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THE LORD’S REAL COVENANT MODEL AND DISCIPLESHIP STANDARD [Part 2]

The rebellion of Adam and Eve manifests itself as well through the many diverse forms of Christianity which purposely differ from the original and oppose the Lord.

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” [John 14:15]

COVENANT AUTHORITY

We know from the historical account of Adam in Genesis, which the Lord Jesus referenced during His ministry (Matthew 19:4-6), that in the very beginning there was perfect spiritual covenantal relationship between this man and God. The same relationship with God transpired with Eve. Directly afterwards, a new covenant was created by God, the marriage covenant between Adam and Eve which was also a perfect covenantal relationship.

Now, regarding the stipulations of these two covenants, and due to the fact that God gave Adam and Eve free wills (because they were sentient beings made in the image of God and not robots), the respective covenants could only work and remain in effect if the parties thereof remained true in heart to one another. This means their close covenant connections were founded upon an eternal adherence by each party to the basic terms thereof which promoted and maintained ongoing good relationship, which, primarily, is Faithfulness (fidelity, devotion, commitment, loyalty, etc.).

Yet, the foundation for such faithfulness is Love. It is why whoever would be in covenant with God must love God (with all one’s heart). Without this love, regardless of great effort and doing everything else right, this covenant could not possibly work. It is the same with marriage. Therefore, these two highest of all covenant relationships are unlike any other. The first creates spiritual life. The second creates human life.

DIAGRAMS

To get a better perspective of these three parties and their original covenant connections, one might consider the simple illustration of a three-sided pyramid. Each point of the pyramid is a covenant partner. At the top is God. At the lower left is Adam. At the lower right is Eve. Each side of the pyramid, represented by a straight line, is the relational connection. Thus, according to this illustration, God has separate direct relationships with both Adam and Eve, as represented by the left and right outwardly descending lines, and Adam and Eve have their own relationship as represented by the base line. Remember, the spiritual covenant Adam and Eve each had with God superseded the one they had with each other (marriage).

So, the pyramid figure starts with the highest point (God). God then creates another point on the lower left upon the creation of Adam. He then creates a line between these two points (the spiritual covenant relationship between God and Adam). Later, when God created Eve, He created a third point on the lower right, followed by a second line between these two points (the spiritual covenant relationship between God and Eve). Only after all this is accomplished is the final connecting line drawn at bottom, (the marriage covenant relationship between Adam and Eve extending left to right). One may notice there is no one else between each covenant party. Adam and Eve each have their direct line of relationship and communication with God and a separate direct line of relationship and communication between each other.

Okay. Is this model actually true? Not really. Is the flaw in this pyramid diagram readily apparent? It is certainly there. This illustration may appear as a good example but is actually in violation of the Lord’s teachings. To discover the flaw, if you have not already, the Apostle Paul addressed the correct covenant relationship model in the eleventh chapter of his first epistle to the Corinthians:

…Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. [1Corinthians 11:3]

Consider the following full explanatory passage from the Amplified Classic:

Pattern yourselves after me [follow my example], as I imitate and follow Christ (the Messiah). I appreciate and commend you because you always remember me in everything and keep firm possession of the traditions (the substance of my instructions), just as I have [verbally] passed them on to you.

But I want you to know and realize that Christ is the Head of every man, the head of a woman is her husband, and the Head of Christ is God.

Any man who prays or prophesies (teaches, refutes, reproves, admonishes, and comforts) with his head covered dishonors his Head (Christ). And any woman who [publicly] prays or prophesies (teaches, refutes, reproves, admonishes, or comforts) when she is bareheaded dishonors her head (her husband); it is the same as [if her head were] shaved. For if a woman will not wear [a head] covering, then she should cut off her hair too; but if it is disgraceful for a woman to have her head shorn or shaven, let her cover [her head].

For a man ought not to wear anything on his head [in church], for he is the image and [reflected] glory of God [his function of government reflects the majesty of the divine Rule]; but woman is [the expression of] man’s glory (majesty, preeminence). For man was not [created] from woman, but woman from man; Neither was man created on account of or for the benefit of woman, but woman on account of and for the benefit of man. Therefore she should [be subject to his authority and should] have a covering on her head [as a token, a symbol, of her submission to authority, that she may show reverence as do] the angels [and not displease them].

Nevertheless, in [the plan of] the Lord and from His point of view woman is not apart from and independent of man, nor is man aloof from and independent of woman; For as woman was made from man, even so man is also born of woman; and all [whether male or female go forth] from God [as their Author].

Consider for yourselves; is it proper and decent [according to your customs] for a woman to offer prayer to God [publicly] with her head uncovered? Does not the native sense of propriety (experience, common sense, reason) itself teach you that for a man to wear long hair is a dishonor [humiliating and degrading] to him, But if a woman has long hair, it is her ornament and glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering.

Now if anyone is disposed to be argumentative and contentious about this, we hold to and recognize no other custom [in worship] than this, nor do the churches of God generally. [1Corinthians 11:1-16][1]

Thus, the correct illustration of God’s covenants is not a pyramid but a vertical line.

It is the only spiritual hierarchy mentioned in the New Testament (a very limited hierarchy) and is uncomplicated and brief. It begins with God’s supreme presiding authority in heaven and descends to humanity on earth.

DEFINITIONS

Before going further, I must first address the meaning of the English word denoting this authority—“head”—used in 1Corinthians 11:3. It is from the Greek root word κεφαλή kephalḗ (kef-al-ay’). It is defined as: “the head (as the part most readily taken hold of), literally or figuratively:—head.” With regard to this verse, Thayer’s Greek Lexicon states:

“Metaphorically, anything supreme, chief, prominent; of persons, master, lord: τίνος, of a husband in relation to his wife, 1 Corinthians 11:3; Ephesians 5:23; of Christ, the lord of the husband, 1 Corinthians 11:3 (cf. Buttmann, 124f (109)).”

To clarify this, think of the authority the Lord Jesus has over His disciples. Also, think of the Lord Jesus as the Groom and the authority He has over the Bride of Christ. With reference to God or the Father, keep in mind that the Father-Son relationship is a package deal. These two cannot be divided. In fact, the Apostle John writes that whoever does not have the Son does not have the Father, and vice versa. God is not three people but He did manifest Himself in three principal ways. The Lord Jesus is Immanuel: “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). He is the Image of God (2Corinthians 4:4, Colossians 1:15). During His ministry, the Man (the Son) subjected Himself to the Father. However, He often equated Himself with the Father. He even said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Therefore, this issue must be looked upon in a covenantal sense. For example, Paul stated:

For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise. [Galatians 3:26-29]

This means, in spiritual terms, that every actual member of the Lord’s real Community is equal regardless of nationality, gender, or social standing. However, a Christian slave remained subjected to his master. Workers remained subjected to whoever hired them. Citizens remained subjected to governing authorities. This also extends to marriage, but again, the marriage covenant is superseded only by one’s personal covenant with the Lord, which means it is obviously a covenant based on love and faithfulness. Nevertheless, the Word of God is clear that the husband is to have authority over his wife:

…Christ is the head of every man, and the man is the head of a woman, and God is the head of Christ. [1Corinthians 11:3][2]

CONNECTIONS

However, for the covenants to be in effect, the man first must be as Adam was before the fall, that is, in right relationship with God, and not as Adam was afterwards. And the woman first must be as Eve was before the fall, that is, in right relationship with God, and not as she was afterwards. The marriage covenant thus extends or emerges from the primary covenant with the Lord and is connected to it, just as the overall hierarchy of authority, the vertical line model, is connected through a series of links.

It is why the Lord’s real covenant model is overarching and so important, since every other covenant in the life of a real Christian is based upon it.

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Tags: Adam and Eve, Authority, Called Chosen and Faithful, Covenant, Discipleship, Free Will, If You Love Me You Will Keep My Commandments, Lord Jesus, Love of God, New Covenant Teachings of Jesus, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Salvation in Jesus, Sin and Rebellion, The Great Awakening, Unreal Christianity

THE PROOF OF PERSECUTION

Aug 29

Posted by RJ Dawson

A certain proof of Real Christianity is real persecution. It always separates the real from the unreal. It clearly identifies those doing damage to the enemy.

“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!” [Matthew 10:24-25]

ARE YOU FOR REAL?

This is a question every Christian must ask himself at one time or another, probably more often than one may think, if for no other reason than to find out if one is still on track with the Lord and has not strayed off on a tangent, such as a tangent of temptation in the recent or distant past or one induced through the acceptance of incorrect information perceived as true. It must be noted the Lord, because He is a loving Father, will always convict of sin and of teachings not His own. He will also confirm truth. If such conviction and correction is not present and one is allowed to exist in a deceived state, it is a good indication of a lack of real relationship with Him since His presence always exposes darkness.

In this regard one may wonder how it is possible that one may claim Christianity and one’s secure status with the Lord though lacking the basic elementary evidence defined by the New Testament as a proof test. Yet this is the nature of deception in that the deceived one does not know he is deceived. It is therefore always wise to check one’s lamp for oil, so to speak, and to keep one’s oil flask resupplied, to assure one’s actual standing with the Lord and the ability to work for Him, and to never cease making necessary trips to the oil supplier for refills if only to be topped-off. (See The Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 23:1-13] The apostle Paul alluded to the actual outworking of this in the following:

For I am well assured and indeed know that through your prayers and a bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ (the Messiah) this will turn out for my preservation (for the spiritual health and welfare of my own soul) and avail toward the saving work of the Gospel. [Philippians 1:19 (Amplified Classic)]

Concerning spiritual deception and even self-deception, there are a great many Christians in the world who are not actually actual Christians according to the Lord’s definition and the example of Holy Writ. Also, such unreal Christians comprise the majority. (Selah Alert: Pause, and calmly think of that!) There are any number of reasons why such has happened but the primary one is the simple fact that such people have never actually surrendered their lives in total to the Lord Jesus. Therefore, the root cause is a simple act of will: They have never actually repented of their sin, renounced it, and turned away from it, and thus have never been cleansed from sin by the only method one can be according to Scripture. This entails an unlikely possibility of a relationship with a Holy God.

There is also no proof they have ever fulfilled the Scriptural command to be born again (from above)—a powerful, clear, dynamic, life-changing occurrence akin to actual physical birth—something the Lord Jesus placed in the MUST category. The evidence of a new spiritual birth is an entirely new spiritual nature predicated upon the teachings of the Lord. One thus effectively becomes an entirely new creation:

Therefore if any person is [engrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! [1Corinthians 5:17 (Amplified Classic)]

GOT PERSECUTION?

We are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ… [Ephesians 4:14-15]

In addition to “Christians” that never were who mistakenly think they are, there is also the case that many real Christians (maybe most, maybe all) stray off track from time to time and some, quite sadly, do this permanently, never finding their way back. There are, of course, New Testament examples of Christians who quit on God. This possibility is also elaborated upon in many of the Lord’s teachings in which He commands His followers to do all they must to maintain their walk with Him and warns of the many traps, deceptions, temptations, fleshly inclinations, and spiritual attacks designed by the enemy to defeat the one who would live for God. Of course, even after initial real repentance and genuine new birth, every real Christian must fight the battle of temptation and sin which is why the Lord has provided the means of ongoing spiritual cleansing, by the shed Blood of the Lamb of God, through the application of personal repentance as necessary. One should always allow for a personal altar of repentance.

Those who do fulfill the Lord’s requirements, consistently overcome, have the spiritual fruit in their lives as evidence, and gain a level of spiritual maturity, will also be subjected to perhaps the most difficult proof of Christian discipleship—the reared ugly head of persecution:

Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. [2Timothy 3:10-12]

THE EVIDENCE OF REAL CHRISTIANITY IS REAL PERSECUTION

One proof that one is an actual real disciple of the Lord Jesus is suffering as He suffered. No one will ever come anywhere close to suffering as much and as long as the Lord did or receive the great level of persecution He did. But a few of His followers will certainly suffer the highest price. For some, dying for the Lord is part of His plan.

We see this clearly in the life of Stephen, the first Christian martyr, who gave His life for the truth of the Lord by exposing a wicked enemy that remains to this day. His inspiring testimony continues as one of the greatest in the Lord’s early Community. We also see the highest cost of Christian persecution rendered against James the son of Zebedee, perhaps the eldest of the original twelve apostles. He was killed by an evil local king to curry political favor with the wicked ones Stephen exposed.

When trying to figure out why the Lord allows such death and repeated injurious physical persecution against His children, as in the distinct example of the Apostle Paul, one may draw a blank. Such would appear to be a violation of the Lord’s promised protection. On the other hand, such deaths of His followers are relatively few and far between and account for a small percentage, and the persecution of many is never physically injurious though entail much suffering nonetheless. In searching for answers we must understand that real Christians willingly GIVE their lives to the Lord for His purposes to use as He desires. They no longer belong to themselves or another but to Him. This is a trust and faith issue. It also indicates that those saved by the Lord belong to Him since they were purchased by His great sacrifice on their behalf (See Acts 20:28).

This means every real Christian who gains actual real salvation was saved by the greatest persecution death in history, one in which a fully innocent Man unspotted by a single sin did what only He could do in the greatest act of love of all time. If not for Him every human being would end up in hell. The relative few who thus end up in heaven for eternity only do so because of His offering as a perfect payment of sin and because He granted access to the Door of Life.

Because of the Lord Jesus, and only because of Him, one can have their burden of sin removed, can have their hopeless addiction to sin destroyed, and can have their life record of sin expunged.

This allows for spiritual freedom and great joy! It allows a person the ability to live a good life and the strength to overcome whatever attack of the enemy may come forth. And it enables one to be a fruitful worker in the Lord’s Kingdom used of God for His purposes to help set others free and assist them in gaining spiritual maturity.

Therefore, if one is called to die for the Lord or to suffer much, we must know this all works together for God’s greater plan. So we trust Him and we submit. We work for Him and do our part. And we fight the good fight of faith.

Suffice it to say, however, the devil and his people do not fight fair. They are wicked and they are evil. Perhaps the most evil are those who once walked with God but betrayed Him and then betrayed others. There is nothing to be done about this. People are blessed of God with a free will. They may choose to do good or evil. But such good and evil is defined only by the Lord. It is therefore mandatory that one become extremely familiar with the Lord’s full teachings and do their best to understand and apply them. One must also obey the Acts directive and become filled with the powerful Holy Spirit of God. Those who do so will become strong vibrant soldiers in spiritual warfare doing much for the Lord and His kingdom. It is a high and blessed calling.

But spiritual warfare has a high cost in this sinful fallen world. The spiritual war raging all around us has casualties. Of such were the Lord Jesus Himself who paid the highest price for our salvation. Of such were Stephen and James. Of such was also the Apostle Paul who was executed by the Roman government under the auspices of Nero on false charges. The Lord allowed these casualties for His greater purposes. And, never to be forgotten, each of these faithful men managed to fulfill their callings.

May each of the Lord’s people be consistent overcomers and fulfill their callings as well.

“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” [John 16:33]

“These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.” [Revelation 17:14][1]

Posted in Teaching

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Tags: America, Apostle Paul, Called Chosen and Faithful, Christian Persecution, Discipleship, Holy Spirit, Lamb of God, Lord Jesus, New Birth, Parable of the Ten Virgins, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Savior, Spiritual Reality, Spiritual Warfare, Stephen, The Great Awakening, The Lamb's Book of Life, The Sacrifice Lamb, The World The Flesh The Devil, Unreal Christianity

CHURCH BUILDINGS AND DISPOSABLE ASSETS

Jul 2

Posted by RJ Dawson

Enterprise Christianity operates like a business. It has a corporate head, a small group of midlevel managers, and a must-have dedicated building called a “church.”

