It's the moment after.
Time has now ceased. We enter eternity. All pain is gone. Our
carcass is empty.
Body and soul are no longer one. What do we see or experience? What
is that moment like?
What we will experience in Heaven
There are scriptural evidences and testimonies of a some who have witnessed
these things to help us grasp what happens. We can construct what it will
be like using clues with Biblical support.
The song “I can only imagine”, as wonderful as it is, comes short of the mark.
We can imagine and if we can grasp the vision, fear will dissolve.
The moment that thief Jesus promised died and all people who die in Christ, the
moment you die here's what happens:
There is a shock into well being. We suddenly feel indescribable
peace. Beyond all understanding. It's overwhelms us. We can
hardly take it in. There is the unimaginable beauty. It is a
manifestation of the fullness of Jesus beauty. Every color comes so alive that
we can taste it. In fact we will taste colors. Music is
everywhere. All at once.
This is eternity where everything is now. So our experience in non
linear. It's all now. Hard for those of us trapped in time to
grasp, but to get a small glimpse of what that might be like, think back to a
wonderful childhood memory. A good one. Think of it. All the
color, music, joy, fun, and love you felt. Now let that emotion come over
you. You see it not in linear fashion but as one good memory, all at
once. The parts you really enjoyed come back again and again.
That's a bad imitation of what eternity is like. All at once, but able to
be parceled out.
People ask what kind of music will I hear? It will be your fullness of
joy to experience... whatever fits your moment will be heard. For some hymns,
for some chants, for some choruses, for some classical, for some a gospel song,
or even a joyful rap. It's your eternity and Father will speak to you in
the context you understand. You will grasp that it's all one. Yet
differentiable, yet we will not know of the differences others have.
You will have unspeakable joy. No remembrances from earth that have
contain any regret or pain... the pain you had in life will fit into your
understanding and there will be no questions. The Idea that you are going
to ask questions of Jesus when you get there will be needless. You will
have full understanding of all. You will know who you really are.
There will be no more self doubt.
How you fit into the whole while on earth will make perfect sense in a
supernatural way. That is why there is no recognized hierarchy in
heaven. One saint is as another. Fullness and fitly joined
together.
This sudden recognition of your important place in the universe will take your
breath away.
Your capacity for experience will multiply a thousand times or more. You
will experience heaven as if you had 5000 senses instead of 5. Every
color, every sound, every taste, everything you hear, everything you feel, and
the fragrance... it will be amazing. You will understand what a vapid
colorless place life on earth was. You won't regret it...but wish
everyone could experience what you are experience.
You will live without confusion. No questions. Your desire will be to worship.
It will all be so clear. Bowing in worship, raising hands.
Singing. The Sea of Glass is a desire hidden in the hearts of men. We
want to be there. Whatever we do will make all the sense...in heaven. It will
be automatic. You will want to enter into who HE is so completely as to
be lost in Him. You were created for this. The beauty of Jesus will
be revealed again and again. It will be all one but eternal. It will
never be boring. Love will be overwhelming.
You will have a form. A spirit form. Yet you will look to others as
you were remembered best. Known as you were known. Recognized... yet it
is your spirit that they see.. the rest is construct. In fact you have
only a spirit.
It's hard to explain, but you won't have arms, legs or a head as you know
yourself, but to those who see you, you will look as you did to them.
I know that's hard to understand but think of a child who dies young. Her
daddy is 25 years old. She will see him thus. His brother who dies
at 50 will remember him as about his age and his wife who follows him in death
will see that man thru the eyes of love. His mother who bore him and died in
childbirth will see him as a young boy. They will all know him, but all
in context and construct. Its how people who die see grandparents and
such waiting for them... as they knew them.
It will not seem an unfamiliar place to be explored. You will already
know all about it. It will seem normal, someplace you already knew.
In a strange way, heaven was always in your heart.
You have had glimpses of it. This is why the idea of reincarnation keeps
coming up in false religions. There is a sense of going back, so people
try to explain the origin of all life (JESUS saying let there be) as a
reincarnation. It's not. But it is a type of returning... Remember,
once there, all here is now.
To grasp this scripturally, you are already seated in heavenly places with
Christ Jesus...yet you are here. In that way you return to heaven.
It is impossible to describe so those who have had a glimpse of Heaven are lost
for words.
One thing is certain, once you have been there and come back the fear of death,
even the fear of the pain of death is gone.
People don't GO to heaven. They enter heaven. Heaven is infinite in
proximity. Right here. Right there. Just there. It is easier
to think of it a long long away somehow out there, but it's here. Not on earth,
well kind of. More on that in the last post.
When people die they step from the cloak of time into the uncloaking of
eternity. We are locked in a box called time and enter into an unlimited
vista called NOW.. Eternity.
Friday, November 22, 2019
Thursday, March 21, 2019
The Politically Correct Holy Ghost-less Church
When I was first filled with the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues it was a thrilling experience. Supernatural in every way. I basked in it. Celebrated it. Encouraged others to enter in. It was beyond being saved, it was finding myself in a supernatural realm that included faith for Miracles, wisdom beyond my own, knowledge and prophetic, healing empowerment, Discernment of evil and good and so much more.
That was in the early 1980s. It wasn't about Tongues and Interpretations. That was a part of it but honestly only as a gateway to more in the supernatural.
Now in charismatic circles the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is hardly mentioned at all. If it is, it is only in small groups or studies. It's like the Holy Ghost is personna non grata in churches today.
I understand, church is now about members and money. It's about teaching and collecting. It's about kingdom building, mostly at the expense of others. There are few places you can go to find a true supernatural environment. I don't care what is sung from the worship team, I don't care what the preacher says... if we aren't experiencing all the manifestations of the gifts of the spirit in some measure from time to time.. we are simply a watered down version of what was intended.
There are those from the past that point the way, but it has been clouded by tradition and fear of causing offense. I honestly don't know what to do. I'm not angry.
How did it happen that the Church of Jesus became so inert? When did we decide that spiritual political correctness was more important than the fullness of the Gospel of Christ. Do we somehow think Jesus was kidding when he said, I will send you another comforter. Or John the Baptist saying I baptize you with water but When he comes he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
It is sad, could we go back to the time when we really DID believe the Bible and start introducing people to what it really says? As a good preacher I know says often, "What would we do if we actually believed the Bible was true?"
That was in the early 1980s. It wasn't about Tongues and Interpretations. That was a part of it but honestly only as a gateway to more in the supernatural.
Now in charismatic circles the Baptism of the Holy Spirit is hardly mentioned at all. If it is, it is only in small groups or studies. It's like the Holy Ghost is personna non grata in churches today.
I understand, church is now about members and money. It's about teaching and collecting. It's about kingdom building, mostly at the expense of others. There are few places you can go to find a true supernatural environment. I don't care what is sung from the worship team, I don't care what the preacher says... if we aren't experiencing all the manifestations of the gifts of the spirit in some measure from time to time.. we are simply a watered down version of what was intended.
