Blog Archives

THE REWARD OF HEAVEN [Part 4]

Heaven will be sparsely populated. Only few will find and successfully traverse the Narrow Way.

“SEEK AND YE SHALL FIND”

The Greek word is ζητέω zētéō (dzay-teh’-o). Its primary definition is “to seek in order to find.” When the Lord Jesus stated this relatively simple truth He was not referring to a brief flippant attempt at possible discovery in which finding would be easy as if all one had to do was look under the first proverbial rock one stumbled upon and there it was. In reality, it is pretty much just the opposite. Why? Because on the one hand the enemy of humanity does his best to hide what must be found and do all he can to lead people away and astray. He has many means with which to do this including the creation of false doors that appear real by which most people are deceived. On the other hand the Lord also makes that which must be found a challenge in that only the dedicated devoted steadfast faithful committed give-it-their-whole-heart crowd will discover the otherwise seemingly secret entrance. And what is more, one must keep what one has found by maintaining a lifestyle toward that goal or else it could well be lost and even possibly become unrecoverable. As the Lord stated:

“I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown. He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” [Revelation 3:11-13]

Most Christians understand the concept of the “one pearl of great price” (Matthew 13:46), the “treasure hid in a field” (Matthew 13:44), and the “lost piece of silver” (Luke 15:8-9). In each of these cases and many more, the Lord was teaching on both the need for discipline and perseverance in the act of “seeking in order to find” but also the great reward thereof when one at last finds what one was duly searching for. And one would think most Christians also understand that which is by far the greatest of all rewards given by the Lord, other than Himself, of course, who gave His very life for His sheep which is the only gift/sacrifice that makes heaven possible.

Therefore, let us look again at the following familiar passages and glean from them all we can regarding the process of salvation and finding the “secret” entry:

KEEP ASKING / KEEP SEEKING / KEEP KNOCKING

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” [Matthew 7:7-8]

THE SMALL NARROW GATE / THE NARROW WAY

THE “FEW” WORD

I still retain a very clear memory of an event I had at a church I was attending many years ago. I was a member in very good standing but that did not matter so much at the time. After a church service I was talking to a friend and the discussion had turned to salvation. I told him about how there would only be a relative few that would actually be saved. Now, this particular place was a mega church in the making and it eventually got there in a very big way but when I was there it was still relatively small according to such standards. The pastor was a man with a giant vision. He had started the church from scratch. He worked very hard. He was certainly a dedicated and gifted man. And everybody knew who was in charge.

As it happened, after my little discussion, no doubt because the person with which I was having the discussion was not so aware of the written Word, that the word had somehow gotten back to the pastor that I had used the otherwise dreaded “few” word. Such a word does not dovetail so well with the word “mega.” It is the only thing to explain what occurred. I think it was a midweek service. Picture a congregation of about four or five hundred. I was sitting not too far from the front. At one point in the service the pastor said something to the effect that some people want to limit God and believe such things as only “few will be saved.” He was looking right at me when he said it. And he was not happy.

With that being said we must take a look at the “few” word a little closer. The actual verse in which this word appears is Matthew 7:14. It is from the Greek ὀλίγος olígos (ol-ee’-gos). Strong’s Concordance defines it as such: “of uncertain affinity; puny (in extent, degree, number, duration or value); especially neuter (adverbially) somewhat:—+ almost, brief(-ly), few, (a) little, + long, a season, short, small, a while.”

Here it is according to The Outline of Biblical Usage:

little, small, few
of number: multitude, quantity, or size
of time: short
of degree or intensity: light, slight

I could go further here and cite additional sources but you get the idea:

THE LORD JESUS SAID ONLY “FEW” WOULD FIND THE SMALL GATE AND THE NARROW WAY AND BY IMPLICATION SUCCESSFULLY FOLLOW THAT NARROW WAY TO THE VERY END.

This means we as Christians in general and especially as ministers of the Gospel should preach and teach the Word that the Lord Jesus preached and taught because He had an extremely good reason for it, instead of watering it down and changing it into something more palatable and socially acceptable, perhaps for the purpose of gaining greater numbers and possibly also to create and build a much more “successful” Christian enterprise.

