Zechariah 11 & Luke 17 - Justified, Sanctified, and Glorified by Faith
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Mathew Enoch Mount
Dec 15, 2009, 2:07:01 AM12/15/09
to Jesus On the Web
John K and all,
Torah is used to refer to the teachings of the ancient Hebrew
scripture, and the term torah thus is used specifically to refer to
the five books of Moses as the central most teachings of Judaism.
Mitzvah it used to refer to the works associated with the law (so to
speak). What has been believed by the vast majority of modern Jews,
as I understand it, is that by performing mitzvahs people purify
creation and perhaps even enter into a better relationship into God’s
will as this is considered to be the purpose for having the mitzvah to
begin with. I find that Christianity teaches something starkly
contrasting in that once faith has been revealed through the birth,
death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that we then learn that
teachings or (torah) point to faith and can be used to communicate
faith, and mitzvahs thus act as icons or pictures into the work of
Christ. For example God telling Abraham to slay Isaac was a mitzvah
that God gave to Abraham that gives a picture of Christ crucifixion on
the cross, but the torah or teaching of using the lamb in place of
Isaac is meant to communicate faith that Christ as the lamb of God
died on the cross for Isaac to live (substitutional atonement).
Overall, we however know that the story is much larger than this
because the intense emotions felt by Abraham, Isaac, God the Father,
and God the Son teach us that everyone in God’s family got nailed to
the cross through Christ (so to speak) because they all shared the
same suffering, and we know this because Abraham would have been
weeping over the prospect of killing Isaac (fortunately Abraham did
not have to kill Isaac) and God the Father would have had to have been
feelings something similar so to speak over the death of Jesus Christ.
I believe that I have more than demonstrated how faith comes through
the administration of the blood atonement of Jesus Christ, and that
blood atonement happens thorough the efforts of the Holy Ghost
administering it from the lamb of God that has been crucified from the
creation of the world. Notice that when Judas took communion, then it
was at that very time that Satan entered him causing him to do the
very things that had been predestined for him to do (this happened
even before the cross of Christ). With Christ being crucified only
once for all eternity, we know that salvation is predetermined despite
the Holy Ghost working to seal the servants of God and despite the
work of Christ to judge to determine who is saved from who is not
saved. Overall, the point to be made is that all three acts of
sealing the servants of God, judging the living and the dead, and
predestining the saved all happen in one accord without controversy
among the three persons of God regarding who is saved and who is not
saved; moreover, in the following study of scripture I will attempt to
explain the purpose of Satan and his army to torment the life of the
believer.
First of all we read in scripture that we need not be taught by man,
but instead we, that are undergoing Chrismation, are taught by God.
"As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and
you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you
about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just
as it has taught you, remain in him." 1 John 2:27 (NIV) We learn
about this anointing from Pentecost, from Revelation speaking of
sealing the servants of God (Revelation 7:3 & Exodus 13:9), and from
the circumcision of the heart. (Romans 2:29, Leviticus 26:41, & Acts
7:51). Overall, we can see evidence from the scripture that the
Chrismation spoken about in 1 John may not be communicating only a
physical laying on of hands performed by local bodily church clergy,
but instead when Chrismation is the real thing it is administered by
the angles that stand in the presence of God in the New Jerusalem.
Overall, we know that sometimes the Chrismation that is initiated by
the local church leaders in bodily form is made real through the
servants of God administering this sacrament as the Holy Ghost goes
forth from Christ to anoint a person to bring them into communion with
a multitudes of heavenly hosts in the New Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22),
but we know that sometimes local church leaders are here today and
gone tomorrow and they are in fact often set aside to display God’s
holy wrath in order to demonstrate the richness of his glory to those
whom he has chosen to show mercy (in this case the anointing of the
Holy Ghost would have to be administered by heavenly hosts for the
people on the bottom of the church hierarchy to be saved).
For many people that proclaim Christianity that are high ranking
clearly men many of such people will completely reject one group or
another group based upon the doctrine of the rival church heads
because what is often believed is that the administration of
sacraments only rests in the hands of men whom received this power of
authority from a long line of people that received that power from the
early apostles and thus from Christ himself. The idea thus is that
everyone who continues in the faith of the apostles and continues in
the long chain of ordained clergy man going back to the early apostles
who kept the same faith is in fact able to administer sacraments with
legal authority of the covenant of Christ. The problem with this view
is that it often comes into conflict with many heavenly hosts whom
administer God’s will faithfully, and this happens because sacraments
become based in the authority of man more and more over time as church
authorities see their leadership as being further and further removed
from direct intercession of God as a result of viewing the Holy Ghost
as having worked in the past more so than in current times.
Consider carefully the chain of command that scripture gives for
revelation to the servants of God as follows, "The revelation of Jesus
Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take
place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant
John." (Revelation 1:1 NIV) Overall, the point to be made is that
special revelation occurs in a orderly chain of command from God, to
Christ, to the angles, to the servants, and then to the general public
in one form or another; moreover, this is critical for understanding
communion with God because more often than not a church leader will
totally break from chain of command and be administering sacraments
based only on his own human authority.
Consider the following, "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's
elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia,
Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the
Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance. Praise be to the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us
new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or
fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's
power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed
in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a
little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which
perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may
result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not
see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible
and glorious joy" 1 Peter 1:1-8 (NIV) We read from scripture in this
case that God’s elect are chosen from the world through the
foreknowledge of God the Father, and we learn that the Holy Ghost
sanctifies or sets apart those whom are being saved. We however also
learn that we are the elect for the obedience of Jesus Christ first of
all and for the sprinkling of his blood second of all, and thus we
learn about the distinction that God makes between works (the
obedience of Jesus Christ) and faith (the sprinkling of his blood).
Overall, we are thus sanctified by this faith that shields us from the
flames like in the story of Daniel and the furnace, but this faith
will eventually parish in those flames delivering us into
glorification such that we will see God face to face and our faith
will become praise, glory, and honor.
Think about what I am saying carefully. All of the twelve utterly
deserted Jesus Christ, and Peter (not Peter V on our news group) whom
was most admit about willfully following Christ denied Christ three
times just prior to the crucifixion just as Jesus said he would. If
this would not have happened, then Peter would have trusted in his own
power instead of the power of God, and Peter would have been just like
the Jews whom opposed Jesus Christ (whom was the power of God).
Overall, my point is that a difference exists between faith being
given from God as a gift to man and faith being a belief that people
just struggle hard to believe with their will; moreover, one requires
God to send demons to the believer in order to be broken and the other
requires God to send demons to the believer in order to show its
legitimate nature (as faith) as it does not break under the stress of
demonic forces (this shows the faith of the martyrs).
Consider the following scripture, "’King Agrippa, I consider myself
fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defense against all
the accusations of the Jews, and especially so because you are well
acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore,
I beg you to listen to me patiently.’ The Jews all know the way I
have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in
my own country, and also in Jerusalem. They have known me for a long
time and can testify, if they are willing, that according to the
strictest sect of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee. And now it is
because of my hope in what God has promised our fathers that I am on
trial today. This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see
fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. O king, it is
because of this hope that the Jews are accusing me. Why should any of
you consider it incredible that God raises the dead? "I too was
convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name
of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On
the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison,
and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a
time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I
tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them, I
even went to foreign cities to persecute them. "On one of these
journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of
the chief priests. About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a
light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my
companions. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to
me in Aramaic, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for
you to kick against the goads.' "Then I asked, 'Who are you, Lord?'
