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Monday, October 28, 2024

NEARER THAN YOU THINK

 

There are people who consider themselves teachers and leaders.  In the first century the Apostles were chosen to be examples and to preach the gospel.  The Apostles always gave credit to YAHWEH and Christ as our teachers and leaders. 

 Yahweh appointed and anointed only Jesus to the position of mediator between HIMSELF and humanity.  No one else has this office.  The Apostles were given a greater measure of YAHWEHS spirit to empower them to do what YAHWEH wanted them to do.  After these Apostles all died there were no more Apostles and there was no more human ministers.  

Throughout time the deceivers and liars have always been men or women that think they are your leaders and teachers but look at what this lie has produced in this world.  The world is in spiritual turmoil, chaos and confusion with thousands of differing beliefs.   

What happened to the fact that there is only one faith, one church whose members all know and speak the same things ?   The prophets, Jesus and the Apostles all prophesied that the true church would be attacked by Satan and driven to the four winds, scattered, the power of the holy people shattered.  Daniel 12:7  The church today has not been destroyed but is in obscurity and is the invisible church and the world does not know them.  

YAHWEH in eternity knew this would happen and in order to keep HIS little flock pure in HIS truth revealed to them that HE and HIS son have completely taken over the church and for the church eliminated the cause of deception, human ministry.  The church looks only to YAHWEH and Christ and none of its members are leaders or teachers.  Even though scattered on a grand scale and extremely few in number not even knowing who others are or where they are except in their own very small groups, YAHWEH and Christ are with them.  The deception in the world has no effect on them.  Matthew 24:24   This deception has been existing for a long time and with the passing of time has waxed worse and worse.  2 Timothy 3:13 and has arrived at the crescendo described in Revelation 12:9   World events are unfolding as the prophets, Jesus and the Apostles foretold.  While we do not know the day and hour we will know when it is at the doors as we are not in darkness that the return of Christ will surprise us like a thief.  1 Thessalonians 5:4   It is indeed like it was in the days of Noah,  2 Timothy 3:1,2,3,4,5   1 Timothy 4:1,2  Genesis 6:5   

Events in the Middle East, the acceptance of gross sexual misconduct, the evil by governments, the greediness of institutions and the spiritual ignorance of religion all combined in these days we are living in inform us that the day is drawing near.  Luke 21:28


Friday, October 25, 2024

LORD LORD PEOPLE

 

The Apostle Paul’s conversion experience was far more dramatic than that of many others.  He was literally struck down and had a meeting with the glorified Christ.  This took place while Paul was on his way to kill or imprison more Christians.  Paul was a member of the cult of the Pharisees.  Unlike the Sadducees the Pharisees believed in the resurrection, angelic spirits, GOD as a spirit, prayer and a future messiah.  These beliefs are similar to what Christians believe.  After Paul’s conversion he realized that all the horrible things he did were done in ignorance and that he was not converted, did not have the Holy Spirit.  Paul did not become a Lord Lord person.   If someone is in any cult and you would try to reason with them using the scriptures to show them that they are unconverted and do not have the Holy Spirit how would you go about it ?  Perhaps it would be better to just say nothing and let them alone to be a Lord Lord person .  If you came out of a cult you did so because GOD began to open your understanding to see that you are in a cult and need to leave.  Everyone who has experienced this has been called and this is only the beginning because you must answer, follow through with the process that leads to your conversion, your being chosen.  

If a person is truly converted and has the Holy Spirit do you think that person would recognize weather or not someone else is converted or not ?   

Many false Christians believe Jesus is Lord, the messiah and son of GOD, they call Jesus Lord Lord but not everyone who does this will be in the kingdom.  Matthew 7:21   Luke 13:25,26,27   Luke 6:46   Why is it that many former cult members have a difficult time admitting they were like Paul; unconverted.  When I went through my own process of conversion it did not take me very long at all to understand that I did not have the Holy Spirit, I was not converted.  There are those who either cannot see or refuse to see they are not converted when coming out of a cult unless they obey what Christ said,  Mark 16:16 ,  they become the people who say Lord Lord.

All of us when born into this world are cut off from GOD and dead in trespasses and sins, then we join a cult are baptized into it , then think when we come out of it had the Holy Spirit all along.  Are any of us being honest with ourselves before GOD that think this way ?   This is Lord Lord thinking.   Anyone thinking this way needs to seriously examine themselves and see the error and correct it by following through with the rest of the conversion process prescribed by Christ and the Apostles.  

