Blog Archives

A STIFFNECKED PEOPLE [Part 1]

As a variation on the incredulous query of Nathanael in John 1:46, “Can any good thing come out of Israel?”

AGAINST ALL ODDS

As I’ve written here many times, it is truly a great wonder that the ancient nation ever survived as long as it did. Without God’s ongoing support and supreme faithfulness Israel would have had no chance. Sadly, it was not so much that it was vulnerable to outside attack, though this was certainly the case, but it was much more about national suicide. As the Lord God stated directly on numerous occasions, starting way back as early as shortly after the Exodus from Egypt (1446BC), the emerging nation had a serious attitude problem and could be described perfectly through the use of just one word, which was first used here:

And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people…” [Exodus 32:9 KJV]

Also, we see that it was the Lord God Himself who first used this term. And with regard to this perfect descriptive, God actually referred to His people in Scripture as “stiffnecked” a total of four times in the KJV Old Testament (out of eight overall) and once, through the prophet Ezekiel, as “stiffhearted.” In the KJV New Testament, Stephen, under a powerful spiritual anointing, used the term only minutes before his murder at the hands of, well, the stiffnecked, who were enormously convicted because the descriptive term described them so well:

Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. [Acts 7:51] …When they heard these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth. [Acts 7:54] …Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, and cast him out of the city, and stoned him… [Acts 7:57-58]

The evocative –S– word was later cleaned up somewhat in later Bible versions. For example, what follows is the NASB95 translation of the first OT occurrence which also includes verse 10 for context:

The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.” [Exodus 32:9-10]

Whoa. That’s pretty harsh. If God said that today He would be censored and accused of, well, you know.

Here is the same passage in the KJV, which is just a tad more descriptive:

And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. [Exodus 32:9-10 KJV]

Now, why in the world would God be so powerfully angry at His own people not long after showing great love by miraculously rescuing them from abject misery and hopeless slavery in Egypt? What could they have done that would want to make Him trash the entire plan He had for them and consume/destroy them and start again from scratch making a new nation with Moses?

Oh yeah. The golden calf. And they had lost all moral control and had “rose up to play” and “have corrupted themselves.” All this while the Lord God was up on the mountain delivering grand plans for the nation’s bright future to Moses who was fasting for forty days in order to effectively commune with God, receive the Torah, come down in glowing joy bearing great gifts and a wonderful message, and would later lead them to the Promised Land.

That.

Therefore, it is absolutely perfectly understandable why God was so extremely wrathful that He wanted to off them entirely. We must note, of course, that the golden calf was in reference to the Egyptian deity Apis which in part portends to a love of money and which also means Israel quickly reverted back to idolatry and vile immoral behavior as soon as their deliverer was gone for a while. They were always doing this. They always required, by their inability to control themselves and live a holy life, a powerful anointed man of God to deliver, shepherd, and maintain them since they possessed so little personal discipline and desire for spirituality and closeness to the Lord. There was thus Moses, and then Joshua, and then after they arrived in the Promised Land one Judge after another over not just a few decades but centuries.

However, the actual much bigger issue regarding the very quick fall from grace Israel made on that momentous occasion of the revealing of the Torah is that God allowed His perfect mind to be changed and that He eventually relented of inflicting due justice by wiping them off the face of the earth. How did this happen?—

PUTTING UP WITH GOATS TO SAVE THE SHEEP

The same as it always does. Someone stepped in and did some heavy duty interceding. Someone got on their face before God and pleaded and prayed and wept and wailed. Someone proved to God that though the great majority may be hopelessly hell bound by their own choosing, there are others, though few, who really, really, really love the Lord and want to serve and honor the Lord no matter what and are willing to put up with any humiliating circumstance, every indignity, much longsuffering, and even pain if that’s what is required to do it. Some people will choose to try very hard to live holy lives and not rise up to play or corrupt themselves. The Lord God knew that Moses not only had a great heart for God but also a spiritual passion for God’s people and God’s great plans for them, and that he was willing to do whatever and put up with anything to see it all come to pass as impossible it appeared to be, in part because he knew all things were possible with God.

So Israel was saved to live another day yet again—saved from itself—due to the righteous Remnant of Israelites of which Moses was a part—the few and far between—being faithful to God and standing in the gap and taking it on the chin and interceding in prayer and suffering persecution from the very people they kept praying for and preserving in hope of their eventual salvation which never came for the majority.

I remember long ago when the Lord first gave me the revelation that the greater the particular ministry the more time it would take to prepare for it. Thus, Moses would not only have to be a very strong man, and he was, but would also need much preparation because he was being tasked with one of the hardest ministries of all time.

He would have to deal with the great cloud of stiffnecked goats in order to minister to the few faithful sheep.