" 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' the Lord replied. 'Now get
up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a
servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will
show you. I will rescue you from your own people and from the
Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them
from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that
they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are
sanctified by faith in me.' Acts 26:2-18 (NIV)
The point to be made in the speech that was given to King Agrippa is
that sanctification happens through faith, and that faith is given by
God. Note that Saint Paul was so to speak, ‘kicking against the
staffs of the bishops’, and he was raising so much trouble that Christ
just one day showed himself to Saint Paul and then give him the
mission of turning his own people and the gentiles over from the power
of Satan to the power of God in order to make a eternal dwelling for
them among all those whom had already been set aside by faith in
Christ. Overall, the power of God that did these things was the blood
atonement of Jesus Christ administered by Christ and put into the
hands of Saint Paul (so to speak).
At this point I must reiterate that we have learned from scripture
that we are glorified by faith and that we are sanctified by faith,
and so now let us consider that we are also justified by faith.
Consider the following, "…there is only one God, who will justify the
circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith."
Romans 3:30 (NIV) Overall, the point is that we are justified,
sanctified, and glorified by faith that is given by God and that comes
from God.
Now let us carefully consider the entire chapter of Luke 17. Before
we do this however let us carefully consider the surrounding context
as Luke 12 begins by warning us against the yeast or the teachings of
the Pharisees then continues with the parable of the rich fool whom
told himself that his soul was rich because he could store for himself
a barn of produce yielding blessings for himself well into the future
allowing him to live conformably. Luke 12 continues as Jesus
encourages his disciples not to worry about what they will eat or
drink because God will provide it, and then Jesus goes on to talk
about watchfulness and being prepared for the wedding supper of the
lamb as he demonstrates with the message of the faithful manager.
Overall, the chapter concludes with how Christ brings division and not
peace and how the members of a person’s own household will be his
enemies as well as a lecture on interpreting the signs.
Chapter 13 urges people to repent or parish, it communicates the faith
as little as a mustard seed, the message of the narrow gate and how we
must enter through this gate, and lastly in this chapter Jesus weeps
over Jerusalem as he demonstrates his desire to obtain it. Luke 14
then really goes into more detail regarding the wedding supper of the
lamb beginning with the message that whomever exalts himself will be
humbled while whomever humbles himself will be exacted, the chapter
continues by telling us that everyone whom was invited did not attend
(the servants of God thus took people from the streets), and lastly we
are told in chapter 14 that the cost of being a disciple is that of
everything that we have as Jesus gives the illustration of going to
war with 10,000 men as the enemy has 20,000 men. Luke 15 then goes on
as Jesus gives his disciples the message of what their purpose is as
the chapter begins with the message regarding the lost sheep and then
continues with the lost coin and ends with the Portugal son. Overall,
chapter 16 then continues with the story of the manager that is being
fired whom since he is being fired tries to sit down with his master’s
debtors and lower the debts in order to have welcome into people’s
homes after he is fired, and thus we are given the message of seeking
after eternal dwellings as this is followed by the story of the rich
man who went to hell and Lazarus who went to heaven even though he was
so poor that no one would ever want anything to do with him except for
a dog that licked his injuries.
Now having said that let us consider the message of Luke 17, "Jesus
said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to sin are bound to
come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be
better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around
his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. So
watch yourselves. "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he
repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day,
and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him."
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" He replied, "If
you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this
mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey
you. "Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the
sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field,
'Come along now and sit down to eat'? Would he not rather say,
'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and
drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Would he thank the servant
because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have
done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy
servants; we have only done our duty.' " Now on his way to Jerusalem,
Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he
was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood
at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have
pity on us!" When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the
priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he
saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw
himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus
asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no
one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"
Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."
Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would
come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your
careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it
is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." Then he said to his
disciples, "The time is coming when you will long to see one of the
days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. Men will tell you,
'There he is!' or 'Here he is!' Do not go running off after them. For
the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes
and lights up the sky from one end to the other. But first he must
suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. "Just as it
was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of
Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in
marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and
destroyed them all. "It was the same in the days of Lot. People were
eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But
the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and
destroyed them all. "It will be just like this on the day the Son of
Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the roof of his house,
with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one
in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot's wife!
Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his
life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night two people will be
in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be
grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left."
"Where, Lord?" they asked. He replied, "Where there is a dead body,
there the vultures will gather." Luke 17:1-37 (NIV)
First of all in Luke 17 Jesus tells people that things that cause
people to sin are bound to happen, and when Jesus told this his
disciples asked him to increase their faith (this was said because the
disciples knew that if their faith could be increased then they could
be free from sin and free from causing any sin). The warning that
Jesus gave to his disciples is that if he gave them faith as small as
a mustard seed then they could tell a tree to uproot itself and plant
itself into the sea and it would obey. Jesus continues his message by
telling the disciples that instead of asking for their faith to be
increased in order to avoid sin and in order to avoid causing sin
instead they should do everything that the master tells them to do as
slaves and then at the end the master would feed them (this would be
the giving of the faith).
Luke 17 continues with 10 people whom ask for pity on themselves whom
are leopards, and Jesus heals them all and everyone of them goes off
but only one comes back to worship God (namely the Samaritan). The
acts of the ten whom are leopards communicate the message of the
Portugal Son in that the nine represent the son whom was always with
the father in the story of the Portugal son, and then one that comes
back that is a foreigner represents the Portugal son. The point to be
made in this passage is that Jesus gave healing to ten people, but
only one person came back to worship God as this was the only one that
truly received faith in the incident as Jesus told him that his faith
made him well. Overall, Jesus continues in Luke 17 to tell the story
about how the kingdom of God does not come through observation but
that instead it is within a person, and he concludes the chapter by
telling about how the end will be like Sodom and like Noah in that
everyone will be going about their usual business of being marry and
such and then the end will come saving only a few like in the case of
Noah and the ark.
Luke 18 continues with the story of the widow whom continuously asks
for justice, and this story is spoken about a judge that neither cares
for God or for man (this is the Pharisees). The chapter thus
continues to elaborate upon the tax collector that humbles himself
before God and beets his breasts while the Pharisee praises God for
his holiness. Overall, the chapter continues with the message
regarding allowing the little children to visit with Jesus as well as
the message regarding the rich man whom was required to sell
everything that he has in order to follow Jesus as well as the message
regarding his death and the man whom received his sight.
Saint Paul being a Pharisee was thus directly addressed by Luke 12
that warned against the teachings of the Pharisees, and once he became
a Christian the members of his own household (the other Pharisees)
became his enemies. Luke 13 tells us to repent or parish, and Saul
did just the opposite of this when he was off killing the Christians.
Luke 14 tells us about exalting ourselves and being made humble, and
this is exactly what happened in Saint Paul’s case and in fact he was
invited to the wedding supper and did not attend but God instead
forcefully showed himself to Paul. Saul whom was not the Portugal Son
of Luke 15 by any means but instead was the son that stayed at home
with the Father got a sharp rebuke that shattered his entire life when
he was on his way to kill even more Christians. In Luke 16 Saul was
not like the manger that was going to be fired whom was out to make
for himself eternal dwellings by reducing everyone’s debt, and Saul is
not at all cooperating like the servants in Luke 17. Overall, what we
learn however from Luke 18 is just like the widow whom constantly
prays for justice Stephan and many other Christens had to have prayed
for Saul in order for him to be saved, and lastly we learn that under
the conversion of Saint Paul he gained his sight like the blind man in
the end of Luke 18.