Saturday, October 19, 2024

YAHWEH CREATOR AND MANIPULATOR OF SPIRITS

 

YAHWEH can manipulate any spirit, human or animal in any way HE desires.  YAHWEH took the human spirit from Nebuchadnezzar and replaced it with an animal spirit.  YAHWEH removed the spirit of Balaams donkey and gave it a spirit capable of intelligent conversation.  YAHWEH can place into the human spirits of people spiritual knowledge in various degrees along with performing miracles through them.   

All human beings are a spirit in a mortal body.  The real you is your human spirit not your fleshly body.  This is how we are in the image and likeness of YAHWEH.  In Genesis 1:26 the Hebrew word for image is “tselem” H6754 meaning a shadow, a phantom, illusion, a vain show.  The word likeness is H1823 “demuth” meaning a pattern that resembles something.  Is YAHWEH flesh and blood, is HE mortal, physical and limited ?  This image and likeness is one of inferiority to YAHWEH but yet similar because YAHWEH is a spirit and so are all humans.  YAHWEH works with the spirits of humanity not their flesh. Hebrews 12:23  Job 32:8  1 Corinthians 2:11   Proverbs 20:27   Philippians 4:23  Galatians 6:18   1 Corinthians 6:17,20 

This human spirit is the source of your life and knowledge and by using the physical brain controls all of the body.  Your brain is only the interface between your body and human spirit.  

YAHWEH plans to convert evil humans to HIS way of love and righteousness beginning at conversion and culminating in being born into the kingdom of YAHWEH as an impeccable, immoral spirit being.

This is the message of the gospel and any deviation from this is a lie.  There are billions who lie. The truth comes to the saints from YAHWEH through Jesus Christ and from no human being.  Anyone setting up some human as a leader and teacher has that person as their GOD because that they submit to a mere human and not YAHWEH.  This is the way of the Christian professing world.  The world has to have their human GOD, their pastor, their minister, preacher because they attempt to mimic what they see in scripture concerning the organization of the church in the first century.  Ignorantly they not realizing that the system of the first century has ended and YAHWEH and Christ have taken over completely the operation of the church.  YAHWEH now, through Christ, teaches HIS elect saints by divine revelation.  John verifies this fact, 1 John 2:27  

Do you understand that the anointing, the spirit of YAHWEH teaches you about all things.  Modern day preachers are fakes and attempt to do what only YAHWEH can do.  They are actually committing blasphemy and idolatry and I hope ignorantly.  This is the entire reason why there is so much deception, confusion, thousands of different churches, lies  and ridiculous preaching  are in the world.  This is why many may be called but few are chosen.  The majority of people will not believe what has been written here or even in the scriptures but desire to cling to their customs and traditions.  The evidence is there but they are blind to it.  Revelation 12:9 


Friday, October 18, 2024

ANOTHER CLOSER LOOK AT BAPTISM

 

When we all came to Simply Christian we came out of some kind of deception or cult that in time we came to see was a lie.  Ask, would GOD lead me into a lie or did I chose to join the cult ?  Psalm 23:1,2,3  Does this align with your experience ?

GOD does not lead anyone into a cult but HE can take you out of one.  Why did we join the cult ?  Was it not because we thought the cult had the truth ?  Did we not with all our hearts believe that cult ?  Would a converted person willingly and knowingly join a cult ?  Would a converted person believe what the cult says ?  When we are converted don’t we know the truth in order to be converted in the first place ?  The truth about GOD, Christ, the gospel and prophecy of the future.   John 14:16,17,26 ,  John 15:26 ,   John 16:13,14,15   Did these things happen to us when we were in the cult ?  What was the symbolic practice that we did to become a member of our cult ?  Was it not baptism ?  What were were baptized into ?  We could lie to ourselves and say that we knew the truth but we did not else we would have never joined a cult to begin with.  Let’s not deceive ourselves.