REAL MEN OF GOD

It goes without saying, of course, that the people of Israel were in general a very hard people to shepherd (understatement alert). Moses, the man God chose for the task, was surely a monumental figure in history—one of a kind—since he actually fulfilled for forty years a ministry which was not only akin to herding a million cats but effectively far more difficult and which involved eternal proportions. He also spent his first eighty years preparing for those last forty, first as a member of royalty “educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds” (Acts 7:22), and secondly as an obscure unknown sheepherder in the land of Midian. Yet Moses was just a man and could never have successfully completed the immense preparation requirements and then the massive task of transforming a great multitude into a cohesive nation able to conquer the wicked interlopers in their given land of Promise without the Lord God in complete control due to the humble man’s willing submission and the Lord’s powerful anointing, guidance, and strength.

For greater perspective on the actual nature of what had become a thoroughly sinful people deserving of not only ongoing rebuke but severe judgment back into exile, consider the following prophetic word of Ezekiel delivered eight and a half centuries later in 593BC in the midst of the Babylonian invasion (God uses the adjective “rebellious” four times!):

Then He said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet that I may speak with you!” As He spoke to me the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet; and I heard Him speaking to me. Then He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. I am sending you to them who are stubborn and obstinate children (stiffhearted KJV), and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ As for them, whether they listen or not—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, neither fear them nor fear their words, though thistles and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions; neither fear their words nor be dismayed at their presence, for they are a rebellious house. But you shall speak My words to them whether they listen or not, for they are rebellious.” [Ezekiel 2:1-7] [1]

Posted in Current Events

3 Comments

Tags: America, Ancient Israel, Christian Pharisees, Christian Zionism, Discipleship, Ezekiel, Israel, Lord Jesus, Moses, Prayer and Fasting, Promised Land, Prophetic Warning, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Rebellion Against God, Serving MONEY, Sheep, Sheep and Goats, Slavery, The Exodus from Egypt, The Great Awakening, The Nation of Israel, Torah

EMBRACING THE NEW COVENANT—ATTAINING SPIRITUAL FREEDOM

Nov 3

Posted by RJ Dawson

In my preceding post we discussed how the New Covenant made the Old Covenant obsolete. This post will discuss overcoming unrecognized religious bondage.

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” [John 8:34-36]

My preceding post of November 1, THE OLD COVENANT IS OBSOLETE AND NO LONGER APPLIES, is a prerequisite to this one and is filled with much explanatory Scripture so for those of you who have yet to read it I suggest you do so. There are already some excellent comments there as well. Delving into this subject is necessary because many Christians still do not know that the Old Covenant is no longer in effect. The New Covenant superseded it and became the legal spiritual covenant of real Christianity two millennia ago. In this post I will address why there remains so much unclear thinking on this subject to begin with and why many Christians are unaware of such an otherwise plain Scriptural fact.

SPIRITUAL PRIORITIES

This should not even be an issue. But it is. Why? It is very simple. Christians in general, over many centuries, have been subjected to false doctrine. This was no different before there was any Christianity because Hebrew religious teachers engaged in the exact practice. Not all, of course, but the majority. How do we know this? Because it was the majority that got it wrong, so to speak. And how do we know that? Because the Old Testament writings tell us exactly that, over and over and over. If the people were being taught correctly such massive spiritual blindness and bondage would not have occurred. It was in part why God raised up and sent forth so many prophets (His spokesmen) in the effort to bring correction by speaking truth.

Now, it cannot be that people in general are so ignorant and unaware naturally that they would fall into such religious slavery but it can certainly be that people are subjected to bad teachers and bad teachings, and when this happens to most then it is the majority that falls victim to false doctrines. But how does that happen? How does the majority allow itself to become such a victim? Could it be because such bad teachers are often also domineering authoritarians who desire and allow their own presence to be felt and become dominant rather than allowing for the presence of the Lord? These two, then—bad teaching and authoritarianism—usually go together.

Such is otherwise easily proven because if they were right and their teachings proved beneficial, they would need no strong authoritarian stances, domineering attitudes, the unfounded insistence on being in charge, deceptive three-dimensional formats, hierarchical positions, and distinctive attire which people in general are conditioned to respect. The Lord Jesus had none of that, of course, and was the most humble Man of all time. By His perfect example we know that His excellent perfect teaching aligns with the opposite of religious authoritarianism. The Lord surely had the highest authority in both heaven and earth but presented Himself in a way that He appeared as a simple obscure itinerant teacher. He obviously focused on His teachings, not Himself or any religious enterprise, and wanted His teachings and manner to be perfect so people could attain spiritual freedom. That was His overall priority.

Therefore, there is always the connection between bad teaching and authoritarianism because getting the teaching right is not their priority. Gaining and maintaining their authority and the perks thereof are their top priority. Serving money and not God is their top priority. The question, then, regards how the bad-teaching domineering authoritarians gained their authority and power in the first place.