It also has a very large group of the nameless and faceless who are effectively nothing more than monetary supporters and pew warmers, each of which matter very little to the overall operation. Based on the ongoing dynamic of ever-present congregation turnover, this indispensable 90% of church-going Christians is usually perceived by the clergy class as mere disposable assets and the individuals thereof are rarely taken seriously.

The truth of the matter is that the Church is not a building. The real Church is actually the People of God—the Community of Called-Out Ones—and is comprised of all real Christians, those whom the Lord Jesus has saved and whom He loves and cherishes. This is pure fact but also something that most Christian advocates either have no knowledge of or simply do not care about and will never let it stop them from engaging in their false traditions.

A DIFFERENT AGENDA

A man starts a “church.” He may start it from scratch but it usually involves a few trusted ones such as close family or friends. He begins having meetings. These may take place in a residential home or a small commercial rent space. An effective means of word-of-mouth advertising is utilized which slowly spreads the news of the new “work.” A few new people start filtering in. These are often Christians who were previously “unchurched” or are marginal members of existing churches looking for a new place. Because there is a newness and freshness in the new startup with a relatively high energy level the new people like what they feel and are somewhat excited. Several decide to make a commitment and stay. These people know others like them and the word continues to spread.

If the “pastor” is somewhat affable, seems sincere and caring, and is also knowledgeable, though with a relatively new narrative in line with current Christian trends, he will appear spiritually attractive. His new group will be seen as a place where one not only feels at home but also grounded. The nucleus members—the few friends and family there at the beginning—also share the love, so to speak, with the new members and invitees in an energetic and demonstrable manner. This not only puts people at ease but helps create a caring environment which answers a basic need for recognition and acceptance.

If the small group stopped growing at that point in which it could still fit comfortably in a large living room, it would have a much more likely ability to continually foster the true care the members need and would possess the basis for them to develop toward becoming actual disciples. This was the method the Lord used. Though great numbers followed Him He had a relatively small core group of dedicated ones in which He poured more of Himself into and shared deeper truths. The hope was always that the majority on the relative periphery would also dedicate themselves with a desire to be closer to God and thus also embrace true discipleship. Many did. Others moved on. This was always a matter of personal choice. To prove this, one must remember that the Lord was only able to gather 120 for the Day of Pentecost.

However, in our new startup “church,” like the vast majority of such including those in many mainline denominations, there is a decidedly different agenda than the one the Lord employed. Rather than forming relatively small interactive groups of dedicated ones as the Lord did, long held alternative Christian tradition required that the living room outgrow its setting and thus locate a larger venue in which to meet. This is the only way, you see, to allow for the eventual creation of the desired end goal—an actual congregation in which all members meet regularly under the same roof.

One may surmise the root reasons why some groups achieve this status and some do not. Among the “successful,” some new “church” startups may only grow to maybe a hundred while others expand to a thousand and beyond. Eventually, though, for whatever reason, all such congregations most often stifle out at a certain point and stop growing though may successfully maintain their achieved number levels large or small. It appears to be only coincidence that the membership total of the faithful matches the available capacity of the buildings they meet within.

MY PREDICTION

The great Christian enterprisers noticed this phenomenon early on and realized that the massive congregational growth they desired and sought could only be achieved if they proverbially expanded the walls outward far enough and constructed large enough meeting spaces to allow for greater flocks. I noticed this emerging trend many decades ago and surmised that such enterprising entrepreneurs would not stop until they built the largest buildings possible. I even stated in my first book, Real Christianity, the following:

Since these churches are a relatively new phenomenon, we don’t know what their end result will be, but one thing is certain—the pastor who has three thousand under one roof desires five thousand. He that has five thousand wouldn’t have a problem with growing to ten thousand. The one who has ten thousand wouldn’t need a lot of convincing, if the people keep coming, to build an arena that can seat a hundred thousand.

Where is the logical stopping point of such proliferation? Will it end when we at last reach the architectural limits of domed stadium size? Will some people eventually start converting sports and entertainment arenas into church buildings? As strange as it may sound, the answer is an unqualified yes, because the dream of some ministers is to build a tower that reaches into heaven, to fully exalt themselves against the very God they claim to be serving. Lest we forget, the large crowds following Jesus were fluid. They had no roof over their head, were not fixed in a permanent location, and were not drawn together by human charisma or religious culture but by the Spirit of God.[1]

I originally wrote this passage in the mid-1990s, several years before a particular very well-known American church pastor obtained a downtown former NBA sports arena and converted it to a “church” which can seat almost 17,000 congregants on any given Sunday. This church building currently has the largest capacity in the United States. Yet, there are many church buildings elsewhere in the world that exceed this number dramatically, including a few in Nigeria that reportedly are claimed to meet or exceed one hundred thousand.

Yet none of this vast church building activity all around the world over the last seventeen centuries since the original Roman Basilica of Constantine—Old St. Peters—was constructed in circa 320-360AD, has one ounce of New Testament legitimacy or precedent. In fact, Constantine set the precedent by doing something the Lord Jesus never taught or advocated for and which the Early Church of the first century never did.

Nevertheless, the good old USA is perhaps the worst offender in this regard, especially since its traditional church building advocates have much more in common with a former Roman emperor who became a faux Christian rather than with the Lord Jesus, the one they claim to serve. Though the Lord was an accomplished builder and carpenter, He never built a church building nor told any of His disciples to build one and there is no record whatsoever in the New Covenant Scriptures of any exclusive church buildings. Such structures simply never existed until the fourth century AD.

TREASURE IN EARTHEN VESSELS

Therefore, it is not so much of a stretch to understand that the disciples of the Lord were never meant to spend their lives wasting away on pews as the mere chattel of faux Christian enterprisers unaware of or unclear on the concept. Instead, they were to develop into powerful Spirit-filled witnesses and dedicated ministers of the Gospel that can go toe to toe with the invisible bad guys.

So, rather than submit to being mere disposable assets used for superficial purposes and then cast off, believers in general must seek and embrace their true identity as members of the Lord’s exclusive spiritual Community, walking in His grace and empowered by His Holy Spirit. This is what the original pioneers of real Christianity did. Their exceptional world-changing deeds speak for themselves, so much so that, according to the KJV translators, they were said to have turned the world upside down.

May the great bulk of backslid American Christianity repent, return to its roots, and begin doing the same. And may Christianity’s greatest assets finally be recognized.

For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. [1Corinthians 1:26-29][2]

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Tags: America, Called Chosen and Faithful, Church Buildings, Clergy-Laity Division, Community of Called-Out Ones, Constantine, Discipleship, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Real Christians, Serving MONEY, The Early Church, The Great Awakening, Unreal Christianity

THE LORD JESUS DEMANDS TOTAL ALLEGIANCE: WHAT THIS MEANS FOR EVERY CHRISTIAN

Nov 17

Posted by RJ Dawson

The original NT definition has been blurred and undermined by centuries of erroneous Christian teachings, easy believism, and errant agendas.

ALL OR NOTHING

This is what He actually taught. This is what He demanded of His disciples. It was the only way His ministry could possibly work. It is in part why so many original followers turned away from Him. He kept speaking of the great demands their discipleship would require. He kept attempting to teach the deeper and greater truths they must learn but they were finding these difficult to comprehend. He also kept coming up with “hard sayings” that some couldn’t handle or understand, and which caused not a few to develop a problem with Him. Such pure teachings also served to weed out the pretenders, the half-hearted, and the rebellious—those which Christianity later became saturated with, which includes these present times, of course, as the clueless faux bros comprise the majority.

Unreal Christianity thus, by refusing to grant Him full fidelity, instead mocks the Lord and makes a mockery of His work. The Christians involved possess no true allegiance to the One they profess to follow. They may talk the talk but refuse to walk the walk and cannot be counted on. Their leaders expose themselves as mere men for hire (hirelings) in that they never or rarely work without a paycheck.

“WHY ARE YOU SLEEPING?” [LUKE 22:46]

“Awake, sleeper,

And arise from the dead,

And Christ will shine on you.” [Ephesians 5:14]

Though easy Christianity is more comfortable and acceptable it is also spiritually ineffective (understatement alert). That’s the tradeoff. Its lack of salt and light makes it wholly unproductive and largely fruitless in a fallen world growing darker and more sinful every day. In fact, the slow dissolution of American Christianity over the last quarter century into its current backslid, sinful, deceived, and wholly weakened condition is largely the reason the America that once was is now dead and no longer in need of restoration but resurrection. The majority of American Christianity remains locked in a deep sleep and shows no signs whatsoever of waking up. I have been preaching the WAKE UP sermon here on this site for twelve and a half years and the only change I have seen regarding the trending majority is deeper sleep.

Now, the Lord God was certainly successful early on in rousing a few and then later quite a few more though the percentage remains woefully low. This means many Christians have awakened and are doing their best to awaken others. Yet there are likely more awake non-Christians than awake Christians but that is certainly okay. Both are doing great work.

Nevertheless, the effect of the Christian deep sleep has been disastrous for the country. We are now in the exponential rise phase in which the enemy has accelerated his evil and is getting away with massive crimes with no remedy and corruption has run amok. America has suffered a spiritual coup d’état and those who wrested control are purposefully running the place into the ground. It is the end effect of serving mammon and not God. And to add to all of the above, real Christians not only continue being persecuted by the usual suspects but these now include, strangely enough, the deep-sleeping Christians, many of which act like the proverbial small child refusing to rise from slumber and get out of bed in the morning, even turning against those trying to rouse them.

WEIGHTY WITNESS

On the other hand, those Christians who are awake who go all out in service to the Lord make their presence felt. Others feel their weight. There’s something going on with them that causes sinners to feel uncomfortable in their presence. However, sinners searching for truth and trying to escape sin bondage are alerted by their presence in a positive way and see such people as a hopeful answer and seek them out. It is why transformed sinners so love the Lord and His real people. They get it. They know what it’s like to be under sin’s spell and delivered from it and will never go back. It is also why the relatively few dedicated disciples the Lord ended up with in the beginning transformed their world. Even the devil was afraid of them because he knew those people had the power and presence of God! This was their witness, the only real witness. It was all or nothing. It was total dedication or forget it. They were simple people, nothing special, just like you or I, yet their testimony was undeniable—they walked with God.

Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.

And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply. But when they had ordered them to leave the Council, they began to confer with one another, saying, “What shall we do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But so that it will not spread any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no longer to any man in this name.”

And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” [Acts 4:13-20]

This was their profound and powerful effect on a sinful world but also upon a deceptive autocratic bad-natured contrary monetarily-rich religious authority construct that had much to do with the world, the flesh, and the devil but nothing whatsoever to do with God. You will know them by their fruits. It is the same with every manifestation of Unreal Christianity. You see, it was because the world was so far from God that He needed those willing early disciples to push hard and far with all their might in the opposite direction to get as many people in the world back on course, saved, and close to God. In this process false religion would have to be overcome, defeated, and hopefully destroyed so people under its influence could be free and no longer subjected to its evil wiles.

It is why the Lord Jesus, with this in mind, throughout His 3½ year ministry, had to put so much work and wisdom into: Selecting potential disciples, instructing them, guiding them, and developing them with the intention of bringing them to full maturity. The crowning finishing touch was their profound Upper Room experience at Pentecost when they gained the indwelling spiritual power necessary for their walk and work for the Lord. Otherwise such disciples would never have been able to perform His will for the great task at hand. They would never have been able to win spiritual battles. In essence, without such strong dedication they would have been spiritually worthless and would never have been able to operate as the Lord did. The devil would have held them in derision as spiritual sissies instead of shaking in his shoes at their presence. They would have otherwise appeared as the majority of Christians in our era who cannot fight their way out of a wet paper bag and are just fine with such a sorry set-up.

Whether these mile-wide and inch-deep Christians know it or not, their pathetic “Christian” lifestyle has made real Christians appear as something strange and foreign that must be mocked and rejected even by them. They treat allegiance to the Lord (the Man who gave His life for them) in the same manner in that any low level of partial commitment is perfectly okay and acceptable. Hence, they justify their anti-discipleship and deny their potential strength as not only unworkable but something to be shunned. They believe such real discipleship is humanly impossible with far too high a cost.

Those who actually did it then and do it now would beg to differ, however. These decided the great spiritual results were definitely worth the high cost. The originals, against great odds, proved what was possible. They showed every succeeding generation how it was done. This spiritual ability and what they accomplished did not end with that first generation but continued on with each succeeding generation. The road certainly got tougher, however, especially with the great rise of fake Christianity which joined and then surpassed unbelieving Jews as the chief persecutors of real Christians. That most Christians refused to enter and partake of the Lord’s actual kingdom in this world had no bearing on the relative few who did and succeeded.

Again, the Early Church suffered the same egregious treatment as those persecuted by the later fake Christians because their total obedience to the Lord appeared to those without as something strange and untoward even though it brought great spiritual benefits and freed hundreds of thousands from bondage to sin. Those who thought them strange were the actual strange ones in that they put personal comfort and social status above spiritual effectiveness. Their place in the new universal fake Christian religion was much more important in their eyes and the last thing such pretenders wanted was for people to think they were part of a strange minority caste of religious misfits who took God far too seriously.

ALLEGIANCE IN ACTION

The discipleship the Lord instituted, then, demanded that a believer honor their Master exclusively and totally. This is how it was done with itinerant rabbis of that time anyway, in that their students pledged themselves to their leader in order to gain the requisite teaching and wisdom desired for their schooling. Do we not see the same approach in our traditional teacher-student relationship? If a student fails to honor the teacher and believe what he or she is teaching then the construct will fail and knowledge will not be disseminated. This means that any doubt of the process including doubt regarding the teacher’s character, intentions, and material will cause a failure of the process but especially a failure of the student’s development which will not bode well for the student’s future.

This is why the Lord Jesus was so demanding of His disciple’s recognition of His standing—of His place of eminence as their sole Teacher and Shepherd—and of His disciple’s attitude in not only honoring Him but also properly respecting their spiritual vocation in order to excel toward their own proficiency and spiritual effectiveness. In this way, as He did, they could also be effective in making and developing disciples in the future. In other words, great teachers make great students who become great teachers (who make great students who make great teachers…)

So we see why the Lord demanded that one follow Him completely and sincerely or not at all. He would rather have three thoroughly dedicated disciples obeying Him and fully applying His teachings than three hundred or three thousand or three hundred thousand who fall short of this standard. Sadly, the vast majority of Christians in the world over the last two thousand years, especially at present, have always appropriated the latter underachieving class who fail to properly honor the Lord and His clear standard. This intransigence, laziness, compromising attitude, and ignorance of the Lord’s teachings, though primarily their refusal to honor Him as they should, has likely resulted in a much bigger mess in the world than if they had never become Christians to begin with.

For example, what good does it do to obey the Golden Rule only in part? What value is there in treating others the way we want to be treated in only a selective manner? How beneficial can it actually be if we only love the Lord Jesus short of 100% or become believers according to our own terms rather than His? How can one’s relationship with Him be viable if one refuses to give Him all of one’s heart or decline to have one’s heart fully circumcised? Is He not worthy? Is He not the Teacher? He is not the Shepherd? Is He not God?

