...this thread just breaks my heart. As i sit here in the lonely watches of the night, God woke me up at 1 AM, Praise His Name, He likes to do that with me.....i find myself asking Him, "Lord, what do i say? Guide these typed words, please".
what do i say? Newcomers might see my moniker, "HezWelling", with a few posts. This moniker is a nom de plume i sometimes use to write, "Hezekiah Wellington III". but i've been around this forum from near the incept.
Several months ago, i begged Greg to make me anonymous, my prior moniker was "natan4Jesus", my name is neil, my 'old timers" here know me, and i've been blessed to make relationships with followers of Jesus, that extend beyond this mere cyber platform. My request to Greg was based on a command from God the Holy Ghost, as this forum began to stumble me. Not my faith, oh no, God is merciful and full, Praise Him that He saw fit to bless me with the gift of a child like Faith...not 'childish", child LIKE. my "theology" is simple; i believe God.
i believe God the Father sent Messiah Jesus down to earth, as the last Passover Lamb. Jesus went to the cross, the tree, was hung, and crucified, and was resurrected from the dead, to sit at the Right Hand of God, and that the Blood of Jesus is wholly sufficient to cleanse all humankind from sin. i believe God, when He said, after I go, I will send a Comforter, a Helper, a Teacher in the Form of the RuAch HaKodesh, which is God the Holy Spirit.
and this second, i believe with every fiber in my soul, that Jesus Messiah, is conducting the Greatest Prayer Ministry for each of us, as He said He would. This is Part and Parcel of His "High Priestly Prayer", that is one of the Mountaintops in Scripture, John 17. Jesus also prayed to the Father that they may all be One, Echad, as We are One, "they" being us.
and how far have we all have fallen, how many denominations are there now? It seems right in the Lord to ask this question.
What HAPPENED to The Way?...as we were once known?
as one who was raised a Jew, educated and taught in the synagogues as a child, and a young man...please know this; i have SUCH JOY, in Yahweh, and Messiah Jesus that He brought His Name and His Word...to the Nations, that is the Gentiles. That Yahweh is so LOVING, to make available His Light, His Vine, His Salvation to those who can claim earthly descent from those who had worshipped idols, or worshipped "trees", or gods that were not gods, veritable pagans in essence. God was NOT going to allow my forebearers to "hoard" Yahweh, all to themselves and proclaim Gentiles, "unclean". Into the world, God sent His Son, Jesus, first to the Jews, then to the Gentiles, so That He, Who, was termed the "unknown god" (athens) was made Known to ALL FLESH. Poured out His Spirit. This Truth brings me joy upon joy!
Jerusalem in the days of Jesus' Earthly Ministry had gotten so bad, the Temple was a place of commerce, men had heaped burdens on other men and women in the form of 613 different "laws", the priestcraft of the day had tragically morphed into a system of money and "vocation"...it was just terrible, AND within 37 years of the Crucifiction of the Messiah, Jerusalem was torn apart, and burned, God using that evil empire, the romans to do His Work.
and as the Lord leads me, we have fallen RIGHT BACK in that corrupt craven morass of religion, where the traditions of man, rule the day. Jesus Himself gave us our Two Royal Commandments, and they are very simple, just like This Most Holy Faith, first the Schma, Love the Lord your God with all your heart mind strength and soul...and then Jesus went into Leviticus, love your neighbor as yourself.
(note, i rarely use Scriptural quotes in such postings, because sometimes i feel people use Scripture as a bludgeon to "win an argument" knowing the letter of the law, but not Its Spirit. That said, i "eat" of the Word, everyday, lovingly, to know not only the Word, that is Scripture, but to Know God, and if that seems like boasting, i only boast in the Lord, He gives that hunger, and i fear Him, hold Him in reverential Awe, that i would NEVER use His Logos, in such fleshly disputes. "winning" in a worldy, or even in a religioustic context is just empty,and without profit)
More grief that tears at my heart, is that it seems many many followers of Jesus, seem to "deify' Paul. It seems that many RUN to Paul and his Epistles, to buttress, this "doctrine" and that "doctrine", and seem to give the Words of Jesus second shrift, even to the point, where there's a theo-concept, "Pauline Christianity".....just hearing those two words together.....i cant even put into typed human words, the grief i feel. Paul is a man, like you and i, he's not a "god"...and he would tell you that!
Now, i love Greg, he knows that. My love for others is not worldy love, its irrevocable, its agape, but frankly i have no idea why this issue is an 'absolute', or something so germaine and "important" as to warrant so much time and bandwidth.
If a sister wants to cover her head, as a fullfillment of the First Royal Commandment, Praise God, but let me remind you all of this; muslims make their women cover their heads, its called the burkha....and in some muslim sects, they have to cover their faces as well, and failing that, they can and will be beaten. Many will say, "well, WE dont do that!". Of course you DONT, because given the secular laws of the land, you'd be behind bars, as well you should. But if there wasnt that constraint, such zealots who claim Jesus as Messiah, might be tempted to do so, and that is anti christ, it is NOT loving your neighor as your self, it is not embracing the Holy concept of Freedom in Christ....and i'm not referencing this Freedom to engage, in a familiar word i see in religious circles "compromise"...no, just recognize that even hasidic Jewish woman cover their heads too....and while external expressions of Faith can be edifying. God doesnt really care about the externals, otherwise Jesus wouldnt have scorched the religionists of His day as "white washed tombs"....its the HEART of you, He craves, and speaks into.
These days are drawing short, the die has been cast, Judgement is coming to America, and what will happen will make ears tingle. There is NO turning God's Hand back, and dont think that this Wrath is all laid on this nation soley for the sins of homosexual marriage and abortion, those are only two of the MANY sins of this nation, so saints, and i say this to myself as well, lets quit with this frittering around and save as many as God enables us, instead of enagaging in the constant repeating "arguments" i've been seeing for 9 years here. Its not iron sharpening iron, its sitting in a mud hole making mud pies and flinging them at one another...nothing more.
"Seperation"? YES! But its a seperation of the heart, while maintaining a sweet loving embrace to all, questing after Messiah, those who desire and are called to be sons and daughters of the Light, must we stumble them with disputable burdens of the traditions of man as well?, must we shut the Door to the Kingdom of Heaven in their faces?
i implore you in the Name of Jesus Christ, wake up!...and if you have to go to the desolate places and pray all night in the cold to recieve this awakening, i beg you, go then! i did!...fore in the desolate places, are where Jesus, Son of Man tarried and prayed, the Bush burned in a desolate place, Elijah was fed in a desolate place, get low, get humble, and meek, poor of spirit, and blessed you will be.
and just so you all dont think i'm some humorless, overwrought pleader, i have a "head covering", its a blaze orange stocking cap, as you see its now hunting season up here, with many intoxicated armed males wandering the woods. (that was my attempt at loving humor) in Jesus' love, neil |