My point is that Jesus gave a bunch of teachings that Saul was
completely opposed to and was against as he killed Christians as he
was a Pharisee whom was like prime enemy number one for Jesus. You
might ask, "why did God save Saint Paul", and I believe the answer to
that question is that God saved Saint Paul in order to demonstrate his
power in showing that salvation does not occur by man but instead by
the power of God. Overall, by Christ imputing his righteousness into
Saint Paul he was held blameless in the sight of God, and it was Saul
whom completely put to death his old nature even to the extent as to
receive a new name.
We thus read the following regarding salvation, "The wolf and the lamb
will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust
will be the serpent's food." Isaiah 65:25 (NIV) We can thus see that
the serpent is not going to be saved, but instead he will have to eat
dust. The lion however is humbled to eat straw like the ox and the
wolf and the lamb will feed together, and no one will harm or
destroy. Overall, the point to be made in this is that everything
from the most powerful strongly opposing force against Christ down to
the most care intensive creature can and will be saved, but the
serpent will eat dust.
Consider thus Zechariah 11, "Open your doors, O Lebanon, so that fire
may devour your cedars! Wail, O pine tree, for the cedar has fallen;
the stately trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan; the dense forest
has been cut down! Listen to the wail of the shepherds; their rich
pastures are destroyed! Listen to the roar of the lions; the lush
thicket of the Jordan is ruined! This is what the LORD my God says:
"Pasture the flock marked for slaughter. Their buyers slaughter them
and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, 'Praise the LORD, I am
rich!' Their own shepherds do not spare them. For I will no longer
have pity on the people of the land," declares the LORD. "I will hand
everyone over to his neighbor and his king. They will oppress the
land, and I will not rescue them from their hands." So I pastured the
flock marked for slaughter, particularly the oppressed of the flock.
Then I took two staffs and called one Favor and the other Union, and I
pastured the flock. In one month I got rid of the three shepherds.
The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them and said, "I will not
be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let
those who are left eat one another's flesh." Then I took my staff
called Favor and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all
the nations. It was revoked on that day, and so the afflicted of the
flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the LORD. I told
them, "If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it." So
they paid me thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, "Throw
it to the potter"-the handsome price at which they priced me! So I
took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the
LORD to the potter. Then I broke my second staff called Union,
breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. Then the LORD said
to me, "Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. For I am
going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the
lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but
will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hoofs. "Woe
to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword
strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered,
his right eye totally blinded!" (NIV)
The point of Zechariah 11 is that God the Father has elected shepherds
over people, and this is specifically true of the flock marked for
slaughter. The flock marked for slaughter is the overarching huge
collection of sheep that the shepherds only care about for the sake of
turning a profit, and the shepherds have no regard whatsoever for
justice. In fact God even goes so far as to hand every man over to
his king instead of providing the legal protection of the law of Moses
through prophets and legal faithfulness providing a shield against
evil (Deuteronomy 11:18-29). Overall, Matthew 27:3 identifies the
shepherd that pastured the flock marked for slaughter as Judas whom
threw the thirty silver coins into the temple or otherwise known as
the potters house.
Judas broke the staff named favor that gave God favor over the Jews
among all the nations, and Judas broke the staff named union that thus
separated Judah from Israel as the leaders of Judah paid Judas to hand
Jesus over by deceptive means. The powerful men of Judah did not want
Jesus to be king because they knew that their jobs would be over so to
speak, and that is why the oppressed of the flock saw these things and
realized that it was God at work. Judas then took the equipment of
the foolish shepherd and hung himself. Overall, the shepherd that
emerges after Judas whom takes again the equipment of the foolish
shepherd is the Antichrist as God the Father raises him up over the
land as a shepherd who, "will not care for the lost, or seek the
young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat
of the choice sheep, tearing off their hoofs." (NIV)
Zechariah 11 is very clear that Judas (the first known antichrist) was
installed by the plan of God the Father, and this also continues with
the Antichrist. The writing regarding Zechariah 11 was made hundreds
of years prior to Judas, but yet it makes clear what God had planed
for the future. Overall, scripture makes very clear that Judas was
doing what God would have him do (even Jesus said after Satan entered
Judas, "go do what it is you are going to do and do it quickly), and I
do not think that he would have had it any other way.
Consider the following, "When he arrived, the king asked him,
"Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I
refrain?" "Attack and be victorious," he answered, "for the LORD will
give it into the king's hand." The king said to him, "How many times
must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of
the LORD?" Then Micaiah answered, "I saw all Israel scattered on the
hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the LORD said, 'These people
have no master. Let each one go home in peace.' " The king of Israel
said to Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you that he never prophesies
anything good about me, but only bad?" Micaiah continued, "Therefore
hear the word of the LORD : I saw the LORD sitting on his throne with
all the host of heaven standing around him on his right and on his
left. And the LORD said, 'Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth
Gilead and going to his death there?' "One suggested this, and
another that. Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD
and said, 'I will entice him.'" 'By what means?' the LORD asked." 'I
will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,'
he said." 'You will succeed in enticing him,' said the LORD. 'Go and
do it.' "So now the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all
these prophets of yours. The LORD has decreed disaster for you." 1
Kings 22:15-23 (NIV) Overall, in the context we actually learn that
God has the heavenly hosts standing on his right and on his left, and
we learn that some of them petition him to have permission to do a
task (just like the demons that got put in the pigs that begged Jesus
to be put into the pigs).
God not only grants the requests of demons, but he also allows for
demons to torment even the most devout people for the following is
said, "I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained,
I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man
in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven.
Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God
knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the
body I do not know, but God knows— was caught up to paradise. He
heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.
I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself,
except about my weaknesses. Even if I should choose to boast, I would
not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain,
so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or
say. To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly
great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger
of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take
it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all
the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest
on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in
insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I
am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 (NIV) In other
words Saint Paul knew that he had a demon (a messenger of Satan), he
knew the lord would not banish it, and he knew that it had a purpose
in keeping him weak, and the point to be made is that despite this
fact Saint Paul wrote most of the New Testament (the church exists
today because of him).
Saint Paul describes however a man that he knew for fourteen years
that may have had greater revelations from God then him (this man may
not even have written any of the New Testament. The man was caught up
into the third heaven according to Saint Paul, and my understanding is
that their are in fact four heavens prior to arriving at God’s throne
(in other words this man was not yet even at God’s throne). The man
even being caught up in the third heaven was in paradise according to
Saint Paul. PaRDeS is a Jewish system of interpretation that Saint
Paul was apparently well aware of that consisted of the Peshat, Remez,
Derash, and Sod levels of interpretation, and when the acronym is
spelled (PRDS or PaRDeS) it is cognate with the Hebrew word for
paradise (the word is used in Song of Songs 4:13 (phrds), Ecclesiastes
2:5 (phrdsim), and Nehemiah 2:8 (phrds) referring to a garden and
making elusions to the garden of Eden. Overall, the point to be made
is that Saint Paul (unlike those so called Super Apostles) was a
devout servant of Christ, and as a result of his service his work
became the foundation of the Christian church (this cannot be said of
the so called Super Apostles).
