Either way, do not harbor malice in your heart against anyone. Love your neighbor as you love yourself.

~Selah

Can Christians Have a Demon?

I believe that Satan and his demons can reside in living things which draw breath. This includes animals and man. This is one of the three ways problems can come upon man. The other two ways are sin, and organic disease. Indeed, to not believe in this would be to deny Christ, as so much of Christ’s ministry (and later, His apostles’) was in casting out demons.
 
As a true crime junkie, I often wonder how often serial killers or other criminals are ‘possessed’ by demons. At least some of them are. People tell the same stories about how their ‘eyes went black’ and ‘he became a different person’. Now, most of the time criminal behavior is due to straight-up sin, so we cannot give the devil all the credit. But I do think a significant portion can be attributed to Satan and his demons.
 
I posted the story recently about Jesus saving the demoniac. In those days, a man was inhabited by numerous evil spirits who called themselves ‘Legion’, and he had been kicked out of town and was living on the edge of town, in the place where they buried the dead, among the corpses. The demons inside the man recognized Jesus and begged Him not to hurt them and requested that they be cast into a neighboring herd of swine. They probably did not realize that the swine would go mad and race down the hill into the sea and drown, but that is exactly what happened.
 
Since 1614 The Catholic Church has authorized the use of exorcism for those who are believed to be the victims of demonic possession. In my lifetime, the Catholic religion became infamous in the 1970’s for their belief in demon-possession and exorcism, exemplified by the movie, ‘The Amityville Horror’. I remember being on vacation in Oklahoma as a little girl and my big sister got to go see this movie with our friends, and I was forced to stay home. Of course, I had no idea how scary that movie was and am glad now I wasn’t allowed to see it. Anyway, I do not think the perpetrator, Ronald DeFeo Jr., was demon-possessed. I think he was influenced by the perfect storm of drug and alcohol abuse, the provocation of his father’s poor parenting habits, and his sins (namely anger and who knows what else) combined with his father’s sins. He was raised in a Catholic household, so the name of Jesus would have been heard and voiced, even if Jesus was not personally known by Ronald Jr. 
 
In the 1970’s the concept of psychiatry and psychology had taken root and its practitioners began to provide counseling and ‘mental health services’ to those who struggled with problems that they could not overcome. Even the Catholic church bought into this ideology and began telling people they probably did not have a spiritual problem but a ‘mental health problem’ and the priests offloaded their patrons to these practitioners. Fast forward to today and we can see that those who came long before us actually were closer to the truth: that what really ailed these folks WAS spiritual, not ‘mental’. There was no ‘mental’ until it was separated out as its own idea. Spiritual WAS what encompassed ‘mental’ back then. That knowledge was taken from us by Satan himself. He was tired of being seen for what he was, a harbinger of destruction. He was tired of being called out and cast out. So he camouflaged not himself, but the problem, so that man could no longer see him as clearly.
 
Characteristics of the demon-possessed individual
 

What the Church views as signs of demonic invasion vary depending on the type of demon and its purpose, including:

    • Using languages unknown to the person or people around them.
    • Having extraordinary strength or resistance to physical restraint.
    • Knowledge of events or people that the person could not have possibly known.
    • An aversion to holy objects or places, such as holy water or churches.
    • Self-harming and displaying violent or aggressive behaviour.
    • Ailments or conditions that cannot be diagnosed or treated medically.
    • Having hallucinations or hearing voices not attributable to drug or alcohol use or abuse
    • An abrupt change in behavior or personality.
    • Sudden spiritual dryness.
    • Expelling of objects or animals through the mouth.

In Hostage to the Devil, Malachi Martin also mentions a type of demonic attack called “familiarization”. He writes:

“

The possessing spirit in “familiarization” is seeking to “come and live with” the subject. If accepted, the spirit becomes the constant and continuously present companion of the possessed. The two “persons”, the “familiar” and the “possessed”, remain separate and distinct. The “possessed” is aware of his “familiar”.

”

The last book of the bible, the book of The Revelation of John, explains that the dragon (Satan) recruited a third of the angelic realm to join him in rebelling against the Lord. This third of the angelic realm are called demons. Demons are fallen angels, which move between heaven and earth doing the bidding of the enemy. Demons may bring torment to believers and unbelievers, and they may indwell both believers and unbelievers as shown in the Gospels.