There is only one baptism that really matters and I confess that when I was baptized into the cult of the Worldwide Church of God I was not converted, I didn’t have the Holy Spirit and I was not a Christian before or after until GOD called me out of the cult and revealed to me the truth.  This caused me to be cut to the heart, circumcised of the heart and the same message that Peter preached on the day of Pentecost applied to me.  Acts 2:38   When you and I were in the cult we were deceived, we did not know the truth, how then could we have been converted, how could being baptized into a cult make us Christians ?  GOD called us but how do we answer that call, again Acts 2:38 .  Satan wants us to think that our baptism into a cult is that real one true baptism in Christ.  There is no difference between us and the people Peter preached to on Pentecost,  Acts 2:38 ,  except the type of cult we were in, they a cult of Judaism and we a cult of false Christianity.  A cult is not Christian so why would their baptism be.  It is impossible to deceive a true Christian because they are taught by GOD through Jesus Christ.  Matthew 24:24  John 8:32  John 6:45  John 14:6  Isaiah 54:13   1 Thessalonians 4:9   To think that a baptism into a cult is synonymous with baptism in Christ is calling evil good.  Isaiah 5:20  Malachi 2:17   We were baptized into a cult, that is the hard cold truth and leaving that cult is only the first step,  Acts 2:38 are the next steps.  If you are able to see this take those steps.   1 Corinthians 10:20,21   2 Corinthians 6:15,16   Mark 16:16  

Monday, October 14, 2024

JESUS DID NOT PRAY TO AVOID THE CROSS

 
ESSAY
Jesus Did Not Pray to Avoid the Cross at Gethsemane by
James Rogers with comments by LeeB
POSTED
March 19, 2024 

Several decades ago, a pastor (and friend) mentioned in passing at one of our regular breakfasts together that he wasn’t satisfied with the usual reading of Jesus’s prayer in Gethsemane, the usual reading being that Jesus asked the Father to avoid the Cross at Gethsemane. We turned to the passage, I told him that I wasn’t sure what else Jesus could be asking in His prayer, and we moved on to chat about other topics.

We never returned to the subject; my pastor, sadly, passed away not too long after our conversation. But his question stayed at the back of my mind over the years. Despite my initial skepticism, gradually over the years I noted a set of texts that seemed to press for a different reading of Jesus’s prayer at Gethsemane. 

I first discuss why I don’t think the Bible teaches that Jesus prayed, or would have prayed, to avoid the Cross. I then consider what Jesus did​ ask of the Father in Gethsemane if He did not in fact ask the Father to avoid the Cross. 

Rather than praying to avoid the Cross at Gethsemane, I suggest Jesus instead asked the Father to end a Satanic attack from Satan to kill him before he could go to the cross.  This was a request that pleased the Father to grant; that is, on this reading the Father said “yes” to Jesus’s prayer at Gethsemane. Further, the faith that Jesus demonstrates in His prayers at Gethsemane provides His people with a consummate example of faith for us to emulate, particularly when we face our own suffering and most particularly when we face our own deaths.  The gospel of John contains no account of this incident but has the prayer of Jesus in John 17 that gives no indication of Jesus wanting to escape crucifixion.

Jesus stated expressly that He would not​ ask the Father to avoid the cross

A few days before the Cross, John quotes Jesus expressly denying that He would ask the Father to avoid the Cross. “Now My Soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour” (John 12:27). As at Gethsemane in the Synoptic Gospels, Jesus reports in John that His soul is “troubled”  to the point of death. (cf. Matt 26:38). Despite that, Jesus says He would not ask the Father to “save me from this hour.”

Even closer in time to the Cross, John again has Jesus expressing His willingness to drink the cup that is the Cross: After Peter strikes and wounds the high priest’s slave, Jesus says to Peter, “the cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?” (John 18.11)

To be sure, even the casual reader recognizes that John’s Gospel differs in tone and focus from the Synoptic Gospels. Nonetheless, Jesus’s statements in John that He would not ask the Father to avoid the Cross are direct and clear. At the very least they invite the reader to ask whether Jesus’s prayers recorded in the Synoptic Gospels can be read consistently with what John reports.

Jesus responds, “Get thee behind me, Satan,” to Peter’s wish that Jesus avoid the cross

In the Gospels of Matthew and Mark, when Jesus tells His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem to suffer, die, and be resurrected, Peter takes Jesus aside and chastises Him. Peter’s comment recorded in Matthew is even more pointed in the Greek: Peter wishes “mercy” on Jesus (Matt 16.22). In response to this wish of mercy, Jesus gives Peter a bracing rebuke: “Get behind Me, Satan” (Matt 16:23).

Jesus’s response to Peter raises a problem for the traditional reading of Gethsemane; in effect, the traditional reading would place Peter’s words and desire for mercy in Jesus’s mouth at Gethsemane.