PROVING A CHRISTIAN’S ALLEGIANCE

The following Scriptural passages reveal the actual truth of the Lord’s teachings and commands regarding our allegiance to Him. Remember, during His time here the Lord Jesus was a man’s Man with a powerful presence and bearing and not the false depiction we so often see of a long-haired hippie spouting fake peace and love with flowers in his hair. One can rest assured that those who initially put forth this false image in the distant past did so in an effort to denigrate Him while exalting themselves.

In reality, the Lord was a Carpenter and Builder engaging in hard manual labor every day until He was thirty years old in a rough environment with no modern conveniences or power tools. He was physically ripped, bronzed by the sun, and weathered by the elements. Many of the disciples He initially chose were also like Him in this regard. They were extremely tough men used to battling the physical world and the Lord then used their strong abilities and character for spiritual ministry purposes which also made great demands upon a man. In this they were perfect for the work they were called to do. They ended up performing admirably and put the devil on the run. None of it was possible, however, without full allegiance toward their ultra-worthy Lord and Master who set the precedent and showed them the way. May we all learn from His example and obey Him as follows:

“He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it.” [Matthew 10:37-39]

“He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.” [Matthew 12:30]

“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me…” [John 10:27]

“If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.” [John 12:26]

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” [John 14:15]

“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.” [John 14:21]

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” [John 15:4-5][1]

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THE REAL CHOSEN PEOPLE (PART 2)

Oct 24

Posted by RJ Dawson

I wrote and posted this article in March of 2012 as the second of a series. It revealed the New Testament definition of “The Chosen People.” What follows is an updated version.

SAVING ISRAEL FROM ITSELF

The Pharisees and Sadducees were so intent on stopping the Lord Jesus and His followers they unwisely enlisted the help of the belligerent Zealots. This proved to be an inauspicious decision that resulted in national disaster a generation later when powerful warmongering Zealot armies and their false-Messiah leaders took control of the nation and the national city of Jerusalem in a winner-take-all fight against Imperial Rome.

We see the beginning echo of this unfortunate choice at the Lord’s trial in the choosing of the Zealot Barabbas over the Lord. This unrepentant criminal and likely murderer was released from prison by popular demand while the same vociferous crowd demanded the Messiah be crucified. As the man’s name clearly indicates, the choosing of the “son of the father” (which could further indicate “fathers”) illustrates the malicious nature of the choice.

In the Lord’s time this loose collection of brigands which came to be known as Zealots in the early first century AD remained relatively small and incohesive. The party existed primarily as a hyper aggressive small-scale terroristic militarist movement intent on striking back at Rome due to what they perceived as its tyrannical treatment of the otherwise independent Israelite people in their own land.

The Roman Republic’s entry began almost a full century before in 63BC during the ongoing civil war which ensued after the Israelite queen Alexandra-Salome died in 67BC and the two heirs, Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, fought each other for political control. This was yet one more event which demanded outside control to properly govern the region. The Roman general and statesman Pompey had already been moving east since being authorized that same year putting out fires, fighting battles, taking territory, and establishing Roman control across the northern Mediterranean regions. After capturing Syria in 64BC he decided to take advantage of the internal conflict in Judaea and head south.

One might note that this Israelite civil fight also involved the two still somewhat nascent but established major religious parties: The Sadducees sided with Aristobulus and the Pharisees remained true to John Hyrcanus II. Therefore, the Israelite civil war was a religious civil war as well. General Pompey entered the fray in Judaea and then after a siege took Jerusalem and captured the temple. Once establishing Roman control he returned home a hero. Rome then annexed much of the former Israelite kingdom, primarily Galilee and Judaea. This marked the beginning of the end of the independent Hasmonean Dynasty which eventually ceased to exist in 37BC when Herod the Great became the Roman client king. This set the stage for several profound future events culminating with the arrival of the long-awaited Messiah.

CHOOSING THE CHOSEN

But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him. But Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. Many followed Him, and He healed them all, and warned them not to tell who He was. This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet:

“Behold, My Servant whom I have chosen;

My Beloved in whom My soul is well-pleased;

I will put My Spirit upon Him,

And He shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

He will not quarrel, nor cry out;

Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.

A battered reed He will not break off,

And a smoldering wick He will not put out,

Until He leads justice to victory.

And in His name the Gentiles will hope.” [Matthew 12:15-21]

In these days when everyone is a Christian and Christianity is watered-down to a consistency barely above water itself, why do we think God even cares about doing any choosing? This is how far fake Christianity has traveled. There is hardly any distinction at all between many so-called Christians and a world going to hell. And it is the touchy, thin-skinned, aggressively defensive and convicted Unchosen itself that is often first to speak out strongly against any perceived judgment, however slight, regarding its perceived standing in God. The motto of real Christians, on the other hand, is thus:

“Talk about me if you please, but I’ll talk about you on my knees.”

Where in this country is there a voice that represents the real presence of God? Where is the voice that distinguishes truth from error and fake, dry, dead, boring lifeless expressions of faux Christianity from the real thing? Those who have dissolved the life-giving Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ will have to account for it. All those who have been deceived by their “other gospel” will rise up against them at the Judgment, not that it will matter then.

Why does one think the people in hell will be gnashing at each other with their teeth like a pack of wild dogs? There is the clear indication that the unchosen do not agree with their ultimate status.

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son. And he sent out his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding feast, and they were unwilling to come. Again he sent out other slaves saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.”’ But they paid no attention and went their way, one to his own farm, another to his business, and the rest seized his slaves and mistreated them and killed them.

“But the king was enraged, and he sent his armies and destroyed those murderers and set their city on fire.

“Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. Go therefore to the main highways, and as many as you find there, invite to the wedding feast.’ Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered together all they found, both evil and good; and the wedding hall was filled with dinner guests. But when the king came in to look over the dinner guests, he saw a man there who was not dressed in wedding clothes, and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?’ And the man was speechless. Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.” [Matthew 22:2-14]

This is a perfect illustration of God’s selection process. It goes like this:

(1) The first thing the king does is send out invitations. He makes his choices based on his own criteria. But these criteria must be based on those whom he considers His friends, relatives, and select subjects of his kingdom.

(2) What do the invited guests do? They refuse. They ignore him. They ignore the invitation. They treat the king with supreme indifference and disrespect. They are all completely unwilling to attend the wedding feast.

(3) Curious as to why no one wants to come after having been chosen, the king sends out another group to ask the invitees yet again, explaining how much trouble he has gone to, how much He has prepared, and how much he really wants them all to come and share in his joy. The slaves tell everyone what a great time will be had. There will be barbecued oxen and fatted livestock and a great dinner! My son is getting married and I want you all to come!

(4) This time the invitees not only continued to reject the king but some of them actually mistreated the king’s slaves, and they even killed them! What would compel the invited guests to resort to killing the messenger boys sent out by a loving king? (“Hey Joe, check out this story in the paper. Some dude up north was throwing a wedding for his son and one idiot killed the mailman when he got his invitation.”)

(5) Then what? The king was enraged! So He sent his army, executed the murderers, and torched their sorry city. I mean, all they had to do was politely decline. Why all the rage and murder about a simple wedding invitation?

(6) Now the king decides He is just going to invite everyone he can find. He no longer makes any judgment whatsoever on who may be qualified to come to the wedding. Those who were qualified proved themselves to be completely unworthy. He therefore sends out his slaves to invite one and all, whether good or bad. This time, he ended up with a packed house. His estate was filled to the gills with the rabble of the countryside. They must have thought themselves to be impossibly blessed. No one had ever done anything like this for them before. “Huh? You want little old nobody nothing me to go to a wedding at the king’s estate? Thanks!” They all wasted no time in taking showers and getting their fancy wedding duds on, however humble, and high-tailed it to the big barbecue. The king was most happy!

(7) But all was not perfect. You see, there was this one guy who made no acknowledgement at all of the great thing that happened to him. He didn’t consider himself fortunate and honored to be invited. He didn’t try to get cleaned-up. In fact, he had so little respect for the proceedings that he didn’t even put on a wedding garment. He just kind of wondered in off the street with no expression on his face loosely holding an invitation. The king confronted the man. He even called him his friend. But the man had no answer regarding his lack of proper attire. As a result, he was effectively thrown into hell. To close out the story, the Lord Jesus said: “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

There are three kinds of people in this story:

(A) Those who are called and chosen but do not respect the king and reject his invitation, some of whom even kill the king’s servants. By their own decisions, they revoke their called and chosen status.

(B) Those who are called but are not chosen because they do not properly respect the king or his invitation and dress incorrectly.

(C) Those who are called and chosen because they respect the king, honor his invitation, and dress correctly.

The man without the wedding garment was masquerading as a real Christian. The “wedding clothes” represent the robe of righteousness. Righteousness is a gift. It cannot be earned but can be accepted after one shows the proper respect and honor for the King, and also who properly repents, trusts, and obeys:

I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, My soul will exult in my God; For He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. [Isaiah 61:10]

The following verses give us an indication of what God requires with reference to the appropriate wedding clothes which Isaiah had described so wonderfully in the preceding verse. Please understand that no will enter joyfully into the presence of the King and remain without being properly and respectfully attired:

“But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will thus be clothed in white garments; and I will not erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” [Revelation 3:4-6]

“Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.” [Revelation 3:14-20] [1]

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THE REAL CHOSEN PEOPLE (PART 1)

Oct 21

Posted by RJ Dawson

I wrote and posted this article in March of 2012 as the first of a series. It revealed the New Testament definition of “The Chosen People.” What follows is an updated version.

THE REAL CHOSEN PEOPLE (PART 1)

Many Christians have been conditioned to believe that “The Chosen People” are the Jews regardless of whether they honor the Lord Jesus as Messiah or not. Many Christians have been taught that Jews are the only people on Earth who belong to God and will forever belong to God even if they deny that Jesus is their Messiah, if they deny He died to save them from their sins, if they disparage His Name and character, if they actively fight against and oppose real Christianity, especially in Israel, and if they as individuals refuse to repent of their sins and submit to His Lordship.

For some odd reason, many Christians have been taught that the New Testament teachings do not apply to the Jewish people. Why? Simply because they are Jews? News flash: The Lord Jesus loves Jews the same as He loves Gentiles. He died for both. Since this is obviously true, why do so many Christian churches and ministries, especially Christian Zionists, shun or downplay reaching out to Jews for their salvation? Though there certainly are Christian ministries which specialize in reaching out to the Jewish people there is still a strange disconnect in this area that clouds otherwise clear New Testament truth.

As a clear example of what is possible, we are living in a day when Messianic Judaism is very popular and growing. The followers of Messianic Judaism honor Jesus as Messiah. They are still Jews, of course, but believe in and follow the Lord Jesus as did the Ἰουδαῖος of the first century.

Speaking of which, what was the greater fallout of the tumultuous changes of the early-to-mid first century AD? Historically, after the complete destruction of what was left of the Hebrew/Israelite homeland in 70AD when Jerusalem was invaded and destroyed by the Romans and the Temple was completely razed to the ground and burned, there was only one segment of the traditional overall “Judaism” of that time that remained.

The Sadducees ceased to exist since there was no longer any Hebrew/Israelite nation. The Essenes, those likely responsible for the Dead Sea Scrolls, also faded away. Some Hebrew/Israelite nationals held out after Jerusalem was destroyed, comprising segments of the Zealot Party, but committed mass murder against one another and suicide on the heights of Masada in 73/74AD. There were two other large uprisings against the Romans, the largest and last of which was the Bar Kochba Revolt from 132-135AD. After their defeat there was no longer any effective and organized Hebrew/Israelite resistance against the Romans. It was the end of the Zealots.

The Pharisees, however, were the one party that lived on. They did not die out as the other Hebrew/Israelite major religious and political parties had. The same party that gave the Lord Jesus so much trouble during His ministry and fought the apostles at every turn, especially the apostle Paul, never actually ceased to exist. The Pharisees continued as the sole religious representatives of the Hebrew/Israelite people who had rejected the Lord Jesus as Messiah and Savior. They then morphed into what was later known as Talmudic or Rabbinic Judaism.

Again, the Lord Jesus was 100% a Ἰουδαῖος from the Tribe of Judah and a direct descendant within the kingly line of David. The genealogies in the gospels of Matthew and Luke prove this. Also, every original apostle had Hebrew/Israelite ancestral roots and so had every single member of the Community of the Lord we read about in the earliest history of His Movement as recorded in the Book of Acts including the 120 at Pentecost. For seven to ten years after the Resurrection of the Lord, the entire Qahal of the Lord Jesus was composed entirely of Hebrew/Israelite descendants, members of the nation of Israel, and of the twelve tribes. It was not until the salvation of the Gentile Cornelius and his group, as recorded in Acts 10, that the apostles understood that the Lord Jesus wanted non-Hebrew/Israelite Gentiles also to be included among His people and become members of His spiritual Community. Prior to that time, the Hebrew/Israelite followers of Jesus had somehow assumed that only Hebrews/Israelites and full proselytes to the Judaism of that time would qualify for membership in the Lord’s Community.

So here we see the first great division created by the Lord’s ministry, especially after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD, of the Hebrew/Israelite people. One camp saw that Jesus was indeed their long-awaited and hoped-for Messiah and accepted Him fully. The other camp rejected Jesus as Messiah. The camp of rejecters coalesced around the Party of the Pharisees, the lone remaining representatives of overall first-century Judaism. This party has essentially existed throughout history ever since and continued in part as the sole Hebrew organized religious force against Jesus the Messiah.

What happened to the first-century Hebrew/Israelite believers in Jesus? After Cornelius, more and more Gentiles entered the fold of real Christianity. Indeed, the apostle Paul was called by God to be the first and foremost apostle to the non-Hebrew/Israelite Gentiles. Later, at the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15), it was decided by the Jerusalem Hebrew/Israelite believers that Gentiles did not have to undergo all things Torah in order to attain official membership in the Body of Christ. As more Gentiles flooded in, ethnic differences between Hebrew/Israelite and non-Hebrew/Israelite believers were downplayed over time. This did not mean that Hebrew/Israelite followers of Jesus did not retain their unique identity. Such would have been tragic. These first-century Hebrew/Israelite believers in Jesus were descended from the great Patriarchs of the distant past and represented the then-current true Remnant of the nation.

Paul, a Hebrew/Israelite in very high standing, both ethnically (of the Tribe of Benjamin) and religiously (a Pharisee), as well as a solid Roman citizen, wrote this:

“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew (Ἰουδαῖος) nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.” [Galatians 3:26-29]

This is a very powerful statement.

From this we know that strict Hebrew/Israelite distinctiveness no longer mattered with respect to membership in the kingdom of God. According to the New Testament, it was no longer an issue to trace one’s physical lineage to Abraham. One can be a descendant of Abraham whether he or she is connected by direct genealogy or not.

Therefore, according to the New Testament and the teachings of the Lord Jesus, which the apostle Paul relayed in the Galatians passage, it is not an ancestral link that makes one a seed of Abraham but a spiritual link by faith according to promise.

However, Hebrew/Israelite non-believers in the Lord Jesus, of course, discounted and rejected this entire notion. They believed it destroys their unique identity. As a result, they hated Paul with the same passion with which they hated the Lord Jesus (How dare these Christian heretics dispose of our status as God’s chosen people!).