Consider the following text, "And then the lawless one will be
revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his
mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the
lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in
all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every
sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish
because they refused to love the truth and so be saved." 2
Thessalonians 2:8-10 (NIV) We thus find that everyone from Judas to
the High Priest had been those whom do not love the truth, and as a
result instead of acting out of law instead they became almost
completely lawless in crucifying Christ, and this same spirit of
lawlessness is among us today.
Today homosexual offenders are considered completely legal in their
actions under the laws of many nations while theft is penalized often
with incredible consequences, but in Ancient Hebrew law homosexual
offenders received the death penalty and thieves had to pay back five
times as much as what was owed. Not only that but also blasphemy was
the highest offense along with the worship of other gods, but today
these things are considered in most nations to be necessary in order
to promote peace and diversity. Overall, something like 75% of people
in the United States consider themselves Christian, but yet if a
nativity going into a person’s lawn in some places that person will
receive legal penalties from the local government (does Christ want
his birth to be a secret?).
Consider the following, "Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction
in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by
following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a
good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked
their faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have
handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme." 1 Timothy
1:18-20 (NIV) What we learn is that the church leaders possessed the
authority of God over the demonic forces to the extent that they could
hand people over to Satan as was often done.
Consider again the following, "It is actually reported that there is
sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even
among pagans: A man has his father's wife. And you are proud!
Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of
your fellowship the man who did this? Even though I am not physically
present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment
on the one who did this, just as if I were present. When you are
assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit,
and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to
Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved
on the day of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 (NIV) Overall, we can
see more clearly from this passage that Saint Paul could be in places
that he is not physically located in while he is in the spirit, and my
point in this is that even when Saint Paul is not physically present
but just present in the spirit the church leaders could hand people
over to Satan in order that the Soul may be saved and the flesh may be
destroyed.
My point in this entire work is that God has a purpose for demons and
all sorts of evil, and when that purpose has ended then they like
Judas will be utterly destroyed. We thus should not fight against
evil spirits, but instead we should seek to draw closer to God and
like Saint Paul whom prayed that his thorn may be removed we too
should pray when we have evil working upon us. Overall, sometimes
like the thorn in Saint Paul the evil serves a purpose and God is not
willing to have it removed, and sometimes the salvation of some comes
from handing them over to Satan in order that the soul may be saved
and the flesh may be destroyed.
If we thus consider the armor of God as defensive rather than
offensive, and if we consider being clothed with power from on high as
being offensive rather than defensive then we can truly see value in
both. The scripture and the written law of Moses is a wonderful
defense for those teachings and spirits that try to ruin us so to
speak, but we need personal revelation in order to reach out to others
to build an offensive line against the enemy and this comes from the
Holy Ghost (also we need the prescription of the law of Moses to be
something inward instead of something outward as this teaches us about
the circumcision of the heart). Overall, in the wedding supper of the
lamb it is God’s power that wages war against the armies of Satan, and
the armies of God are clothed in this power (Revelation 19:11-21).
In conclusion the difference between the angles on the right side of
the cross and those on the left is that one group mocks the lord and
the other rebukes the mockers and says, "we deserve our punishment."
The blood atonement of Jesus Christ does not go out to the mocker whom
believes that by his own works he is justifies in the eyes of God whom
throws off all authority except for his own as he dies on the cross
(he believes that he is his own God). Instead however the blood
atonement of Christ goes out to those whom God has chosen to redeem in
order to make his power known (people like Barabbas and people like
Saint Paul).
Thank you,
Mathew Enoch Mount
mmo...@essex1.com
Torah is used to refer to the teachings of the ancient Hebrew
scripture, and the term torah thus is used specifically to refer to
the five books of Moses as the central most teachings of Judaism.
Mitzvah it used to refer to the works associated with the law (so to
speak). What has been believed by the vast majority of modern Jews,
as I understand it, is that by performing mitzvahs people purify
creation and perhaps even enter into a better relationship into God’s
will as this is considered to be the purpose for having the mitzvah to
begin with. I find that Christianity teaches something starkly
contrasting in that once faith has been revealed through the birth,
death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ that we then learn that
teachings or (torah) point to faith and can be used to communicate
faith, and mitzvahs thus act as icons or pictures into the work of
Christ. For example God telling Abraham to slay Isaac was a mitzvah
that God gave to Abraham that gives a picture of Christ crucifixion on
the cross, but the torah or teaching of using the lamb in place of
Isaac is meant to communicate faith that Christ as the lamb of God
died on the cross for Isaac to live (substitutional atonement).
Overall, we however know that the story is much larger than this
because the intense emotions felt by Abraham, Isaac, God the Father,
and God the Son teach us that everyone in God’s family got nailed to
the cross through Christ (so to speak) because they all shared the
same suffering, and we know this because Abraham would have been
weeping over the prospect of killing Isaac (fortunately Abraham did
not have to kill Isaac) and God the Father would have had to have been
feelings something similar so to speak over the death of Jesus Christ.
I believe that I have more than demonstrated how faith comes through
the administration of the blood atonement of Jesus Christ, and that
blood atonement happens thorough the efforts of the Holy Ghost
administering it from the lamb of God that has been crucified from the
creation of the world. Notice that when Judas took communion, then it
was at that very time that Satan entered him causing him to do the
very things that had been predestined for him to do (this happened
even before the cross of Christ). With Christ being crucified only
once for all eternity, we know that salvation is predetermined despite
the Holy Ghost working to seal the servants of God and despite the
work of Christ to judge to determine who is saved from who is not
saved. Overall, the point to be made is that all three acts of
sealing the servants of God, judging the living and the dead, and
predestining the saved all happen in one accord without controversy
among the three persons of God regarding who is saved and who is not
saved; moreover, in the following study of scripture I will attempt to
explain the purpose of Satan and his army to torment the life of the
believer.
First of all we read in scripture that we need not be taught by man,
but instead we, that are undergoing Chrismation, are taught by God.
"As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and
you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you
about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just
as it has taught you, remain in him." 1 John 2:27 (NIV) We learn
about this anointing from Pentecost, from Revelation speaking of
sealing the servants of God (Revelation 7:3 & Exodus 13:9), and from
the circumcision of the heart. (Romans 2:29, Leviticus 26:41, & Acts
7:51). Overall, we can see evidence from the scripture that the
Chrismation spoken about in 1 John may not be communicating only a
physical laying on of hands performed by local bodily church clergy,
but instead when Chrismation is the real thing it is administered by
the angles that stand in the presence of God in the New Jerusalem.
Overall, we know that sometimes the Chrismation that is initiated by
the local church leaders in bodily form is made real through the
servants of God administering this sacrament as the Holy Ghost goes
forth from Christ to anoint a person to bring them into communion with
a multitudes of heavenly hosts in the New Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22),
but we know that sometimes local church leaders are here today and
gone tomorrow and they are in fact often set aside to display God’s
holy wrath in order to demonstrate the richness of his glory to those
whom he has chosen to show mercy (in this case the anointing of the
Holy Ghost would have to be administered by heavenly hosts for the
people on the bottom of the church hierarchy to be saved).