The thing is, Jesus does not merely dismiss Peter’s wish as understandable (if misguided) sentimentalism or good intentions. Jesus rejects Peter’s wish as Satanic. Jesus’s bracing rebuke of Peter leaves no room for the type of special pleading that styles Jesus’s prayer in Gethsemane as reflecting an understandably human crisis of faith given the imminency of the Cross. While Jesus was fully human and was “tempted in all things as we are,” yet Jesus lived “without sin” (Heb 4:15). Jesus would not— could not—effectively have prayed the same thing Peter desired for Him and which Jesus flatly dismissed as Satanic.  Would not this instantly disqualify Jesus as Messiah ?

There often is a follow up defense of the traditional view that posits that Jesus did not in fact ask the Father to avoid the Cross in Gethsemane because Jesus gave the Father an out by adding “yet not as I will, but as You will” at the end of His prayer (Matt 26.39, cf., vv. 42, 44). However, this attempt to patch up the traditional view doesn’t work linguistically. If I say to my father, “Please don’t make me do ‘X,’ but if you insist that I do ‘X’ I will submit to you and do ‘X,’” it remains obvious that I am asking him that I be allowed to avoid doing ‘X.’ That I might also tell my father I would submit to his decision if he declines my request does not change the fact that my request is one asking him to allow me to avoid doing ‘X.’ If my father insists that I do ‘X’ it means my father answers “no” to my request. The traditional view requires, at least at the point of Jesus’s request in Gethsemane, that Jesus’s desires for Himself are at odds with those of the Father.  Therefore there must be another request made by Jesus that has been overlooked.

The traditional reading of Jesus’s prayer in Gethsemane has Jesus asking the Father to allow Him to avoid the Cross, with the Father answering “No” to Jesus’s request.

Hebrews 5:7 and Matthew 26:53 suggest the Father answered Jesus’s prayer in the affirmative

In Hebrews 5:7, the author writes regarding Jesus that “In the day of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.” The reference to prayers offered “to the One able to save [Jesus] from death” appears most particularly to be a reference to Jesus at Gethsemane. And, indeed, at Gethsemane the traditional view, Jesus asks the Father “to save Him from death.” Yet the author of Hebrews has the Father saying “yes to Jesus’s request rather than “no.”  This verse is attributed to Jesus but in reality is a continuation of the thought in verse 6 about Melchizedek. 

As noted above, if saving Jesus from death refers to the Cross, then the traditional reading of Gethsemane has the Father answering “no” to Jesus’s prayer there. On the other hand, if saving Melchizedek from death by the hand of Abraham is the correct idea then the account of Jesus praying with fervent crying and tears never happened which is confirmed by the other gospels accounts. Either way you look at this one answer from GOD is no and another is yes, this is a problem.

So, too in Matthew 26 itself, Jesus suggests that the Father would spare Him from the Cross if Jesus were actually to have asked it. At His arrest, in response to Peter (again) seeking to protect Jesus from the Cross, Jesus says, “[D]o you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?” (v. 53)

The implication here is that if Jesus had in fact asked the Father to avoid the Cross in Gethsemane, the Father would have granted Jesus’s request immediately, sparing Him from the Cross. Jesus and the Father always agreed on Jesus going to the Cross, Jesus never sought to avoid it, and the Father never forced Jesus to the Cross against Jesus’s will.

This also is the upshot of Jesus’s observation in the Gospel of John that His crucifixion results from His own—Jesus’s own—initiative: “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again” (John 10:17–18). At no point does the Father force Jesus to go to the Cross in the face of Jesus’s desire to avoid it. Jesus never shrinks from the cross; He is always willing lay down His life for those He loves, and He does so on His own initiative.

If Jesus prayed to avoid the Cross, then Paul prays a more self-sacrificing prayer than Jesus

Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, “I could wish [“pray” in Greek] that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh” (Rom 9:3). If Jesus asked the Father to avoid the Cross in His prayer at Gethsemane, then it would seem that Paul’s willingness to sacrifice for his lost brethren is greater than Jesus’s willingness to do the same. I suggest that the more likely scenario is that Paul understands his prayer merely to reflect the same love that Christ showed for His people, a love that resulted in Jesus’s willingness to sacrifice for their salvation.