The bible says the way of the transgressor is hard; the transgressors being those who do not know God. The bible also says: 

It is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. ~Hebrews 11:6

As you might already know, the subject of demon-possession is not without some controversy, especially as it regards Christians. Some Christians believe that once they are justified (saved) in Christ, no demon can enter him, and others disagree. They believe Christians can be heavily plagued, or even inhabited, by demons. Wayne Grudem argues in his Systematic Theology (2004) that the translation “demon possessed” which is common in many modern versions of the bible does not actually reflect the Greek. The Greek term really just means “to have demons.” Jesus validated the term to ‘have a demon’ in reference to God’s people many times in his discourse with Pharisees. The Old Testament speaks of some Israelites having a demon, namely King Saul. So, it is possible for believers to be plagued by demons.

I call it ‘dancing with demons’ when they are still outside of a person, seeking entrance. ‘Having a demon’ implies they have entered the person. To be clear, all prominent Christian scholars agree that a person cannot lose their salvation in Christ, but that he can be given over to various afflictions by the devil and his demons while alive; and can become a slave to Satan, instead of Jesus Christ.

This is a good article on the subject: https://bible.org/seriespage/9-can-christians-be-demonized-or-possessed .

I also believe that the Devil and his demons can inhabit animals and use them to wage war on humans. I came to understand this after watching a movie that made me consider the phenomenon of demon possession in animals. It is a documentary called “Night of the Grizzlies“, and it is based on the book of the same name about two fatal grizzly bear attacks occurring minutes apart on the same night in Glacier National Park. As a Christian, I do not believe in coincidence or that things just happen randomly. God is sovereign and He orchestrates everything that happens, even as He allows the devil to rule this earth.

I cannot overlook the significance of the Glacier Park killings which both occurred in two 19-year-old blonde girls on the night of August 13, 1967, by two different bears about 8 miles apart. As I recall it was a ‘windy night’ and get chills thinking about Satan sending his demons into those bears to do his dirty deeds. I know at least one of the girls was a Christian, and probably the other as well. They were in the park working as seasonal employees. This particular night they were both camping with friends in two popular places in the park. One admittedly was near a notorious bear feeding ground, but the other was not. These bears literally went mad, killed these girls, and drug their bodies away to store as a food cache. The bears had to be hunted down and killed by park rangers. What a horrific tale. I know that night that the devil sent his demons to that region of the wilderness to kill those girls. Interestingly, a Catholic priest was present on vacation in that locale on that very night, and minstered to one of the girls before she died.

The GOOD NEWS

Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. ~James 4:7

The Good news is that Jesus came to save sinners. And if you abide in Christ, you cannot sin (1 John 3:6) and the devil cannot obtain a foothold. What does it mean to abide in Christ? While the Apostle Paul, the greatest evangelist in the early church, was imprisoned in his last days on earth he reminded us that we are all soldiers in God’s army. And as a soldier, we also need to put on armor, except our armor is not physical armor, it is spiritual armor. This is because our enemies are spiritual, not physical. The best way to abide in Christ is to don our armor daily. Stephen Armstrong lays it out very well in his bible study from 2017. I will summarize below.

Our Defensive Weapons:

  • Belt of truth
  • Breastplate of righteousness
  • Shoes of evangelism
  • Shield of faith
  • Helmet of salvation

Our Offensive Weapons:

  • Sword of the Spirit (the word of God)
  • Praying always in the Spirit

If we wear our armor daily, the devil will not be able to gain a foothold to tear us down. Then we will also be able to help our brethren who are falling to demonic activity.

Test the Spirits

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. ~ 1 John 4:1-4

But just wearing armor daily is not enough. You must love the Lord your GOD with ALL your heart, soul, mind, and strength in this war because love is what it all comes down to. Love is the essence of why God created us. Without love, nothing else matters. Without love, we fail. To fully love God, we have to continue in our sanctification (purity, refinement) DAILY, replacing those old sinful habits with righteous ones. If we are lackadaisical or haphazard about this–Jesus called it being lukewarm–then we actually set ourselves up for MORE failure, ironically.

When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils……When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.” ~Luke 11:21-22; 24-26

The best way to know if you are protected in the Lord, and abiding enough in Him, is to see the fruit that is produced when you walk in The Way of Christ. The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. The devil cannot live in this realm. If you are lacking some of this fruit, you are opening a door for demons to enter in and destroy you, and I admonish you to work on that.

So, yes, even Christians can have a demon, unfortunately, but this usually occurs in folks who have long-ago abandoned God, or who have a heart turned against God. By far, the usual cause of man’s problems is sin itself, not demons.