A MAN AND A MISSION

One may recall that a long time ago in an Egypt far, far away God needed a very powerful man to lead His people out of bondage and into freedom. If there was any better way to do this the Lord would have employed it but there was not. Over the intervening years since the passing of Jacob and Joseph and the rise of a new power in Egypt that had little knowledge or respect of these men and the former times of God’s blessing, the Israelites had lost contact with Him due to their ever-increasing sin. Because His people lost touch with God He required a human being to work through to regain communication. The man God would choose had to be properly prepared, instructed, and anointed to lead His people back to God for their own benefit and blessing. The nation of Israel had to be saved.

At a time in Egypt when His people had been so subjected to increasing servitude, oppression, persecution, and bad conduct by (guess who) evil authoritarians in power (however, of the political/state variety), the great many descendants of Jacob/Israel had actually fallen so far they had become mere slaves. These unfortunates were therefore necessarily forced into spending the bulk of their energy and lives obeying such evil authoritarians in order to survive, because to do otherwise would not only make things worse for them it could get them killed. This meant they were no longer serving God.

Funny how that happens. Do you realize there is not one New Testament verse of Scripture that ever allows for a Christian to stop serving the Lord Jesus in order to serve a Christian authoritarian? Yet, the majority of Christians on the planet do that very thing. How does one suppose that happened? When did it start? When did Christian authoritarians gain power over the majority of Christians and then create an entirely new non-New Testament paradigm to both maintain their power and authority and also train ongoing new generations of religious authoritarians regardless of denomination to continue the process apparently without so much as a wait-a-second… from the majority in any congregation anywhere?

Well, the bigger question than when is why. We can know the when. The when is out there. It can be fully researched for those who are willing to put in the work. But again, the bigger question is why? It is the same question one must ask of ancient Israelites. Why did they allow themselves to come under the control and power of religious authoritarian dictators who led them away from God? Who convinced them that such was God’s will?

Well, again, one must return to the days of Moses for the appropriate answer. According to my much-researched understanding, Moses was born in 1526BC. He was raised in a well-to-do Egyptian royal home in which he was treated like a prince (because he was one though he possessed no ancestral link to Egyptian royalty and was actually a Hebrew in good standing). God put him there for a reason. Remember, God did not suddenly have a thought one day that His people needed a deliverer so He looked around and found Moses who appeared, surprisingly, quite qualified to that point for the assignment. No, God actually knew the future (surprise surprise) and planned for the arrival of a non-existent deliverer long before such a man was ever born. This means Moses was born with a specific and quite significant destiny.

Men with such destinies never have it easy. They are often in a conflict with their own desires of the life they want to live. Something keeps calling them back to adhere to a different path. It is obviously difficult for the Lord to continue impressing upon such a man the way he should go as opposed to any other path which is always self-serving and of no eternal use. Such men eventually understand they must sacrifice their own desires and wishes and surrender to something much bigger than themselves whatever it may cost them. And, of course, it will cost them everything.

Regarding the times then, God knew exactly what would eventually happen to the descendants of Jacob/Israel during their Egyptian sojourn. He knew they would drift away from Him. He knew they would go into great sin. He knew this would make them subject to being treated badly by people outside their culture, taken advantage of, eventually used by evil authoritarians for their own purposes, and thus be in need of deliverance. In other words, His people were in dire straits but due only to their insistence upon their own self will and resultant sins which caused their falling away from God.

This means that without the Lord’s intervention of raising up a man from this sinful wayward nation of Israelites it would never and could never be saved. Someone had to overcome the evil authoritarians. Someone had to quit being a mere slave under the power of illicit authority and give himself completely to God and make Him his sole authority. It is the only way to attain spiritual freedom. Therefore, before Israel was made free Moses would have to be made free.

It is exactly the same with Christians. One can always tell when Christians have been taken over by authoritarians. Rather than serve the Lord Jesus they serve those who gained power in His place. Their Christian culture, beliefs, and practices no longer resemble the culture, beliefs, and practices of the original Christians in the first century AD—those who set the precedent and became the prototype—but are a reflection instead of the dominant ruling religious class they subjected themselves to and the false doctrines and teachings such people espouse.

The nation of Israel fell into this trap and thus demanded the deliverance of God through Moses. This great deliverance was illustrated magnificently in the final happening of the Exodus when the deep Sea was parted in two and allowed the nation access out of geographic slavery. They left Egypt (a spiritual type of “the world”) forever. This happened when Moses was eighty years old in 1446BC. Through another forty years of instruction in the wilderness, the Lord eventually gave the Israelites access to their long promised Promised Land and created a nation subjected only to His authority and no other. In this they were delivered from slavery of every kind which included religious slavery under false religious authoritarians.