Revisiting Jesus’s Prayer at Gethsemane

Even conceding the extrinsic evidence adduced above, what of the text of Jesus’s actual prayer in Gethsemane? Doesn’t Jesus ask the Father to pass on the Cross? I suggest that Jesus’s prayer at Gethsemane, rather than being a request to avoid the cross entirely, is instead a request that the  Satanic attack against his life end.  Jesus was just fine before entering the garden and at the Passover meal reinforced his will to die. Jesus used the symbols of bread and wine and told Judas to go and do quickly what he had to do.  Satan waited until Jesus entered the garden, a more opportune time. Luke 4:13  When Satan realized that he could not tempt Jesus to worship him he then plotted to kill him prior to the cross.  This was the cup that Jesus wanted removed so that he could fulfill scripture concerning his death.  Jesus left the matter up to GOD who sent an angel to strengthen him.  Luke 22:43   This interpretation of the events in Gethsemane align more with the character of Jesus than the conventional "avoiding the cross" idea.

The second and third prayers that Jesus prayed in Gethsemane seem to indicate this claim explicitly: “He went away again a second time and prayed, saying, ‘My Father, if [or “since”] this cannot pass away unless I drink it, Your will be done.” Note the language Jesus uses, the cup can pass away, and it did and Jesus went on to his death on the cross.

The language of Jesus’s first prayer is consistent with this reading as well. Jesus asks that the cup “pass from me” (parerchomai apo egō, Matt 26:39). While the phrase can mean “to avoid,” it does not seem as though it has to be taken only in the sense of “to avoid” the cross. It can mean to pass sequentially or temporally after an elapse of time. The time the Satanic attack began until the time GOD sent the angel.

This, then, is the force of Jesus’s statement in His prayers, “Thy will be done.” Jesus is willing to drink the cup, die in the garden, if this was the  Father’s judgment or will. 

A Passing Comment on Matthew 27:46’s “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me”

Jesus’s cry on the Cross, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me” is not directly related to Jesus’s prayer in Gethsemane. Yet the spirit in which Jesus’s statement on the Cross is often preached is of one weave with the traditional reading of Gethsemane that Jesus there asked the Father to forgo the Cross.

The initial problem with this common rendition of Jesus’s cry on the Cross is that Jesus does not ask “why” the Father forsakes Him on the Cross in the sense that he did not know because Jesus had always known.  Numerous earlier texts throughout the Gospels tell us that Jesus knew exactly what would happen on the Cross, and Jesus embraced that purpose as His vocation (Matt 16:21; 22:23; John 3:14; et al.).

In contrast, a well-known alternative reading of Jesus’s statement is that with those words Jesus directs His disciples to Psalm 22. This Psalm, however, is not a psalm of despair and abandonment. It is a psalm of trust and vindication. While David mouths the question, “My God, my God why have You forsaken me,” David immediately answers his own question with the response that God has not in fact abandoned him. As David continues the psalm it crescendos to a conclusion in which God not only vindicates David, the psalm vindicates God’s righteousness and faithfulness as well. Jesus encourages His disciples by directing them to this Psalm on the cross. It is worth quoting at length given that the bulk of the Psalm answers the lament in the first verse:

In You our fathers trusted;
They trusted and You delivered them.
To You they cried out and were delivered;
In You they trusted and were not disappointed.
. . .
Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb;
You made me trust when upon my mother’s breasts.
Upon You I was cast from birth;
You have been my God from my mother’s womb.

But You, O Lord, be not far off;
O You my help, hasten to my assistance.
Deliver my soul from the sword,
My only life from the power of the dog.
Save me from the lion’s mouth;
From the horns of the wild oxen You answer me.

For He has not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted;
Nor has He hidden His face from him;
But when he cried to Him for help, He heard.

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord,
And all the families of the nations will worship before You.
For the kingdom is the Lord’s
And He rules over the nations.
All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship,
All those who go down to the dust will bow before Him,
Even he who cannot keep his soul alive.
Posterity will serve Him;
It will be told of the Lord to the coming generation.
They will come and will declare His righteousness
To a people who will be born, that He has performed it.

(Psalm 22:4–5, 9–10, 20–21, 24, 27–31, emphasis added).

Gethsemane Exemplifies the Faith of Jesus Christ as He Faces the Cross

Pastors routinely preach that Jesus asking the Father to avoid the Cross in Gethsemane exemplifies Jesus’s humanity. The purpose for doing so is laudable, that is, to underscore the Christian’s identification with Jesus Christ as a person who is fully human.  .