Selah~

Agape Love

My realization today is that I have always been the person in the room who has loved the hardest. The intensity of my love is fierce. Those who have known me describe me as ‘intense’, and people often have to create distance from me because I am more than they can handle. Since I was born, I have poured out all my love to those around me. But since I was conceived, I was not loved like I love. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me. I have made peace with this, my reality. But I realize today it has been the most characteristic thing about me, and the thing which–at the bottom of everything else–defines me.

The bible speaks about the devil as a roaring lion who prowls around seeking whom he may devour. That is what I feel like, except instead of wanting to destroy someone, I want to love with them. I understand today that all my life I have been seeking those who love like I do. I have been searching out love, REAL love. I have found the world’s best versions of love. But it was never sustainable. And to be honest, it was usually because the other person or people fell away, or backed away, or just could not sustain it. I am NOT saying I was never at fault; I was. I am a sinner extraordinaire. But for the most part, it wasn’t me, it was them who did not want the intense love I brought.

The Ancient Greeks had different types of love, elaborated in four main categories:

  1. Eros: sexual passion and desire.
  2. Philia: deep friendship.
  3. Ludus: playful love.
  4. Agape: love for everyone.
  5. Pragma: longstanding love.

I have had all these loves the world has to offer. But I did not know agape love until Christ saved me. ALL of those other loves failed me. And I know they fail others.

For a long time, I thought that my fellow Christians would be able to share–and return–that elusive agape love with me. But I have found even they are really not capable of it. Yes, they have the fruits of the Spirit we look for to know who carries the Holy Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. But they just don’t have it in the measure I do. I really don’t mean this to sound conceited. I don’t hold it in my heart that way, and I don’t think about it that way. It’s just that now that I am here in my walk with the Lord, and I have had opportunities to commune with born-again Christians, I see they are still not that much different than the world. Yes, they are different, and if the world were ending, they are who I would look to for solace, camaraderie, and comfort; but they still are not capable of meeting my love head-on.

Whereas loving others in the world, or unbelievers, they just sort-of take you like you are, and everything (and anything) goes. They don’t know truth or right from wrong because they don’t know the Word. That is a superficial, evil sort of love which isn’t really love at all, but it masks itself as love. Anyone can fake love for a while, because, “Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” (2 Corinthians 11:14-15)

On the other hand, Christians know Truth, and the Word, but they want to put me in a box, they want to fence me in with their idea of what love is. Usually this involves some kind of expected behavior on my part. I am not talking biblical behavior. I believe in 100% of the word of God in the bible, and to err from the word of God is sin. I do not believe in taking away, or adding to, what the inspired word of God says. But most Christians have this learned churchy ideology that is not in the bible, or that they have extrapolated from the bible. It might be ‘legalistic’ but it is also ‘new agey and mystical’. And the love I have to offer doesn’t match it. So, then the undercurrent of tension sets in. I am not functioning in the way they think I should function; therefore I see doubt creep into their mind that maybe I am not a good Christian, or not walking with God. When the truth is, I have come to know, that I am walking with God more than they are. Then the distance begins to set in. Again.

I do not fit in a box. I never have and I never will.

What is this love, and why do I have it in larger measure? I have not really thought of it as a gift before, because it has always set me apart. And things that cleave you from others don’t usually feel like attributes, or gifts. But maybe it is a gift. Maybe God gives me the ability to love harder because I am honestly His messenger of love. I really don’t know any other viable explanations.

The world might try and label me as ‘co-dependent’ or ‘borderline personality disorder’ or ‘clingy’ or something like that. And I have been guilty of the actions that warrant these labels. But I am so much more than those things, and my love is PURE for the most part. I will not drown someone else to save myself. I usually always put others over myself. I am the one who walks away when the writing is on the wall, when people show they don’t really love me, or when people are mean to me.

So many people are mean. And I am talking about Christians here. Especially when they cannot conscribe me to their idea for me of what I should be or look like. They do not appreciate my unusual gifts such as healing. And they don’t want to even get close enough to me to see all the things below the surface that are hiding, waiting to be used by God. I have tried to analyze this phenomenon in my life ad nauseum and have not come much closer to elucidation, but I sense that people just can’t figure me out and literally don’t know what to do with me. I seem to confound people. Then because they don’t understand me, they distance themselves from me.

Their love doesn’t even scratch the surface of who I am.