There are those from the past that point the way, but it has been clouded by tradition and fear of causing offense. I honestly don't know what to do. I'm not angry.
How did it happen that the Church of Jesus became so inert? When did we decide that spiritual political correctness was more important than the fullness of the Gospel of Christ. Do we somehow think Jesus was kidding when he said, I will send you another comforter. Or John the Baptist saying I baptize you with water but When he comes he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
It is sad, could we go back to the time when we really DID believe the Bible and start introducing people to what it really says? As a good preacher I know says often, "What would we do if we actually believed the Bible was true?"
Saturday, March 9, 2019
Troubler of Israel?
I know that I am fulfilling the call of God on my life when I have people ask me, "Why are you always stirring things up?".
I certainly don't need the entertainment, I ask hard questions, focus on the need for self examination and in Holy Love. When deception and delusion have taken over a person's life, sometimes a measure of troubling is needed.
Of course, when properly troubled there is anger, resentment and rejection. If you are called to be a troubler of Israel, you will need to endure such. It is no place for someone with thin skin or someone who has a need to be liked. I'm not cursed with either malady.
Like others called to this place, calling out against injustice, real injustice is critical. Calling out against deception. Calling out against oppression. Calling out against those who would be used of the enemy to be a partner in the "thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy." John 10:10a NLT
"My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life". John 10:10b NLT. That is the mandate of those called to trouble Israel, to help people get out of the traps that cause them to NOT have a rich and satisfying life. Sometimes that means challenging worldviews and cultural constraints developed by the enemy to trap people in poverty, lack, disappointment, dissatisfaction, resentment, discouragement and anger.
So in this walk IF I offend someone.. it is part of the job description and I will go to my last breath carrying out that prophetic mandate ordained upon me. Prophecy is not promising a brand new car or a new wife or husband, It is giving encouragement and vision to people trapped as victims and blinded.
We need more true prophets who trouble Israel. Where are they?
Sunday, February 17, 2019
The Prophetic Meaning of President Donald J Trump
As a prophet it becomes clear how the hearts of kings is moved by the hand of God when it comes to leadership. The LORD controls the mind of a king as easily as he directs the course of a stream. Proverb 21:1
This means that as people make decisions, the Lord is creating influence. Sometimes He allows evil to manifest to bring repentance. All you need to do is read the books of Kings and Chronicles in the Old Testament. It's a repeating patter. It's still going on.
If you have a problem with that, you don't know the Word of God. He also puts people in leadership, even if we don't like them.
“Before Him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by Him as worthless and less than nothing. To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare Him to?” (Isaiah 40:17,18 )
I have not always been happy with the people that come into authority. Yet I recognize they are there because God moves the hearts of those who make decisions. There are also demonic influences that cause evil people in authority to make the People Groan. Yet.. God is not fooled by this.
When the righteous flourish, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan. Proverbs 29:2
It is not God's intention for the wicked to rule, but the hearts of men are evil in many ways, easily deceived, even the very elect. What matters is God's will for righteous leadership. Some leaders in Kings and Chronicles started out evil and ended good, some started out good and ended evil. The difference is the Prayers of the Saints. When people directly and intentionally pray for a leader, God moves his heart. As is noted above: The LORD controls the mind of a king as easily as he directs the course of a stream. Proverb 21:1
Rebellion against God will result in desperate times. Not because of God's wrath, people bring it upon themselves. Greed, ignorance and hunger for power costs a nation and causes disaster.
“But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God, the eternal King. When He is angry, the Earth trembles; the nations cannot endure His wrath.” (Jeremiah 10:10)
‘I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.’ ” (Isaiah 45:7)
‘Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its men and their animals, even if these three men – Noah, Daniel and Job – were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness,’ declares the Sovereign Lord. . . . ‘Or if I bring a sword against that country and say, ‘Let the sword pass throughout the land,’ and I kill its men and their animals, as surely as I live,’ declares the Sovereign Lord, ‘even if these three men were in it, they could not save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved.’ ” (Ezekiel 14:13-18)
The nation, the USA long ago decided that the God is no longer Lord. When the former president declared that the USA was not a Christian Nation, I knew that he could not tolerate this evil. This has caused the civil war we see in our nation today. The sides are drawn. There is no middle ground. This is why Donald Trump is President. He is God's judgment agent. He doesn't even know this. But those who see what is in the spirit, know that as certain as the anger expressed against him by many, it is exposing the hearts of men for the evil contained in them. It has also caused a level of irrational thinking on the part of many, and exposing double-mindedness on the part of some who are called by HIS name. These unstable quasi Christians are convinced that Loving Jesus is enough to call him Lord. NO he must be Lord of all. That includes their heart, mind and soul. It includes a core that must oppose wickedness. That would be theft by politicians (tax), homosex, abuse of marriage, abortion and all forms of deceptions.
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He chose for His inheritance. From Heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from His dwelling place He watches all who live on Earth– He who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse [a symbol of military might] is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.” (Psalm 33:12-19, insertion mine)
“He [the Most High God] changes times and seasons; He sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him.” (Daniel 2:21,22, insertion mine)
“Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.” (Luke 17:1,2)
“Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)
The danger many who have spat in the eye of God by their open rebellion will find themselves descending into an even more sinful state. The compromise will exact a price. Accepting things that seem to be rational but against the moral Christian center will cause them to drift away. We see it already in many communities. The advent of Homosexual led "Churches", openly or not, is death.
There is also the case of unrighteous rulers who now are causing the nation to fall into all sorts of evil. Those rulers will be called to account as the people of God pray. I am not talking about an awakening. I am talking about the death of some who are walking on a path that leads to perdition. The people who oppose the rule by Righteousness will find themselves on the wrong side of the grave.
“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.” (Romans 13:1-6, )
God's servant is to do you good. If you despise that, if you deny that, if you are someone in rebellion against the people God has in authority in government, even if you don't agree with him or her, you need to recognize why and who they are and why they are there.
" Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fears
and celebrate his rule with trembling. Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment." Psalm 2:10–12
None of this excuses rebellion and apostasy on the part of a ruler will go unnoticed. It's why we must pray intensely for Donald Trump. That God can move his heart. That He will be protected both physically, spiritually and held in righteousness. We dare pray no other way.
This means that as people make decisions, the Lord is creating influence. Sometimes He allows evil to manifest to bring repentance. All you need to do is read the books of Kings and Chronicles in the Old Testament. It's a repeating patter. It's still going on.
If you have a problem with that, you don't know the Word of God. He also puts people in leadership, even if we don't like them.
“Before Him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by Him as worthless and less than nothing. To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare Him to?” (Isaiah 40:17,18 )
I have not always been happy with the people that come into authority. Yet I recognize they are there because God moves the hearts of those who make decisions. There are also demonic influences that cause evil people in authority to make the People Groan. Yet.. God is not fooled by this.