Now, if it happens that the Lord wants to collect a great many of the “few” and put them all under one big giant massive roof in which maybe a hundred thousand may fit then such is all well and good and proper. But He will never cut corners or water down or change His Word in order to do it and the people there are still going to comprise a portion of the relative “few” worldwide and heaven itself will ultimately still be relatively sparsely populated and the great bulk of humanity will still never find the door.

Also, I think if most of us had our way and our heart is right we would want EVERYONE to be saved, but this is simply never going to happen primarily because only a “few” will ever repent of their sins properly and fully and give their entire lives and all their heart to the Lord Jesus. This does mean we are to limit our witnessing or sit around waiting for the inevitable end as if we could not help the Lord seek the lost. We must remember that in His ministry He sought the lost sheep of the House of Israel (Matthew 15:24) and found them and saved them even though the majority of the nation rejected Him. In our case, however, we can never make judgments regarding who is “worthy” of salvation and therefore we must desire the salvation of all.

THE REWARD

As the apostle Peter wrote:

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. [2Peter 3:9-18] [1]

Posted in Teaching

2 Comments

Tags: Apostle Paul, Apostle Peter, Discipleship, Enter Through the Narrow Gate, Finding Our Way Home, For Many Are Called But Few Are Chosen, Heaven, Lord Jesus, Narrow Way, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Real Repentance, Salvation, Sinners Saved By Grace, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, Unreal Christianity

STATING THE OBVIOUS

Jul 18

Posted by RJ Dawson

(Apparently not.) The obvious is a tough sell with the oblivious. Obvious proofs appear foreign to them. Facts are confusing. Truth provokes anger.

THE RECEPTION OF DECEPTION

It is much easier to deceive people than convince them they have been deceived.

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]

It is hard to understand how the oblivious can willingly reject truth and willfully embrace deception. This is easier to comprehend when one considers the great power of conventionality and traditional mindsets coupled with peer pressure and one’s desire to fit in to society. Adding intellectual laziness, little or no actual historical knowledge, a general lack of discipline, narcissism/vanity/pride, no interest beyond the moment (presentism), and the absence of a spiritual backbone to stand up for the Lord Jesus and the picture comes more into focus. Such people become much more accepting of prevailing shallow social norms, including cultural decadence, and fear any personal deviations so they can better “assimilate” and avoid being perceived as standing apart or “marching to the beat of a different drummer.” Historically, the vast majority has always chosen this path. It is that which the Lord Jesus referred to as the “broad way:”

FLESH AND SPIRIT

“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” [John 6:63]

Those who choose the broad way put all their confidence and assurance in what the New Testament identifies as the “flesh.” This term refers to the human body and human nature, that which is external, as opposed to the spirit. The Lord Jesus referred to these two several times and taught the clear distinction between each, instructing His disciples that one must not be governed by mere flesh and the lusts thereof but by the spirit, and that one must submit both to His leading.

Of course, due to the fallen sin nature of all human beings prior to being born again from above and obtaining a spiritual nature, living in the flesh will always result in personal sinful choices and opposition to God. Though some people living according to their fallen human nature may work hard at disciplining themselves and limiting their sinful choices they are still living according to a non-spiritual standard based on that which is, according to the Lord Jesus, “weak” and “profits nothing.” It is therefore impossible to please God while living according to the flesh, since one is not living by faith, which can only be accomplished by living in the spirit. This has never stopped people, however, from creating religions in which people continue living in the flesh according to mere human religious standards dictated by authoritarian leaders who eschew the necessity of a new spiritual birth.

The following Scriptural warning thus also applies to the majority of that which is referred to as “Christianity,” that which I term Unreal Christianity:

Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the false circumcision; for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh… [Philippians 3:2-3]

Those who choose the broad way do so not only because it is far easier than the correct path—the narrow way—but also because they prefer the flesh to the spirit. In New Testament terms this means relying on one’s own carnal abilities and fallen human nature and that of others. They prefer groupthink, that which seeks agreement at all costs, though always results in irrational dysfunction. They simply cannot handle independent thought which might lead them to question unproven and contrived consensus narratives and otherwise obvious deceptions (which the Lord warned would lead to destruction). Rather than take their comfort in the Lord, the people who choose the broad way take comfort in one another and follow their own accepted and chosen flawed leaders. Such people are much more comfortable surrounded by those who believe the same and adhere to the same general social construct and are thus reassured, incorrectly, that so many people, the majority they meld with, can’t possibly be wrong.