So, I continue on, seeking in others the love I have been given in great measure. I have come to understand that I probably won’t find it on this earth, that it is otherworldly; it is God’s love from His realm. The best way I can honor this love I have been given is to share it with those He sends me and sends me to, because He has given me this ability to love deeply for a reason, and even if I am not sure exactly how to use it, He does. ❤

God, Yahweh, and the Fire: The Holy Trinity

Moses had escaped from his elevated status in Egypt into the Wilderness of Sinai to forego Pharoah’s wrath for murdering an Egyptian taskmaster, and there had become Jethro’s son-in-law. Jethro was the Midian High Priest. Moses seems to have lived and worked with Jethro for 40 years before being sent on his mission back to Egypt to lead the Hebrew people out of captivity. I believe it was during this era that the Essenic movement was created, by Jethro and Moses; God’s holy line of true priests.

Yahweh was sent by God to deliver His people from bondage because the children of Israel groaned and cried out to God due to their difficult lives in Egypt. Their cry came up to God and God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob and He acknowledged them. God sent Yahweh to save them in the form of an angel, and this angel called to Moses in the midst of a fire of a burning bush.

But as valuable as Moses was to God, God would not allow him to look at the Holy Spirit.

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed. 

Then Moses said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.”

So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” Moreover, He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. ~Exodus 3:1-6

Yahweh was officially introduced into the biblical narrative in Exodus Chapter 3.Yahweh is the I AM WHO I AM. Yahweh in the Old Testament is Jesus in the New Testament. Yahweh is the living word of God.

Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’ ~Exodus 3:13-15

The Holy Spirit is unofficially introduced to us in Exodus Chapter 3 as well, as the fire in the burning bush that was not consumed. Other places where this sacred fire existed are as a pillar leading the Hebrews through the Red Sea and the Wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula.

And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people. ~Exodus 13:21-22

After the miraculous feat of the parting of the Red Sea, and the ever-constant presence of the Holy Spirit fire and cloud; God told Moses He wanted to meet with him on Mount Horeb in the Sinia Peninsula. The purpose of this was to give the Hebrews a law to live by so that they could serve Him righteously as His people.

God said: “For on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people”…Then it came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord (Yahweh) descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice. Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. ~Exodus 19:11; 16-20

God gave His people the law as a placeholder until Jesus would come and fulfill the law, replacing the law with faith in Jesus, Yahweh. Jesus had not yet come to the earth, but existed with Almighty God ALHYM as LORD Yahweh, and usually appeared with fire, the Holy Spirit. Moses received the Law in the form of the 10 Commandments from the Lord GOD whom the Apostle Paul would expound upon 1400 years later:

What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. Before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. ~Galatians 3:19, 23-25

And, the law was a placeholder for Christ.

You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. ~Hebrews 10:8-10

God has been giving us the guiding and comforting force of His Trinity from the beginning. If we seek Him, we shall find Him. Yahweh was Jesus in Spirit. The fire and breath of God are the Holy Spirit. Neither ever changes. They both appeared to men in the Old and New Covenant days to protect, guide, and deliver God’s chosen ones, such as when Daniel’s companions were thrown into the Fiery Furnace, and when tongues of fire rested on the Apostles on the infamous Day of Pentecost. The difference is that after Jesus became the living lamb of God for those who receive Him, the Holy Spirit is able to penetrate believers so as to make them literally the holy temple of the Lord. Before Jesus, the Holy Spirit was always outside of man. After Jesus, the Holy Spirit can indwell man.

Coming of the Holy Spirit

When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they (the Apostles) were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. ~Acts 2:1-

Jesus is a free gift. Once He is received, He sends the Holy Spirit to the person. Like his own private angel. Have you accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior?

Even the Demons Confess…

It’s intriguing the way that besides John and His disciples, the first ones to realize Jesus’ divinity were demons. This is counterintuitive because it seems that the devil and his minions would be the last to acknowledge Who Jesus was. But the last to acknowledge His birthright were the most holy men of Israel: The high priests of the Pharisees and Sadducees. They did not see His divinity. But the demons did. Which is uncanny if you think about it.

Demons also were coming out of many, shouting, “You are the Son of God!” But rebuking them, He would not allow them to speak, because they knew Him to be the Christ. ~Luke 4:41

But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, he came out of him without doing him any harm. ~Luke 4:35

One of the things that we will see again and again in the Gospel of Mark is that the demons know who Jesus is: He is the Son of God. The demons know he is more powerful than they: He casts them out, and they obey his commands. Jesus is stronger than Satan, and he can defeat Satan and his demonic cohorts.