When the righteous flourish, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan. Proverbs 29:2
It is not God's intention for the wicked to rule, but the hearts of men are evil in many ways, easily deceived, even the very elect. What matters is God's will for righteous leadership. Some leaders in Kings and Chronicles started out evil and ended good, some started out good and ended evil. The difference is the Prayers of the Saints. When people directly and intentionally pray for a leader, God moves his heart. As is noted above: The LORD controls the mind of a king as easily as he directs the course of a stream. Proverb 21:1
Rebellion against God will result in desperate times. Not because of God's wrath, people bring it upon themselves. Greed, ignorance and hunger for power costs a nation and causes disaster.
“But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God, the eternal King. When He is angry, the Earth trembles; the nations cannot endure His wrath.” (Jeremiah 10:10)
‘I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.’ ” (Isaiah 45:7)
‘Son of man, if a country sins against me by being unfaithful and I stretch out my hand against it to cut off its food supply and send famine upon it and kill its men and their animals, even if these three men – Noah, Daniel and Job – were in it, they could save only themselves by their righteousness,’ declares the Sovereign Lord. . . . ‘Or if I bring a sword against that country and say, ‘Let the sword pass throughout the land,’ and I kill its men and their animals, as surely as I live,’ declares the Sovereign Lord, ‘even if these three men were in it, they could not save their own sons or daughters. They alone would be saved.’ ” (Ezekiel 14:13-18)
The nation, the USA long ago decided that the God is no longer Lord. When the former president declared that the USA was not a Christian Nation, I knew that he could not tolerate this evil. This has caused the civil war we see in our nation today. The sides are drawn. There is no middle ground. This is why Donald Trump is President. He is God's judgment agent. He doesn't even know this. But those who see what is in the spirit, know that as certain as the anger expressed against him by many, it is exposing the hearts of men for the evil contained in them. It has also caused a level of irrational thinking on the part of many, and exposing double-mindedness on the part of some who are called by HIS name. These unstable quasi Christians are convinced that Loving Jesus is enough to call him Lord. NO he must be Lord of all. That includes their heart, mind and soul. It includes a core that must oppose wickedness. That would be theft by politicians (tax), homosex, abuse of marriage, abortion and all forms of deceptions.
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people He chose for His inheritance. From Heaven the Lord looks down and sees all mankind; from His dwelling place He watches all who live on Earth– He who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse [a symbol of military might] is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.” (Psalm 33:12-19, insertion mine)
“He [the Most High God] changes times and seasons; He sets up kings and deposes them. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the discerning. He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him.” (Daniel 2:21,22, insertion mine)
“Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come. It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around his neck than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.” (Luke 17:1,2)
“Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)
The danger many who have spat in the eye of God by their open rebellion will find themselves descending into an even more sinful state. The compromise will exact a price. Accepting things that seem to be rational but against the moral Christian center will cause them to drift away. We see it already in many communities. The advent of Homosexual led "Churches", openly or not, is death.
There is also the case of unrighteous rulers who now are causing the nation to fall into all sorts of evil. Those rulers will be called to account as the people of God pray. I am not talking about an awakening. I am talking about the death of some who are walking on a path that leads to perdition. The people who oppose the rule by Righteousness will find themselves on the wrong side of the grave.
“Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.” (Romans 13:1-6, )
God's servant is to do you good. If you despise that, if you deny that, if you are someone in rebellion against the people God has in authority in government, even if you don't agree with him or her, you need to recognize why and who they are and why they are there.
" Therefore, you kings, be wise; be warned, you rulers of the earth. 11 Serve the Lord with fears
and celebrate his rule with trembling. Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment." Psalm 2:10–12
None of this excuses rebellion and apostasy on the part of a ruler will go unnoticed. It's why we must pray intensely for Donald Trump. That God can move his heart. That He will be protected both physically, spiritually and held in righteousness. We dare pray no other way.
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
From a Friend. Good read (a bit longer than normal)
God of the Machine
The human condition and the ethological connection: Study of animals in their natural environment
If you want to understand animal behavior, take animals out of captivity, to be studied in their natural habitat. To understand human nature, it’s imperative to study humans in their native environment. That alone is problematic, because the challenge isn’t helped by diversity and complexity within cultural and social systems. What “human” means isn’t easily isolated; sets and subsets of social and intellectual conditions exist within a frame, a container. Awareness, or self-consciousness, takes inventory within milieus particular to one’s experience; hence, consciousness of domain lends to socialized behavior. Realistically, one would have to shed this world to break free of collectivist encroachments, which generally promise security for the whole, replacing individual liberties. The sciences have their protocols, appearing to operate fiercely independent; and yet, helplessly so. Appearing to be free of encroachment, they are not. We all know that funding for studies is persuasive over outcome. Those less atomized understand that autonomy is requisite to social analysis, yet stridencies exist in a world constantly challenging individualism. It’s all very intricate... with a double aspect of clean science and messy truth in play... perhaps this is precisely why left-hemisphere minds are given to scientific method, promoting creative, right-brain suicide. Perhaps right-hemisphere dominance is more honest. Unfiltered, we see raw data surface in the arts; free expression found in visual communications, music lyrics and independent cinema become a better benchmark, serving as veritable genius, culturally disparate of group-think and systemization. Creative expression is deemed countercultural, because institutions of social engineering celebrate and reward linear interests, partisan to reduce humans to cogs in a machine, gears that grind counter-rotational to creative inquiry, dignity and freedom operating absent of power impositions.
Hidden relationships exist politically, creating points of power out of view to the unwitting; accordingly, oppression and repression casts its shadow upon the greater social body. Like a shroud of fog implacably pressing downward, subordinate social forces live out their days in partial obfuscation, acclimating to hazy visibility. It begs the question: is clarity by detachment possible, or will the default setting to fixed premises enfold upon itself, suffocating objectives otherwise?
Imperceptibly, social constructions form around a myriad of oblique and circuitous contexts. Yet beyond symbiotic arrangements and dubious agendas, another challenge exists: understanding our own nature, is (in part) one of self-reflection. So all interest in human nature is, by motivation, inextricably raison d'être; therefore, every path to discovery is punctuated by unilinear predictability. And once again, this celebrates the linear mind. That we find ourselves so fascinating is always on the edge of self-absorption, at a creative deficit. Absent is the contrarian spirit departing from accepted frameworks and apparatuses of social control by the din of dominant ideology. Questioning reliability of neutrality within the existing system is paramount to escape homogeneity persuaded by liberal or conservative deep pockets of fiat prosperity, afforded those dumbing down the masses into mechanistic subservience.
How does one adopt neutrality and disciplined objectivity to extract social distinctions, without falling into self-referential participation? - what ethic of observation must one employ to reduce the subjective base? - how does one speculate and create social theories without some measure of presupposition, or bias?