For many people that proclaim Christianity that are high ranking
clearly men many of such people will completely reject one group or
another group based upon the doctrine of the rival church heads
because what is often believed is that the administration of
sacraments only rests in the hands of men whom received this power of
authority from a long line of people that received that power from the
early apostles and thus from Christ himself. The idea thus is that
everyone who continues in the faith of the apostles and continues in
the long chain of ordained clergy man going back to the early apostles
who kept the same faith is in fact able to administer sacraments with
legal authority of the covenant of Christ. The problem with this view
is that it often comes into conflict with many heavenly hosts whom
administer God’s will faithfully, and this happens because sacraments
become based in the authority of man more and more over time as church
authorities see their leadership as being further and further removed
from direct intercession of God as a result of viewing the Holy Ghost
as having worked in the past more so than in current times.
Consider carefully the chain of command that scripture gives for
revelation to the servants of God as follows, "The revelation of Jesus
Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take
place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant
John." (Revelation 1:1 NIV) Overall, the point to be made is that
special revelation occurs in a orderly chain of command from God, to
Christ, to the angles, to the servants, and then to the general public
in one form or another; moreover, this is critical for understanding
communion with God because more often than not a church leader will
totally break from chain of command and be administering sacraments
based only on his own human authority.
Consider the following, "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's
elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia,
Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the
foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the
Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood:
Grace and peace be yours in abundance. Praise be to the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us
new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or
fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's
power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed
in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a
little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which
perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may
result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not
see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible
and glorious joy" 1 Peter 1:1-8 (NIV) We read from scripture in this
case that God’s elect are chosen from the world through the
foreknowledge of God the Father, and we learn that the Holy Ghost
sanctifies or sets apart those whom are being saved. We however also
learn that we are the elect for the obedience of Jesus Christ first of
all and for the sprinkling of his blood second of all, and thus we
learn about the distinction that God makes between works (the
obedience of Jesus Christ) and faith (the sprinkling of his blood).
Overall, we are thus sanctified by this faith that shields us from the
flames like in the story of Daniel and the furnace, but this faith
will eventually parish in those flames delivering us into
glorification such that we will see God face to face and our faith
will become praise, glory, and honor.
Think about what I am saying carefully. All of the twelve utterly
deserted Jesus Christ, and Peter (not Peter V on our news group) whom
was most admit about willfully following Christ denied Christ three
times just prior to the crucifixion just as Jesus said he would. If
this would not have happened, then Peter would have trusted in his own
power instead of the power of God, and Peter would have been just like
the Jews whom opposed Jesus Christ (whom was the power of God).
Overall, my point is that a difference exists between faith being
given from God as a gift to man and faith being a belief that people
just struggle hard to believe with their will; moreover, one requires
God to send demons to the believer in order to be broken and the other
requires God to send demons to the believer in order to show its
legitimate nature (as faith) as it does not break under the stress of
demonic forces (this shows the faith of the martyrs).
Consider the following scripture, "’King Agrippa, I consider myself
fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defense against all
the accusations of the Jews, and especially so because you are well
acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore,
I beg you to listen to me patiently.’ The Jews all know the way I
have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in
my own country, and also in Jerusalem. They have known me for a long
time and can testify, if they are willing, that according to the
strictest sect of our religion, I lived as a Pharisee. And now it is
because of my hope in what God has promised our fathers that I am on
trial today. This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see
fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. O king, it is
because of this hope that the Jews are accusing me. Why should any of
you consider it incredible that God raises the dead? "I too was
convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name
of Jesus of Nazareth. And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On
the authority of the chief priests I put many of the saints in prison,
and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them. Many a
time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I
tried to force them to blaspheme. In my obsession against them, I
even went to foreign cities to persecute them. "On one of these
journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of
the chief priests. About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a
light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my
companions. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to
me in Aramaic, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for
you to kick against the goads.' "Then I asked, 'Who are you, Lord?'
" 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' the Lord replied. 'Now get
up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a
servant and as a witness of what you have seen of me and what I will
show you. I will rescue you from your own people and from the
Gentiles. I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them
from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that
they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are
sanctified by faith in me.' Acts 26:2-18 (NIV)
The point to be made in the speech that was given to King Agrippa is
that sanctification happens through faith, and that faith is given by
God. Note that Saint Paul was so to speak, ‘kicking against the
staffs of the bishops’, and he was raising so much trouble that Christ
just one day showed himself to Saint Paul and then give him the
mission of turning his own people and the gentiles over from the power
of Satan to the power of God in order to make a eternal dwelling for
them among all those whom had already been set aside by faith in
Christ. Overall, the power of God that did these things was the blood
atonement of Jesus Christ administered by Christ and put into the
hands of Saint Paul (so to speak).
At this point I must reiterate that we have learned from scripture
that we are glorified by faith and that we are sanctified by faith,
and so now let us consider that we are also justified by faith.
Consider the following, "…there is only one God, who will justify the
circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith."
Romans 3:30 (NIV) Overall, the point is that we are justified,
sanctified, and glorified by faith that is given by God and that comes
from God.
Now let us carefully consider the entire chapter of Luke 17. Before
we do this however let us carefully consider the surrounding context
as Luke 12 begins by warning us against the yeast or the teachings of
the Pharisees then continues with the parable of the rich fool whom
told himself that his soul was rich because he could store for himself
a barn of produce yielding blessings for himself well into the future
allowing him to live conformably. Luke 12 continues as Jesus
encourages his disciples not to worry about what they will eat or
drink because God will provide it, and then Jesus goes on to talk
about watchfulness and being prepared for the wedding supper of the
lamb as he demonstrates with the message of the faithful manager.
Overall, the chapter concludes with how Christ brings division and not
peace and how the members of a person’s own household will be his
enemies as well as a lecture on interpreting the signs.
Chapter 13 urges people to repent or parish, it communicates the faith
as little as a mustard seed, the message of the narrow gate and how we
must enter through this gate, and lastly in this chapter Jesus weeps
over Jerusalem as he demonstrates his desire to obtain it. Luke 14
then really goes into more detail regarding the wedding supper of the
lamb beginning with the message that whomever exalts himself will be
humbled while whomever humbles himself will be exacted, the chapter
continues by telling us that everyone whom was invited did not attend
(the servants of God thus took people from the streets), and lastly we
are told in chapter 14 that the cost of being a disciple is that of
everything that we have as Jesus gives the illustration of going to
war with 10,000 men as the enemy has 20,000 men. Luke 15 then goes on
as Jesus gives his disciples the message of what their purpose is as
the chapter begins with the message regarding the lost sheep and then
continues with the lost coin and ends with the Portugal son. Overall,
chapter 16 then continues with the story of the manager that is being
fired whom since he is being fired tries to sit down with his master’s
debtors and lower the debts in order to have welcome into people’s
homes after he is fired, and thus we are given the message of seeking
after eternal dwellings as this is followed by the story of the rich
man who went to hell and Lazarus who went to heaven even though he was
so poor that no one would ever want anything to do with him except for
a dog that licked his injuries.