“Demons do not know everything. While they are extremely intelligent beings—far smarter than even the highest IQ human beings—still they are not aware of all that takes place in the material world. We can be sure that over time the demons’ fascination with Jesus would have grown. Exorcists point out that the demons are especially attentive to the life and deeds of holy people, and so it follows that they would have paid close attention to this young boy from Nazareth who appeared to have never committed any sin.”

Jesus Restores a Demon-Possessed Man

They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an impure spirit came from the tombs to meet him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and in the hills, he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. He shouted at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? In God’s name don’t torture me!” For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of this man, you impure spirit!”

Then Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

“My name is Legion,” he replied, “for we are many.”  And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.

A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, “Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them.” He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man—and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed. ~Mark 5:1-20

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The people in that place, the unbelievers, were more discomfited at the loss of their sinful swine than the recovery of their fellow citizen. Jesus left him there as he had a great ministry to perform in that town. ❤

I am one as God is One

As I have argued in recent posts, the crux of the problem as to why Christians are so easily misled into thinking medicine is good is because they are not aware that for millennia philosophers have been viewing humans and the way they think from a non-biblical perspective. There is no end to the way they slice and dice up the mind, body, spirit, soul, function, and heart of man. Once these thought experiments are formed, then they are labeled with a name. Once something has a name, it implies legitimacy. Legitimacy leads to the creation of hypotheses, which leads to the development of theories, which leads to models, which leads to algorithms, and diagnoses. So far this is all a mental exercise and while it is wrong thinking, it has not yet caused harm to another. However, the final step is treatment. And that is an action that is applied to a patient or client. That is the final culmination of this mental and physical atheistic experiment.

Pretty soon paradigms spring up, like the practice of medicine and psychology. Schools are built and training programs are made so that students can become knowledgeable in all the nuances of these concepts, which we forgot came from man, not God.

The most important prayer in the bible before Jesus came was the Shema Israel, which is a prayer taken from Torah and recited twice daily, in the morning and at night (and other important times as well). I will write the beginning verses out here:

Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you today shall be upon your heart. You shall teach them thoroughly to your children, and you shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road, when you lie down and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be for a reminder between your eyes. And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and upon your gates. ~Deuteronomy 6:4-9

By contrast, in the New Testament, Jesus said all the law and the prophets hung on two great commandments, the first of which is:

And Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, Israel. The Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. ~Mark 12:29-30

Jesus confirmed for us here in the oldest gospel record, the book of Mark, that the greatest commandment is to love God with your heart, soul, and might. But He also added ‘mind’ because mind was a word not used in Hebrew. Mind was understood in Hebrew as part of the concept of heart.

Since this is the greatest command in the bible–Old and New Testaments–then we should think about ourselves as God does here. Let’s delve into it. Heart in the Greek here is Strong’s entry 2588 kardia and it means the center of all physical and spiritual life, the INNER SELF. It includes thoughts and feelings, but not necessarily deep thoughts. Soul in the Greek here is Strong’s entry 5590 psuche and it means LIFE and gives the idea of what makes us alive. Mind in the Greek here is Strong’s entry 1271 dianoia and it means ‘through the intellect’ or deep thought, THINKING. Finally, strength in the Greek here is Strong’s entry 2479 ischus and it means FORCEFULNESS, as in power and strength manifested.

To interpret these words which are really more like ideas, we find that

We are a unique person with a will, capable of thinking, and able to enforce our will for God.

We are way more than a mere mind and body. In fact, body is not even mentioned here!! The Hebrew and Greek words for body are not included in the most important commandments. The material body is understood as the physical container for all these other things. If you consider we are a living soul with a will (our heart/inner self), thought (mind), and drive (strength), these are all abstract concepts. This implies that God considers what is most important about us are those aspects of ourselves that are immaterial!

No one can call themselves a Christian (or Jew), if they do not believe in the greatest commandment in the bible. And if you believe in the greatest commandment in the bible, it precludes you from separating out the parts of us that God calls to worship Him. What God has joined together, let no man separate (Mark 10:9). To separate our mind from our body is a pointless activity. Our body is just a house for all the things about us that God really cares about. Our bodies become sick through literal and figurative sin and Jesus can heal this, but God is far more concerned about our inner selves and how we function as His creation.