Such superficial social constructs are ubiquitous and may appear in several forms. Most are well aware of the secular variety but these also include the religious realm, which include the “Christian” realm, which feature offshoot Christian social constructs including major traditional denominations. These are merely based on real Christianity, in various limited arrangements, and which attempt to make real Christianity more palatable and acceptable (easy), to gain a larger market share and influence (allow for large masses), which effectively more closely resembles the “broad way” the Lord Jesus warned us about…

Thus, many Christian bodies et al, existing as yet another form of digression to divert one from the one narrow way the Lord Jesus taught must be followed if one is to gain salvation and eternal life, often mimic the spiritually dead secular culture and its many spinoffs and cults thereof. This includes, of course, the ever-present and powerful contemporary deception cult of these times, the Cult of Woke, which was created by the agenda masters to help counteract and head off the current Great Awakening. It exists essentially as an anti-awake and anti-aware sleep-fest designed to be a reactionary antichrist insurgency driving decadence and ignorance against the massive emerging truth and spiritual freedom movement of our national American Great Awakening which began at least thirteen years ago.

This irrational, illogical cult is promoted primarily by the zombifying corporate television mass media and big tech social media firms (which are supported by many Christians that may not perceive the overall agenda) by way of universal 1984-style telescreens of every size dominated by agenda-based platforms utilizing superficial collectivist dictums, controlling consensus narratives, and censorship of truth. Sadly, this strange but trendy belief system has fully captured the willing minds of multiple millions in America to the tune of possibly half the country which would otherwise stand a good chance of being awakened by the obvious.

This, again, includes Christians and explains the many woke churches. The Lord Jesus taught that one must either accept Him and His full teachings or not at all which also explains why so many “Christians” are deceived and become more deceived going forward. Such slumber-induced deception also occurs for the most part due to an inability or refusal to properly identify one’s greatest threat—that of pure unadulterated masquerading evil—and its thoughtless proponents are even brainwashed to unknowingly embrace an ancient folly:

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;

Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness;

Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes

And clever in their own sight! [Isaiah 5:20-21]

The deceived ones living in their dream world therefore lose their ability to perceive wickedness guised in holiness (Matthew 23:27), cannot comprehend wolves in sheep’s clothing (Matthew 7:15), and fail to recognize Satan appearing as an angel of light (2Corinthians 11:14). This results in a flippant disregard of unseen evil—a dismissal of malevolent spiritual reality—and amounts to actually joining it, completely unaware of its true nature and hidden proponents. It also obviously disallows one’s vital defense against evil as portrayed in the following:

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. [Ephesians 6:12-13]

ENTER THE KINGDOM

The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe. [Proverbs 18:10]

Remember, there is only one Community of the Lord—the one the Lord Jesus founded in the very beginning—which, unlike various Christian bodies, includes ALL the teachings of the Lord and in which the Lord Jesus and no other is the principal Instructor and personage and His full curriculum the focal point, not just a portion of His teachings or the emphasis on a few, with the following two commandments as the greatest:

“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.” [Matthew 22:37-40]

These commandments are not honored, obeyed, and practiced outside the Lord’s Kingdom, which is a purely spiritual Kingdom, and is not of this world. Consequently, His Community needs no heavy-handed hierarchies, dictating religious authoritarians, and extra-Biblical enforcement doctrines to make it work and hold it together, as in the counterfeit Christian kingdoms, because the Lord Jesus makes it all work through His unconditional love, His presiding authority, His full curriculum, and His Holy Spirit. His followers make it work by trusting and obeying Him, working with Him and each other, and applying His Word.