Unbiased objectivity is impossible without external reference, one that lies outside structures both cultural and social. Is probing into human behavior practicable, without creating ripples of reaction that insinuate upon the process? It seems we are either “categorizing” and “typing,” or (hopefully) motivated to a sense of social justice, in the process of developing social theory; objectivity, if you will, creates antimony by tension intrinsic to human nature. It’s double-sided: to suddenly be in the position to reconcile what amounts to ideological suicide by self-reference. And at the same time this double dealing tugs at us to catch some vision of a future society, to become a reconciler, no longer referentially parroting those things formed through indoctrination, as means to an end. Rather than pretending all is well with certain structures, a higher order of awareness must question certain orthodoxies, although extrinsic to ones reality, nevertheless defining frameworks of social formation that one exists within. I think one is challenged by their own due process. Defining culture risks negating other peoples in the process of peering through the lens of cultural complexity. Put another way, other peoples become the other definition, which describes “our” culture exclusively (apply this to social stratum as well). And still yet another question: are we too intrenched to handle raw data responsibly, when research leads to less flattering discretions? I think humankind has aptly demonstrated the ability to trim unpopular verdicts to fit “selective memory,” to recapitulate, prop-up and reify findings as means of establishing myth as fact. Facts are mingled with a secondary partial reference. On this score, label me a constructivist as you may. But this goes to the tendency of the majority to observe their relationship with the world in survivalist mode, within the frame of imposed morality by “legitimate authority”, constitutionally justifying government interest. That posture alone compels political wrangling... so it is that some institutions appear to be neutral, independent entities, but aren’t actually of that expression.
To be assured, measures of implicit resistance point to unconscious acquiescence. It’s promising that reflexive critique will invoke intellectual dismantling of transient shadows concealing embedded domains within quasi-legal approbations. We truly have to fight against such Plutarch notions.... sanctions contributing to exploitation of Corporation as entity.
There’s little need to cite case studies. It breaks with better sensibilities to argue against history of western civilization. It’s our colonial past that fastens to the fact that we are media-socialized to chalk-up white-collar crime as mere “human nature”; however, when we knowingly swallow that pill, in some manner we include ourselves in nefarious plans hatched within the ranks of power. A good solid look at recent history should take us out of the dark tunnel of ignorant inevitability.
Fortunately, interest in a better society is emergent. Inexorably, political sortition is destined to take shape, exposing inegalitarian structures. Creation of improved social structure is perhaps nascent, but ours is a challenging dispensation. We must provisionally accept that pedantic interpretations of the “rules” will remain in play during phases transformational to a better society. In the big picture, however, weeding out rewards for machinations veiled within religion and politics is not an option. This is the critical task that draws on courage to affirm action, no matter how unsettling and unpopular that may be with powers of persuasion, especially apparent with those controlling the media at large.
Caveats sanctioning criminal activity is truly unconscionable, yet, at present, legally inveterate; therefore, transitionally, the intellectual task must remain steadfast in commitment to successionally expose institutional abusers, to uncover political economies benefiting a tier of elitist control. However, on the other side of that razor thin line, the process of deconstruction is fastened to implicit assumptions; consequently, analysis of what it means to be human is, by definition, befuddled by its own beautiful flaw. An air of unworldliness shares this present world in weakness, while hopefully summoning advocacy, fellow human to fellow human. That’s why it’s imperative to set a sine qua non. Free speech preserved, we must adopt an intensional, nonpartisan approach, absent of tacit assumptions and hidden agendas. But the challenge can’t entirely be met, because, in effect, when it comes to “human,” it takes one to know one. And, yet, what it means to be human isn’t without casting epistemological shadows, human being upon human being, choreographing the location, if you will, of social perimeters. Pure detachment is challenged beyond limits, beyond the standard of “human”.
When objectivity beautifully fails, the choice is simple; we either support existing systems ad hoc, or miss our turnoff to “perfection” and travel networks of back roads to find empathy binding the human race together. Likeness, or is-ness, can’t be set aside entirely, yet detachment is otherwise unattainable; and yet, without clean detachment, progress toward a better society adopts an imperfect evolution toward preserving individual worth and autonomy of each person.
I think it’s a secret hope that we will run smack into ourselves, to find empathy stepping in to our way, in effect teaching us to become human in our pursuit of what it means to be human. Smile at yourself: at the end of the day, it’s all very subjective, isn’t it? But there exists a perfect reference.
The human condition and the Christological dilemma: The endless metanarrative
To study the Trinity person of Jesus, we must have the courage to draw a new frame, a non-frame; a conceptual reference to assuage temptation to study the Christ person in context of man-made structures and ideological apparatus, past and present. This is baseline to Christology, especially within the frame of Jesus’ earthly commission. Also in play is the added bonus of preserving attribution of Christ’s Father, with whom Jesus, in his human condition mind you, had the gall to intreat as inextricably One with himself. So it behooves us to study the Trinity in context of Jesus’ earthly existence, parallel to, and one with, his Father’s true nature; hence, nonconformist detachment from schismatic elements secured within political and religious systems. Our Christology, then, must begin with “Trinity” as entity among us, autonomy requiring no reference to external interdependence. We begin with Trinity as “human-being,” of one mind with the Father, often at variance with established matrices of social norms and religious conventions. In part, his was a mission of contradistinctions. The divinity of Jesus’ earthly presence mocked unilateral control, the facilitating and blocking mechanisms inveterate to mass indoctrination and conformity; whereas, the human Christ mocked hierarchy. In actuality, power brokers are mocked by their own egoic delusions... Jesus simply shows up as the antithesis. By implication, this underlies Jesus’ revolutionary ideological frame, quoted by Matthew, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.” In other words, two worlds spin on the same planet... one entirely unchallenged by the other.
As God who became like us, Christ is the only human to offer the ethereal alternative “not of this world”. If we dare follow him into that sphere, embracing his metanarrative, uttering with him the (dare I say) metaphysical mantra, “not of this world,” we will find ourselves, by natural course, in the world, but not of it. Jesus was not a huge fan of the system. In fact, we find him at variance with religionists, uncovering their loopholes, disrupting power interventions projected onto the masses both sensorially and categorically. But he never projected back onto the system morally compliant exigencies in exchange for his “religious” services.
Jesus, of all people, understood humanity. His was a mission, working from the inside out, to extract the human race from the system created in their darkest delusions. This he accomplished without force, without upstaging power structures. His work was to change minds, to revolutionize thinking beyond shadows cast by artificial light. Artificial light displaces “dark,” but never actually displaces darkness. Let’s get this right: darkness called into true Light is no contest. The dominant hegemonic bloc is governmental to the apparatus of artificial intelligence; yet, at the same time, a throwback to the Roman Empire, its “dark” savagery. But God as Light is not militarily at war with darkness. That notion is as silly as clouds canceling out the light of the sun. Really! Above the clouds, it’s sunny, I promise.