Which brings us back to the original point: God’s chosen people, according to the New Testament, are only those who honor the Lord Jesus as Messiah. Yet, even as you read this you probably cringe and think such cannot possibly be true. But it’s right there in your Bible. As is this:

“For he is not a Jew (Ἰουδαῖος) who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew (Ἰουδαῖος) who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.” [Romans 2:28-29]

Throughout the Gospels and New Testament writings we see, then, that the “Chosen People” are those who are in Christ, who embrace the Lord Jesus as the only Messiah and Savior, whose hearts have been circumcised, who are in spiritual relationship with Him, and who submit to His full Lordship.

Though the Hebrew/Israelite people were originally chosen by God as descendants of Abraham in ancient times, the majority of them later rejected God. All one must do is pick up the Old Testament and read a few pages to find that this is true.

However, there has always been a believing Hebrew/Israelite remnant and there were always enough who honored God to keep the ancient nation of Israel intact though diminishing. Israel split in two after Solomon’s death in circa 930BC, the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom went into captivity (circa 722BC) and never returned, effectively ceasing to exist, and only the Southern Kingdom of Judah remained until the first destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in 586BC. The land of Judah, which was originally also comprised of the tribes of Levi and Benjamin, was later reconstituted and existed until the time of our Lord as a national entity. After its destruction by the Romans in 70AD it was the end of the Hebrew/Israelite nation. The unbelieving and disobedient had so outnumbered the believing remnant who dutifully followed YHWH prior to the Incarnation and the Lord Jesus afterward that the geographic and religio-political nation ceased to exist.

The Community of the Lord, however, began at the same time once the Messiah was revealed. Therefore, there is no hope for those who reject the Lord Jesus and look for another. There is no other Messiah and never will be. And without Messiah Jesus there is no salvation because He is salvation—it is the very meaning of His Name (YHWH-Salvation):

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by this name this man stands here before you in good health.

He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone. And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” [Acts 4:8-12][1]

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WHY DO MOST NEVER TRUST THE ONE MOST TRUSTWORTHY?

Jan 9

Posted by RJ Dawson

Sin is not only a destroyer, those under its power are also prone to colossal deception. It is why so many refuse to trust the Lord Jesus.

“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” [Matthew 7: 13-14]

THE LORD’S MISSION

No one is more loving or kind. No one is more willing to sacrifice on your behalf. No one gives His heart as He does. He will do anything to save you. He has proven this by His perfect life and sacrificial death. His goal was to defeat sin and thereby set people free from its power. There was only one way to do this. He risked everything in the process. How so?

What most Christians fail to consider are the immense implications of His mission. In order to defeat sin He would have to live His life entirely free from sin. He could never sin, not even once. If He did He would suffer the penalty of sin which is spiritual death.

Once the Lord God decided to become a Man, to pass into the realm of humanity as one of us and enter into the greatest and riskiest mission of all time, He knew it meant putting the entire Universe including the celestial environs of heaven up for grabs. If He failed the devil would gain everything. If the Lord sinned, if He violated the Torah, even only once, and even only in a minor way, He would no longer qualify as the perfect unblemished Sacrifice Lamb. That would mean there would be no Savior. It would mean there would never be a Savior. That would mean He would go to hell. It would also mean we all would go to hell. There would be no way to get around it. The apostle Paul would never write, “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” Death would win. It would forever sting the heart of all. Human beings would be but a memory. God would be a memory. The devil and his evil henchmen would rule forever.

Thus, we must always be cognizant of what was at stake. The Lord’s life/mission was obviously the most fundamental and crucial aspect of our potential salvation. No one can even imagine the immense pressure the Lord was under. These were monumental implications. The prodigious power of sin and the temptation thereof is such that no human being has the ability to ever come close to defeating it. It is by far the greatest disease known to man. Sin is simply far too powerful and human beings are far too weak and prone to temptation to ever have a chance against it on their own. Once Adam sinned he released this sad inability and weakness, this incessant persistent flaw, upon all succeeding generations. Once sin entered the realm of humanity it put everyone at risk of eternal damnation.

Prior to the Incarnation, with Himself as the only possible candidate, the Lord God knew He must be the first human to defeat sin. He knew He must be the first to never give into temptation, to never be deceived by the devil, and to never be betrayed by His own flesh. Setting a perfect example, He would never choose this fallen hell-bound world and its absurdly temporary pleasures over the spiritual purity of heaven. He must be successful in opening a spiritual door to eternal life for all. He would be that Door.

ADAM’S MISSION

Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. [Genesis 2:15]

Humans were not bound by sin in the very beginning, of course. Adam had authority over sin. He had authority over death. Hell had no hold on him. He was absolutely free and lived in paradise. The Lord created Him above all Creation which included the devil. Adam had greater power than the devil. Adam ruled over the devil and all his fallen angelic cohorts. He was the king of the Garden, second only to God. The objective was for the Lord God, through Adam His human agent, to spread His righteous dominion throughout the world defeating the devil one step at a time and eventually eliminating his dominion here. God’s pure, holy, righteous, and loving dominion as it existed in the Garden would replace the devil’s evil dominion across the planet. The way Adam would accomplish this would be to continually cultivate and keep the Garden.

I wrote the following passage in my book Real Christianity in reference to Naboth’s Vineyard. You can find his story in the Book of 1Kings, Chapter 21. His Vineyard is a perfect spiritual type of each real Christian’s individual ministry and purpose. The spiritual significance is the same as Adam’s Garden:

One would do well to understand the creative power of one’s own vineyard. Every believer has a destiny to fulfill, a purpose for being here. Each person has a vineyard and is commissioned by God “to cultivate it and keep it.” The believer’s cultivating and keeping of his vineyard is his reason for existence. To cultivate is to prepare, to work at, and to foster growth. To keep one’s vineyard is to guard it, to preside over and protect it, to secure and maintain dominion, and to be individually responsible for its yield. It is that which gives purpose, it is his or her place in the body—the place where God dwells. [Real Christianity—The Nature of the Church © 2001 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.]

Well now, without looking too far into this, one should be able to immediately ascertain the devil’s strategy. Adam was the sole link between God and His dominion on the earth. Adam was outstandingly faithful to his mission but was only successful at continually achieving it day by day by fully focusing on God first and on his cultivating and keeping.

He was also fully aware that he must never engage in any activity that would subvert it and by which he would lose the strength and wherewithal to achieve it. Such spiritually unfruitful activity, the one and only “Thou Shalt Not” he received from God, is fruitful nonetheless though in the evil realm and is actually represented as forbidden fruit existing within Adam’s own Garden, a reminder that even in his earthly paradise there existed temptation and at a given point in time, a tempter. But not to worry. Adam was fully aware of this. The Lord taught him well. He trusted God. He obeyed God. Under these circumstances he would never eat the fruit of the Death Tree.

Remember, the devil did not need to defeat the Lord God, which he could not do anyway; all he had to do was defeat Adam. Yet he knew, of course, that this was a virtual impossibility. He knew he could never convince Adam otherwise. Perhaps he had tempted Adam on occasion, maybe many times. It did no good. Adam’s bond with God with far too strong and unyielding. And no, Adam wasn’t duded up with body armor or armed with automatic weapons that could perforate the devil in seconds and cut him into a thousand pieces. Such weapons have no power over angelic beings (hell’s angels) of the spiritual realm. The only method for defeating and taking authority over the enemies of God, demonic entities, and sin is by gaining and using the Lord God’s spiritual power and by living in a state of no sin. As long as Adam never sinned he would maintain his complete dominion over the devil. He would continue honoring God, serving God, living for God, and increasing God’s dominion. He would continue RULING OVER the devil forever. Though certainly a potential weak link compared to God, Adam was effectively no weak link at all. The devil was flummoxed by this. (Keep this in mind as you consider your own discipleship.)

EVE’S MISSION

For however long it was, when Adam remained alone with God he remained successful. He continued faithfully in his work. But eventually, he became aware of something missing, an awareness he could not initially explain or understand—he became lonely. He realized that he had developed a desire for human companionship. He sought God over this issue. The Lord, not feeling slighted in the least, responded by blessing Adam with his next greatest gift. You see, Adam’s future mission must include others. Not only must the Garden be fruitful—Adam must be fruitful. Not only must the Garden continue producing beneficial fruit of every kind in great amounts and continue to expand, others must come forth to assist in Adam’s “cultivating and keeping.” He must have faithful human offspring to assist him in defeating the evil forces pressuring the Garden borders from without while he expanded them outward from within. Adam was meant to be a spiritual patriarch of a great righteous clan. He was destined to grow from miniscule beginnings in a tiny obscure Garden amongst the wilds of nature and the evil dominion of the devil to a worldwide Garden covering the earth with no room for evil and no place for the devil.

To achieve this he would need help, a lot of it. The overall mission was far too grand to achieve alone. He would especially need someone very close. One cannot be a patriarch without a strong loving matriarch. Of course, rather than the future, Adam primarily had the present on his mind at that particular time. And rather than thoughts of a future matriarch and kids and family, as wonderful as such thoughts were, he was thinking more along the lines of an extended honeymoon. God did not disappoint.

The Lord God fashioned into a woman the rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man. The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” [Genesis 2:22:23]

Eve was God’s crown of Creation. As far as Adam was concerned, God saved His best for last. For both, it was love at first sight. A holy covenant between these two was formed. God officiated as both a covenant official and a wedding preacher. He explained what love was, what it meant to be husband and wife, and what was expected of each for both one another and the future. He also taught them about working together, about ministry, and about cultivating and keeping. Because Eve was essentially born into an existing situation God explained what her role would be.

You see, Eve was created to be Adam’s one and only fully supportive side-by-side loving companion in holy covenant with him. She was Adam’s ezer kenegdo, a “helper suitable for him.” She was not equipped to rule except as part of Adam’s rule and must yield to the one she was created to serve just as Adam yielded to the One he was created to serve. Also, she was not equipped in the natural to as great a degree as Adam to perceive spiritual dominion and what must be done to gain it and maintain it. She was not created primarily to be a warrior but a nurturer. She was there to stand with Adam, to support him, to assist in easing the pressure of responsibility upon him, to be forever by his side and work alongside him under his authority. Her gifting and nature would be a tremendous benefit for Adam, aiding him to assist in maintaining his strength and continuing onward. He would become a much better and spiritually fruitful man due to her love and support. He would, of course, also love her and shelter her and protect her. He would cherish her. It was to each other’s benefit to provide what the other lacked and needed the most within the realm of their humanity. These two were destined to be on the forefront of spiritual battle and would need every bit of each other’s support, care, and encouragement. They were dependent on one another. They must be true. They were the only people in the Garden.

SATAN’S SUBTERFUGE

As long as their covenant union remained intact the devil would continue losing and continue losing ground. The wicked devil, a being of great darkness and evil, therefore must find a way to subvert this covenant marriage and especially this new person, this innocent beautiful woman.

The creation of Eve presented the devil with a new opportunity. Once Eve inhabited the Garden the devil planned on applying the exact initial strategy against her as he had with Adam. He would operate on the sly. He would find a way to bypass Adam. He would do an end around and hope Adam would never suspect anything. He determined to catch her off guard and meet with her alone away from Adam’s protection. It wasn’t simply because she was a new opportunity for him but because he had noticed a weakness in Eve he could exploit, a weakness Adam did not have.

Though the devil ruled the planet and had the run of it in the spiritual realm ever since God cast him out of heaven, he only had dominion here and nowhere else. And he didn’t appreciate the new invaders invading his turf. The devil hated the Garden. He hates everything pure and holy and righteous. He obviously opposed Adam’s mission from day one knowing exactly what it represented. He knew it was spiritual war directed against him but his counter offensive against Adam had been completely ineffective.

What the devil attempted with Eve is what he attempts with everyone. His goal is to corrupt, to change whatever is good, wholesome, and honorable into something immoral and sinful. Adam’s only chance was staying close to God. With him, however, it was not mere chance; Adam was very close to God and would never, ever betray Him.

The devil knows all too well what happens when a person becomes dedicated to God the way Adam was initially. Such people—real Christians—are a never ending headache for him. They’re a pain in the neck, a thorn in the flesh, and an endless succession of punishing left jabs and jaw-breaking right crosses pounding cranium and midsection, leaving ribs broken and face a bloody pulp, and all this before the sweeping left hooks slam upside his head, contorting it grotesquely, and knocking him clean out of the ring. These real Christians unrelentingly stand up for the Lord Jesus and His righteousness and thereby inflict ongoing damage to the devil’s workings. They do exactly what Adam did when he was right with God.

Though the devil fights them, they have the wherewithal through the Lord’s Holy Spirit to successfully fight back and thus engage their enemy every step of the way. They pray. They fast. They stay “read up” on the Word of God. They stay filled with the Holy Spirit. They remain revved up on full oil lamps. They invade the enemy’s dominion. They rescue lost souls. They witness. They tell others about the Lord. They preach and teach the Gospel. They uncover lies, false doctrines, and false narratives, revealing them for what they are. THEY EXPOSE THE DEVIL AND THE LORD’S HUMAN ENEMIES. They do exactly what the Lord Jesus taught His disciples to do:

The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.” And He said to them, “I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.” [Luke 10:17-19]

EVE’S WAVERING TRUST

Though she did very well for a while, maybe a relatively long time, the day came when the devil’s temptations and tricky wordplay began to at last find their mark. On a particular day, not unlike any other, she happened to have a weak moment. This happens on occasion to all believers, of course, and demands an immediate adjustment. One must quickly pivot back in God’s direction. I would think Eve had done this many times. She was not unaware. And she certainly was not unaware of temptation. Well, she suddenly pivoted alright, but in the wrong direction.

She started perceiving the Lord God as someone holding out on her. She felt she was being dishonored. She tired of her apparent secondary place. Mostly however, the devil had finally convinced her that Adam was no longer worth honoring or serving. Why should she be this so-called ezer kenegdo? Why should her life be a mere side by side support to Adam’s life? Shouldn’t they be identical? Shouldn’t they share top billing? And for that matter, why should she actually serve God? Is He really what He claims to be? Why are we stuck in this Garden? Why can’t we venture forth outside these Garden walls and check out the scene beyond? What else is out there? Maybe this serpent isn’t so bad after all. Maybe this tree, this big beautiful tree, filled with beautiful fruit that looks quite delicious and nurturing and is likely even better than all the rest of the fruit in this Garden is actually a very good thing, a wonderful thing, and something that Adam and God are keeping me from enjoying. Maybe if I do eat this fruit that for some strange reason they don’t want me to eat I can not only attain the authority of my husband but actually have him serve me! And maybe I can even be like God! Give me the papers. I’m signing…

TRUST MISAPPLIED: THE FALL

The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” [Genesis 2:16-17]

Adam didn’t have to eat the forbidden fruit. He knew better. God had always warned him. God warned him for a very good reason. He could never explain the full implications and outcome of such a vile deed because Adam, in his purity and innocence, would never understand anyway. Rather than know, then, Adam would have to TRUST. This is what faith is. It is not just faith, it is pure faith in the Lord God. It is faith in believing His words, directives, teachings, and commandments. It is trusting in Him that He knows best and we therefore must obey and comply. It is for our own benefit but also His and our relationship. And this faith, this trust, is not just faith in a generic “God,” it is faith in the Lord Jesus who is the express image of God.