Well, for a while anyway. Then they lost it. Then the Lord delivered them and regained authority. Then they fell away again. This process continued throughout the period of the Judges. It later became a farce when the nation rejected God as its King and insisted on a mere man (King Saul). The cycle continued repeating until there was no longer any possible deliverance. The people simply said forget it. They grew tired of the process. As a result the majority quit on God completely and that was that. The Lord had to give them a divorce (Jeremiah 3:8). And into the void of no God in their lives came, you guessed it—evil religious authoritarians who set up a completely different system than God’s and subjected the nation to religious slavery. Because this Israelite religious class, composed primarily of Levites and priests out of position, gained such great power, they held the people in great fear and spiritual ignorance. This is how false religions have always ruled and it was no different with the ancient Israelites. The religionists used fear very effectively and also instituted a policy of ignorance of spiritual things so the people would be none the wiser.

REJECTING THE LORD JESUS

It is no different with Christians. The vast majority of Christians would much rather be ruled by mere religious human authoritarians rather than the Lord Jesus. However, they are not aware that they have also been subjected to spiritual ignorance through the process of their betters either hiding, rewriting, or shading Scriptural truth so the authority of the Lord Jesus would not be reestablished. As a perfect case in point, the early Roman Catholic Church effectively banned the New Testament from the people at large which continued for a millennium (the Dark Ages).

Hence, the Old Covenant which the Lord Jesus made obsolete is resurrected and comes to life again, as does religious slavery, and the people are none the wiser. This means such Christians actually reject the New Covenant and make it obsolete in their own lives. Why would otherwise intelligent people do this? Why would someone turn things upside down and make the New Covenant personally obsolete?

This is not a hard question. It is for the same reason the ancient Israelites failed. You see, when one loves another, it is the love that makes the difference in that without the love there would be no relationship. With God, it is a covenant of love. Other relationships are also based on love in its various forms and these are also effective covenants. We have different kinds of love but the principle is the same. The Greek language used in the writing of the New Testament refers to four basic kinds of love using four different words. Only two of these appear in the NT: The first is agape which represents the highest and most pure love and may be termed spiritual love. The other is philia and refers to close friendship or brotherly love. The other two Greek words for love are eros (marriage) and storge (family). Though all real love is good, one’s love for God is highest (agape) according to the New Testament and must be placed first since it is foundational. When the nation of Israel fell out of love with God it began its downward spiral. When one marriage partner falls out of love with the other it violates and often ends the marriage covenant. The same is true in family or friendship. The love must be mutual and must be maintained.

Why then do Christians often place a lesser form of love above their love for the Lord Jesus? Why do many Christians, likely the majority, love and support their leaders (pastors, ministers, reverends, priests, etc.) more than the Lord? Why do many Christians place the love of spouse, family, and friends above the Lord? Whatever the reason may be, it causes one to have the wrong priorities and this in turn causes one who should not be in the highest place of spiritual authority in one’s life to attain it and thus gain strong religious influence and primacy which effectively replaces the authority of the Lord Jesus.

We have ample verses of New Testament Scripture stating clearly that the Lord Jesus must always possess this highest place of importance in a Christian’s life and this is proven by a Christian placing His teachings first and foremost which always displaces the lesser or false teachings of substitute and counterfeit “ministers.” If the Lord Jesus is not first then a Christian will certainly adopt teachings other than His even though they may appear to be “Christian” in origin and practice.

The cure to overcoming such bondage is the same as it always was. We need a deliverer. We need someone raised up by God sent forth to free us from slavery. The worst form of slavery is religious slavery. It is due to unknowingly allowing a counterfeit replacement for the Lord. Within Christianity, specifically, there are those “leaders” who look the part, act the part, use New Covenant Scripture, and even honor the teachings of the Lord Jesus but only on a limited basis and in a superficial manner. Whether these people do this willfully and deceitfully (many do) or are themselves deceived, the effect is the same. The Old Covenant, otherwise dead and gone with the wind, is raised again like the rotting rusting hulk of the Titanic. The newness of the New is overcome by the oldness of the Old.

And through this process there is found the same deception that eventually destroyed the ancient nation of Israel forever. It is specter of sinful human will wanting the desires of the flesh and the treasure of this fallen world rather than the purity and power of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom and eternal life. A very sad and evil extension of this is the creation of a false Christianity, in many forms, which draws in the unsuspecting and convinces them they are in a good place under good leaders within a good construct when the opposite is often true. Such people are cut off from the full truth and never seek the full truth of the New Covenant since they have been convinced they already have it. They will also embrace sin since there is little or no voice against it which assists in causing further deception and distance from the only possible cure. The writer of the Book of Hebrews stated it this way:

For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? [Hebrews 10:26-29]

It is only by embracing the fullness of the New Covenant that one attains actual spiritual freedom and maintains it. It is not only the cure for sin but also the one remedy for spiritual deception.