Again, counterfeit Christian social constructs merely mimic the dead culture’s means and social mores instead of submitting fully to the Lord Jesus and granting Him complete authority, which would thereby establish His methods and measures. But this otherwise obvious spiritual solution is disdained as it portends a loss of religious control and status, resultant material benefits, and personal independence (which includes walking in the flesh). The following pretty much sums it up:

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” [Matthew 6:24]

THEY WILL BELIEVE ANY LIE—AND DEFEND IT

Also, to maintain such a low common denominator social construct, the committed advocates of such make anyone who differs from said construct pay, and pay dearly, for any apparent personal boldness and oppositional independence. Those who, without thinking and sans research, made the commitment and toed the mark and became just another nameless and faceless brick in the wall feel that those who don’t fully commit and become a fellow brick (a brainwashed brick), or do but then later question something about it, must have a problem with their perfect collective construct. They do not appreciate seeing that to which they invested in and gave their lives held in perceived low regard. In this they attempt to nip independent thought in the bud and set an example for any others so inclined.

And not stopping there, they become chief persecutors manifesting their hate and anger against those they persecute and discriminate against. Sound familiar? They will go so far as to destroy a person and his or her reputation and make it virtually impossible to continue living within such a construct unless that person apologizes and does penance, often to a grossly degrading degree, in order to continue partaking of the good there, which usually involves economic good and a better material life (Matthew 6:24), but primarily involves being accepted as a member in good standing. These submissive and submitted ones who care more about their social credit score than their place in God, by succumbing to the hive mind, thereby avoid being subjected to the infamous “third degree” of their overlords (their betters) and no longer have to watch their backs among their associates or worry about their wrath. They become fully conformed cult fellows having mastered doing all they are told and believing all they are taught.

Many of these people, likely most, unfortunately, by willingly subjecting themselves to such demeaning degradation and deception are never the same. They learn to toe the mark as they should and never again question anything in order to avoid the thought police, having their conscience seared with a hot iron (1Timothy 4:2). People do this because:

(1) They become greatly fearful; they give in to fear. They have no courage to walk in faith with the Lord.

(2) They don’t have enough self-confidence or knowledge to maintain an independent position or defend it (that which allows for additional information and truth) against the domineering crowd staring them down and threatening their social standing if they don’t conform.

(3) They do not want to appear as a deviant. They can’t handle the thought of being a social outcast.

The much better otherwise obvious course of action would be to get away from such a compromised band of mockers post haste as soon as possible. But most don’t. They’re too willingly unwise. They’re too willingly unwilling. Truth would assist their escape and make them free but obvious truth escapes them.

THE DOUBLE DOWN PRINCIPLE

Such choices thus eventuate in an overall lack of awareness, a dearth of knowledge, and common apathy. When these truths are revealed to them, through whatever means, it is not appreciated. In general, people don’t like it when they discover their ignorance. They don’t like it when their lack of knowledge is exposed. They don’t like it when their level of understanding is challenged. They don’t like it when what they believe to be true is proven to be false. They don’t like it when so much of what they believe is nothing more than the end result of successful propaganda campaigns. In the realm of religion such propaganda is often mere indoctrination and people don’t like having their belief systems challenged or exposed as not only incorrect but largely baseless. It throws them off. It rocks their boat. It craters their foundation.

Hence, the double down. Rather than calmly putting their ignorance, accepted knowledge quotient, level of understanding, concept of truth, personal religious beliefs, world view, and cult indoctrination TO THE TEST, they instead double down and consider any and all opposition as fighting words. This means ignorance is truly bliss but only until such a one’s ignorance is revealed. It is then that bliss often becomes anger. Quickly. And by doubling down against correction their ignorance becomes all the more set in concrete. Again, it is much easier to deceive people than convince them they have been deceived.

WHY CERTAIN PEOPLE INSTANTLY HATED THE LORD JESUS

But the Pharisees went out and conspired against Him, as to how they might destroy Him. [Matthew 12:14]

It mattered not that He did everything He could to not tick people off; many got ticked off anyway. For the Lord, the anger He aroused in others by His perfect teachings was not intentional, not usually anyway, but merely the byproduct of exposing that which was incorrect by teaching that which IS correct. Those that had already figured everything out, knew it all, constructed and/or supported a fake religion or cult and built their lives on such sand foundations were bound to clash with the Rock who actually did know it all.