Yet while laudable in intention, the view has Jesus shrinking from the Cross in Gethsemane. While I have no doubt that many of us would indeed shrink from just such a fate that Jesus faced, that would not be a response of faith and trust, either for Jesus or for us.

The alternative reading of Gethsemane presented above instead underscores the faith of Jesus Christ in the face of imminent suffering and death. In going to the Cross Jesus nonetheless trusted that the Father would bring His suffering to an end rather than abandon Him.  (Acts 2:27, 31, 32).

Consistent with this, the apostles repeatedly point to Jesus as an example for Christians to emulate when facing our own suffering and death. Peter, for example, writes “to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing” (1 Peter 4:13) and “since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose” (1 Peter 4:2).

Peter concludes his encouragement for Christians in the face of their own suffering with the comment that “those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right” (1 Peter 4:19).

In the alternative reading of Gethsemane presented above, Jesus exemplifies one who “entrusts” His soul “to a faithful Creator.” Jesus’s prayer for  defense from Satans attack is a prayer of faith and trust. When faced with our own suffering and death, Gethsemane provides Christians with the very model of faith and trust. Gethsemane does not teach that Jesus shrinks from His suffering and death. Rather, Jesus’s prayer at Gethsemane invites us to follow His example of faith and trust. Indeed, Jesus had far more on the line than we do in our own deaths given that He would taste death and judgment for all of us on the Cross. Jesus leads His people at every point.

Our own deaths remind us that our fate is ultimately out of our control; we are entirely in the hands of God. This is not a reason to worry or despair, however, because God can save us while we cannot save ourselves. Confidence that our God is a “faithful Creator” invites us to entrust our souls to God and to face our suffering and death with faith and trust, just as Jesus faced His own suffering and death, even—or especially—at Gethsemane. Jesus at Gethsemane becomes the consummate example of this faith and trust rather than an example of the all-too-human inclination to shrink from suffering and death. This reading of Gethsemane invites us to fix “our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross” (Heb 12:2).


Sunday, October 13, 2024

JOHN 9:4 LET US WORK WHILE IT IS DAY

 


John 9:3,4   The works of GOD might be displayed in us.

Matthew 25:24,25,26,27,28,29,30   We should not bury our talent. 


This study is for us.  It is not for anyone else but GODS elect saints.  “To whom much is given much more will be asked”,  Luke 12:48   Matthew 10:38   Mark 8:34  Luke 9:23  Luke 14:27  These scriptures convey a message.  John 9:4   What should we do ?  2 Timothy 2:2,15,24,25,26   The saints have authority on the Earth now to be used by GOD as a catalyst to stir up the human spirits of people whom HE intends to call and choose to become one of HIS elect saints.  It is no coincidence that the saints are scattered to the four winds to the same locations as the innumerable multitude. As you all know I joined a group called Simply Christian, I did so because I felt I was being led to do it.  Since joining I have had an effect on a few members, a few good and some not.  Not only do these people have the gospel witnessed to them but I also have learned some things in the process of communication with them.  I find the review of things I have been taught very helpful, it keeps me sharp.  If you have noticed that your spiritual memory is developing gaps interaction with people that involves proving the truth will revive you.  

The stirring up of people seems to be the most used method of GOD for choosing HIS elect.  GOD used the Prophets, Jesus and the Apostles to do this and today HE uses HIS elect to do the same.   Below is my massage to Outcast and a comment from Outcast who I believe GOD used me as a catalyst to draw Outcast to HIMSELF through Jesus Christ.

LeeB

Well-known member

Hello Outcast. I was concerned that your absence from the forum was due to hurricane Helene. I was glad to hear that you were visiting family. I hope you had a good visit. You are one of only a very few on this forum that contributes to spiritual reasoning and understanding. I have been on Simply Christian for almost two years and noticed ,as expected , that the majority have little knowledge about spiritual things. Your arrival was refreshing and I very much enjoy your comments that contain spiritual wisdom. Most members seem to be ex Jehovahs Witnesses and to me bear a grudge and cannot let the past behind to press forward into a new and living way. This forum also highly reveres a man , Anthony Buzzard, who while having a good amount of truth has ideas that are totally false. I know Anthony, he was in the former Worldwide Church of God under Herbert Armstrong as I was. Much of the understanding Anthony has came from the WCG. As you may know I am totally against the idea of the church organization that has evolved from the primitive Catholic Church. I trust no man, only GOD and Christ. I sense that you are the same. Why is it that something that is so precious as salvation is so easily given over to someone else who claims to be a man of GOD ? Why is it that a root of evil is the lifeblood of church organizations ? All these things a much more prove the validity of Revelation 12:9 . I joined Simply Christian only to share what I had been given. I cannot teach, I do not desire to be a leader and I do not want money. I just write and then let it in GODS hands. I am very happy you are back and look forward to hearing from you.
 