A NEW AND LIVING WAY

Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful… [Hebrews 10:19-23] [1]

Posted in Teaching

8 Comments

Tags: Ancient Israel, Christian Pharisees, Discipleship, False Christian Movements, False Doctrine, False Forms of Christianity, False Religious Authority, Gospel Truth, Lord Jesus, Love is the Fulfillment of the Law, Moses, New Covenant, Old Covenant, Prophets, Real Christianity The Nature of the Church, Serving MONEY, Sin, Slavery, Spiritual Freedom, The Exodus from Egypt, The Great Awakening

The Perfect Law of Liberty: Our God-Given Rights

Mar 11

Posted by RJ Dawson

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]

Though there are many proofs of real Christianity, and though the Gospel accounts, the Book of Acts, and the New Covenant letters reveal very clearly these many proofs, it has not stopped the enemy from denying them.

The greatest proofs of real Christianity are Freedom:

“So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” [John 8:36]

And Liberty:

Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. [2Corinthians 3:17]

Yet, the deceiving words of the devil as spoken to Eve against the freedom and liberty of the Lord are always in play: “Indeed, has God said?” [Genesis 3:1] [1]

THE TRUTH AND THE LIE

Of course, God has certainly said, but it is just as certain that the devil is a bald-faced liar. He lies as a matter of course. His game is all about illusion and deception, saying one thing but meaning another, promising one thing and doing another, and having a veritable field day with the gullible and ignorant. He is also a hater of freedom and liberty, loves absolute control, and the last thing he wants is for Christians to be free, to think free, and to live free.

But not so with God. The Lord Jesus is into liberty, not slavery. Unlike the devil and his fallen ones, God never uses force to make people behave or adhere to His curriculum. Real Christianity is completely voluntary. And unlike the faux bros, the Lord Jesus does not demand that we all sit down, shut up, and do what we are told. Whoever advocates for such is advocating against God and is in league with the enemy.

Though it is definitely the case that the devil will twist Scripture and use his twisted versions for his own illicit purposes, it is always for the purposes of enslavement.

Prior to the corruption of humanity and of the principles of freedom, God created people to be free. He founded a document in the form of His Living Word that was later committed to paper. The Word of God is a document that advocates for the liberty of all, though only a few actually believe it and apply it correctly.

Everyone else uses the Indeed, has God said? version.

GOD-GIVEN INALIENABLE RIGHTS

After James Madison wrote the United States Constitution, some of the representatives objected that there was nothing within the document that spelled out the basic rights of Americans. Others said our basic rights were spelled out in general terms within the Constitution itself, though not mentioned literally and specifically.

But this was objected to on the basis that legal rights cannot be implied and must be codified. These objectors insisted that individual liberties and prohibitions on government power must be listed in clear language.

The objectors got their way. The proponents of liberty won the day. As a result, we have the first Ten Amendments to the United States Constitution, which are still very much in force today, and are otherwise known as The Bill of Rights.

These are God-given rights (not government-given, a devil-inspired notion), and are lawfully possessed by all citizens of the USA.

And though these individual rights are often disparaged, reduced, limited, lied about, removed, and even destroyed, such attacks always originate from the haters of liberty and thus, the haters of God.

We are living in a time when the attacks upon liberty and clear violations of our Constitutional rights are continually ramping up ever higher without present remedy, and those responsible are in collusion and emboldened by a decided lack of resistance among the citizenry.

One must never forget that freedom was paid for with blood. Our Lord Jesus paid the ultimate price for our spiritual freedom. Our American forebears, the greatest patriots, also gave their lives for every freedom listed in The Bill of Rights. Our liberty has not come cheap. If one wants freedom, one must live for it and fight for it. It is apparent that we must learn this truth yet again. It is each generation’s responsibility.

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. [Galatians 5:1]

If we want to keep our God-given rights, we must claim them and use them, or we will certainly lose them.

THE BILL OF RIGHTS

AMENDMENT 1

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

AMENDMENT 2

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

AMENDMENT 3

No soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law.

AMENDMENT 4

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

AMENDMENT 5

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

AMENDMENT 6

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.

AMENDMENT 7

In suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law.

AMENDMENT 8

Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

AMENDMENT 9

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

AMENDMENT 10

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people.

Posted in Current Events

4 Comments

Tags: America, Bill of Rights, Deception, Freedom, Individual Rights, Liberty, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, Slavery, The Living Word

Religious Slavery (Part 3)

Nov 8

Posted by RJ Dawson

**In Part 2 of this series I raised the prospect of spiritual deafness and blindness arising from an obstinate attitude toward new revelation. As I wrote in Real Christianity,**

As strange as it may seem, what we have to show for two millennia of church history is an overwhelming preponderance of completely unique and separate Christian cultures. Stranger still, most of these are simultaneously and mysteriously united under the umbrella of a single proviso. Though not in fellowship with the other and though each claims to be under the Lord’s dominion, they are actually joined as one in their opposition to His complete rule. In reality, their actions give them the demeanor of the legendary roving bands of the ancient world, seeking pastures for their flocks, fighting those who threaten their turf, ever wondering and searching for greater power and influence, but all the while refusing to be fully obedient to the Lord. Stiff-necked, stubborn, arrogant, clutching their religious robes about them, they set their feet in the concrete of human frailty and fear, unable to trust the God of all creation whose truth could set them free.

