Re: Digest for jesus-the-christ@googlegroups.com - 2 Messages in 1 Topic

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GOD GOES NATIVE #4 [2 Updates]

 Topic: GOD GOES NATIVE #4
ON EARTH Ministries <onearth.ministr...@gmail.com> Dec 29
02:13PM -0600 ^

 
The second century seems to have been a time when many rituals and
writings
surface in the Faith. It is my understanding that many Gnostic texts are
dated from this time as well, such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel
Mary
Magdalene, and the still somewhat shocking Gospel of Judas, to name a
few.
Much of the material, I believe, was meant to exemplify the understood
meaning to these believers through a sort of extrapolation. We also see
many writings, in the earlier Jewish faith tradition regarding Solomon
and
his purported magical powers. All are considered apocryphal today, and
much
of it would still be judged heretical.
 
 
 
However, I do believe it to be good to, not only respect, but to also
attempt to understand the underlying message, or meaning, of these
rituals,
traditions, and writings; and through this process, perhaps, catch a
glimpse
of the love that these unique, devout, ancient believers felt for
Jesus, and
our Father. This doesn’t require that I judge the author or
practitioner of
said ritual, doctrine, or document; only that I make a sincere effort to
understand, through prayer, study, prayer, meditation and prayer,
whether or
not, and what place, if any, it might have in the plan our Father has
for my
discipleship.
 
 
 
Stories regarding the Joseph, as well as Jesus’ brothers and sisters,
abound. Many found there origin in this second century period. I believe
that this is when the idea that Joseph was an older widower; which, in a
time when half of the population died before twenty, and few lived
beyond
fifty, was thought to explain the glaring absence of Joseph, as well as
the
presents of referenced “brothers and sisters” in the canonical Gospels.
 
 
 
If anyone in our group would understand the implications of all of this
in
light of Mosaic Law, I believe you would.
 
 
 
And as you obviously appreciate, the point of my imaginative
extrapolation
was to accentuate the humanity of the Nativity, and indeed, Jesus the
Christ
Himself. Because, I believe, without it in the forefront we loose the
very
substance and meaning of Jesus, and his sacrifice on our behalf.
 
Peace, and All Good Things,
 
Brother Larry Roy Woodsmall
ON EARTH MINISTRIES

 