Those who trust in “God” but refuse to trust in the Lord Jesus are not actually trusting in God at all. They don’t even know God.

Yet, Adam knew God. And he trusted Him completely. But he was suddenly presented with a different dynamic. It came out of left field and he had a big problem processing it. As the one who had to keep everything intact, he was challenged with fitting this new puzzle piece in—it was large and unwieldy and appeared unsuitable to the Garden environs. In the effort to contain it all Adam lost sight of his main objective, part of which was to not try to fit things in that simply didn’t belong, that were not at all good for the overall setting.

His main problem along these lines (understatement alert) was what to do about Eve. She had already eaten the fruit. She never prayed about it. She never asked his advice. She just did it. And now she was a different person. Her internal beauty had faded. He still wanted her, of course, but he also wanted God. How could he have both? Somewhere around here is where Adam began losing his trust. He was no longer completely sure about the Lord. He had strayed into onset unbelief. The new dynamic threw him. It was something he never thought he would have to deal with. In his final analysis, he decided that the only way to make it all work, to please God, to please himself, to please his wife, and keep everything intact and all included, was to join up with Eve in her new endeavor instead of showing her the door. This way he could keep her. God would understand…

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” [Genesis 3:8-13]

SIN CAUSES SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS

Adam failed. He failed at his mission. He was defeated by a far lesser foe. The original dominion plan was lost.

This required another Adam. A future Adam. A final and only remaining chance Adam who must be successful, though also under the commandment to never sin and thus maintain power over the devil, and the world, and the flesh, and temptation, and the grave, and hell, and death itself. He would be the last Adam:

So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. [1Corinthians 15:45]

He would also be the firstborn of a new paradise, an everlasting spiritual Kingdom:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. [Colossians 1:15-18]

The God Adam knew was the only God there is, the One who dwelt in heaven in the far reaches of a glorious celestial realm. But this God also walked in the Garden. This is not a mere euphemism. Adam and Eve heard the sound of His walking. They also talked to Him. Directly. This was not a theophany. It was not a disembodied Spirit. They heard His voice. They saw His face.

Yet now, somehow, something terrible had happened. Adam was now on the other side of a former spiritual relationship. Fear had replaced faith. His purpose had drifted away. His mission had ceased.

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. [2Corinthians 4:3-4]

How is it that the devil has the power to blind the minds of the unbelieving? Could it be because unbelief is a sin? Could it be because those who willfully dwell in sin are under his authority? Is it because they cannot bring themselves to trust someone they cannot perceive? Do they not perceive Him because they are under a trance? An enchantment? And is this not due to the great power of sin? The fact of the matter is that sin causes spiritual blindness and a break in relationship with God. The only way to be reconciled to Him and have the spiritual blindness removed is to first have the sin removed. And the only way to do that is to turn from sin and seek the Lord Jesus since He is only one that has the cure.

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” [Matthew 5:8]

One must desire an actual relationship with God. One must no longer justify sin or dwell willingly with sin but repent of sin and cease from its practice. One must become pure in heart. When a person is cleansed by the Blood of the Lamb, which pays for all sin, it washes it away. It scours out all the sin from an individual’s life all the way down to the infinitesimal DNA level. Then an amazing thing happens—spiritual seeing happens—spiritual sight is created. The thick colossal deception one has been subjected to is overcome and removed. Though one may never see the Lord God with the physical eye one can nonetheless see Him with spiritual eyes. One becomes aware of His holy presence. One discovers that the Lord Jesus actually exists and is the source of all Life and blessing.

One receives the revelation that Jesus is the Lord God. He is the One we all have been searching for. He is the One who longs to rescue and save all who desire Him.

And one knows He can be trusted to the nth degree.

Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” [John 2:28-29]

BLESSING BORN OF TRUST

How much better it is to get wisdom than gold!

And to get understanding is to be chosen above silver.

The highway of the upright is to depart from evil;

He who watches his way preserves his life.

Pride goes before destruction,

And a haughty spirit before stumbling.

It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly

Than to divide the spoil with the proud.

He who gives attention to the word will find good,

And blessed is he who trusts in the Lord. [Proverbs 16:16-20] [1]

Posted in Teaching

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Tags: Adam and Eve, Called Chosen and Faithful, Christ Died For Sinners, Faith and Unbelief, Fight the Good Fight of Faith, Garden of Eden, Lord Jesus, Naboth's Vineyard, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Salvation in Jesus, Sin and Rebellion, Sinners Saved By Grace, Spiritual Deception, The Great Awakening, The Last Adam, The Sinner's Self Deception, Trust Your Heart With God, Without Faith it is Impossible to Please God

IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (8)

Mar 16

Posted by RJ Dawson

They have created an Ishmael—an illegitimate counterfeit. Most Americans are none the wiser (sleeping). This illicit replacement imitation is wreaking havoc on what’s left of the country.

ISHMAEL

His name was Ishmael. He was the product of an unholy and faithless union. Ishmael was conceived because the great patriarch abandoned his faith in God and did the unthinkable. He had illicit relations with a foreign woman not his wife. Yet this great sin was not characterized as the adultery it surely was because Abraham performed this unholy deed at the behest of his wife Sarah. She convinced him to do it. It was a strange love triangle born of spiritual infidelity and outright rebellion against the Lord God. The good man was overcome by the incessant pleadings of his faithless barren wife. Sound familiar?

What Eve did to Adam is what Sarah did to Abraham. However, what these two women did obviously reverberated far, far beyond their respective significant others though they never saw that at the time. Both men knew better but both failed in their faithfulness to God. Had these two men stayed faithful to their overriding spiritual covenant as God had highly advised and counseled them, the great evil that resulted which continues even until this day would never have happened.

Both men made a spiritual recovery later on but the great damage had already been done. There was nothing that could stop the ongoing burgeoning of sin and evil in this world which has grown exponentially ever since. We are currently seeing evil shooting upward as never before like a proverbial rocket, as so many explosive and fiery launches over the last sixty plus years has enthralled a rapt but clueless audience beholding the wonder though never understanding the means and motive.

We see that the serpent was responsible in Eve’s case. Was the serpent also not responsible in Sarah’s case? God had promised Abraham a son, a very special son. He had made the promise to Abraham and Sarah roughly fifteen years before. This childless couple had kept the faith throughout those years. Sarah had always been barren. For all they knew it could have been Abraham’s problem also. The point is that this couple called by God could never have children yet God promised them a very special child who would have an immense and immeasurable beneficial effect on the world.

But they wavered. They grew tired of waiting. This was especially pronounced in Sarah. Her hopes were raised to the heavens when she first heard the promise many years before but then nothing ever came of it and her hopes were dashed. Abraham held on but only in a weakened state. He did his best. There was less and less to sustain his faith. Once Sarah quit and returned to her faithless condition, which barrenness portends, it would only be a matter of time before Abraham’s little remaining supply of faith in God regarding the promise would drain away. And it did.

A surrogate wife was found. The surrogate would be the mother of the promised child. Sarah decreed this. Sarah was just as wrong as Eve, of course, but because the correcting voice that had authority over her was effectively silenced—the voice of Abraham—as Adam’s voice was also silenced by his wife, Abraham proceeded to engage in the unholy, faithless, adulterous union. Again, Sarah did not merely suggest he do this or tell him to, she insisted upon it. Abraham was waylaid. Perhaps he was also tempted in his own right with forbidden fruit that was pleasing to the eyes and flesh. Perhaps he thought of his future great patriarchy and enjoyed the prospect of having another mate for such a purpose. Whatever the case, these two chosen ones messed up really, really bad. Being born into this world wasn’t Ishmael’s fault but the replacement boy later proved to be what he was—the fruit of an illicit union of which God had never approved.

Thirteen years went by. Abraham and Sarah apparently kept up the ruse the entire time, at least in part, and treated young Ishmael as the promised one. Hagar, the boy’s real mother, had something to say about this however. She likely never bought into the narrative and didn’t care. She only knew Ishmael was her boy and she couldn’t help but fight in the tug of war instigated by Sarah. Abraham thus had two wives and they were at odds always and he had to play the referee always, and as his faith had waned which brought forth Ishmael so had his good nature waned, being caught between two warring women, and he must have grown seriously weary as a result.

He also knew in his heart that Ishmael was not really the promised child. He was forced to engage in the deception initially to please his wife and was also forced to continue the charade to stay in her graces. As far as Sarah was concerned Ishmael was her son and anything contrary to this was forbidden. There is thus no possible way she could have had a relationship with God during the entire time for if she had she would have been convicted of her sin and changed her way of thinking.

It is quite interesting how the Word of God gives us clues that bypass most Christians, likely because most Christians are also stuck in false narratives as Sarah was and cannot see them. We know in Adam’s case he lived another 130 years after his initial sin and banishment. At that point he finally repented and did what was required to get right with God. Eve also repented and got right. Their third son listed in the Genesis account—Seth—was the result. He was the fruit of their return to God and effectively replaced Abel who the devil had eliminated by the murderous hand of the abominable Cain.

The point here is the 130 years. It is ten times thirteen. Ten is the Biblical number of ordinal perfection and thirteen is the number of rebellion. Once the rebellion ended, the Messianic generational bloodline was reestablished. For 130 long years there was no hope of a future Savior. If Adam had never gotten right with God there would have been no Lord Jesus. We would all end up in hell with no remedy. The devil would have won the universe. It is therefore no surprise that the number thirteen entered the picture once again in the case of Ishmael:

Now Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. In the very same day Abraham was circumcised, and Ishmael his son. [Genesis 17:24-26]

It was imperative that Abraham be circumcised prior to the birth of the promised child. Should he not have known that Isaac was impossible until he had done this? That Isaac would not only be the product of pure faith but also, by implication, the circumcision of the heart? How often do we as Christians make claims upon God’s promises but remain unwilling to fulfill the terms thereof? Circumcision portends spiritual cleanliness. It portends pure seed. It was the cutting off of the flesh. Though Ishmael was conceived while Abraham was uncircumcised (flesh), Isaac, the promised son, must be conceived in circumcised purity (spirit).

Also, the outward end of Ishmael’s development as a son of flesh must be officially stopped and was stopped at thirteen years. The big picture, of course, illustrates the nature of Abraham and Sarah’s sin in that, like Adam and Eve, it was a sin of disobedient faithless rebellion. Abraham’s faithlessness and rebellion against God ended, fully, with his circumcision. In fact, everyone in his entire household was also circumcised. God does not merely suggest spiritual purity if an Isaac is to come forth—He demands it.

Perhaps this is why much of Christianity never brings forth an Isaac but can only ever manage an Ishmael.

ISAAC

Immediately after this wholesale repentance/circumcision event when Abraham returned to rightness with God, he was paid a visit by God and God confirmed the initial promise He had made many years before. Keep in mind that God never would have shown up if Abraham did not fulfill what he must. God always has more time than us and will wait forever if need be. Also, the wholesale repentance/circumcision event of Abraham’s household broke the power that Sarah had gained over Abraham and to which he had fallen victim to when he obeyed her in forcing him to bring forth an Ishmael. As long as her power over the situation remained, Isaac could not possibly be born because he must be born of Sarah and not a surrogate. His birth would never happen as long as Sarah was in charge. Sarah would never have an ounce of faith as long as she was in charge. She would never be fertile. She would be unworthy of receiving spiritual seed. Of course, in her case, she was also unable of bear children in the flesh. She was barren both physically and spiritually. She was also faithless. The only way this could change is if she submitted to God. Fully. Why was Sarah so hardheaded and stubborn in this regard? Why did she demand to have her own way? Was this not the vestige of fallen Eve in her nature? (Abraham had also partaken of the vestige of fallen Adam by weakly complying with the demands and/or manipulation of his wife.)

The process toward spiritual life and away from fleshly rebellion, as it was in the exact case of Adam and Eve, started when Abraham took back control from Sarah and then submitted total control to God. (As long as Sarah was in authority she would never submit to God and there would never be an Isaac.) This is why there was such an immediate dramatic change for the better once Abraham repented and was circumcised. The change was so dramatic that even Sarah herself would be blessed with pure faith and her newfound faithfulness to God would result at last in spiritual fruitfulness. God had initially told them Isaac was coming 29 years before. The time had now arrived for Him to tell them again, this time face to face:

Now the Lord appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth, and said, “My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not pass Your servant by. Please let a little water be brought and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree; and I will bring a piece of bread, that you may refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have visited your servant.” And they said, “So do, as you have said.” [Genesis 18:1-5]

Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” He said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was past childbearing. Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?” And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?’ Is anything too difficult for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” [Genesis 18:9-14][1]

THIS PRESENT DARKNESS

Though an Ishmael has taken over and gained great power at the behest of evil forces he will not and they will not have the last word. Regardless of their success to date in establishing a counterfeit which appears to be legitimate, there remains much more to this story. We see many forms of attack against this Ishmael but none have worked so far nor will any other work. Except one.

As I have faithfully reported over the last eleven and a half years, primarily through this medium, a Great Awakening had always been in the plan of God for America. Just as He has done on countless other occasions, if we as His followers fulfill the terms of the promise, the present illegitimate Ishmael in control will not only be stopped but circumcised. Its evil fleshly power and connection to the devil will be cut off. This will happen when the rebellion is complete, when the perpetrators thereof have spent themselves in an ultimately losing cause. And every real Christian in America has a vital part to be engaged in toward that end. The Lord Jesus will do this, as He always has, through His people, His spiritual kingdom-minded Community of Called-Out Ones who bow the knee to Him, confess His holy Name, and circumcise their hearts.

In the interim, get faithful and stay faithful.

Isaac is coming.

IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (1)

IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (2)

IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (3)

IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (4)

IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (5)

IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (6)

IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (7)

IF YOU’RE WONDERING WHEN THIS EVIL WILL END… (9)

Posted in Current Events

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Tags: Abraham and Sarah, Adam and Eve, America, Called Chosen and Faithful, Circumcision of the Heart, Discipleship, Faith and Unbelief, Fight the Good Fight of Faith, God is Faithful, Heart of Darkness, Isaac, Ishmael, Lord Jesus, Promise, Promise by Faith, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Real Repentance, Rebellion Against God, Seth, Sin and Evil, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, The Presence of the devil, Without Faith it is Impossible to Please Him

GIDEON’S 300: WHY A SMALL GROUP OF REAL CHRISTIANS IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN 32,000 PRETENDERS [Part 6: Christian Qualifying Tests]

Sep 14

Posted by RJ Dawson

God ran two qualifying tests upon 32,000 prospective warriors. The vast majority failed. What are God’s qualifying tests regarding the New Covenant?

There are Christians in the world who believe being a Christian is no big deal. The vast majority of Christians have never done much to differentiate themselves from the world. They are Christians only in the cultural sense. Their parents were likely Christians of a particular denomination and they merely became adherents of the same only because it was the group their parents and family belonged to. They were simply raised that way. It is often the case that these denominational connections go back several generations.

Some denominations are more authoritarian than others and thus engage in greater enforcement through the application of greater religious control, indoctrination, intimidation, and even fear. These methods have always worked extremely well and are in part why the most populous Christian denominations have such great numbers. And it also helps, of course, to have been around a very long time.