**[Real Christianity, The Nature of the Church © 2001 by RJ Dawson. All Rights Reserved.]**

As I’ve stated before on many occasions, if you want to get the Lord Jesus angry at you, be religiously stiff-necked. Act as if you know everything. Act as if the truth you possess is all the truth there is. Reject the truth the Lord is trying to reveal because it simply does not fit in with your current belief-system. Obey your religious and denominational leaders first, and consider the Lord further down the list. Act as if your church or denomination is already doctrinally and culturally exactly the way God wants it, or is certainly better than all others. Claim to have God’s truth though completely lacking God’s real love and power.

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. [2 Timothy 3:1-7]

Keep in mind that a big part of the Lord’s curriculum is correcting us when we are wrong. He does this by teaching us the truth, even it means showing us the error of our ways. The religiously stiff-necked will always reject such teaching, however. Why? Because it involves conviction. Unreal Christians hate conviction. They don’t want to be convicted. Conviction hurts. It puts one off-balance. It reveals that one is wrong. And it thus demands correction from the one who is wrong.

The Lord Jesus always attempts to do this at first with much grace and love, but that does not deaden the impact. In fact, it sometimes makes it worse. A heart that is circumcised, however, will be able to handle the pain. A tender heart can accept proper rebuke, though tears may well up in one’s eyes and fall, and though one may feel so vulnerable he or she feels there is no cure for such brokenness.

But this is part of washing one’s heart with the Blood of Jesus. It is the process of conforming such a heart to His heart. He created a loving, tender-hearted family. There is only one way to do this. The early believers had this love and were like the Lord. Their love and joy was palpable and honest and forthright. They understood well, however, that the making of a good heart involved pain.

Why otherwise do we think the Lord used circumcision as an exact description of what must take place to one’s heart? Imagine His people long, long ago when they first got word that God required physical circumcision as a vital prerequisite of being right with Him and in fellowship with Him.

And if you think heart circumcision is somehow an easy road and not that big of a deal, believe me, your heart has never been circumcised. Imagine the fact that Abraham was so in love with God and that he so honored God he circumcised himself! That’s pretty high up there on the commitment scale.

Most Christians do not have that kind of commitment. But most Christians are certainly committed to other things that bypass heart circumcision and will be extremely obstinate about it when presented with something that challenges their beliefs.

What did the Lord do when challenged about His beliefs? He simply proved who He was by not only demonstrating great love, forgiveness, and mercy toward all, but also demonstrated that He had spiritual power for good that no one else had. His credentials proved themselves.

The apostle Paul also did this. He agreed with his detractors that he was not much to behold and could not talk so well. Like the Lord Jesus, he was the opposite of what we may call a charismatic figure. He attracted no one to himself by his looks or speaking ability. If one tried to fit him for an expensive tailored suit he would still look pretty bad and probably even more so (“Hey Paul, that suit’s wearin’ you, man.”).

But Paul had a clean heart, a circumcised heart. He had love flowing out of him for others. And for his ultimate credentials, he had the power of God, something the fakers don’t have:

And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. [1 Corinthians 2:1-5]

Most Christian pastors/priests/reverends are not like this. This means their hearts have never been circumcised. It means they are not filled with the Spirit of God. It means they are the Christian equivalent of the stiff-necked people God was so incensed against in the Old Testament writings. And this anger of God presented itself yet again in its fullest expression ever when the God of the Old Testament became one of us:

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.” [Matthew 23:13-15]

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” [Matthew 23:23-28]

“You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell? Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

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 23:33-39] [1]

We all know what happened forty years after these pronouncements were made. What was left of the country God founded ceased to exist forever. The same thing will happen to any person, any church congregation, or even any country that formerly believed the truth and followed the Lord Jesus if they stray into rebellious territory.

But one must always remember that BEFORE the final judgment of Jerusalem/Judea in 66-70 AD, great Life and Light invaded that place. A Great Awakening happened in that place. A tremendous spiritual outpouring took place in that place.

In the exact formerly free location where idiot stiff-necked religionists had gained control and demanded the people conform to religious slavery and a false, dead code, the Life-giving Gospel of the Lord Jesus Messiah blasted upon the scene and hundreds of thousands and perhaps more of Abraham’s descendants received that Life, long before any Gentiles ever did, and it was enough to turn Jerusalem and Judea on its ear.

But that first Great Awakening never stopped the stiff-necked from fighting it or disbelieving it, no matter how obvious was the manifestation of God’s love and power. Why?

Their religion told them it was wrong.

As a terrible historical example and what should be a very frightening possibility for us all, those people went down with the phony evil ship they created unrepentant and hard-hearted to the end.

This is the exact destiny of Unreal Christianity.