Outcast

Active member
 

 
Good morning, Lee. Thank you for the kind words, brother.

This world is getting worse, and keeping my head up despite the condition of our nation gets more tiring as the days go on. Family members are among those who avoid conversations with me regarding scripture. It is disheartening.

Like you, after being duped for so many years and following the crowd, I see how easy it is to just claim the odd-person-out is just deceived. It is the easy-button that people look for - never considering the harm that this willful ignorance causes to their future.

You may not be a teacher, but you are a good reason to reconsider those views I previously held. You cause me to pause and search again the things I thought I already understood. You have been the blessing that I asked Yahweh for.

I pray that God would introduce me to a few others in my area with the desire to understand scripture without the bias of bible commentaries. I miss so much the days that caused me to search deeply for truth in order to share what I found - even though it was that time period that dragged me away from the organized denomination that told me to believe things that they could not prove by scripture.

I recognize the different people who can reach a conclusion that is not accepted by denominations, but even they can't let go of the social environment they are in. I find that they stay where they are and let the false narrative continue without interference. I cannot do that. I guess it is just my nature to speak up with countering passages. People do not want to be challenged like that. Even those who were my "friends" will disassociate with me in order to be accepted by the crowd.

Yahweh knew it would happen. Yeshua told the people it would happen. It is happening to me now. Now, it is high time I simply accept it and keep going. I keep waiting to see what door is going to open so that I can do God's work with the time I have left.

Would you also ask God to give me a local brotherhood who desires scriptural truth regardless of social pressure, please?
 

LeeB

Well-known member

Proverbs 27:17 This online fellowship sharpens us both. Matthew 10:34,35,36 This is why many are called but few are chosen. This is part of our cross to bear. I too am alienated from my family so I love them from a distance. Ezekiel 13:22,23 Our hearts are sad due to all the lies in church organizations that promise life and liberty but are servants of corruption. GOD has already delivered you and I from their hands and at some future time will deliver all each in their own order.
To have fellowship with other people of like mind is a blessing but the most important fellowship is, 1 John 1:17 Here on Simply Christian you and I fellowship and we have shared what YAHWEH has given with each other thus fulfilling 1 John 1:3 I have prayed for you and will always pray for you just as I pray for all the scattered elect. Until YAHWEH sees fit to give you local fellowship you always have YAHWEH, Christ and Lee.
 
 

 

This is an example of what we are to do now.  

No, we are not preaching to the world but to a small group of people we do not know and have never met but all of them , or at least some, a genuinely searching for the truth.  All of them like us were once caught up in a deception.  These people are just as we were when GOD first began working with us.  

There are people on Simply Christian that are nothing more than agents of Satan and an example of this is below.  Notice how Outcast came to my defense.

 

 

William

William Kuevogah
Staff member

Jul 28, 2020
 

Oh, I almost forgot—fideism seems to be the bedrock of the ideas expressed in this post.
Those are two isms you didn't realise you were hiding behind, nay, undergirding, your rhetoric. I'm glad I could help.
 

Outcast

Active member
 

Don't forget fundamentalism—which you're clearly beholden to, if this post is anything to go by.
Oh, I almost forgot—fideism seems to be the bedrock of the ideas expressed in this post.
Those are two isms you didn't realise you were hiding behind, nay, undergirding, your rhetoric. I'm glad I could help.
I think you have missed a target there, amigo. I see no fideism in LeeB,s statements. Perhaps you are not actually searching the scripture references that he offers?

Apostle Paul has said that people are without excuse because the evidence of God surrounds them.

Romans 1:20 ESV
For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

That being the case, searching for reason should be the result of seeing God's handiwork. It should cause people to search. Yes, God gives faith, but it comes with searching - not just getting a "feeling." Brother LeeB uses reasoning to arrive at his beliefs.