In our world, which is ruled by Satan, we are duped into focusing on our physical bodies over everything else. This separation originally occurred with Babylonian and Egyptian philosophers and shamans who were polytheists and atheists thousands of years ago in ancient times. It was never a biblical concept. These ideas were carried forward by more atheist, agnostic, and deist philosopher-physicians who created the field of science, and it has became one of our biggest idols today: the idea of medicine, health care, mental and physical health.

But the bible discourages us from focusing on our physical bodies, as the Apostle Paul says here:

For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. ~1 Timothy 4:8

Jesus healed people from physical ailments to show them the power of God to heal them and their sin–not physically, but spiritually; to heal those parts of us that God really cares about, our inner beings. God gives us everything we need to do His will, and that goes for His greatest will of all.

to love Him. ❤

Smitten by God

I have noticed a weird phenomenon for many years now. God smites those who have been mean to me. I know it sounds petty and immature. But that is the simple truth.

The first time I noticed it was around 2016 when a business I had with some other people closed and we had to default on our private loan. The loan was through a notable, kind, elderly Christian couple in what ended up becoming my denomination and my church. I was a new Christian at the time, but I already loved studying the scriptures, and in that time wrote my two books for the LORD, to learn about Him and glorify Him. We (mostly me, working two jobs plus raising my children as a single mom) worked diligently to pay the monthly mortgage to them as they were owner-financing us. This was very gracious of them, to owner-finance us, as we were a group of poor midwives and could not come up with a loan on our own. However, when the business had to be closed, we all met at the lawyer’s office and had our final meeting to sign papers for it to revert back to them. They were going to turn around and sell the building, and all the 6 years of payments I had made were going to go down the drain. We had spent literally 80K dollars improving their building, not to mention appliances and other upgrades. Nevertheless, it was an affable ending between us and the owners, and they were very gracious about us not being able to continue in the terms of the loan. I also lived in an apartment in the building at the time and was going to be displaced, having to find an apartment short notice with a pet. I had loans to pay, and I made a pittance and did not know how I was going to afford to move, live, or take care of my sons. So, I went to the last meeting armed with this bible verse, hoping for mercy on their part:

If you lend money to any of My people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him; you shall not charge him interest. ~Exodus 22:25

I nicely suggested to them that the interest that we had paid on the building could possibly come back to us after they had sold it to someone else. I cannot remember exactly what I was pitching but I was open to anything. I think I would have been happy with 10K each, as a gift for improving their building and helping us on our way. I laid out my case before them with my colleagues present (and watching bemusedly), that we had put all of our money, blood, sweat, and tears into that building and that I wasn’t sure how I was going to be able to live now. My colleagues were single women at the time as well. The owners listened but declined my request, and even became offended and defensive, saying that paying interest was the term of the loan that we all agreed to, and they were not about to do anything of the sort. I distinctly remember the wife raising her voice to me and becoming angry.

I will also mention that they lived in a large, lovely home with land on the lake which one of the parents had purchased for very little money back in the early 1900’s. I have heard it is a beautiful place. They had plenty of means and were already old by this time. Selling this building to someone else assured them hundreds of thousands of dollars more. I agreed with them about the terms of the loan and that what they were doing was fair and lawful (according to man), and I did not say anything more about it. Immediately after this, I scrambled around and God came through with the perfect apartment for me, the appliances I needed, and I was able to get on food stamps for that time in my life. He miraculously provided everything I needed to raise my sons and live a nice life.

But as we were completing our moving out of the building, the couple stopped in and told us that their daughter had been struck with a very serious illness and was in the hospital, I think in the ICU, and they were not sure she was going to recover. It was very startling because she wasn’t that old at the time, and it was a surprise for everyone. They were distraught about it. But I couldn’t get over the very real feeling that God was punishing them for how they had treated me, and more: for not honoring His word. I think He was showing me that He had my back. I was shocked, but did draw comfort from that form of justice, I will admit, because those days were so hard for me. And no one seemed to care, except Him. I found out after another year or so that the owner was afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease.

As time went by and other offenses happened to me, I noticed that some sort-of reckoning would often follow. It always happened relatively quickly, following with days to weeks of their mean behaviors. I came to understand and trust that God grew very angry when people hurt me, and I knew He would take care of it. I do take the bible verse very seriously that says, ‘vengeance is the Lord’s’, and that we are not to return malice with malice. Even if God does not visibly punish my perpetrators, I would not seek vengeance, and indeed, on my journey of sanctification I try to always do good to those who hate me.