So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman. [Galatians 4:31]

Religious Slavery (Part 1)

Religious Slavery (Part 2)

WE ARE IN THE EARLY STAGES OF A NATIONAL GREAT AWAKENING.

Posted in Current Events

Religious Slavery (Part 2)

Nov 3

Posted by RJ Dawson

It is a sad fact that most professing Christians do not relate to the New Testament, do not really know the Lord, and do not understand their place in this world or what this world actually is.

But they know church. And they know their denomination. And they know their pastor/priest/reverend, but often from as afar and by an idealized portrait that must be honored to maintain both proper standing within one’s congregation and also within the religious simulation created by the controllers of such establishments.

Regardless of what the majority of professing Christians may think, it is a fact that most of that which is passed off as proper Christianity in this world is actually an imitation and false mock-up merely based on real Christianity but certainly not the real thing.

And even though one may try hard to explain and reveal such facts, the purveyors of Unreal Christianity always act quickly to denounce such a one and such facts, especially because it appears to be an attack on the faux status quo and the robe-clutching religionists in charge. These people have certainly programmed their charges to think and act in such a way, whether it is Catholics protecting things Catholic, or Protestants protecting things Protestant, or Pentecostals protecting things Pentecostal.

Most Christians have been taught and urged by their leadership to honor and protect their religious heritage even though most have no clue what it is they are honoring and protecting. It is exactly the same dynamic that played out upon the factual though heart-rending pronouncements of the Hebrew prophets upon their own for violating the Lord’s way and creating false substitutes.

In these days of false chemical additives and other junk that make up the majority of our fake food supply and the millions of unhealthy overweight people such fake food has created with all manner of diseases rising forth exponentially and our desire to get back to the real food that God created and having an honest and healthy food supply and healthy living, why is it that most professing Christians refuse to honor the spiritual truth that will burn off all the fakery and heal so many of so many spiritual diseases?

GOD IS NOT MOCKED! HE WILL JUDGE THOSE WHO CREATE FALSE GOSPELS AND FORCE COMPLIANCE TO SUCH!

It angers God that He has made a Way to Life but most professing religion-bound Christians absolutely refuse to dishonor their fake cultures but dishonor the Lord and His blood-bought Way to Life all day long!

Why does one think the apostle Paul was so angry when he wrote Galatians? He simply could hardly believe what he was seeing!

You foolish Galatians (insert name of denomination, church, or religious culture here), who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?

This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? [Galatians 3:1-5]

Of course, due to the fact that most Christians have never ever experienced any of the above it is no wonder they do not understand, which just happens to go hand in hand with being bewitched.

Bewitched? Are most Christians bewitched? What ever did Paul mean? What was he driving at? And why do most Christians think he was referring to other Christians and never, ever apply this to themselves?

There is the very clear idea that people walk around in a fog though do not know it, that they walk in darkness but have been convinced the darkness is light or that there is no light. They are lost in false perceptions and do not realize they have been hoodwinked and deny it always.

If anyone should know this, Christians should know it. Why? Because the very Lord they claim to serve had this happen to Him continually as a matter of course. He is the Great Light but most of His very own people could not even see Him! It is no different with fake Christians who have accepted a fake gospel and fake light, which is not a light, and why so many are in deception and bondage and don’t even know it, even though some had previously walked in the Light.

You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion did not come from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough. I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view; but the one who is disturbing you will bear his judgment, whoever he is. [Galatians 5:7-10]

The more we study Paul’s writings on this subject the more we catch a glimpse of exactly what he was writing about. But if we are unwilling to apply any of this to ourselves and our own religious cultures we won’t get it. But why are so many unwilling? Isn’t it precisely because they were taught to be unwilling? And isn’t this exactly why the Lord was so incensed with OT Israel to the point of calling them the following?

And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people!” [Exodus 32:9 NKJV]

Therefore understand that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. [Deuteronomy 9:6 NKJV]

And then on the other side of the Lord’s life and resurrection, Stephen said this:

“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you.” [Acts 7:51 NKJV]

To bring this home, there is simply no doubt whatsoever that these prophetic pronouncements must be applied to unreal Christians and Unreal Christianity just as much as it was applied to the House of Israel, if not much more so. Most professing Christians have been resisting the Holy Spirit for centuries and have institutionalized the practice. And this is what Paul was driving at in Galatians. He could hardly believe that a people set free could return so readily to religious slavery.

However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? [Galatians 4:8-9] [1]

Such a thing MUST be construed as a demonic bewitching and enchantment at the hands of false religious leaders much more concerned about enslaving God’s people for their own purposes, wealth, and standing. And it MUST be up to individual believers to figure this out and see it with the eyes God gave them.