Now having said that let us consider the message of Luke 17, "Jesus
said to his disciples: "Things that cause people to sin are bound to
come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be
better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around
his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. So
watch yourselves. "If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he
repents, forgive him. If he sins against you seven times in a day,
and seven times comes back to you and says, 'I repent,' forgive him."
The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" He replied, "If
you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this
mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it will obey
you. "Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the
sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field,
'Come along now and sit down to eat'? Would he not rather say,
'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and
drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Would he thank the servant
because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have
done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy
servants; we have only done our duty.' " Now on his way to Jerusalem,
Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he
was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood
at a distance and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have
pity on us!" When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the
priests." And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he
saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw
himself at Jesus' feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan. Jesus
asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no
one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"
Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."
Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would
come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your
careful observation, nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it
is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." Then he said to his
disciples, "The time is coming when you will long to see one of the
days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it. Men will tell you,
'There he is!' or 'Here he is!' Do not go running off after them. For
the Son of Man in his day will be like the lightning, which flashes
and lights up the sky from one end to the other. But first he must
suffer many things and be rejected by this generation. "Just as it
was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of
Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in
marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and
destroyed them all. "It was the same in the days of Lot. People were
eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But
the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and
destroyed them all. "It will be just like this on the day the Son of
Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the roof of his house,
with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one
in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot's wife!
Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his
life will preserve it. I tell you, on that night two people will be
in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be
grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left."
"Where, Lord?" they asked. He replied, "Where there is a dead body,
there the vultures will gather." Luke 17:1-37 (NIV)
First of all in Luke 17 Jesus tells people that things that cause
people to sin are bound to happen, and when Jesus told this his
disciples asked him to increase their faith (this was said because the
disciples knew that if their faith could be increased then they could
be free from sin and free from causing any sin). The warning that
Jesus gave to his disciples is that if he gave them faith as small as
a mustard seed then they could tell a tree to uproot itself and plant
itself into the sea and it would obey. Jesus continues his message by
telling the disciples that instead of asking for their faith to be
increased in order to avoid sin and in order to avoid causing sin
instead they should do everything that the master tells them to do as
slaves and then at the end the master would feed them (this would be
the giving of the faith).
Luke 17 continues with 10 people whom ask for pity on themselves whom
are leopards, and Jesus heals them all and everyone of them goes off
but only one comes back to worship God (namely the Samaritan). The
acts of the ten whom are leopards communicate the message of the
Portugal Son in that the nine represent the son whom was always with
the father in the story of the Portugal son, and then one that comes
back that is a foreigner represents the Portugal son. The point to be
made in this passage is that Jesus gave healing to ten people, but
only one person came back to worship God as this was the only one that
truly received faith in the incident as Jesus told him that his faith
made him well. Overall, Jesus continues in Luke 17 to tell the story
about how the kingdom of God does not come through observation but
that instead it is within a person, and he concludes the chapter by
telling about how the end will be like Sodom and like Noah in that
everyone will be going about their usual business of being marry and
such and then the end will come saving only a few like in the case of
Noah and the ark.
Luke 18 continues with the story of the widow whom continuously asks
for justice, and this story is spoken about a judge that neither cares
for God or for man (this is the Pharisees). The chapter thus
continues to elaborate upon the tax collector that humbles himself
before God and beets his breasts while the Pharisee praises God for
his holiness. Overall, the chapter continues with the message
regarding allowing the little children to visit with Jesus as well as
the message regarding the rich man whom was required to sell
everything that he has in order to follow Jesus as well as the message
regarding his death and the man whom received his sight.
Saint Paul being a Pharisee was thus directly addressed by Luke 12
that warned against the teachings of the Pharisees, and once he became
a Christian the members of his own household (the other Pharisees)
became his enemies. Luke 13 tells us to repent or parish, and Saul
did just the opposite of this when he was off killing the Christians.
Luke 14 tells us about exalting ourselves and being made humble, and
this is exactly what happened in Saint Paul’s case and in fact he was
invited to the wedding supper and did not attend but God instead
forcefully showed himself to Paul. Saul whom was not the Portugal Son
of Luke 15 by any means but instead was the son that stayed at home
with the Father got a sharp rebuke that shattered his entire life when
he was on his way to kill even more Christians. In Luke 16 Saul was
not like the manger that was going to be fired whom was out to make
for himself eternal dwellings by reducing everyone’s debt, and Saul is
not at all cooperating like the servants in Luke 17. Overall, what we
learn however from Luke 18 is just like the widow whom constantly
prays for justice Stephan and many other Christens had to have prayed
for Saul in order for him to be saved, and lastly we learn that under
the conversion of Saint Paul he gained his sight like the blind man in
the end of Luke 18.
My point is that Jesus gave a bunch of teachings that Saul was
completely opposed to and was against as he killed Christians as he
was a Pharisee whom was like prime enemy number one for Jesus. You
might ask, "why did God save Saint Paul", and I believe the answer to
that question is that God saved Saint Paul in order to demonstrate his
power in showing that salvation does not occur by man but instead by
the power of God. Overall, by Christ imputing his righteousness into
Saint Paul he was held blameless in the sight of God, and it was Saul
whom completely put to death his old nature even to the extent as to
receive a new name.
We thus read the following regarding salvation, "The wolf and the lamb
will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, but dust
will be the serpent's food." Isaiah 65:25 (NIV) We can thus see that
the serpent is not going to be saved, but instead he will have to eat
dust. The lion however is humbled to eat straw like the ox and the
wolf and the lamb will feed together, and no one will harm or
destroy. Overall, the point to be made in this is that everything
from the most powerful strongly opposing force against Christ down to
the most care intensive creature can and will be saved, but the
serpent will eat dust.
Consider thus Zechariah 11, "Open your doors, O Lebanon, so that fire
may devour your cedars! Wail, O pine tree, for the cedar has fallen;
the stately trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan; the dense forest
has been cut down! Listen to the wail of the shepherds; their rich
pastures are destroyed! Listen to the roar of the lions; the lush
thicket of the Jordan is ruined! This is what the LORD my God says:
"Pasture the flock marked for slaughter. Their buyers slaughter them
and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, 'Praise the LORD, I am
rich!' Their own shepherds do not spare them. For I will no longer
have pity on the people of the land," declares the LORD. "I will hand
everyone over to his neighbor and his king. They will oppress the
land, and I will not rescue them from their hands." So I pastured the
flock marked for slaughter, particularly the oppressed of the flock.
Then I took two staffs and called one Favor and the other Union, and I
pastured the flock. In one month I got rid of the three shepherds.
The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them and said, "I will not
be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let
those who are left eat one another's flesh." Then I took my staff
called Favor and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all
the nations. It was revoked on that day, and so the afflicted of the
flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the LORD. I told
them, "If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it." So
they paid me thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, "Throw
it to the potter"-the handsome price at which they priced me! So I
took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the
LORD to the potter. Then I broke my second staff called Union,
breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. Then the LORD said
to me, "Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. For I am
going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the
lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but
will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hoofs. "Woe
to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword
strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered,
his right eye totally blinded!" (NIV)
The point of Zechariah 11 is that God the Father has elected shepherds
over people, and this is specifically true of the flock marked for
slaughter. The flock marked for slaughter is the overarching huge
collection of sheep that the shepherds only care about for the sake of
turning a profit, and the shepherds have no regard whatsoever for
justice. In fact God even goes so far as to hand every man over to
his king instead of providing the legal protection of the law of Moses
through prophets and legal faithfulness providing a shield against
evil (Deuteronomy 11:18-29). Overall, Matthew 27:3 identifies the
shepherd that pastured the flock marked for slaughter as Judas whom
threw the thirty silver coins into the temple or otherwise known as
the potters house.