Today, as was the complexion of Palestine in the time of Christ, a world vassal to the Roman Empire, the masses comprise roughly 95 percent; whereas, the breakaway-strata, the elitist one percent, conjoined with their four percent “managerial puppets,” comprise unconscionable decadents that capitalize on social and cultural mechanisms. They are (more or less) exempt from the control they impose. The same rules don’t apply to elitist invisibles and their minion cronies. Exceptionally insulated, they don’t use common infrastructure, but as a tool to further their agenda.
Risk of defining human nature by recapitulation, by replaying the past, institutionally “transacts” at the heart of Old Testament dichotomy with Christ’s pure love nature, germane to gospel record: in Exodus 15 we find hostile, intimidating language central to what is often subtitled, Song of Moses, a jingle celebrating the drowning death of Israel’s pursuers, the Egyptian army.
“The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.” (Exodus 15:3 KJV)
But if we carry “man of war” forward, beyond Israel’s emancipation, we reinforce and hypostatize our own logic. By referral we commit egregious error, reading into Jesus’ earthly narrative a God of war. And that’s a point of contention, commensurate to true consequence of the cross: Christ’s exemplary love for humanity. In western culture, however, God is fictionally invested in the politico-religious establishment, mobilizing the war machine. The message belies truth, and our currency tells the story: “In God We Trust” justifies war - only our wars of course - because we are the only Nation (self proclaimed) under God.
This sentiment is postured within North American culture, as political persuasion aggressively advanced by “Biblical prooftext,” garnering allegiance and support for the industrial-military complex. It’s all about commercial value. But the gospel accounts make plain that war is not the mission of Christ... that Jesus’ mission was neither of earthly design, nor dynastic leverage. And the same mind is ours, the mind of Christ; mission not of this world, nor adoption of coercion through reified appropriation. Old Testament ethos cannot eclipse Jesus’ personified self-revelation of Trinity, thematic to New Testament internal liberty from oppressive executive powers. In fact, major sections within the gospel record are dedicated to pure grace revelation. Although the historicity of mosaic law is paid rightful homage, there’s no mistake to be made, a new dispensation begins at the cross. The synoptic gospels begin to unpack this profound understanding, while John’s gospel, authored at a later date, sketches out in detail, inverted, otherworldly orientation - experiential love and emergence of pure grace orientation - rapidly transpires within contemporary generations.
Jesus, in his earthly ministry, never spoke of his Father as a God of war, nor of himself as a man of war. In the extant of the gospel records, we find no allusion to the Song of Moses, nor celebration of wartime’s victory. Humankind’s evolution of discovery culminates with the drama of the cross, the cornerstone that the builders rejected. So why in heaven’s name do we swear upon the world Jesus was not of? That’s the loaded question we must ask and answer, or serve the world’s dictates by default. “Not of this world,” means what it says. We can’t happily live compartmentalized, running on the old adage, one world at a time. It’s actually one world or the other. True happiness begins in “his” world. But, then, regardless of habits shoehorning in faulty narratives, our minds are blown when we see ourselves from the otherworldly perspective. Mystical experience transcends willingness to maintain control. The infinite God is greater than finite minds can possibly imagine. So the Spirit makes that connection in our weakness (Romans 8:26).
It’s altogether inconceivable that the Trinity would view human beings only in context to earthly behavior. Is God really about the business of judging this world, or sin, in accord with various and unfortunate moralizing definitions? Does he play the part of retributive judge in context of human manufactured and imposed systems, including indoctrination mechanisms encouraging compliance to unchallenged modalities? Ask a religious conservative what an ideal society might look like, and “church” is the likely response, probably “their church” being the operative qualifier. The Alt-right, patriotic-Christian would have in mind semblance to the Republican Convention as well. To be fair, no doubt the Alt-left would posture their party’s agenda in some fashion, perhaps as a persuasion reflecting Jesus’ humanitarianism, philosophically recapitulated into humanist agenda. Additional extraneous appendages by apologetic wrangling, such as denominational allegiance and inveterate pet doctrine, are backstory to ideologues presenting more elaborate theological matrices.
Whatever way distortion comes into play, politico-religious systems are solely of this world - an unfortunate mindset, inventions indirectly embraced - not the fault of the masses, but incidental to subjugation and obeisance by systematic acculturation. But, yes, we eat our own flesh, allowing measures of polarization to exist between reactionary lines we draw. It’s a casualty, because we miss the premise of the eucharist, the radical injunction spoken by the Trinity Teacher, “eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood”. We contribute to civil war, drawing up battle lines. I wish that wasn’t the harsh reality of ignoring “in this world, but not of it”; but, let’s be honest, that’s the postulate North American, two party politics projects onto the masses. And, again, it’s worth repeating: we eat our own flesh. Sadly, the masses are foolish enough to project two-party politics back on to themselves, without questioning the veracity of self actuated divisiveness in effect.
Moral of the story: the non-moral gospel:
As a study, Christology must answer two questions: who was Jesus (identity in view)? and, what significant accomplishment should humankind attribute to his nature, human and divine? Calibrating the Trinity person of Jesus to the very world he claimed to be “not of,” encourages unfortunate consequence; whereas, realignment to Jesus’ intention, adopting the purview of an immutable Creator, frees good minds to embrace Way, Truth and Life, decidedly disparate to limiting effects of power stratifying, caste system models. The use of the term “model” indicates power enclaves, contemned by the liberating message of the Teacher.
Jesus is Truth, “One” in divinity; yet, in human form, his stratagem of disarmament came not through diplomacy or pacification. He came as a bold marauder, to completely rob the system of its power, to liberate humanity through unmasking pretext, impeaching ruling class ideologues; hence, exposing false assumptions, until the Teacher’s students, the world itself, convince themself that the very nature of false identity socializes into constructs that cage fellow humans. To escape, is to cancel out the illusion of fixed ideas, in which our trust is misplaced within.
Remarkably, eternal judgement is never found on the lips of Jesus. His criticisms were always non-sensorial, nonmoral, viewing fellow humans, his most valued creation, as “not of this world”. This is well witnessed in the Trinity person of Christ having graced this earth place as bold challenger of destructive distortions, turning over the money changers tables, swinging his countercultural wrecking ball straight into the religious establishment of his day. Further, in the Holy Spirit’s power, he lived life within existing social systems, but never in league with “the system”. Entirely without judgement, Jesus often crossed paths with the illusory element. It was at these dusty intersections that their true religious agenda surfaced. But the Divine-human defused their plans of entrapment, never lending to absolutist saturated social economies. His was the master plan to liberate the very world he graced and loved, the very world that cooperated to make his Passion possible.