The major Christian denominations have been around for centuries. One would like to think their great numbers must be due to their acceptance of the Gospel and its propagation. Their success, however, is not necessarily because they have historically stood for the original teachings of the Lord Jesus but because they have stressed certain teachings to the exclusion of others, watered down His teachings, and even appropriated different “gospels” to suit their cause. One should think, regarding this, that their cause should have been serving the Lord Jesus and honoring His Gospel:

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! [Galatians 1:6-9]

When one particular denomination gained the upper hand many centuries ago it did so largely through executive fiat and forced conversions. It became illegal to belong to any other Christian denomination than the one they set forth as the “legitimate” one. In other words, only one denomination was ruled the official one and all others were forced to disband or they would be persecuted until they did. This meant that not only the then existing few Christian offshoots that gained a following but also contained gross error were declared illegal, it also meant real Christianity was declared illegal. Why? Because the real Christianity of the early to middle first century created by the Lord Jesus and embraced by the first Christians had come to look so different from what became the mainline syncretic denomination of three centuries later that both could not possibly exist together in harmony. There were far too many differences. It was also impossible to achieve their goals using the Lord’s methods.

Hence, the real was rejected and a form of the unreal was embraced. Whereas the Lord Jesus instructed His disciples to take the real Gospel into the entire world and allow each person the freedom to arrive at a personal decision one way or the other, the predominant Christian denomination went into the world as a conquering religious juggernaut with a decided imperialist character often in direct competition against the Lord.

The great Protestant Reformation, peopled by those who protested against the gross illegalities, false doctrines, rampant authoritarianism, and rejection of the pure teachings of the Lord Jesus and the early church by “official” Christianity, made great strides toward reform and correction. A great part of their success was due to the relatively new Gutenberg Printing Press, invented circa 1450, that made it possible to get the written Word of God into the hands of individual believers. The Word of God had been completely unavailable to Christians for a great many centuries and these believers had no choice but to trust the extremely few ecclesiastics in power that had access to it. Rather than make the Word available they had done the opposite. They closed it off to all and used the lack of the Word of God as a control mechanism. They made sure it was never translated into the native tongues of all those “conquered” by forced conversions. The written Word of God was retained only in the official language of the denomination. In order to have access to it, one would have to be a member in perfect standing, have the proper education, and participate in every initiatory and maintenance rite demanded. This, of course, eliminated 99% of the population. An ignorant, illiterate, and fearful population was absolutely perfect for controlling and dictating to and the masters of such were able to maintain “Christian” religious control for a very long time.

Sadly, the new Protestant denominations eventually also engaged in some of the same corrupt practices of the former to varying degrees. They also discovered it was impossible to control people according to the Lord’s teachings and if they would have any success in the world they must make allowances for authoritarian control also. Those Christian denominations which have existed for so long have thus done an excellent job of growing and maintaining their organizations. This, of course, does not mean they are right according to the Lord’s standard. It only means they have excelled in gaining religious market share, kind of like the successful ministers on Christian TV.

CORRUPTION IS PROGRESSIVE

The Lord’s standard is perfect. His standard perfectly agrees with His teachings and the early historical record. The application of His standard allows for Truth and spiritual purity, and keeps incorrectness and corruption at bay. But as in everything else, if not subjected to ongoing correcting and cleansing, corruption only grows and metastasizes over time. The reason why is otherwise easy to understand but cannot be grasped when one is deceived or under the heavy thumb of religious potentates. If corruption is never properly addressed or allowed to be opposed, and if righteous opposition forces are continually overcome, then corruption will not only remain but flourish. It will increase. It will eventually reach a point of full corruption and darkness. And because the hubris and arrogance of the leaders within it grows as well, corrupt organizations become, in their own estimation, bulletproof and beyond censure. They feel they are so superior and powerful they can never be defeated.

They then begin to lower their guard. They fail to understand that initially buying into corruption for whatever reason allows for corruption to spread unchecked throughout the entire organization. The corruption extends to a corruption in decision making. The organizational unifying adhesive begins to fail. Then communications start to break down. Fissures appear. Light shines into the fissures. Light exposes the corruption. And just as sunshine is the best disinfectant, Light begins its cleansing action. A few insiders previously under the entrancement of the outwardly legitimate organization start seeing the oozing gunk leaching out in fissures everywhere and reach a point of great awakening. The blinders come off. They see the masquerade for what it is. They wake up to the ruse and become animated toward correction. They cease being part of the problem and become part of the solution. This is why most of the great Christian reformers were previously members of corrupt Christian denominations.

This is the world we live in. Despite its fallen nature it is still a world of both darkness and light and not darkness alone. Though darkness may thrive for a time, the light will eventually expose it. Great people, those who act as did the Lord, understand that the Truth of the real Gospel must go forth and are willing to take on the spiritual fight and do the will of God. These people are always grossly outnumbered in the beginning. Many of them pay dearly. They will lose their good reputations. They may lose their earthly goods. They may even pay the ultimate price. This is what happens when the corrupt majority turns against them. Sound familiar? But the only other choice is to let darkness prevail.

That the majority of the world is wimpy in this regard and refuses to fight the enemy does not mean the enemy cannot be successfully fought. The Lord Jesus proved this. The Early Church proved it. Untold millions were saved from sin and the dominance of evil. They kicked demonic backsides and took their names. This was and remains the Lord’s approach. But for those Christian organizations that refuse the Lord’s full program and have no desire or ability to fight the enemy, but instead have a lust for control, power, worldly wealth, and prestige, they simply join up with the enemy. And the enemy accommodates them.

Remember, it is the Gideon Paradigm. The Lord always proved the majority is wrong. The majority is always fearful. The majority will always oppose Him. The majority chooses the broad way that leads to destruction. Thus, if one is not willing to face off against the majority then one simply cannot be His disciple. And if one looks the other way and refuses to bring the necessary reforms and corrections to oneself and one’s own Christian denomination and would rather exist as a nameless nobody within a fearful, compliant, corrupt majority, then one can call himself a Christian all he wants to. As long as he stays within his member denomination as part of the non-reform corrupt majority and maintains the support of the majority as his proof of right standing with God, he may prolong the charade but will never fool the Lord.

Reasonable people would agree that it would be far better to actually get right with God in the here and now according to God’s requirements than face Him at the Judgment unprepared, even though one may have been falsely granted full commendation and approval by his member denomination. It should be obvious that trusting the Lord and His teachings regarding one’s soul is better that trusting one’s Christian guru. Christian denominations cannot dictate right standing with God and cannot confer righteousness by one’s mere good standing within them. Nevertheless, the majority of Christians would rather have right standing within their Christian social circles and overall culture than have right standing with God. And in case there is any confusion on this matter, actual spiritual righteousness is a gift. It cannot be falsely appropriated or earned. It was bought with a price. It was obtained by a great Sacrifice. The only way one will ever receive actual righteousness is by submitting 100% to the Lord Jesus. Substitutes will never qualify.

CHRISTIAN QUALIFYING TESTS

Rather than spell this out I will direct your attention to Acts Chapters 2. I stated in Part 5 of this series that of the many thousands who heard His teachings and followed Him during His ministry, He only chose 120 for the Upper Room. These 120 individuals had to be qualified for the honor. That only 120 did qualify suggests costly requirements. It further suggests that many desired to be disciples and tried to be disciples but were unwilling to be the disciples the Lord needed them to be. When one considers the absolute miracle of Pentecost one must also consider the absolute miracle that the 120 not only obeyed the Lord Jesus in full but got along with one another perfectly. They demonstrated the love of God. They were each willing to become brand new solid and strong empty vessels to be filled with the Lord’s Holy Spirit.

Based on Luke’s historical record, the 120 Upper Roomers passed the following universal tests:

1. 100% faithfulness and obedience toward the Lord Jesus, their recognition of His atoning death as the complete and only payment for all sin, their acceptance of His full teaching and discipleship curriculum, and their absolute belief in His resurrection from the dead.

2. 100% repentance of personal sin and a full turning away from sin and their former life to their new life in the Lord.

3. 100% immersion in water invoking the Name of Jesus the Messiah, their only Master and Savior.

We know these were the initial tests in part because it is exactly what Peter preached by the anointing of the Holy Spirit right after he and the 120 were filled with the Holy Spirit. Whoever would thus become a member of the Body of Christ must do as they did and meet the standard the Lord put forth. This standard was consistent throughout the early historical record in the Book of Acts and New Covenant Scriptures and all the early believers held it in common and were also filled with the Holy Spirit in the same manner.

Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” [Acts 2:38] [1]

GIDEON’S 300: WHY A SMALL GROUP OF REAL CHRISTIANS IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN 32,000 PRETENDERS [Part 1: Take My Yoke Upon You]

GIDEON’S 300: WHY A SMALL GROUP OF REAL CHRISTIANS IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN 32,000 PRETENDERS [Part 2: The Attack of the Midianites]

GIDEON’S 300: WHY A SMALL GROUP OF REAL CHRISTIANS IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN 32,000 PRETENDERS [Part 3: Introducing Gideon]

GIDEON’S 300: WHY A SMALL GROUP OF REAL CHRISTIANS IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN 32,000 PRETENDERS [Part 4: Destroying Spiritual Strongholds]

GIDEON’S 300: WHY A SMALL GROUP OF REAL CHRISTIANS IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN 32,000 PRETENDERS [Part 5: Make Your Calling and Election Sure]

Posted in Current Events

GIDEON’S 300: WHY A SMALL GROUP OF REAL CHRISTIANS IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN 32,000 PRETENDERS [Part 3: Introducing Gideon]

Aug 18

Posted by RJ Dawson

Then the angel of the LORD came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. [Judges 6:11]

The teachings of the Lord Jesus often appear counterintuitive. Rather than choosing a big gnarly giant with massive weapons and a killer reputation like the warrior Goliath, a man that pretty much every other man on the planet is deathly afraid of and respects absolutely, God instead chooses a young teenage shepherd of likely less than average height with no reputation armed with a mere slingshot.

He did the same thing in the very beginning when He chose Abel over Cain:

Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. [Genesis 4:2]

Abel was the second born. He was a gentle shepherd with a heart for God. Cain, the firstborn, was a hard-nosed redneck farmer with an apparent mean streak and no concern whatsoever for spiritual matters. This is no knock on farmers or those who produce necessary food from the ground but does tell us that shepherding in general is apparently more conducive to and indicative of spiritual work and has a higher priority than farming.

One may recall that the Lord Jesus referred to Himself as the Good Shepherd but not as the Good Farmer. He also said that food from the ground is produced pretty much automatically by the ground though the process otherwise calls for a level of work depending on conditions. Excellent soil produces great fruit with less work. Lesser soils and conditions demand more work and produce less.

And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.” [Mark 4:26-28]

Concerning the one whom God chooses, the same dynamic took place with regard to the first two sons of Isaac, the twins Esau and Jacob:

Now the first came forth red, all over like a hairy garment; and they named him Esau. Afterward his brother came forth with his hand holding on to Esau’s heel, so his name was called Jacob; and Isaac was sixty years old when she gave birth to them. When the boys grew up, Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a peaceful man, living in tents. [Genesis 25:27]

Esau (“hairy”) had no heart for God or for spiritual matters. He also had no control over his appetites. Any man who would sell his birthright for a pot of stew is not worthy of God or His kingdom. While Jacob was a conniver who participated in fraud, he remained the better choice as history proves. Though it took time and much discipline, he learned to overcome his lower nature and serve the Lord.

I could go on. There are many examples of this kind. In fact, the Word of God is consistent regarding such choices. God often chooses the very opposite of those chosen by unregenerate mankind and this world:

And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.” [Luke 16:15]

The preceding is the calling of the real Christian. He or she will be seen as an idiot in the eyes of the world, a person they simply cannot relate to or understand. The life of the real Christian involves spiritual righteousness and Godly concerns. It involves a great desire for spiritual matters, a love of the truth, and a refusal to compromise regarding sin. Above all a real Christian honors the Lord Jesus and strives to serve Him and do His will. The world makes light of such things and cannot understand such things. Goliaths and Cains and Esaus simply don’t get it. They are more likely to make fun of, insult, defy, and reject those serving the Lord. They cannot conceive of the spiritual much less understand spiritual priorities. They put all their eggs in a very temporary worldly basket and have no future in eternity.

CHOOSING GIDEON

As it is for the real Christian, the same was true of Gideon. This man had no great heritage or birthright. He was of the tribe of Manasseh, a people whose tribal allotment spanned both east and west of the Jordan. Though Manasseh’s father was Joseph, his mother was an Egyptian. Gideon says his family was the very least in the entire tribe. He says further that he is the youngest in his family. He is a man who, in his own eyes and those of everyone else, is seen as the most unlikely candidate to be chosen by God for anything. Above all this, with no experience whatsoever or reputation to prove it, the Lord calls him a valiant warrior. Gideon was entirely perplexed by this. The perceived projection of his life changed completely when the angel of the Lord met him under the terebinth tree (it was not actually an oak):

The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said to him, “The LORD is with you, O valiant warrior.” Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”

The LORD looked at him and said, “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” He said to Him, “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” But the LORD said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.” So Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who speak with me. “Please do not depart from here, until I come back to You, and bring out my offering and lay it before You.” And He said, “I will remain until you return.”

Then Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the oak and presented them. The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. Then the angel of the LORD put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight.

When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the LORD, he said, “Alas, O Lord GOD! For now I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face.” The LORD said to him, “Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.” Then Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and named it The LORD is Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. [Judges 6:11-24] [1]

GIDEON’S 300: WHY A SMALL GROUP OF REAL CHRISTIANS IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN 32,000 PRETENDERS [Part 1: Take My Yoke Upon You]

GIDEON’S 300: WHY A SMALL GROUP OF REAL CHRISTIANS IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN 32,000 PRETENDERS [Part 2: The Attack of the Midianites]

GIDEON’S 300: WHY A SMALL GROUP OF REAL CHRISTIANS IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN 32,000 PRETENDERS [Part 4: Destroying Spiritual Strongholds]

GIDEON’S 300: WHY A SMALL GROUP OF REAL CHRISTIANS IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN 32,000 PRETENDERS [Part 5: Make Your Calling and Election Sure]

GIDEON’S 300: WHY A SMALL GROUP OF REAL CHRISTIANS IS ALWAYS BETTER THAN 32,000 PRETENDERS [Part 6: Christian Qualifying Tests]

Posted in Current Events

HAPPY TENTH BIRTHDAY REAL CHRISTIANITY

May 10

Posted by RJ Dawson

Today is my site’s ten year anniversary. I appreciate all of you who have read my posts over the years and have contributed. Thank you.

It’s been a long haul. Like many of you, I have had roughly a million other things to attend to over the last decade but have always been faithful to this site. I have written posts from several locations. There have been interruptions, major changes, a few seriously tough times, and all the usual getting-on-with-life adjustments. I have written and posted roughly 700 blog posts so far, most in the two to four page range which amounts to thousands of pages.

There have been times when circumstances forced me to leave off writing but I always returned and hit it hard again. I have built up the site with many faithful readers only to lose most due to inactivity and then started over again. This has happened quite a few times, the most recent being the spring and summer of 2019. That is, until this year.

It is impossible to not be seriously affected by all that has happened in America over the last fourteen months. After the events of last autumn and especially at the beginning of this year I started sensing that we as Americans had been taken for a ride, yet again, and that the very worst was on tap. Rather than continuing to have hope I saw that no one was actually coming to the rescue. All those who appear to have tried got nowhere. Many who appeared to be for real have been proven to be frauds. A great many Christian “prophets” were dead wrong about what would happen. Many people trusted them. As usual, I would guess that most of these people explain it all away and keep on trucking.