Judas broke the staff named favor that gave God favor over the Jews
among all the nations, and Judas broke the staff named union that thus
separated Judah from Israel as the leaders of Judah paid Judas to hand
Jesus over by deceptive means. The powerful men of Judah did not want
Jesus to be king because they knew that their jobs would be over so to
speak, and that is why the oppressed of the flock saw these things and
realized that it was God at work. Judas then took the equipment of
the foolish shepherd and hung himself. Overall, the shepherd that
emerges after Judas whom takes again the equipment of the foolish
shepherd is the Antichrist as God the Father raises him up over the
land as a shepherd who, "will not care for the lost, or seek the
young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat
of the choice sheep, tearing off their hoofs." (NIV)
Zechariah 11 is very clear that Judas (the first known antichrist) was
installed by the plan of God the Father, and this also continues with
the Antichrist. The writing regarding Zechariah 11 was made hundreds
of years prior to Judas, but yet it makes clear what God had planed
for the future. Overall, scripture makes very clear that Judas was
doing what God would have him do (even Jesus said after Satan entered
Judas, "go do what it is you are going to do and do it quickly), and I
do not think that he would have had it any other way.
Consider the following, "When he arrived, the king asked him,
"Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I
refrain?" "Attack and be victorious," he answered, "for the LORD will
give it into the king's hand." The king said to him, "How many times
must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of
the LORD?" Then Micaiah answered, "I saw all Israel scattered on the
hills like sheep without a shepherd, and the LORD said, 'These people
have no master. Let each one go home in peace.' " The king of Israel
said to Jehoshaphat, "Didn't I tell you that he never prophesies
anything good about me, but only bad?" Micaiah continued, "Therefore
hear the word of the LORD : I saw the LORD sitting on his throne with
all the host of heaven standing around him on his right and on his
left. And the LORD said, 'Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth
Gilead and going to his death there?' "One suggested this, and
another that. Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD
and said, 'I will entice him.'" 'By what means?' the LORD asked." 'I
will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,'
he said." 'You will succeed in enticing him,' said the LORD. 'Go and
do it.' "So now the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all
these prophets of yours. The LORD has decreed disaster for you." 1
Kings 22:15-23 (NIV) Overall, in the context we actually learn that
God has the heavenly hosts standing on his right and on his left, and
we learn that some of them petition him to have permission to do a
task (just like the demons that got put in the pigs that begged Jesus
to be put into the pigs).
God not only grants the requests of demons, but he also allows for
demons to torment even the most devout people for the following is
said, "I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained,
I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man
in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven.
Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God
knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the
body I do not know, but God knows— was caught up to paradise. He
heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.
I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself,
except about my weaknesses. Even if I should choose to boast, I would
not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain,
so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or
say. To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly
great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger
of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take
it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you,
for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all
the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest
on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in
insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I
am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 (NIV) In other
words Saint Paul knew that he had a demon (a messenger of Satan), he
knew the lord would not banish it, and he knew that it had a purpose
in keeping him weak, and the point to be made is that despite this
fact Saint Paul wrote most of the New Testament (the church exists
today because of him).
Saint Paul describes however a man that he knew for fourteen years
that may have had greater revelations from God then him (this man may
not even have written any of the New Testament. The man was caught up
into the third heaven according to Saint Paul, and my understanding is
that their are in fact four heavens prior to arriving at God’s throne
(in other words this man was not yet even at God’s throne). The man
even being caught up in the third heaven was in paradise according to
Saint Paul. PaRDeS is a Jewish system of interpretation that Saint
Paul was apparently well aware of that consisted of the Peshat, Remez,
Derash, and Sod levels of interpretation, and when the acronym is
spelled (PRDS or PaRDeS) it is cognate with the Hebrew word for
paradise (the word is used in Song of Songs 4:13 (phrds), Ecclesiastes
2:5 (phrdsim), and Nehemiah 2:8 (phrds) referring to a garden and
making elusions to the garden of Eden. Overall, the point to be made
is that Saint Paul (unlike those so called Super Apostles) was a
devout servant of Christ, and as a result of his service his work
became the foundation of the Christian church (this cannot be said of
the so called Super Apostles).
Consider the following text, "And then the lawless one will be
revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his
mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the
lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in
all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every
sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish
because they refused to love the truth and so be saved." 2
Thessalonians 2:8-10 (NIV) We thus find that everyone from Judas to
the High Priest had been those whom do not love the truth, and as a
result instead of acting out of law instead they became almost
completely lawless in crucifying Christ, and this same spirit of
lawlessness is among us today.
Today homosexual offenders are considered completely legal in their
actions under the laws of many nations while theft is penalized often
with incredible consequences, but in Ancient Hebrew law homosexual
offenders received the death penalty and thieves had to pay back five
times as much as what was owed. Not only that but also blasphemy was
the highest offense along with the worship of other gods, but today
these things are considered in most nations to be necessary in order
to promote peace and diversity. Overall, something like 75% of people
in the United States consider themselves Christian, but yet if a
nativity going into a person’s lawn in some places that person will
receive legal penalties from the local government (does Christ want
his birth to be a secret?).
Consider the following, "Timothy, my son, I give you this instruction
in keeping with the prophecies once made about you, so that by
following them you may fight the good fight, holding on to faith and a
good conscience. Some have rejected these and so have shipwrecked
their faith. Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have
handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme." 1 Timothy
1:18-20 (NIV) What we learn is that the church leaders possessed the
authority of God over the demonic forces to the extent that they could
hand people over to Satan as was often done.
Consider again the following, "It is actually reported that there is
sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even
among pagans: A man has his father's wife. And you are proud!
Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of
your fellowship the man who did this? Even though I am not physically
present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment
on the one who did this, just as if I were present. When you are
assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit,
and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to
Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved
on the day of the Lord. 1 Corinthians 5:1-5 (NIV) Overall, we can
see more clearly from this passage that Saint Paul could be in places
that he is not physically located in while he is in the spirit, and my
point in this is that even when Saint Paul is not physically present
but just present in the spirit the church leaders could hand people
over to Satan in order that the Soul may be saved and the flesh may be
destroyed.
My point in this entire work is that God has a purpose for demons and
all sorts of evil, and when that purpose has ended then they like
Judas will be utterly destroyed. We thus should not fight against
evil spirits, but instead we should seek to draw closer to God and
like Saint Paul whom prayed that his thorn may be removed we too
should pray when we have evil working upon us. Overall, sometimes
like the thorn in Saint Paul the evil serves a purpose and God is not
willing to have it removed, and sometimes the salvation of some comes
from handing them over to Satan in order that the soul may be saved
and the flesh may be destroyed.