“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”, echos across the canyon of human history as no other pronouncement of pure grace could. The inclusiveness of humanity upon the cross tells the story of God having become like us, to be us, for us. And, in that frame, Christ became the first fruit (singular) of many (all), having untangled humanity from the dragnet of Adam’s universal split of human complexion, a symbolic reordering, notwithstanding homologous reengineering, of body, soul and spirit. The human, merely psychologically isolated, but truly fractured by their own illusion of separation, threw themself into the boat, into the catch of collusion against their Creator. Jesus boards the boat, then throws the entire catch back into the water... water, their true element of transformation. Christ baptized humanity into his death, into his innocence. For the sake of human conscience, creating righteous revolution, his was a radical gesture, that unduly stripped-out separation myth and washed to purity every stain of his accusers; yet, as with the Noahic account, the world, its governmentality, continues crashing toward ‘final’ reset in a future dispensation. The last reset, aimed at decay of the universe, heaven(s) and earth, will not come by water, but by fire, by conflagration of pure love. For now, in this dispensation of grace, sigh of relief is exhaled with staggering good news: death no longer conspires against the human race. Our funeral service ended at the cross. Christus Victor is the One for all, inclusive victory we are invited to celebrate. Any other victory celebration is the created tossing confetti onto the parade of the created, thus, challenging the Creator for dropping themself into the world; hence, by their very nature, exposing determinate notions of vanguard elitism, namely establishment insinuating upon the masses a staged deus ex machin. The very idea of a dominant strata, actors playing the part of god of the machine, is laughable. The masses are truly in power; yet, sadly, acquiescent to illusion, ever bandaging festering soars of fearful desolation. Is religion truly the best option we can muster up? I think not. Love is the answer that satisfies all.
Love demonstrably cures ailments of the human condition. But will we entrust our trust to such an abstraction? - or will we take up legacy’s preoccupation with identity beyond death, disconnected from posterity’s promise beyond the grave? There is a cost for all things love embodies, but the freeway is paved beyond gravesite eulogies.
Fortunately, love always wins, but lays its life down doing so. Jesus is the dead soldier by friendly fire, casualty of the only world war fought on God’s terms. Christ is the true model of native born human, One whom among Trinity became the suicide king. Ontologically, we must come to understand ourselves in his humanness (Christ consciousness, if that assimilates better), or risk harm to each other by default, narrowly defining neighborhood, and entirely missing the point of love your neighbor as yourself. — Andrew
The human condition and the ethological connection: Study of animals in their natural environment
If you want to understand animal behavior, take animals out of captivity, to be studied in their natural habitat. To understand human nature, it’s imperative to study humans in their native environment. That alone is problematic, because the challenge isn’t helped by diversity and complexity within cultural and social systems. What “human” means isn’t easily isolated; sets and subsets of social and intellectual conditions exist within a frame, a container. Awareness, or self-consciousness, takes inventory within milieus particular to one’s experience; hence, consciousness of domain lends to socialized behavior. Realistically, one would have to shed this world to break free of collectivist encroachments, which generally promise security for the whole, replacing individual liberties. The sciences have their protocols, appearing to operate fiercely independent; and yet, helplessly so. Appearing to be free of encroachment, they are not. We all know that funding for studies is persuasive over outcome. Those less atomized understand that autonomy is requisite to social analysis, yet stridencies exist in a world constantly challenging individualism. It’s all very intricate... with a double aspect of clean science and messy truth in play... perhaps this is precisely why left-hemisphere minds are given to scientific method, promoting creative, right-brain suicide. Perhaps right-hemisphere dominance is more honest. Unfiltered, we see raw data surface in the arts; free expression found in visual communications, music lyrics and independent cinema become a better benchmark, serving as veritable genius, culturally disparate of group-think and systemization. Creative expression is deemed countercultural, because institutions of social engineering celebrate and reward linear interests, partisan to reduce humans to cogs in a machine, gears that grind counter-rotational to creative inquiry, dignity and freedom operating absent of power impositions.
Hidden relationships exist politically, creating points of power out of view to the unwitting; accordingly, oppression and repression casts its shadow upon the greater social body. Like a shroud of fog implacably pressing downward, subordinate social forces live out their days in partial obfuscation, acclimating to hazy visibility. It begs the question: is clarity by detachment possible, or will the default setting to fixed premises enfold upon itself, suffocating objectives otherwise?
Imperceptibly, social constructions form around a myriad of oblique and circuitous contexts. Yet beyond symbiotic arrangements and dubious agendas, another challenge exists: understanding our own nature, is (in part) one of self-reflection. So all interest in human nature is, by motivation, inextricably raison d'être; therefore, every path to discovery is punctuated by unilinear predictability. And once again, this celebrates the linear mind. That we find ourselves so fascinating is always on the edge of self-absorption, at a creative deficit. Absent is the contrarian spirit departing from accepted frameworks and apparatuses of social control by the din of dominant ideology. Questioning reliability of neutrality within the existing system is paramount to escape homogeneity persuaded by liberal or conservative deep pockets of fiat prosperity, afforded those dumbing down the masses into mechanistic subservience.
How does one adopt neutrality and disciplined objectivity to extract social distinctions, without falling into self-referential participation? - what ethic of observation must one employ to reduce the subjective base? - how does one speculate and create social theories without some measure of presupposition, or bias?
Unbiased objectivity is impossible without external reference, one that lies outside structures both cultural and social. Is probing into human behavior practicable, without creating ripples of reaction that insinuate upon the process? It seems we are either “categorizing” and “typing,” or (hopefully) motivated to a sense of social justice, in the process of developing social theory; objectivity, if you will, creates antimony by tension intrinsic to human nature. It’s double-sided: to suddenly be in the position to reconcile what amounts to ideological suicide by self-reference. And at the same time this double dealing tugs at us to catch some vision of a future society, to become a reconciler, no longer referentially parroting those things formed through indoctrination, as means to an end. Rather than pretending all is well with certain structures, a higher order of awareness must question certain orthodoxies, although extrinsic to ones reality, nevertheless defining frameworks of social formation that one exists within. I think one is challenged by their own due process. Defining culture risks negating other peoples in the process of peering through the lens of cultural complexity. Put another way, other peoples become the other definition, which describes “our” culture exclusively (apply this to social stratum as well). And still yet another question: are we too intrenched to handle raw data responsibly, when research leads to less flattering discretions? I think humankind has aptly demonstrated the ability to trim unpopular verdicts to fit “selective memory,” to recapitulate, prop-up and reify findings as means of establishing myth as fact. Facts are mingled with a secondary partial reference. On this score, label me a constructivist as you may. But this goes to the tendency of the majority to observe their relationship with the world in survivalist mode, within the frame of imposed morality by “legitimate authority”, constitutionally justifying government interest. That posture alone compels political wrangling... so it is that some institutions appear to be neutral, independent entities, but aren’t actually of that expression.
To be assured, measures of implicit resistance point to unconscious acquiescence. It’s promising that reflexive critique will invoke intellectual dismantling of transient shadows concealing embedded domains within quasi-legal approbations. We truly have to fight against such Plutarch notions.... sanctions contributing to exploitation of Corporation as entity.
There’s little need to cite case studies. It breaks with better sensibilities to argue against history of western civilization. It’s our colonial past that fastens to the fact that we are media-socialized to chalk-up white-collar crime as mere “human nature”; however, when we knowingly swallow that pill, in some manner we include ourselves in nefarious plans hatched within the ranks of power. A good solid look at recent history should take us out of the dark tunnel of ignorant inevitability.