There is no use getting into specifics at this point but everything has changed. I said fourteen months ago that nothing would be the same again. I spent a difficult summer writing many long posts revealing much truth. At the end of the day, did it matter? Have enough people really paid attention? I told you in my last post of 2020 on the last day of December last year what would happen in 2021: 2020 IN REVIEW AND A LOOK INTO WHAT’S COMING NEXT…

For all those Christians in America and their “churches” and denominations which have once again thrown in the towel and did what they were told, dumbing themselves down to an even lower level and surrendering whatever semblance of spiritual reality they had left, I can only say at this stage of the game that I have been warning of this very outcome over the life of this blog. But I started my warnings much, much earlier than that. I’ve been advertising a book here that I wrote in the 1990s. It hasn’t done any good. I had hoped to be a successful author so I could keep writing but the former never happened. I have kept writing however, though under more difficult circumstances, and plan to continue at some point.

At the moment I am inundated with practical matters that must be attended to and am making progress in that regard. My writing and teaching will have to wait. It might wait long enough that I will lose most of you. I don’t know. It is likely that few will even see this post or read it. For those of you who do I am thankful.

Regarding the Great Awakening, I will remind everyone that the Lord Jesus is God and He is still very much in control. He still lives to save. He still needs our help. For all the Christians in America who got sidetracked over the last year, they must simply be added to all the others who have done the same throughout history. At the moment it appears the goats and tares have the upper hand. Remember, I am only talking about “Christians” now. Forget about everything else. The devil has taken control over what the Lord has allowed him to. What’s done is done. Don’t engage in false hope.

When the Lord referred to sheep and goats, and wheat and tares, He was not talking about the world at large. He was referring to real believers and false believers. What happened in the first century obviously proved that. As we continue on, the unreal believers will become that much more closely aligned with the bad guys. You will have to use your own spiritual eyes to see this. This world is not what it appears to be. “Christianity” is not what it appears to be. But again, the Lord Jesus is very real and in control. He has all power and authority in both heaven and earth. If you want your life to really count you must join Him all the more. His kingdom is the only reality. The rest is mere illusion.

Going forward, those segments of Christianity which refuse His full will and direction will fall by the wayside, as always. I said many years ago that if every leadership team in every church in America were presented with a form pledging themselves 100% to full obedience to the Lord Jesus most would refuse to sign. It has always been this way. The goats have always outnumbered the sheep. There is likely a Judas for every twelve Christians.

Be careful. Get close to the Lord and stay there. If you are close get closer. Ask Him for all the spiritual power and strength you need. He has an unlimited amount available. Believe in the Lord! Trust Him! Great days are ahead. Many victories await. All things are possible.

Every story He writes has a happy ending.

Posted in Real Christianity

14 Comments

Tags: Called Chosen and Faithful, Lord Jesus, Parable of the Wheat and Tares, Sheep and Goats, Spiritual Reality, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, Unreal Christianity, Victory in Jesus, We're Winning

SHOWCASING THE FORTITUDE OF GOD’S CHOSEN VESSELS

Jul 27

Posted by RJ Dawson

BlogPic72720

Why did the Lord choose physically strong, tough-minded men, most of whom were hard-working blue collar workers, as His first apostles? For starters, because that’s exactly what He is.

WILDERNESS WILD MAN

When the messengers of John had left, He began to speak to the crowds about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who are splendidly clothed and live in luxury are found in royal palaces! But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and one who is more than a prophet…” [Luke 7:24-26][1]

Many years ago I was talking to a guy at church. It was a great place with a mix of many different people and professions. We somehow got on the subject of being impressed by our dads when we were kids and he recounted a short story about his father. He said his dad, who was much older then, had been a plumber. As an illustration of his dad’s imposing stature and physical strength, he remembered as a young man that his dad once picked up a standard bathroom scale, the kind you stand on, and holding it with both hands, fingers at the back and thumbs on top, squeezed it until the needle went all the way to the end. I thought that was really impressive.

On bathroom scales, back then at least, “all the way to the end” was 250 pounds. That was pretty heavy and any man who had the strength in his hands to duplicate that weight was exceptionally strong. Also, men were generally tougher and leaner then, and more active, and topping the chart at 250 was relatively rare. Today, most men who exceed that figure are generally carrying excess weight. If they got down to their proper weight and body mass index most of them would be like men of fifty years ago.

Naturally, after hearing that story about my friend’s dad, I had to try it out when I got home. Being only of average stature but making my living in construction, I thought I could make a pretty good dent in my bathroom scale. So I went for it. Using all my manly might, I squeezed the life out of it. If I remember correctly, I didn’t come anywhere close to 250. I didn’t even break 200. It was pretty demoralizing. Of course, converting that figure to future considerations, using the principle of “the older I get the better I was,” it actually was 200. But still not close to 250. I obviously did well by becoming a carpenter and not a plumber.

PHYSICAL STRENGTH DOES NOT DEFINE TOUGHNESS

When I was twelve years old I discovered professional sports. I loved baseball and football and began reading the sports pages every day in our local newspaper. Papers back then in smaller markets were really bad compared to what came later. The type was tiny and all the columns were squashed together. Box scores had the smallest type they made, I would think. The writing was mostly pedestrian. Everything was black and white with no color. It was all I had until I started subscribing to sports magazines not long after. I also began collecting baseball and football cards. Those cards had the height and weight of players. Regarding football players, the biggest guys, usually the defensive lineman, topped out at 270 pounds. Of course, most of them were also pretty tall, averaging maybe 6 foot five or six. When you look at old NFL films from the 1960s, you won’t see many fat guys. Most of them were lean, wiry, tough, and cat quick. There were also a lot of average-sized players under six feet tall. A few were actually pretty small.

The game of football was also much different back then. It was war. They didn’t mess around. It was an extremely tough sport in the professional ranks and they often played on dirt fields and wore poor protective equipment in comparison to later standards. It was also a job and players needed the money. They would often stay silent on whatever injuries they might have incurred so as not to jeopardize their place on the field or team. Someone always waited in the wings to replace you, so you had to be tough. The game was hard enough but playing injured, which almost all of them did to varying extents, made it that much tougher. And no one could afford any sympathy, for many reasons.

In this cauldron, however, arose an even tougher kind of man, one who made most of the other players look like less than the men they were. This wasn’t true; they were all tough as nails. But some exceeded that standard and a few obliterated it. They were tough as, what? Steel girders? What a sight it was to see some otherwise tough guy, much tougher than the average man, look like a comparative pansy being showed up and manhandled by the baddest of the bad.

“GOD HAS ALWAYS LOVED FISHERMEN AND JAILBIRDS”

The preceding was a quote by a preacher I once knew. He had a rough upbringing, coming of age in the 1950s. He got tougher as he got older and soon became engaged in all the bad stuff that guys like him got into. He was a really tough guy and a good fighter, was a biker and drug addict, and generally had no concern for anyone. Beneath all of that, implausible as it sounds, he still had a tender side. He told a story of the JFK assassination, when so many Americans were cheering his death. He said when he found out he began crying like a baby.

Somehow or another, against all odds and probability, this man later received a witness from a brave Christian and actually gave his heart to the Lord. I know. It makes no sense. It makes you wonder about all the evil people in the world at present. How many of them are this guy waiting to get saved? How many are the apostle Paul who was notorious for being a powerful persecutor of Christians before His Damascus Road experience? How many are Simon son of Jonah, otherwise known as Peter—the rock? Speaking of which, I’m convinced that prior to his conversion nobody messed with Peter.

Regarding my preacher acquaintance, he soon started his own storefront. He gathered a small group of faithful congregants and conducted services. While preaching one day, a big giant dude burst into the room. It seems this man was really ticked off because his wife had become a member of the congregation. The guy marched to the front and told the preacher he was gonna whip him, right then and there. What did the preacher do? Drawing on his past and knowing this man did not scare him in the least, but also knowing he had a duty to the Lord and must act properly, he looked right into the big dude’s eyes and said: “Look. I think I have enough Holy Ghost to let you whip me, but if I don’t, you’re in trouble buddy. I’ve gone through bigger men than you just to get into where the fight was at!” The big guy backed down. And that was that.

REAL MEN OF GOD

So what does the average Christian think of when he or she thinks of the original apostles? This depends on one’s denomination, of course, but sadly, because so many have been told nothing but mischaracterizations by moron church leaders, most probably think the apostles were “saintly” pushovers. And how is this derived? Most likely because many Christians have been taught that the Lord Jesus was a “saintly” pushover, a pallid sissified non-man representing no threat to anybody. It is anyone’s guess how this false depiction arose, the very opposite of His actual character. We can blame it on old artist’s renderings or maybe a severely unbalanced portrayal using various verses of Scripture showcasing the Lord’s mercy and love but neglecting His unquestioned manliness in the face of vile enemies. But it is most likely due to the affected nature of later ecclesiastics who actually fit that profile quite well, because that is pretty much exactly how they were. And many still are. And this false portrayal of the Lord has invaded many denominations and caused many pastors to invoke it in their “imitation of Christ.”

My preacher friend could have cleaned that guy’s clock. It didn’t matter how big he was. But he didn’t. He could have but he didn’t. He was more concerned about the man’s salvation. That’s the point. It was the same with a guy like Peter. There was a reason the Lord chose him and it was the same reason the other apostles recognized Peter’s authority and standing. Most of them knew Peter and his past. And the apostle Paul, who was not even five feet tall, might have been even tougher. Could those guys have played in the NFL? If they were any good at football, I would answer in the affirmative. They had the heart and toughness for it. And it’s a good thing because they had to fight the devil and his minions every day. Their real strength, however, the one that made the difference, was their ability to take a punch and not return favor. They knew full well that people were not the enemy.

Sadly, many of today’s ministers couldn’t have done what my old preacher friend did even if they wanted to because they don’t have a blue collar bone in their body. They aren’t tough enough. Real Christians do their best to maintain their witness and hold back. But when a man has nothing to hold back it’s a different story.

WILL THE LOCKDOWN PASTORS EVER OPEN THEIR CHURCHES?

Probably not until they’re allowed to. Maybe a few courageous ones will in the interim. I read yesterday that one well-known church leader in California, where a statewide total church lockdown is in effect including home bible studies and everything else, has taken a stand. Good for him. What took you so long? But on the other hand, I take that back. Pastors must be given a pass the first time around. This nonsense had never been tried before. It came out of left field. Who could have ever thought they would use a flu virus in an attempt to eliminate Christianity? Most were unprepared for such an attack and never saw it coming. Maybe the devil knew many were no threat, would wimp out, and could be had for the taking. But once is it. If a church leader has yet to figure out what’s really going on, then maybe it’s best to just stay closed and quit. Forget about taking a stand. Concentrate instead on getting saved.

If such pastors/reverends/priests et al were actually living for God they would certainly take a stand and basically say: To hell with this. Come one come all. WE’RE OPEN. If every pastor did it all the churches would be opened immediately. No one could stop them. That’s not going to happen, of course. The sad fact is that one could never gather enough churches together in a united front on a large enough scale, which shows one more broken aspect of current American Christianity. Why can’t the high hats in a single denomination, for example, especially the very large “united” kind, just send down a directive to open up?

But even if a mere Gideon’s 300 took a stand things would change for the better. Those were the best warriors in all of Israel. Another thing that would change, however, would be the enemy. The principle enemy would switch from the Midianite lockdown state governors to the Midianite lockdown pansy pastors who would suddenly begin attacking the stalwart 2020 Black Robe Regiment like the original tory traitors did in colonial America. As it is they’ve already revealed themselves as unworthy of the call of God, though many are not actually called of God to begin with and are simply filling a position.

Most of them also don’t have the Holy Ghost. This is being proven every day.

Which makes one wonder, is this entire virus nonsense being used by God as a test to show which Christians are for real? Is it an opportunity to showcase spiritual toughness? Does it reveal those few with the backbone and fortitude to press 250 on a spiritual scale?

BUT AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE…

If this is all it takes—unconstitutional orders by government leaders of both parties who essentially hate Christianity and despise the Lord Jesus—then what are all these so-called Christian leaders going to do when real persecution breaks out? And the answer to that should be obvious. And that’s also why persecution is a good thing.

It separates the men from the boys.

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Tags: American Churches, Called Chosen and Faithful, Come Out From Among Them and Be Separate, Discipleship, Infilling of the Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus, Spiritual Warfare, Strength Made Perfect In Weakness, The LORD is a Warrior, Twelve Apostles

HAPPY NINTH BIRTHDAY REAL CHRISTIANITY

May 10

Posted by RJ Dawson

Thank you all for following. Thanks especially to my longtime faithful readers over the years. Thanks first and foremost to the Lord Jesus, of course, the One who paid for our salvation and grants His life and blessings, and makes all things new.

Real Christianity the website was created on May 10, 2011. I named it after my first book. I have since posted roughly 600 in-depth teaching articles. These articles have come forth regardless of circumstances, though some were much more challenging than others. Wherever I was and whatever I was engaged in at the time, I continued to write.

The Lord provides. Always. Sometimes there is a fruitful field and other times a desert. I would like to relay to you one particular story from many years ago:

THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN

A big financial need, all very positive, would be required a mere six weeks in the future. I was working very hard and things were generally on track. Then suddenly, with no warning, the contractor I was doing business with and lining up jobs informed me he ran out of work. This put an entirely new perspective on the situation. I realized I would not only come up financially short for the upcoming expense, but that I also had to quickly start finding work to replace what I just lost. I had been doing carpentry work for a few years but never strictly on my own. That was about to change. I made some calls. Met some people. I started doing what I could. But before any of that, and after engaging in some serious prayer, the first thing I did was follow through on what some might call a really dumb decision. In the midst of a financial crisis I decided to give the Lord what little money I had saved up.

I did this because: (1) My back was against the wall and I would never reach my goal without His direct intervention. (2) I was now on my own and had to find a way to make it work, starting from scratch. (3) My savings would not amount to much in the big picture but was perfect for seed money. (4) I knew if my heart was right and I fulfilled His conditions He would bless me and turn the little I had into much more.

Though I had always tithed I had never done anything this bold. Making sure I followed the Lord’s directives and doing my best to give in secret, I took my savings from the bank and went to my church one afternoon. There was a secretary in the office. No one else was around. The only ones who knew what I did were the Lord, myself, and her. With a great attitude and big smile I gave my savings, in the only way I knew how, directly to the Lord Jesus. I then went about my life.

It was touch and go for the next month and a half. I began placing inexpensive ads in a city circular. The Lord blessed me with some work. Weeks passed. A few days before the big financial need, I was on a construction jobsite one summer afternoon working on an old historic house. I got a phone call. The foreman happened to have had a phone line installed, which was a rare thing. This was long before cell phones. I think I was upstairs at the time but I’ll never forget that black rotary. The call I received was in reference to work. I jotted down the number and called a man I had never met. He said he had some work and that I came highly recommended. But it was more than that. It would be steady work and at a good rate.

This was great news. I started a day or two later. A week’s amount of work turned into two. They kept coming up with new projects. The work kept multiplying. It was like bread and fish déjà vu all over again. Long story short, it turned into six years of work at that single high tech industrial location and accounted for half of my total income in that time. The money I had cheerfully given to the Lord was essentially all I had. It was truly seed compared to what I ended up receiving. I also became a fulltime contractor and was always busy. The glory goes to the Lord.