If we thus consider the armor of God as defensive rather than
offensive, and if we consider being clothed with power from on high as
being offensive rather than defensive then we can truly see value in
both. The scripture and the written law of Moses is a wonderful
defense for those teachings and spirits that try to ruin us so to
speak, but we need personal revelation in order to reach out to others
to build an offensive line against the enemy and this comes from the
Holy Ghost (also we need the prescription of the law of Moses to be
something inward instead of something outward as this teaches us about
the circumcision of the heart). Overall, in the wedding supper of the
lamb it is God’s power that wages war against the armies of Satan, and
the armies of God are clothed in this power (Revelation 19:11-21).
In conclusion the difference between the angles on the right side of
the cross and those on the left is that one group mocks the lord and
the other rebukes the mockers and says, "we deserve our punishment."
The blood atonement of Jesus Christ does not go out to the mocker whom
believes that by his own works he is justifies in the eyes of God whom
throws off all authority except for his own as he dies on the cross
(he believes that he is his own God). Instead however the blood
atonement of Christ goes out to those whom God has chosen to redeem in
order to make his power known (people like Barabbas and people like
Saint Paul).
Thank you,
Mathew Enoch Mount
mmo...@essex1.com
Peter VanGee
Dec 15, 2009, 9:31:50 AM12/15/09
to jesus-th...@googlegroups.com
In conclusion the difference between the angles on the right side of
the cross and those on the left is that one group mocks the lord and
the other rebukes the mockers and says, "we deserve our punishment."
The blood atonement of Jesus Christ does not go out to the mocker whom
believes that by his own works he is justifies in the eyes of God whom
throws off all authority except for his own as he dies on the cross
(he believes that he is his own God). Instead however the blood
atonement of Christ goes out to those whom God has chosen to redeem in
order to make his power known (people like Barabbas and people like
Saint Paul).
By Christ own words, and I've used the quote before...the blood of the martyrs gives them the right to judge those who persecute them. Life is sacred...not blood...'the flesh is of no avail.' That the shadow of this made it into religious rite...does little more than lead us knowledge of good and evil..
Know the Lord,
Peter J. VanGee
mmo...@essex1.com
Dec 15, 2009, 8:57:17 PM12/15/09
to jesus-th...@googlegroups.com
Hello,
The crucifixion of Christ was clearly something that God wanted to have done, and that is
why it happened. If God did not what it to be done, then it would have never happen. As
a result, we should learn about why God wanted the crucifixion of Christ to happen.
Overall, the New Testament teaches us that the reason why the crucifixion of Christ
happened was for the sake of the blood atonement of Jesus Christ.
------- Original Message -------
From : Peter VanGee[mailto:peter...@gmail.com]
Sent : 12/15/2009 8:31:50 AM
To : jesus-th...@googlegroups.com
Cc :
Subject : RE: Re: Zechariah 11 & Luke 17 - Justified, Sanctified, and Glorified by Faith
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Larry Roy Woodsmall §§§§ Freed from Monasticism
Evan L. Hale §§§§§§§§§§§ Thankful for Whiskey
Adam Colbert §§§§§§§§§§ Jesus look alike
Mathew Enoch Mount §§§§ Conservative
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The crucifixion of Christ was clearly something that God wanted to have done, and that is
why it happened. If God did not what it to be done, then it would have never happen. As
a result, we should learn about why God wanted the crucifixion of Christ to happen.
Overall, the New Testament teaches us that the reason why the crucifixion of Christ
happened was for the sake of the blood atonement of Jesus Christ.
------- Original Message -------
From : Peter VanGee[mailto:peter...@gmail.com]
Sent : 12/15/2009 8:31:50 AM
To : jesus-th...@googlegroups.com
Cc :
Subject : RE: Re: Zechariah 11 & Luke 17 - Justified, Sanctified, and Glorified by Faith
Larry Roy Woodsmall §§§§ Freed from Monasticism
Evan L. Hale §§§§§§§§§§§ Thankful for Whiskey
Adam Colbert §§§§§§§§§§ Jesus look alike
Mathew Enoch Mount §§§§ Conservative
===>
Together we operate Jesus on the Web
----------------------------------------------------------------
You received this message because you are subscribed
To the Google Groups "Jesus On the Web" group.
To post to this group, send email to
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To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
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Peter VanGee
Dec 16, 2009, 11:17:36 AM12/16/09
to jesus-th...@googlegroups.com
The crucifixion of Christ was clearly something that God wanted to have done, and that is
why it happened. If God did not what it to be done, then it would have never happen.
There is a difference between allowing something to happen and wanting it to happen.
As a result, we should learn about why God wanted the crucifixion of Christ to happen.
Overall, the New Testament teaches us that the reason why the crucifixion of Christ
happened was for the sake of the blood atonement of Jesus Christ.
I disagree. You make a statement(willy nilly) and give no supporting example. I'm supposed to except it because you're the Great Matthew... Here is an example of a supporting statement: Remember the parable about a landlord who sent his servents and finally his son. They kill the son so they can claim his inheritance. That is why Christ said that they will kill him. Where is your precious 'blood atonement' in that?
Know the Lord,
Pete
Peter VanGee
Dec 16, 2009, 11:54:19 AM12/16/09
to jesus-th...@googlegroups.com
Hi Matthew:
There is a different between will and want. I may find a girl attractive. I may want her. She may want me, but that doesn't mean I will sleep with her. After all, I'm a married man. I can even sleep with a woman I don't want (not that I do).
In a sense, your statements here (and perhaps mine) show a lack of discipline. I know of very few people or denominations who come to the conclusion that God wanted Jesus crucified. Yet you continue to make your own theology and say he does. You talked about starting a monastic school. Perhaps you should start small. Visit a monestary, take full advantage of the hospitality they claim to have and leave when they tell you to (or when you feel ready).
The only statement that even closely resembles your conclusions is given by Isaiah. When he says that God is pleased to crush him in his infirmity... and his appearance was so far beyond that of the sons of men. However, this doesn't make your case. We all suffer infirmity in some way shape or form. Also, it shows God's power in that they utterly destroyed him and God brought him back to life. And as Nineveh can attest...a prior vision does not mean it has to happen.
Know the Lord,
Pete
Mathew Enoch Mount
Dec 16, 2009, 9:26:36 PM12/16/09
to Jesus On the Web
Hello,
Yes Peter the scripture does say that the tenants wanted to kill the
son to gain the inheritance, and the scripture is true. If this would
not have happened, then people would not have believed Christ. In
fact if Christ did not tell us this message and others like it, then
we would think that the cross came upon Jesus by surprise. The reason
why things happen that God says will happen, and the reason why God
knows that things are going to happen before they happen is because
God is in complete control of the universe. Overall, the fact that
God is in complete control tells us that he is behind everything that
happens in the universe, and I would go so far to say that nothing
takes the Father by surprise.
Thank you,
Mathew Enoch Mount
mmo...@essex1.com
Mathew Enoch Mount
Dec 16, 2009, 9:47:57 PM12/16/09
to Jesus On the Web
Hello,
I believe that I understand your distinction between will and want,
but I believe that if the will and the wants of God the Father had not
been the same then he would be falling short of being all powerful and
all knowing. We do however know that according to the scripture
Christ and even God the Father (I have recently found) will restrict
their charity (or in other words their love shared to the
undeserving), and this willful restriction and distribution is known
(to some extent) as the glory of God according to Exodus 33. Overall,
I plan to write on this subject more in detail sometime tonight in a
new post.
Thank you,
Mathew Enoch Mount
mmo...@essex1.com
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