And because such ignorant virtue-signaling hypocrites walked around in great fleshly pride while the Lord Jesus presented Himself as a humble servant, it made it all the more infuriating. It proved their sense of superiority had no actual place except in an external sense because one cannot be prideful if one is incorrect, especially in the religious realm, so whoever inadvertently exposes one to be incorrect must be made to pay. If, on the other hand, through hearing the preaching of the Gospel, one perceives himself as incorrect, and especially an incorrect sinner, and wants to be freed from his sinful condition, he will repent and do his best to get right with the Lord and be reconciled to Him. However, if one insists he and his religious social construct are superior to the Lord and refuses to acknowledge his sin and repent then the Lord must be made to pay.

To repeat these choices:

(1) One will recognize himself as a sinner in need of a Savior and repent properly and correctly which amounts to throwing himself upon an altar of repentance and destroying his lower temporary life within the realm of fallen humanity (that which Scripture states is one’s initial crucifying of the flesh), in order to gain salvation and therefore preserve his spiritual eternal life (one must be born again according to the Lord’s instructions), OR

(2) One will advocate for and participate in crucifying the Lord.

Hence, again, those who clash with truth and perceive the Lord’s teachings as fighting words reveal themselves as the unrepentant indoctrinated who cannot be reached by stating the obvious.

In the Lord’s time, such people obviously consisted of those within the primary Israelite religious parties as stated in the gospels and New Testament literature. That the religious elite of these parties were brainwashed is obviously evident and is one thing (and some or many of them were demon possessed). Unfortunately, it is also evident and another thing that the elite had religiously indoctrinated many if not most of the Israelite people which in part served to effectively keep as many Israelites as possible from receiving the Gospel. They did this primarily using fear and control tactics. Many Israelites were thus forever fearful they would, (1) be put out of the synagogue, (2) lose their place in society, and (3) suffer financial ruin. Such was the power the religious elites held. It has been true ever since. Sound familiar?

WHY CERTAIN PEOPLE INSTANTLY LOVED THE LORD JESUS

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings. [Hebrews 13:8]

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” [Matthew 11:28-30]

One will notice that those who appreciated the Lord Jesus and became His followers back in His time were most often humble and self-effacing. In essence, they were teachable. They had no problem having their ignorance and lack of knowledge pointed out because they were already well aware of it and wanted change for the better. They also knew they were sinners (though not necessarily by that term), in violation of their conscience, and burdened by shame, and wanted this to change also. However, interestingly enough, they were most often better informed and equipped than the unrepentant who falsely deemed themselves superior. They also already knew they were victims of false teachings or lack of teaching and wanted to be taught the truth. Though looked down upon they refused to do as so many others did, those who lived their lives by simply going along to get along. Those who loved the Lord had no regard for such low common denominator kindergarten knowledge levels—a child’s way of thinking—that so many adults incorporated without any thinking. Hence, those who followed the Lord were by and large critical thinkers. They wanted to know. By rejecting society’s false notions and its embraced general ignorance they were willing to be rejected by society in order to be accepted by the Lord. They loved truth.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.” [John 14:6]

“If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” [John 8:31-32]

In addition, new believers noticed right off that the bigwigs, both secular and religious, had rejected Jesus from the get go and, again, they personally identified with such rejection. Most of His followers were in some way solitary social misfits that somehow fit perfectly in the Lord’s band of spiritual brothers and sisters. When they found the Lord (when He found them), their lives suddenly made sense. Therefore, it was relatively easy for such people to put their acquired knowledge and level of truth to the test because whatever they had possessed to that point never got them much in life anyway. And they were also ready and willing to jettison anything that clashed with the Lord’s curriculum or stood in opposition against Him, including incorrect interpretations of His teachings, false doctrines, aberrant cultural traditions, fabricated social narratives and programming, religious indoctrination, or societal status:

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. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.” [1Corinthians 1:26-31]

Those original followers of Jesus were serious disciples-to-be who developed into mature effective disciples in good standing and were part of those who turned the then known world upside down (Acts 17:6). They were a major part of the very first Great Awakening. They accepted their callings with joy. They took what the Lord gave them and ran with it. They fought the good fight of faith. They were excellent witnesses. They effected great spiritual change for the better, allowing the Lord to work through them shedding His Light everywhere.

Most of all, they proclaimed incessantly from the housetops and high hills that the Lord Jesus was not only the long prophesied Anointed One, the Messiah—Yehoshua HaMashiach—and was not only our Good Shepherd, and was not only our only Savior, and was not only the Son of God, but was and is also God Himself—the Creator of the Universe—something the Lord Jesus had proved repeatedly during His ministry for all who had eyes to see.