Posted in Current Events

6 Comments

Tags: America, Apostle Paul, Bewitching, False Gospels, Freedom, Galatians, Lord Jesus, Real Christianity, Slavery, Unreal Christianity

Religious Slavery (Part 1)

Oct 31

Posted by RJ Dawson

There was a time in America—the land of the free and home of the brave—when honest workers were greatly exploited. We have presently arrived again at such a time.

This free nation also involved itself most profitably in human slavery. The North was just as guilty as the South, and 200 years before the Civil War, the northern colonies had already established the practice.

In fact, it was the northern colonies of America that profited greatly from slavery by using northern ports of entry, even though they had later stopped the practice of slavery in their own colonies. During the Civil War, the North began a very successful campaign using slavery as a war tactic against the South, though it never entertained such a thought at the beginning of the war, which was just as hypocritical as their reasons for the war.

Prior to the Civil War, otherwise known as the War of Northern Aggression, it was the South that was contributing the most to the national treasury. Some estimates were as high as 70%, though certainly above 60%. This fact must be considered by the majority of this nation’s population which has largely been untaught regarding this truth. In effect, the North knew it could never survive without the South, but also knew it used the South as a slave confederacy to fund the entire country to support the North long before the Confederacy existed.

And in the event some remain unclear on the concept, it was not the large but few plantations of the South that mostly funded the national treasury. It was the fact that the South had hugely successful ports both of entry for foreign goods and the tariffs therewith, a large percentage of which went to Washington, and also exports to foreign nations which could not be sent on their way soon enough. And though the North was a great industrial power (paying most workers chump change), and contained many more states than what later became the Confederacy, it was simply not nearly as successful as the South.

These are certainly unpleasant facts but they need not be so unpleasant if not for the great freedoms granted by the Constitution of the United States. Though the Constitution stated what it did, and though the great Revolutionary War was fought for a freedom that no great nation had ever before possessed, slavery, indentured servitude, and exploitation of workers continued to exist and actually grew exponentially.

As the Industrial Revolution continued its expansionist trek, it continued to make slaves of the majority engaged within it with a few powerful men at the top reaping most of the profits. Even small children were exploited for the money they could bring various enterprises.

The rise of the American labor unions changed this somewhat. When workers began to unite it caused management to eventually cave in to their demands. Labor unions became very successful and some remain so until today.

But many labor unions overplayed their hands by demanding more than could be provided once international markets opened up. At that advent, cheap labor again became bountiful, huge profits were possible, and there was no one to stop the exploitation of foreign workers.

At present, vast sweat shops exist all over the globe using cheap labor to drive down prices to gain a respectable market share and realize huge profits for large business owners and corporations. But as long as such low paid workers are far away and unheard from few care, since such laborers allow for cheap domestic goods affordable by the majority in first-world nations.

This is the present dynamic of international business. It is the nature of the game. The purpose of any business or corporation is to make a profit. If one is to be successful he must play by the rules. Those that do not go out of business.

Obtaining wealth has always been the desire of most, and some will do anything to achieve that goal. In mankind’s history, slavery has always existed as the best way to do that. The rise of warrior kings in the ancient world replaced former egalitarian societies that honored the freedom of individuals. Kings greatly dishonored human beings as free people and began using them in any way they wanted for their own purposes.

Indeed, the rise of such human slavery also coincided with the rise of what we now call civilization. This happened for the first time on the planet 5,000 years ago in ancient Sumer. The practice continued through the brutal empires that took place afterward, especially that of Rome, the most brutal of all. After the fall of Rome, it was the various bands of so-called barbarians that continued the practice, with each band containing its own warrior king. Such kings eventually became the later European heads of state, and adopted much pomp and arrogance to substantiate their place. Most became convinced that rule by a single king was God’s way, even though God denounced the practice almost 2,000 years before, especially when ancient Israel began to demand a king.

God has always been more concerned about human freedom, about setting people free from slavery and from rule by other humans. He wanted to be everyone’s King—the benevolent, loving, and Fatherly King that He is—but very few wanted what He wanted. Indeed again, most people have proven to want their freedom to do their will to sin and engage in lustful, selfish practices, and never God’s will.

Another curious manifestation of this rule by king emerged with the first so-called Christian bishops, those who ruled by religion over ancient cities. And it was the fabled bishop of Rome, the king of all cities, which became the king of what had then became organized official Christianity. This bishop-king, honored as the greater by bishops of other cities, soon became known as the Pope. And soon after that this Pope ruled with an iron hand.

The Reformation put an end to this in part, but curiously began to manufacture its own mini-Popes. We know these today as great Christian leaders, but some of these became so diabolical they began engaging in the same evil practices of former Popes regarding human freedom. They created religious societies with stern rules and strictures and even began killing dissenters as a matter of course. They will all get theirs at the Judgment.

Suffice it to say that God clearly hates slavery and exploited laborers in any form, and it is surely why He became a Man, to establish a way to set us all free, first from the power of sin and then from the power of human enslavers, especially those of the religious variety.

It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. [Galatians 5:1] [1]