MY LATEST POSTS REGARDING THE PLANDEMIC

Over two months ago, On March 7, 2020, I began a 4-Part series entitled Pharisee Control Tactics: the Spirit of Fear (1) (2) (3) (4). This was a lead-in series regarding the plandemic, revealing the massive fear tactics involved by illustrating such tactics used in the past, especially within Christianity. After that I immediately began writing additional posts regarding the unprecedented times at hand. This site was on the cutting edge of revealing the truth of this massive diversion and subversive attack on America. It began with the following aptly named post and six more afterwards which not only exposed spiritual reality but gave positive practical advice to real Christians. You may want to check these out:

March 16, 2020: PANICKED OVER A TRICK PANDEMIC

Whatever this actually is—a real pandemic, yet another disease scare, a hoax, a biowarfare attack, or a government response test, the REAL pandemic remains unacknowledged.

March 18, 2020: THIS IS YOUR TIME: GREENER PASTURES ARE CALLING

The Lord needs you to step up. It is time to make a move into greater spiritual maturity and quit being overly dependent on the Christian means and methods of yesterday.

March 22, 2020: THE CURRENT SHUTDOWN: AN OPPORTUNITY TO DISCOVER AND PRACTICE ORIGINAL CHRISTIANITY

They had no church buildings. They had no New Testament. They had no professional clergy. And still, they turned the world upside down.

March 25, 2020: CHRISTIANS IN LEAGUE WITH THE ENEMY: THE TRAITOR WITHIN

There is no effective difference between those in powerful positions on the world stage engaging in mass subterfuge who actively oppose the Lord Jesus, and deceived Christians who support them unequivocally without knowing it.

March 31, 2020: THE CONTROL TEST: PROVING THE MAJORITY COMPLIANT

None of this would be happening without a predetermined confirmation that the controlled have reached a majority and will readily comply with every directive from upper management.

April 19, 2020: APRIL 19, 1775: THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION BEGINS

The Americans of that greatest generation stood for liberty at all costs and created a country. These times illustrate how far America has fallen.

May 4, 2020: SUBMITTING TO HELLBOUND AUTHORITARIANS

Christians taking life-changing advice from people on their way to hell is not a good business model.

EARLY CHURCH HISTORY 101

In addition to these and other posts I also began a commentary on The Book of Acts in lesson format entitled Early Church History 101. It began with an INTRODUCTION on March 29 and has continued regularly since with 18 lessons. LESSON 18 was posted on Thursday, May 7. We are currently close to completing Acts Chapter 2.

For those of you who would like to review the series, maybe read some Lessons you missed, or even start from the beginning, the posts are relatively short, only one page or so, except for a few. I have made it easy by putting embedded links for all Lessons at the top of each post. There are also many excellent comments to browse. My desire is to reveal the actual history of the early first-century Community of the Lord, which stands as a perfect foundational prototype for the Church Age and draws clear distinctions between their witness and so many half-lit and fake churches since and especially of the present. If you want to know why official American Christianity is in dire straits and failing against the culture, it is because we have strayed far from our moorings.

THE GREAT AWAKENING CONTINUES

I want to encourage all of you that the Lord Jesus remains very much in charge. He possesses ALL authority in heaven and earth. He can work through you to better promote His Kingdom depending on your discipleship level and willingness to be a faithful servant. As we strengthen our individual walk with Him, He is strengthened overall. Regardless of the incessant fear tactics employed at present, do not fear. Obey His directives regarding your needs. Put your full confidence and trust in Him. He will always make a way. Make the commitment to being a better and more mature disciple to supply His needs.

And now, Year Ten begins. I hope to continue seeing you along the way.

Posted in Real Christianity

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Tags: Called Chosen and Faithful, Discipleship, Fight the Good Fight of Faith, Happy Birthday, Lord Jesus, New Covenant, Real Christianity, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, The Great Awakening, Trust Your Heart With God

HAPPY EIGHTH BIRTHDAY REAL CHRISTIANITY

May 10

Posted by RJ Dawson

Hello friends. I want to drop a short note to let you know I’m still here but have been involved in a lot of practical matters and have not had any time to write. Much has transpired since my last post.

I created this site on May 10, 2011 and have been faithful to it regardless of circumstances. One never knows what most people go through, or what other Christians in particular go through in their daily lives, but at the end of the day it is all about being faithful. I discovered long ago that faithfulness leads to greater accomplishment, meaning that one must continue regardless of circumstances to maintain victory. Evil never stops which means righteousness must outlast it. Light must overcome darkness. But in order to do this light must be consistent.

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” [Matthew 5:14-16]

Real Christians promote the Lord Jesus—always—in whatever way He calls us to do this. He is the Light. He is the only Light. Everything else is spiritually dark without Him. This is why the dark places of this world perpetrated by the dark hearts of this world are filled with lying, cheating, stealing, murder, mayhem, and destruction. We attempt to do our best for Him to overcome the darkness so He can set those people free who want to be free. He gave everything He had for us. He is the pearl of great price, the hidden treasure found in a field, and the reason for living. He said this:

Therefore everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.” [Matthew 10:32-33] [1]

Be blessed this day. Thank you for your support and friendship.

(I began a new article yesterday and will be posting it soon. See you then.)

*PLEASE SEE THE FOLLOWING POST FROM BILL AND MARY SWEENEY! IT WILL BLESS YOU! TELL ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY: HANG IN THERE!

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Tags: Called Chosen and Faithful, Community of the Called-Out Ones, Fight the Good Fight of Faith, God is Faithful, Jesus is the Light, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, Shine Your Light, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening

HOW YOUR PROVISION HAPPENS

Mar 19

Posted by RJ Dawson

All real Christians have God-given talents and gifts, and are called into some form of ministry. Our purpose is to fulfill our callings. Here is how the Lord provides for us in that process:

A VERY IMPORTANT DISTINCTION:

The spiritual harvest brought forth by our work for the Lord is not the same as our personal compensation.

Real Christians are noteworthy for putting the work of God first regardless of any recompense they may or may not receive at the time. They know the Lord will always provide but they don’t necessarily wait around for the provision when there is work to be done.

Now, this must be explained a tad. The Lord Jesus never calls anyone into His work without taking caring of him or her. He always provides for His disciples. As I have written about on this site several times, when the Lord called His original twelve to leave all and join His ministry it also involved leaving their present means of making a living. He told those who were fishermen, for example, to drop their nets and follow Him. There is no way He would do this unless He had the wherewithal to provide for them through an alternative means, and this is key.

YOKED TOGETHER WITH THE LORD OUR PROVIDER

For it is written in the Law of Moses, “YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING.” God is not concerned about oxen, is He? Or is He speaking altogether for our sake? Yes, for our sake it was written, because the plowman ought to plow in hope, and the thresher to thresh in hope of sharing the crops. [1Corinthians 9:9-10]

The Lord will always do His part. He will always provide His portion. Consider it this way: A real Christian is in covenant with the Lord. The two share the same yoke. The yoke will fit only two people [See my post: The Yoke’s On You].

When two oxen are yoked together there must be time for these two massive and powerful animals to learn to work together. They are each independent with strong wills. The person who is plowing never wants to diminish the power of his oxen or emasculate them in any way for the sake of making them work together, as this only defeats the purpose. He does not want their strength reduced but if anything, he wants to maximize it. That is the entire point of attempting to yoke them together.

The Lord Jesus does the same with each of us. Rather than regiment us and remove our personal power, strength, individual gifts, talents, personality, and independence (all of which He gave us when He made us) for the sake of conforming us to a very low common denominator, which causes us to become essentially spiritually worthless within a mass homogenized group (sound familiar?), He attempts instead to redirect us and put us in a place where all that we are may be utilized fully and where we can be fully developed and fulfilled.

But in the beginning, before salvation, He knows each of us is otherwise hopelessly lost in sin and thoroughly compromised, so He first seeks to bring us to repentance, bless us with a new birth, wash away our sins, fill us with His Spirit and strength, and welcome us to His kingdom. This must start with our own personal hunger. We must seek Him. We must begin manifesting faith in Him. Of course, He is already seeking us and in fact sacrificed His very life for us, but unless we do our part anything He wants to do for us is rendered impossible.

This is why each of us must also sacrifice our life for Him. This dynamic connects two lives sacrificed for the other, yoked together as a team, which makes possible the coming forth of great spiritual production and fruitfulness.

Here is a simple way to see it: The Lord will always do His 50%. He is ever faithful. We must also be faithful and do our 50%. When a disciple does his or her 50%, which is something vitally necessary but often overlooked, then great and powerful things happen. We see then, that the reason such great and powerful things do not happen is because we are simply not doing our 50%. Consider the establishment of the 100% as that which brings forth the fruit of covenant.

SOWING SPIRITUAL THINGS FIRST

If we sowed spiritual things in you, is it too much if we reap material things from you? If others share the right over you, do we not more? Nevertheless, we did not use this right, but we endure all things so that we will cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. Do you not know that those who perform sacred services eat the food of the temple, and those who attend regularly to the altar have their share from the altar? So also the Lord directed those who proclaim the gospel to get their living from the gospel. But I have used none of these things. And I am not writing these things so that it will be done so in my case; for it would be better for me to die than have any man make my boast an empty one. [1Corinthians 9:11-15]

I’m going to stop here and reveal the aforementioned distinction further. There are many ministers of the Gospel who consider themselves professionals. In other words, they see ministry as a career. They see it as a job. They will not perform their jobs without a paycheck. They also do their level best to cover themselves within society as legitimate members of society. They do not want to be seen as persons without standing. This is part of why they demand a salary and position. These people, which make up the majority of ministers, would never last a day working with Paul (he’d run ‘em off), which probably means they would last less than a day working with the Lord. Real ministers of the Gospel know they came into the world with nothing (that they had anything to do with), that they came into the kingdom the same way, and that they are incredibly fortunate to have any blessing beyond that.

Real ministry is rigorous. It is not for those who make selfish demands. We are called as babes but must become spiritual adults ASAP or we will get wiped out in battle. Therefore, we must be fully trained by the Lord. The New Covenant writings explain very well what this training looks like. We are bought with a price. The Lord Jesus has purchased us with His own blood.

Once we sign up we not only gain the benefits of living for God but we primarily gain the opportunity to work for Him and with Him according to His will and not our own. In other words, real ministry is not like going off to college and choosing a major or deciding on our own what job we want. The Lord has already decided those things. Our job is to say “YES SIR” and do what He says in accordance with the way He made us, and with respect for our individual giftings and callings. This is in part why Paul relays the following very hard but incredibly fruitful truth:

For if I preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the gospel.

For if I do this voluntarily, I have a reward; but if against my will, I have a stewardship entrusted to me. What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law.

To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it.

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. [1Corinthians 9:16-24] [1]

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Tags: Apostle Paul, Called Chosen and Faithful, Divine Providence, God is our Provider, Living By Faith, Lord Jesus, Ministry Within Community, Real Christianity, Reward, The Blessings of God

The Real Chosen People (Part 3)

Mar 17

Posted by RJ Dawson

“You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.” [John 15:16]

Most of the people who refer to themselves as some form of “Christian” choose God on their terms. But God chooses real Christians on His terms. Thus, unreal Christians create their own unholy covenant with God according to their own stipulations and provisos. It is not a real covenant, though, because God is not involved in it. He signed none of the papers. He did not agree to the terms. Such minor details do not concern the pretenders, however. They continue onward by themselves insisting God is with them. And these people preach about the Jews being stiff-necked?

Many “Christians” have been duped into thinking they have the power to choose Messiah Jesus as their Lord and Savior. But Christians don’t do the choosing. What they do, before they become real Christians, is have a hungry heart for truth and light. They know there must be something much more than this temporal world of sin. As a result they begin searching for that “something more.” In the process they find belief systems, gurus, false forms of Christianity, and eastern religions that look real and are quite promising. But after looking within these and practicing their tenets for a while, they continue to move on because there is no heart connection. They do not feel fulfilled. They are not satisfied. Something is missing. Knowing this, they realize they have identified yet another fake. Most people in the world are content with fakes, but real searchers of truth never allow this for themselves. They continue seeking, not knowing God is attracting them magnetically by His Spirit until they are chosen.

Among every pagan nation in the ancient world, each dwelling in deep darkness and rebellion, God chose one nation to represent Himself:

For you are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face. [Deuteronomy 7:6-10]

Fifteen hundred years later, the very nation He called forth to be His own rejected Him. It became the opposite of faithful. It no longer loved Him or kept His commandments. It chose to hate its own Messiah.

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! For I say to you, from now on you will not see Me until you say, ‘BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!’” [Matthew 23:37-39]

There was always a believing Remnant, however. In the first century, the Lord Jesus managed to gather together the hungry in heart and those searching for truth among His people. He chose them because of their condition of heart. With 120 people, including the remaining original eleven apostles and His own mother, He created His own community. These were people who loved and honored Him, who recognized Him for who He is, and who pledged their lives to serve, obey, and trust Him forever. They are the chosen of the Chosen.

“Then a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!” [Luke 9:35]

He chose many more after Peter delivered the first message of the Qahal:

So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. [Acts 2:41]

Can you hear the echo in the writings of Isaiah?

Behold, I will do something new, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, rivers in the desert. The beasts of the field will glorify Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I have given waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people. The people whom I formed for Myself will declare My praise.

Yet you have not called on Me, O Jacob; but you have become weary of Me, O Israel. You have not brought to Me the sheep of your burnt offerings, nor have you honored Me with your sacrifices. I have not burdened you with offerings, nor wearied you with incense. You have bought Me not sweet cane with money, nor have you filled Me with the fat of your sacrifices; rather you have burdened Me with your sins, You have wearied Me with your iniquities. I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, and I will not remember your sins. Put Me in remembrance, let us argue our case together; state your cause, that you may be proved right. Your first forefather sinned, and your spokesmen have transgressed against Me. So I will pollute the princes of the sanctuary, and I will consign Jacob to the ban and Israel to revilement. [Isaiah 43:19-28]

Was it just a coincidence that what was left of the geographic kingdom of David was utterly ruined forty years after the nation rejected their Savior? Was it coincidence that Jerusalem was razed and the Temple destroyed in 70AD?

Prior to this, He had made a Way for His real people, whether Jew or Gentile. He established a New Covenant. For forty years He continued adding thousands of believing Israelites, creating a new spiritual nation, as He said He would do through the prophets of old:

“Behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD, I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” [Jeremiah 31:31-33]

“Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.” [Ezekiel 36:26-27]

As most “Christians” reject the Lord, so did most Jews initially reject the Lord. But of those who accepted the invitation to the kingdom, Peter says:

And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For this is contained in Scripture: “BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.” This precious value, then, is for you who believe;

But for those who disbelieve, “THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,” and, “A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE;” for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed.

But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY. [1 Peter 2:4-10]

There are only two kinds of people in the world—those who are chosen by the Lord Jesus as members of the New Covenant and those who are not. Real Christians are not only called by the Lord and chosen for His community, they are also faithful and true warriors. Non-members of the New Covenant oppose it.

These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the Called and Chosen and Faithful.” [Revelation 17:6-14] [1]