Fortunately, interest in a better society is emergent. Inexorably, political sortition is destined to take shape, exposing inegalitarian structures. Creation of improved social structure is perhaps nascent, but ours is a challenging dispensation. We must provisionally accept that pedantic interpretations of the “rules” will remain in play during phases transformational to a better society. In the big picture, however, weeding out rewards for machinations veiled within religion and politics is not an option. This is the critical task that draws on courage to affirm action, no matter how unsettling and unpopular that may be with powers of persuasion, especially apparent with those controlling the media at large.
Caveats sanctioning criminal activity is truly unconscionable, yet, at present, legally inveterate; therefore, transitionally, the intellectual task must remain steadfast in commitment to successionally expose institutional abusers, to uncover political economies benefiting a tier of elitist control. However, on the other side of that razor thin line, the process of deconstruction is fastened to implicit assumptions; consequently, analysis of what it means to be human is, by definition, befuddled by its own beautiful flaw. An air of unworldliness shares this present world in weakness, while hopefully summoning advocacy, fellow human to fellow human. That’s why it’s imperative to set a sine qua non. Free speech preserved, we must adopt an intensional, nonpartisan approach, absent of tacit assumptions and hidden agendas. But the challenge can’t entirely be met, because, in effect, when it comes to “human,” it takes one to know one. And, yet, what it means to be human isn’t without casting epistemological shadows, human being upon human being, choreographing the location, if you will, of social perimeters. Pure detachment is challenged beyond limits, beyond the standard of “human”.
When objectivity beautifully fails, the choice is simple; we either support existing systems ad hoc, or miss our turnoff to “perfection” and travel networks of back roads to find empathy binding the human race together. Likeness, or is-ness, can’t be set aside entirely, yet detachment is otherwise unattainable; and yet, without clean detachment, progress toward a better society adopts an imperfect evolution toward preserving individual worth and autonomy of each person.
I think it’s a secret hope that we will run smack into ourselves, to find empathy stepping in to our way, in effect teaching us to become human in our pursuit of what it means to be human. Smile at yourself: at the end of the day, it’s all very subjective, isn’t it? But there exists a perfect reference.
The human condition and the Christological dilemma: The endless metanarrative
To study the Trinity person of Jesus, we must have the courage to draw a new frame, a non-frame; a conceptual reference to assuage temptation to study the Christ person in context of man-made structures and ideological apparatus, past and present. This is baseline to Christology, especially within the frame of Jesus’ earthly commission. Also in play is the added bonus of preserving attribution of Christ’s Father, with whom Jesus, in his human condition mind you, had the gall to intreat as inextricably One with himself. So it behooves us to study the Trinity in context of Jesus’ earthly existence, parallel to, and one with, his Father’s true nature; hence, nonconformist detachment from schismatic elements secured within political and religious systems. Our Christology, then, must begin with “Trinity” as entity among us, autonomy requiring no reference to external interdependence. We begin with Trinity as “human-being,” of one mind with the Father, often at variance with established matrices of social norms and religious conventions. In part, his was a mission of contradistinctions. The divinity of Jesus’ earthly presence mocked unilateral control, the facilitating and blocking mechanisms inveterate to mass indoctrination and conformity; whereas, the human Christ mocked hierarchy. In actuality, power brokers are mocked by their own egoic delusions... Jesus simply shows up as the antithesis. By implication, this underlies Jesus’ revolutionary ideological frame, quoted by Matthew, “Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.” In other words, two worlds spin on the same planet... one entirely unchallenged by the other.
As God who became like us, Christ is the only human to offer the ethereal alternative “not of this world”. If we dare follow him into that sphere, embracing his metanarrative, uttering with him the (dare I say) metaphysical mantra, “not of this world,” we will find ourselves, by natural course, in the world, but not of it. Jesus was not a huge fan of the system. In fact, we find him at variance with religionists, uncovering their loopholes, disrupting power interventions projected onto the masses both sensorially and categorically. But he never projected back onto the system morally compliant exigencies in exchange for his “religious” services.
Jesus, of all people, understood humanity. His was a mission, working from the inside out, to extract the human race from the system created in their darkest delusions. This he accomplished without force, without upstaging power structures. His work was to change minds, to revolutionize thinking beyond shadows cast by artificial light. Artificial light displaces “dark,” but never actually displaces darkness. Let’s get this right: darkness called into true Light is no contest. The dominant hegemonic bloc is governmental to the apparatus of artificial intelligence; yet, at the same time, a throwback to the Roman Empire, its “dark” savagery. But God as Light is not militarily at war with darkness. That notion is as silly as clouds canceling out the light of the sun. Really! Above the clouds, it’s sunny, I promise.
Today, as was the complexion of Palestine in the time of Christ, a world vassal to the Roman Empire, the masses comprise roughly 95 percent; whereas, the breakaway-strata, the elitist one percent, conjoined with their four percent “managerial puppets,” comprise unconscionable decadents that capitalize on social and cultural mechanisms. They are (more or less) exempt from the control they impose. The same rules don’t apply to elitist invisibles and their minion cronies. Exceptionally insulated, they don’t use common infrastructure, but as a tool to further their agenda.
Risk of defining human nature by recapitulation, by replaying the past, institutionally “transacts” at the heart of Old Testament dichotomy with Christ’s pure love nature, germane to gospel record: in Exodus 15 we find hostile, intimidating language central to what is often subtitled, Song of Moses, a jingle celebrating the drowning death of Israel’s pursuers, the Egyptian army.
“The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.” (Exodus 15:3 KJV)
But if we carry “man of war” forward, beyond Israel’s emancipation, we reinforce and hypostatize our own logic. By referral we commit egregious error, reading into Jesus’ earthly narrative a God of war. And that’s a point of contention, commensurate to true consequence of the cross: Christ’s exemplary love for humanity. In western culture, however, God is fictionally invested in the politico-religious establishment, mobilizing the war machine. The message belies truth, and our currency tells the story: “In God We Trust” justifies war - only our wars of course - because we are the only Nation (self proclaimed) under God.
This sentiment is postured within North American culture, as political persuasion aggressively advanced by “Biblical prooftext,” garnering allegiance and support for the industrial-military complex. It’s all about commercial value. But the gospel accounts make plain that war is not the mission of Christ... that Jesus’ mission was neither of earthly design, nor dynastic leverage. And the same mind is ours, the mind of Christ; mission not of this world, nor adoption of coercion through reified appropriation. Old Testament ethos cannot eclipse Jesus’ personified self-revelation of Trinity, thematic to New Testament internal liberty from oppressive executive powers. In fact, major sections within the gospel record are dedicated to pure grace revelation. Although the historicity of mosaic law is paid rightful homage, there’s no mistake to be made, a new dispensation begins at the cross. The synoptic gospels begin to unpack this profound understanding, while John’s gospel, authored at a later date, sketches out in detail, inverted, otherworldly orientation - experiential love and emergence of pure grace orientation - rapidly transpires within contemporary generations.