I have also noticed that these punishments are stronger for believers (those who profess to know Him and call themselves Christians) who hurt me, versus unbelievers. But this is telling as God chastises those whom He calls sons. And He expects MORE from those who bear His name.

When I first realized this was happening, it reminded me of the horror movie from my childhood, Carrie, by Stephen King and Lawrence Cohen. Carrie White, a shy, friendless teenage girl who is sheltered by her domineering, religious mother, unleashes her telekinetic powers after being humiliated by her classmates at her senior prom. Who doesn’t remember this iconic scene?

Except I wasn’t the one doing it. God was.

Another instance occurred in my own son and his wife about a year ago. They grew angry because they thought I had destroyed a figurine from his dying grandmother that was being handed down from his siblings as a sort of fertility idol. It was a big misunderstanding, and I had done nothing wrong (they had misplaced it), but I did admonish them that they should know better than to worship idols and that it was a sin. They responded by literally tracking me down and verbally abusing–even cornering me–like demons will do. I responded as lovingly as I could but was very shaken by this event. These children of mine want babies more than any other my other kids, and now they are struggling with infertility. I think back to their treatment of me and their idolatry, and I know there is a link. I believe that if they would repent, seek forgiveness, and turn to the Lord, He would forgive them and grant them children. But they do not; they are seeking fertility treatment from man (against my advice).

Okay, so in the past few months I have been treated poorly from a brother in Christ who actually became a rare friend of mine. I say ‘rare’ because I don’t let people ‘in’ easily anymore. It takes years for me to be able to open up to folks enough until they actually feel like a friend, and I call them ‘friend’. Regular Christian folks are my brothers and sisters in Christ, but to be my friend is a step above this, and I take it very seriously. I began noticing over time that this brother/friend was spending more and more of his time fraternizing with a pagan physician whose wife his wife worked with. My friend’s wife goes to church but doesn’t necessarily abide in Christ, so she is already at risk for falling away from the Lord. Anyway, they have started spending every week with them, camping with them, going to concerts with them, barbequing with them. Like that has become his main social outlet. I tried to broach this subject with him a couple years ago when it was starting. I told him it wasn’t really biblical to spend more time with unbelievers than believers, that we were called to give most of our time and attention to the brethren. But he disagreed because he saw this family as his mission, to win for Christ. Fast forward two years later and they have become not only his mission but his best friends. I found out that they don’t even take their two kids with them now because he knows it is not a kid-friendly or Christ-friendly environment. They leave their kids with a baby-sitter or grandparent, like on a weekly basis! And he sees nothing wrong with this! The doctor appears no closer to accepting Jesus as his savior than he did two years ago.

So, I gently rebuked my friend for this, reminding him that it wasn’t the right thing for him to be doing, especially in light of leaving his kids behind; that it wasn’t a good example of Christian family life, nor good for the children! He seemed to listen at first, then recovered with his usual explanation: “Jesus spent time with tax collectors and sinners!” To which I refuted, “Yes, but one meeting with Jesus was enough to turn them to His way and make them Christians! They didn’t remain sinners and tax collectors!” The bible clearly says to preach the Word, and if they won’t hear it, to shake the dust off and move on.

But you see his pride is all caught up in this thing now. He refuses to walk away. Once I gave my rebuke, I let it go, but after this chat my friend began distancing himself from me, and even being mean to me, which hurt. I am not sure he was aware of how he was treating me, but I noticed. I gave him some space, and he kept carving out more space. He had told me he was going to help me with a certain project, but he ignored the subject, and I had to find someone else to help me. He was cold and distant. It got to where we were no longer chatting about real things anymore, just superficial things. I would try to keep returning to the former flavor of our friendship, but he wouldn’t budge. I felt slighted. Since I am trying to live a biblical life as much as possible, I employed the bible verse ‘do good to those who hate you’, and one day I told him I was going to pick up his favorite meal for lunch to which he responded as his old friendly self. Then when I went to the restaurant, it had just closed down a few days before! Weird. I took this as a sign from God. I did not end up buying him lunch since my effort flopped. He was nicer to me for a couple days after that, but then reverted back to his distant self. I struggled and was sad. I felt I was losing my friend. But all my efforts to try and grasp it back into existence, failed. I finally sort-of let it go and distanced myself too. I made peace with the fact that my old friend just couldn’t hear my rebuke, and he was too proud and ensnared in this sinful lifestyle to want to do anything about it. I knew that it was going to take a different effort from God to make him see the light.