"mmo...@essex1.com" <mmo...@essex1.com> Dec 29 09:39PM -0600 ^

 
Hello,
Your case Larry for why we should not listen to non-canonical authors
is perhaps very common and compelling, but having said that I find that
much testimony of today is non-canonical. When people espouse any
explanation of scripture that is not scripture itself, those people
under the strictest view of cannon would be speaking outside of
biblical cannon. The strictest view of biblical cannon thus teaches
that the scripture does not relate to anything other than itself, and
this would mean that scripture would become so far removed from our
experience of reality that it can only be nothing more than a book
under this view.
My point in saying this is that today many people have no quarrels with
never having read the scripture during their lifetime, only listening
to a church service every Sunday for a hour that makes reference to a
few verses, and indulging in fantasy through television entertainment
and other such resources. What is worst of all is that I have found
that many of the churches that such people will attend will turn the
entire scripture into just a bunch of rules that we should follow in
order to keep our sanctity, and we are told that as long as we continue
to attend such places of worship that involve others doing these things
that we are saved or that we will be saved. Usually many churches will
seek to crucify anyone that both reads the scripture and reads any
other literature of the surrounding times that involves the testimony
of Jesus Christ in any way, but such places will reward people that do
not read the scripture and constantly indulge in fantasy.
People believe that they are safe to watch a television fantasy, but
then people believe that they are at huge risk at loosing their eternal
dwelling to listen to anyone talk about Jesus Christ other than the man
that they see at Church that has the ‘authority’ to do such things. You
are correct Larry that much writing exists during the time shortly
after the crucifixion of Christ that is in grievous error, and I
commend you for upholding the authority of scripture. The problem that
I am talking about is that people uphold the authority of scripture so
much that they are often so afraid of it that instead of turning to the
scripture they turn to comedy, movies, and other such non canonical
things in order to ease their troubled souls while a Holocaust of Hell
is claiming victims through unbelievers entering the flames of eternal
damnation just outside of the door step of the person that spends long
hours seeking their own pleasure in entertaining themselves.
Many people have the attitude that they work in order to serve their
pleasures later, and the idea is that people do this their entire
lifetime to build much pride for themselves to show what they have
earned and what their hands have made in order to demonstrate to the
world their total net worth. The Golden Calf thus emerged in order that
people may feel proud of themselves in what their hands had made, and
many would have proclaimed that if you only follow some simple rules
then everyone will be able to indulge in their own pleasures as a
result of what their hard work had earned them. The ancient Israelites
thus turned to fantasy because the reality is that they had been
seemingly abandoned for a long time in the middle of a strange place
that was almost unbearable as they abandon any trust in God in order to
chase after ‘hard work’ (the making of the calf) that they could be
proud of that they could use to reward themselves with the sinful
pleasures of (this was made from all the golden gods of Egypt melted
down and put together to make a ‘super abomination’).
Just imagine that you (I mean if you had been like some people that I
know (I do not think that you are)) are about to buy a new car, and
perhaps you think to yourself how proud that you are that you did all
those works of yours that you will show this car off to your neighbors
in order that they too may hold you in high esteem for your
accomplishments. After all you earned it didn’t you, I mean the firing
of all those employees during the recession that just contributed to
dead weight and the sly business deals that you did just to show
yourself smarter than everyone else for having tricked people out of
things that had been set aside for them really sets you apart. Now you
go to the dealership in order to cash in, and their is your god
awaiting you as the car dealer explains how the new car will bring you
all the happiness in the world and how you will be the happiest person
that you know because you will have a car/god that you may drive around
so that you may worship it and others may worship you too through the
recognition of your greatness. Overall, you know that if others do not
worship you or your car that you will have your pride stomped on, and
thus you will have to show your power over them and demonstrate who is
boss.
Such people may even drive their shiny new car to church in order to
demonstrate to everyone how important that they have become through
their hard works, and that priest or pastor may give them an extra pat
on the back for having obtained such a position of prestige and power
as he utters a verse or two at the pulpit in order to exemplify how
blessed our works are for keeping us holy and providing us every good
gift. Everyone then delights in what their hands have made, shakes each
other’s hand, and goes off to fantasy land again with little to no care
for the scripture. What happens when all those people go to their
deaths and they are confronted by the Jewish homeless man that is God
in the flesh that had such a rigger for the law of Moses that he never
committed a sin but instead fulfilled the entire law to the extent of
going so far as to offer himself as the sacrificial lamb for death to
pass over through the cross is that people who meet this person are
perhaps surprised that he does not appear as friendly or as much of a
business man as the guy that they has seen their entire lifetimes every
Sunday at the pulpit.
Do you suppose that such a person would say, "I had no idea." Perhaps a
person would say, "I did good things all of my life, and everyone
honored me for all the good things that I did so why am I in this
place." Perhaps people would say, "If I had only known, then I would
not spend my entire lifetime indulging in my pleasures." Perhaps a
person would say, "I have three brothers, so send someone back from the
dead to tell them so that they do not come to this same end." Overall,
in this case the rich man all of his lifetime makes everything and
everyone obedient to his authority in order that his kingdom may grow
and that he may glorify himself, but the poor man that sits at the
gates of the rich man is the only person noted that does not fall
victim to the schemes of the rich man and thus enter into his system of
worship and rewards.
I knew a family years ago that was very wealthy, and the family had
some Christian upbringing and in later years a minister came over to
the home and the entire family ‘got saved’ according to the testimony
of the minister. The man of the household however had a high position
of authority in business and he always had a story about how he took
advantage of someone, and his basic belief was that everyone around him
could enter into his control for his own benefit if he was clever
enough to know how to offer the correct system of rewards for doing his
will along with the use of deception. Overall, this guy really liked me
when I was younger as he tried desperately to have me marry his
daughter as the man was very controlling of everyone in his family as
he also made various attempts to express his control over me as well
even though I only came to his house to visit with his son that was by
best friend, and thus this guy went to far as to offer his daughter to
me in marriage even though she did not like me in exchange for a
quarter of a million dollar trust that I would be expected to use in
order to found a business and thus continue the prosperity of his