And just as their Lord had done so brilliantly, our first-century forebears spent the rest of their lives STATING THE OBVIOUS.

And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,

Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set free those who are oppressed,

To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him.

And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” [Luke 4:16-21] [1]

Posted in Current Events

20 Comments

Tags: America, Christian Pharisees, Community of the Called-Out Ones, Crucify the Flesh, Cults, Discipleship, Gospel Truth, Jesus is God, Jesus is the Messiah, Lord Jesus, Narrow Way, New Covenant Teachings of Jesus, Obvious, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Salvation in Jesus, Spiritual Warfare, The Great Awakening, The Sinner's Self Deception, Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Unreal Christianity, Yehoshua HaMashiach

STILL SLEEPING, STILL DREAMING

Jan 11

Posted by RJ Dawson

The more you try to wake them the more they prefer sleeping. The ongoing dream they are having is much more desirable and comforting than the waking present.

When will you arise from your sleep? “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest”— [Proverbs 6:9-10]

LOST IN A DREAM

The following may appear at first glance as a strange idea, far from Biblical orthodoxy, something concocted by a writer doing a story featuring a full-tilt New-Ager with stars in her head. She can see the future in a crystal ball mounted on a small round wooden table of early vintage in her dark backroom parlor decorated with heavy felt drapes, multicolored hanging bead curtains, and the usual accouterments used by fake-out confidence artists who know vulnerable marks can more easily be had in the midst of over-the-top and off-the-wall surroundings and imagery. Her clear ability to see what we cannot and her flawless emotive verbal declarations attests to her authenticity. What need can there be for greater verification than this? She fulfills the need in one’s soul. She allows one a glance within the dream…

And that’s where they would rather be. In the dream. They spent a lifetime creating the dream, fashioning everything that must fit within it in order to honor tradition, their family religion, and their own deep set desire for what “works best for them” regardless of what the Word of God might say. The Word reveals a common truth for all, of course, devoid of partiality or designer beliefs, and invokes requisite commands which must be addressed by each and every disciple-to-be. Rejecting such pure truth is infinitely preferable by these due simply to the maintenance of a faux comfort zone which includes, by forced option, rebuffing the Lord Jesus Himself and His problematic “hard sayings”—the One they claim to follow, though they assert otherwise, since He apparently would never actually claim such discomforting notions, which means there must be a problem with those Christians who spout such clearly penned New Testament verses or even a problem with written Scripture itself.

I mean, who can really trust what the Bible says after eons of translations and endless word-of-mouth renderings? Better to not get too dependent on the off-putting black and white in-your-face dictums of ancient epistles and primitive apostles whose authentic words are likely lost in the gray mist of ages past. One must leave a reserve from which to insert calming rationalizations and soothing validations in order to walk with head held high in smiling peaceful rectitude honoring one’s own grand and gallant noble views which the better people of this world surely appreciate and recognize…

THE WISE STILL SEEK HIM

Though many strive for a salvation process featuring peace at all costs in an effort to bend spiritual reality toward an impossible concord, neglecting to acknowledge the presence of evil in this fallen world, there is actually no such thing as a peaceful coming to Jesus moment. This phrase has been made fun of by the devil, of course, and those who rest assured in their own standing often use it to both disavow those idiot real Christians who make it a thing, as it were, as well as forswearing the entire idea of the need for soul salvation in the first place. They are simply not aware of their sin or they are and don’t care. One wonders how the rude and sacrilegious enunciations of a culture gone bad can mute the unrelenting loud speakers of one’s conscience incessantly warning of an unaddressed terminal threat on the very threshold of one’s future. But an ongoing dream state could fit the bill. Being lost in a dream of one’s making could certainly be the cause.