Jesus, in his earthly ministry, never spoke of his Father as a God of war, nor of himself as a man of war. In the extant of the gospel records, we find no allusion to the Song of Moses, nor celebration of wartime’s victory. Humankind’s evolution of discovery culminates with the drama of the cross, the cornerstone that the builders rejected. So why in heaven’s name do we swear upon the world Jesus was not of? That’s the loaded question we must ask and answer, or serve the world’s dictates by default. “Not of this world,” means what it says. We can’t happily live compartmentalized, running on the old adage, one world at a time. It’s actually one world or the other. True happiness begins in “his” world. But, then, regardless of habits shoehorning in faulty narratives, our minds are blown when we see ourselves from the otherworldly perspective. Mystical experience transcends willingness to maintain control. The infinite God is greater than finite minds can possibly imagine. So the Spirit makes that connection in our weakness (Romans 8:26).
It’s altogether inconceivable that the Trinity would view human beings only in context to earthly behavior. Is God really about the business of judging this world, or sin, in accord with various and unfortunate moralizing definitions? Does he play the part of retributive judge in context of human manufactured and imposed systems, including indoctrination mechanisms encouraging compliance to unchallenged modalities? Ask a religious conservative what an ideal society might look like, and “church” is the likely response, probably “their church” being the operative qualifier. The Alt-right, patriotic-Christian would have in mind semblance to the Republican Convention as well. To be fair, no doubt the Alt-left would posture their party’s agenda in some fashion, perhaps as a persuasion reflecting Jesus’ humanitarianism, philosophically recapitulated into humanist agenda. Additional extraneous appendages by apologetic wrangling, such as denominational allegiance and inveterate pet doctrine, are backstory to ideologues presenting more elaborate theological matrices.
Whatever way distortion comes into play, politico-religious systems are solely of this world - an unfortunate mindset, inventions indirectly embraced - not the fault of the masses, but incidental to subjugation and obeisance by systematic acculturation. But, yes, we eat our own flesh, allowing measures of polarization to exist between reactionary lines we draw. It’s a casualty, because we miss the premise of the eucharist, the radical injunction spoken by the Trinity Teacher, “eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood”. We contribute to civil war, drawing up battle lines. I wish that wasn’t the harsh reality of ignoring “in this world, but not of it”; but, let’s be honest, that’s the postulate North American, two party politics projects onto the masses. And, again, it’s worth repeating: we eat our own flesh. Sadly, the masses are foolish enough to project two-party politics back on to themselves, without questioning the veracity of self actuated divisiveness in effect.
Moral of the story: the non-moral gospel:
As a study, Christology must answer two questions: who was Jesus (identity in view)? and, what significant accomplishment should humankind attribute to his nature, human and divine? Calibrating the Trinity person of Jesus to the very world he claimed to be “not of,” encourages unfortunate consequence; whereas, realignment to Jesus’ intention, adopting the purview of an immutable Creator, frees good minds to embrace Way, Truth and Life, decidedly disparate to limiting effects of power stratifying, caste system models. The use of the term “model” indicates power enclaves, contemned by the liberating message of the Teacher.
Jesus is Truth, “One” in divinity; yet, in human form, his stratagem of disarmament came not through diplomacy or pacification. He came as a bold marauder, to completely rob the system of its power, to liberate humanity through unmasking pretext, impeaching ruling class ideologues; hence, exposing false assumptions, until the Teacher’s students, the world itself, convince themself that the very nature of false identity socializes into constructs that cage fellow humans. To escape, is to cancel out the illusion of fixed ideas, in which our trust is misplaced within.
Remarkably, eternal judgement is never found on the lips of Jesus. His criticisms were always non-sensorial, nonmoral, viewing fellow humans, his most valued creation, as “not of this world”. This is well witnessed in the Trinity person of Christ having graced this earth place as bold challenger of destructive distortions, turning over the money changers tables, swinging his countercultural wrecking ball straight into the religious establishment of his day. Further, in the Holy Spirit’s power, he lived life within existing social systems, but never in league with “the system”. Entirely without judgement, Jesus often crossed paths with the illusory element. It was at these dusty intersections that their true religious agenda surfaced. But the Divine-human defused their plans of entrapment, never lending to absolutist saturated social economies. His was the master plan to liberate the very world he graced and loved, the very world that cooperated to make his Passion possible.
“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do”, echos across the canyon of human history as no other pronouncement of pure grace could. The inclusiveness of humanity upon the cross tells the story of God having become like us, to be us, for us. And, in that frame, Christ became the first fruit (singular) of many (all), having untangled humanity from the dragnet of Adam’s universal split of human complexion, a symbolic reordering, notwithstanding homologous reengineering, of body, soul and spirit. The human, merely psychologically isolated, but truly fractured by their own illusion of separation, threw themself into the boat, into the catch of collusion against their Creator. Jesus boards the boat, then throws the entire catch back into the water... water, their true element of transformation. Christ baptized humanity into his death, into his innocence. For the sake of human conscience, creating righteous revolution, his was a radical gesture, that unduly stripped-out separation myth and washed to purity every stain of his accusers; yet, as with the Noahic account, the world, its governmentality, continues crashing toward ‘final’ reset in a future dispensation. The last reset, aimed at decay of the universe, heaven(s) and earth, will not come by water, but by fire, by conflagration of pure love. For now, in this dispensation of grace, sigh of relief is exhaled with staggering good news: death no longer conspires against the human race. Our funeral service ended at the cross. Christus Victor is the One for all, inclusive victory we are invited to celebrate. Any other victory celebration is the created tossing confetti onto the parade of the created, thus, challenging the Creator for dropping themself into the world; hence, by their very nature, exposing determinate notions of vanguard elitism, namely establishment insinuating upon the masses a staged deus ex machin. The very idea of a dominant strata, actors playing the part of god of the machine, is laughable. The masses are truly in power; yet, sadly, acquiescent to illusion, ever bandaging festering soars of fearful desolation. Is religion truly the best option we can muster up? I think not. Love is the answer that satisfies all.
Love demonstrably cures ailments of the human condition. But will we entrust our trust to such an abstraction? - or will we take up legacy’s preoccupation with identity beyond death, disconnected from posterity’s promise beyond the grave? There is a cost for all things love embodies, but the freeway is paved beyond gravesite eulogies.
Fortunately, love always wins, but lays its life down doing so. Jesus is the dead soldier by friendly fire, casualty of the only world war fought on God’s terms. Christ is the true model of native born human, One whom among Trinity became the suicide king. Ontologically, we must come to understand ourselves in his humanness (Christ consciousness, if that assimilates better), or risk harm to each other by default, narrowly defining neighborhood, and entirely missing the point of love your neighbor as yourself. — Andrew
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