Inversely, I find that many use bible commentaries and claim that they "searched" the scriptures for truth. The fact is that it was not the scriptures that they actually reasoned with - it was the opinions of theologians who told them what to think. Many do not follow scripture - they follow man.

This is a foretaste of what we will be doing in the kingdom.  I ask you all to consider joining Simply Christian and continue to be used by GOD and Christ as instruments in their hands to complete the number of 144000 that has not yet been reached.  

We have been blessed beyond measure, given much, now it is time for GOD and Christ to ask something more from us.  To realize that we too have a work to do in helping others that GOD may want to choose.  In my mind I knew going into this group that I would be met with unbelief and that if only one of them was accepting of my words, that GOD opened their mind, the angels in heaven would rejoice.  GOD has a very long history of working through people to accomplish HIS will.  

There is a thing called the book of remembrance in which the names of those who feared GOD and remembered HIS name are written.  Malachi 3:16   I want my name and your names in that book and as many as GOD can use us for to add to it. 

Ask yourselves, what have I done to make myself available to GOD for the furtherance of HIS will ?  We have been given much, now it is time for us to give ourselves to GOD as a tool for the advancement of HIS will.  

Isaiah 6:6-8   We are similar to Isaiah in that we know of some of the things to come and of the message of the gospel.  The remaining yet Unchosen elect need to hear words from us that only GOD can cause them to understand.  This is only a very small thing that GOD asks of us,  1 Peter 3:15 ,  Colossians 4:6 ,  2 Timothy 2:25-26 .  Please do not make a decision now, think and pray about it, and if you would like to join me in the Simply Christian forum let me know.

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Psalm 82 and John 10:34

 

 

 

What Does Eloim Mean?

The term "Elohim" means “supreme one” or “mighty one.” It is not only used of the one true God but is also used on occasion to refer to human rulers, judges, and even angels. If you saw one exhibiting supreme rule and expressed mighty power, the word you would use would be Elohim. That does not necessarily mean that you are referring to the one unique God. 

 

 Jesus makes an interesting argument on this point in John 10:34 when he quotes Psalm 82:6. He argues that the Scriptures themselves refer to other gods than God Himself, how then can Jesus be accused of blasphemy because He claims to be God’s Son? 

The Apostle Paul says,  For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords),  1 Corinthians 8:5   Notice these gods are in heaven or on Earth.  Micah informs that there will be in the latter days gods who will people who walk "in the name of his god."  These gods will walk in the name of the LORD GOD.  so then you have gods who walk in the name of GOD but people who walk in the name of their god. 

 
   Micah 4:1-5

1Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the mountain of the Lord’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And peoples shall flow to it.
2Many nations shall come and say,
“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion the law shall go forth,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3He shall judge between many peoples,
And rebuke strong nations afar off;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into [a]pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.

4But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree,
And no one shall make them afraid;
For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
5For all people walk each in the name of his god,
But we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
Forever and ever.

 

 These verses in Micah explain the verses below.  Jesus is the first god mentioned and the GOD who anoints Jesus is The ALMIGHTY GOD.  The oil of gladness or joy is the Holy Spirit which Jesus receives more of than his companions. 

Hebrews 1:9
9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.”
Psalms 45:7
7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.

Psalm 82:1-8     The saints, when kings and priests or elohim, gods will judge the evil angels. Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? 1 Corinthians 6:3

 1 God presides in the great assembly; he renders judgment among the “gods”:

2 “How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? (This is what the evil gods do)
3 Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
5 “The ‘gods’ know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 “I said, ‘You are “gods”; you are all sons of the Most High.’  (Glorified saints made like Jesus)
7 But you will die like mere mortals; you will fall like every other ruler.”
8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance.(We die but are raised in power and glorified and are joint heirs with Christ replacing Satan and his demons to rule the Earth)
 
Christ was concerned with things that had to do with the kingdom of GOD. In  John 10:34  and Psalm 82 this is what Jesus is referring to in these scriptures,  not to the account of Moses and Aaron in Exodus.  The word of GOD is only to the saints and GOD called the saints gods. 
A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.  Luke 6:40    
Mat 5:48
Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.     This will not happen until we are in the kingdom. 

NEARER THAN YOU THINK

  There are people who consider themselves teachers and leaders.  In the first century the Apostles were chosen to be examples and to preach...