No, the reality of coming to the Lord as an otherwise hopeless sinner, the so-called Come to Jesus Moment, is anything but peaceful. If one actually makes it that far it will have involved the greatest decision of one’s life and the wrenching of oneself free from the binding chains of willful living, personal sin, immoral cultural mores, and traditional belief systems holding one in check. It is a wholly solitary place as will be the final Judgment when one must face God alone. There is no greater gut-check occasion in life. It is the height of courage to recognize the depravity of one’s condition and attempt to remedy it. No, there is no peace until afterward, until after one has repented profusely, throwing oneself upon an altar of sacrifice and having the old man and all his sin burned away, until after one has faced spiritual reality and caught a glimpse of hell. It should be characterized as a RUN To Jesus Moment because those who finally awake from their enchantment waste no time in getting right with their Savior.

OF THE FOOLISH AND THE FEARFUL

Would that this wise attitude could be had by all professed Christians but as it is, far too many remain ensconced within disguised sleeping stations—traditional Christian versions of the old hippie sleep-ins where everyone is crashed out in the pews in a haze of otherworldly religious languor and far out abstraction while a weirded-out droning guru sets the laid back tone for religious repose and holy hibernation.

On the flip side of this LP, as proven in these most recent times, fear acts as a wide door to such a dream, an entry portal into transchristianism, as one can be driven by fear into a psychological corral with no egress, since one rejected the door to life which obliged one to embrace the only other door—the entrance beyond the great gaping chasm separating Paradise from Gehenna—the ultra-tropical other side of Abraham’s bosom—the hot place where rich man Dives begs for a drop of H²O not to be had.

In other words more simply stated: Unrepentant sin causes massive deception. Personal pride, as with Mr. Dumpty, leads to a great fall. Refusing to be cleansed of sin causes the attached sin within one to act as a powerful attractant to the great death magnet sucking souls into the black hole of eternal damnation. The temporary corral on this side of life acts as a deceptive soothing waiting room inhabited by those of like minds who reassure one another and confirm each other’s wayward eternal choice since for many there is great comfort in numbers. Rather than solitarily entering the diminutive unpopular gate and taking the difficult road narrowed by pressure on both sides as an ongoing lifespan birth canal toward eternal life to validate their choice per the Scriptural directive, many people choose choice validation by the numbers following great groups of the like-minded who prefer well-lit free-wheeling Broadway, and the larger the group the better. This latter view places great faith in people in great need of a Savior rather than in the Savior Himself who is often on the outside looking in and thus stuck fast in the shunned group.

From a Christian perspective, the members of one’s local church or denomination and the doctrines thereof serve as the large validation sample group of one’s chosen beliefs rather than the Lord Jesus and His difficult though pure teachings. This means that rather than seeking validation for one’s beliefs from the Word of God one will instead trust the collective word of one’s chosen group and its chosen leaders.

WHEN THE DREAM BECOMES A NIGHTMARE

Even though an apparent majority of Christians still grapple with what should otherwise be a flawless Biblical fact, that the Creator Himself became a Man and visited His Creation, we can still learn an otherwise obvious truth by simply observing how this world treated Him when He was here as one of us: The greatest Light was vociferously and repeatedly opposed and attacked by the greatest darkness. If nothing else, this proves the great darkness existing in this world, its residence also within certain humans, and their connection to the devil. Whoever sided with such people could not possibly be on God’s side, and owing to the devil’s bewitching ability, those hesitant to go all in with the Lord would inevitably gravitate in the other direction, being gently pulled along by the malevolent magnet, the enemy making sure not to rattle them so as to bring them closer to his trap (corral). It’s why antichrist spiders spin their webs on the beaten path, on the major cultural highways inhabited by the teeming masses who most always look with disdain upon those who stray from established societal methods and mores though such straying often avoids the web.

If one looks closely one can see that this is what they did in the Lord’s time. They first took control of the crossroads and the few major thoroughfares. In time they controlled religious thought. They decided what one should believe and practice to be in good standing within the culture. In essence, they captured the media. The same thing has occurred in our time. This would otherwise be blatantly obvious if so many were not enchanted and sleeping. Those lost in the dream do not know they are heading for a bad one.

“If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.” [Luke 19:42]

One MUST understand that the deception was so thick among these people in that little land in the first century that the Creator himself could not get through to most of them. No matter what He did the majority could not be broken free from the devil’s trick. They were greatly afraid of being in the synagogue and also greatly afraid of being out of it. While in the synagogue as bona fide members they were subjected to the vindictive religious control of the leaders thereof and without the synagogue they could hardly function in society because the vindictive leaders saw to it that they would be outsiders within their own culture. SOUND FAMILIAR?