daughter.
What I did not realize years ago that I realize now is that instead of
withdrawing from the world in order to protect our sanctity instead we
should engage the world through intercession (I still would not have
married the woman). The woman that I am talking about eventually
entered a promiscuous lifestyle to attempt to obtain pleasure and
happiness with lots of people, and she had multiple abortions as a
result. The woman’s entire family has become nothing that a person
would ever like to be involved with in any way, and the problems that
such people often face with incredible wealth would make anyone with a
reasonable perception of the world strongly detest such ways (wealth
did not make them happy).
I am not saying that we should condemn wealth and prosperity nor am I
saying that we should condemn the wealthy, but what I am saying is that
we should not seek after anything except for God. Christ teaches us to
make intercession for one another through the things that God has given
us, and we should develop in others their talents as well. Having said
that the place for worldly possessions along with the place for
everything else in our life is not to serve ourselves but to serve God
as we find the place that those things have in our life for serving God.
If for example I obtained wealth as a result of serving God, then when
I am in the market for buying a car I would have to ask myself how the
new car would help me to serve God better than what I currently have (I
have three vehicles and have had a fourth promised to me). Lots of
people, including the poor and even various ministries, will urge you
to give money to them out of service, but many of those people would
never lift even the slightest finger to make intercession for you or to
serve God in any way but instead will only serve themselves as like
their own gods. Overall, if we invest the love of God into such people
or help such people be developed, then we may in fact harm ourselves in
the end because everything that we have invested into those others
becomes both a waste of time and is used against us in the end (like in
the crucifixion of Christ).
If Christ had never performed a miraculous work or if he had never
opposed the Pharisees, then everyone would have openly embraced him
with open arms for the most part. If you notice carefully, every time
that Jesus did any service of any kind the Pharisees had opposed him
perhaps because they did not serve anyone but themselves. Even when the
woman anointed the feet of Jesus it was Judas that opposed her openly,
and Judas opposed the woman because she did a good work.
Today many churches will stress obedience as centered around offertory,
church attendance, and ritual, but in many cases the people that run
those churches would never do anything that they did not feel that they
absolutely had to do out of obedience. Such people often care very
little about God, care even less about serving God, and lastly oppose
anyone that actually serves God out of love. The message of salvation
thus becomes like a wretched thing that only people that work
diligently to obtain despite their real desires are found to obtain,
and when they obtain it then they hold themselves in pride over others
for having worked their way into the kingdom of God to become the lords
of other people that they disciple (this is not real salvation).
My point in all of this is that I find that the person of Mary the
mother of Christ most likely would have abhorred the things of her
time, gone to the temple for worship despite the evil that dwelled
their, desired strongly to serve God with everything that she had, and
lastly loved God more than most anyone else. Despite these propositions
that I make, I would point out that I do not believe that Christ was
born to Mary because of her works. Overall, the fact Mary would have
loved God as much as she did and loved Jesus because he was her son
thus the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ would have devastated her perhaps
more than any other person that existed.
If Mary was so influenced by the birth of Christ, the death of Christ,
then the resurrection of Jesus Christ would have become perhaps a more
joyous event for her than anyone else. If what I say is a true
speculation, then Mary would have been the greatest barer of the gospel
more so than everyone else that existed because the gospel originated
from her very womb as God emerged from it in order to accomplish his
works. Overall, I think that we should all pattern ourselves after the
model of Mary as we give birth to Jesus into the world and as Jesus is
born into us, and thus as a result we project the gospel into the world
as the world tries desperately to destroy the gospel that we proclaim
and thus crucify our lord and savior.
The seed of God thus matures in some people to produce a ‘full fledged
Jesus’, but in other people the new nature never emerges because it
never develops, no one ever crucifies their Christ, and the person is
never risen to heavenly places to be in the direct presence of God. The
seed and the ‘Jesus’ in us is not something that we make, but it is
something that God plants into us as he imputes his righteousness. One
could thus say that those that Christ never develops in are those that
never had the righteousness of Christ imputed into them, and they would
be like those that are ever hearing but never understanding because
even through they may contain the very words of God in language form
they do not contain the Word of God (Jesus Christ). Overall, the result
is that our bodies are temples, but as we know from ancient Greece many
temples existed that involved the worship of false gods that involved
so much wealth that almost all of the wealth of the land went into the
temple like in the case of the Pyramids.
I believe that the wealth of the temple in Jerusalem was vary modest in
comparison to the wealth of the nation, and this was especially true of
the second temple. When we think of your bodies as being temples of
God, then we should be somewhat modest in caring for those temples. We
should also take in mind that the ark could dwell in a tent without any
objections from God as like a temple in itself. Overall, if you read
the history of the dynasty of Herod, then you will find that a huge
effort went into the glorification of the temple and the prophets speak
against this work prior to it happening.
I have found that more and more ministry today dwells upon glorifying a
church building when it is hardly ever used except for perhaps a hour
or two a week, and these same ministries dwell more and more upon
encouraging the glorification of the physical bodies of the members as
the members also see this as the purpose for attending church. I have
to wonder what place Jesus has in any of this, but on the other hand if
people go to church three times a day like in some catholic churches,
then do those people become any more loving of God as a result.
Overall, I knew a man that was very devout that would have gone to
church three times a day if it was open for him to do so, and the man
was very poor and miserly despite the fact that he made much money (I
would have to wonder if the man received anything good in his life from
his lifestyle since his perceived righteousness alienated him from
others to such an extant that I would have to wonder how much service
that he was able to do).
The most effective person that I knew for performing intercession took
everyone no matter what position that they had been in during their
life and he become their servant for the sake of them entering into
good relations with the lord. The man was so good at this and was so
prayerful that he was able to not have even one person against him, and
he had a very modest lifestyle without much concern for material
wealth. In his view everything related to Christ, and
 

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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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