Then last night this brother texted me that his young son was in the ER, having been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes mellitus! I was so sad for him as this son has been challenging for them. He has always struggled with bad anxiety issues and easily folds under pressure. I went to bed and then when I woke up, I remembered God’s curse to those who are mean to me. I was like, WOAH. It’s sort-of scary actually. This punishment phenomenon makes me see Him as the mighty God He is and reminds me He is to be feared.

I should not be surprised though, because the bible tells us He will do this:

You must not bow down to them or worship idols that you have placed over me, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. ~Deuteronomy 5:9

I am not God, but I bring the word of God to people to try and convict them of their sin. And in that way, I guess God holds them accountable.

I have found there is a fine line between friends and enemies. Someone might be your friend today and your enemy tomorrow. Thankfully, Jesus takes the ambiguity out of it and tells us to treat everyone, friend and enemy, with love.

Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, because their fathers did the same to the false prophets. But I say to you who hear: love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. to him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him to takes away your goods do not ask them back. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. ~Luke 6:26-31

I find I serve Him best by treating fellow believers as brothers and sisters in Christ, not friends. I find that people cannot sustain my level of friendship very long, and it ends up breaking down, which is hard on me. I would rather devote my time and energy to God. ❤

Isaiah and the Cake of Figs

Around 702 BC, a healing miracle by YHWH through the Prophet Isaiah is told in the book of Isaiah and 2 Kings. Hezekiah was sick to death with an ulcer, and Isaiah told him that he was dying and was not going to recover. Hezekiah became so bereft that he ‘wept with a great weeping’ and begged God to save his life.

God commanded Isaiah to tell Hezekiah that God had ‘heard his prayer and seen his tears’ and that He would add 15 years onto his life. God also said He would deliver Hezekiah and his city, Jerusalem, out of the clutches of the Assyrians, led by Sennacharib.

Then God turned time back ten steps in the steps of Ahaz, which was a type of sundial. And Isaiah instructed Hezekiah’s people to take a cake of figs and rub it on the ulcer, so that he would live.

Hezekiah was so thankful to God for saving his life, that he wrote an anthem for Him, giving Him credit for healing him and saving his life for a little bit longer:

You heal me, and make me live….You loved my soul from the pit of destruction; You have cast all my sins behind Your back….The ones going down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth. The living, the living is the one thanking You; as I do today. The father makes known Your truth to his sons. For YHWH is for my salvation! ~Isaiah 38:16-20

Surprisingly, the state of medicine was quite advanced in Mesopotamia and Egypt, and the first Greek medical school was established around 700 BC. Some of this medical knowledge would have filtered through the Holy Land as it was on the route between Babylon and Egypt.

Plants contain essential oils that preserve life and are useful for man in numerous ways, from food to healing. The Hebrew nation cultivated this knowledge, treasured it, and passed it from generation to generation while giving honor and glory to God. Man left to his own devices likes to complicate things and create more complexity than necessary, hence the birth of medicine out of philosophy. Yet instead of calling pagan physicians, Hezekiah relied on God to heal him.

And Yahweh did.

Were Job’s Children Incestuous?

And his sons feasted in the house of each one on his day (1). And they sent and called their three sisters to eat and to drink with them (2). And it happened, when the days of feasting (3) had gone around, Job would send and sanctify them. And he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt sacrifices according to all their number. For Job said, it may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. This Job always did. ~Job 1:4-5

Job’s sons sinned in at least 3 ways in this opening chapter of the story of Job. To feast ‘on his day’ meant to celebrate his own birthday, which was not done by God’s people. Celebrating birthdays was a pagan practice. They sent for their sisters to eat and drink with them. The word for drink here connotes ‘drunk’ or ‘drunkard’, which was admonished in the Old Testament. Finally, feasting was a sin if not done specifically on one of the holy days set apart in the oral Torah. Job, being a righteous and blameless man, offered sacrifice for each of his children in case they sinned or also cursed God in their hearts.

It makes me wonder what else Job’s sons and his daughters did together. I think this passage implies that they might have practiced incest with each other because if you are partying unlawfully with food and imbibing excessive drink with serial sinful feasts, why would you not also commit sexual immorality?

Interestingly, the story only states that Job’s sons were killed when their house fell on them, not his daughters. Just as his wife also was never harmed.

Job was a lone man serving God. He had more riches than anyone which made him the ‘greatest son of the east’. Yet he appears to have had no one near him, family or friends, who believed in or worshiped YHWH as he did. Job is an example for us of loneliness, suffering, and God’s redemption.