Therefore everyone must choose from where they will gain their comfort, either from going along to get along, adhering to the dictates of the sinful culture, and obeying without question the pronouncements of the beguiling gurus in charge OR following the Lord Jesus with one’s whole heart. And whereas one might trust in and accept any number of false belief systems, faux Christian or not, and gain the comforting sleep and enchanting dreams thereof, there will come a day when one will be forced to wake up, though they would not awake for the Lord.

At that time, with their ears ringing from the blasts of angelic shofars, the simulated reality of their chosen comforting dream state will suddenly fade away like fog in the morning light, and they will find themselves in an eternal nightmare from which they can never awake.

This is the real fate that must be avoided at all costs.

When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” [Luke 19:41-44][1]

Posted in Current Events

4 Comments

Tags: America, Duping the Majority: A Foolproof Method of Success, Enter Through the Narrow Gate, Fear, Hidden Wisdom, Judgment, Lord Jesus, Narrow Way, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Salvation in Jesus, The Edge of Night, The Great Awakening, The Sinner's Self Deception, Unreal Christianity

ONE FRUIT TWO FRUIT GOOD FRUIT BAD FRUIT

May 16

Posted by RJ Dawson

“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. Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.

“Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits.” [Matthew 7:13-20]

The gate to life is narrow. The Greek word for this gate is stenos. The way (road) to life is also narrow. The Greek word for this road is thlibo. The first Greek word portrays a small gate. This small, narrow gate contrasts with the wide gate that leads toward destruction. Anyone can enter the wide gate. It takes little effort. The narrow gate, however, forces a person to get real. It is the gate of the repentant, humble, disciplined, and committed. It is the gate associated with bravery and courage. It is difficult. There is opposition.

The narrow road is also difficult. The Greek word defines it as compressed, as with pressure on all sides, as one may press grapes. It is constricted, and associated with affliction and distress. One must be very strong and valiant to walk this road. The Lord contrasts this road to life with the vast, wide way that leads to annihilation. There’s no pressure on Broadway. It’s a walk in the park on a sunny day.

The false prophets hang out on the broad way. They are ravenous wolves disguised as sheep. The people on the broad way have no idea. To them, the false prophets are good guys. They look like sheep. They act like sheep. The people do not know they are deceived. They think they’re on the right road. They think the false prophets are real prophets. They support them. They honor them. They even love them. All is well on Broadway. There is little pressure, no affliction or opposition, and nothing to stop freedom of movement. At the end of the broad road is a cliff. At the bottom of the cliff is the lake of fire. The road to hell is comparatively easy. One needs zero courage or discipline to get there.

The narrow road, by inference, is manned by true prophets—the ones who tell the whole truth and pay for it. Any study of Old Testament prophets reveals that they each shared very difficult lives. They were greatly opposed. Most were killed. True prophets are as spiritual sheep with absolutely no disguise or guile. They are real. They are not above suffering. They are known by their fruits. The apostle Paul describes spiritual fruit in the following passage:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another. [Galatians 5:22-26] [1]

From this we get a clear indication of the contrasts between the true and false prophets. And though all believers are on the way toward being perfected by God, the above is also a guide toward perceiving the difference between Real Christians and Unreal Christians. The real guys are busy fighting the good fight of faith. Their road involves pressure from all sides. They have subjected themselves to the discipline and work of God. They fight against sin, instead of submitting to it.

However, because the Lord grants spiritual strength, power, ability, and gifts, the end result is the carrying of an easy yoke and light burden. It is the Lord’s intention that this be a road of joy. But the narrow way is only possible for the fully committed. Whoever looks back goes back.

Consider the lives of the Lord Jesus, the apostles, and the early believers. Consider what they were subjected to, what they endured, and what they achieved, both in their own spiritual lives and in the world. One is known by the fruit one produces, and the Lord is the only Judge.

Real Christianity—The Nature of the Church

Posted in Teaching

11 Comments

Tags: Christianity, Figs, Fruit, Fruit of the Spirit, Grapes, Lord Jesus, Narrow Gate, Narrow Way, Real Christianity, Vine