Jesus is the King of Israel.
He came to save his people from their sins.
Who are his people? Israelites?
Israelites wrote the various books of the Bible.
Of the twelve apostles, only Paul was sent to the Gentiles.
Paul told Gentiles how to become Israelites.
Gentiles took Paul's works and assembled the Bible.
Then they created the Gentile Church, ... and scorned the name of Israel.
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” (Mark 16:15-18 NIV)
Go into all the world
That means go where the Holy Spirit sends us, leads us and confirms to us where we should be. It probably means going to someplace else. That's what all of his guys did.
We are to follow their example. That is our job.
Preach the gospel
That means proclaim the Good News (gospel, a religious term) about salvation and new life through Ye-HO-shu-a Ha-ma-SHEE-ach (Jesus the Christ or Messiah, King of Israel), and everything else the Bible teaches.
Whoever believes and is baptized (by immersion, like Jesus was) will be saved Whoever does not believe will be condemned
Our own belief is required.
Our own baptism is part of the job. It is not necessary for salvation, according to this text, but we aren't going to get much done without it. (Other places in the Bible say it is required for forgiveness of sins. Acts 2:38 is one of those places.)
These signs will accompany those who believe
In other words, if the following things are not happening, then logically we do not believe.
And if we do not believe then we are not saved.
Consequently, it is crucial we make an effort to do these things.
If we attempt to do these things, we will see them happen. If we don't, we won't.
If we see them happen, our belief will increase and we will become more confident.
If we become more confident, we will want to do these things more.
If we do these things more, we will bear much fruit. Fruit that will last.
In my (Yehoshua's, i.e. Jesus') name they will drive out demons
Jesus did it. His guys did it. We must do it.
Getting rid of demons is job one (1). It is listed first.
If infiltrators are allowed to remain embedded and entrenched, they are going to interfere with our work and we will accomplish nothing of eternal value. We will not be able to bear good fruit, fruit that will last.
Demons can be driven out with a single word (Matthew 8:32). We have the authority to do it. We must exercise that authority and power.
We must learn to value the man or woman who was made in the image of God and distinguish between them and the bondages and infirmities that plague and imprison them. Demons can be the cause of such things. Demons are not people. Having a demon, or demons, is not shameful. We are all susceptible to them.
Demons can affect our behaviors and beliefs. Getting rid of demons will give us clear minds and perspectives.
Jesus can fix all of our problems.
And he will do it through his people during this period of time. He is sitting next to the Father and intercedes for us as we do our work.
They will speak in new tongues
In other words, we will do many miraculous things when following Jesus through the Holy Spirit.
They will pick up snakes with their hands
In other words, we will not be afraid. God will be with us to protect us and to demonstrate his authority and power through us.
When they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all
The opposition will be powerless to oppose us. They can try, but they will fail.
They will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well
God will miraculously change people's lives through us, and it will cause those people to listen to our message and perhaps become believers themselves.
Jesus heals all sicknesses and diseases.
What part of "all" do you not understand?
Doing the above things is our job.
Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus say, "Go to church." It's not there.
Justifying our own behavior does not change that fact.
Some Bible translations convey doubt about the origins of this last part of Mark. In my opinion, the Darkness has done what it can to keep important and clear instructions from people by interfering with the stewardship of important and clear sections of God's Word.
But, God is sovereign and infinitely greater than any potential interference with His purposes.
But the [Holy] Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer. (1 Timothy 4:1-5 NASB, emphasis added)
I typically do not pay any attention to Bible "commentaries" written by people. I prefer to let the Holy Spirit teach me and counsel me as I read and think about what The Bible says.
The fourth book I obtained was The Second Coming of Christ, The Resurrection of the Christ Within You by Paramahansa Yogananda, a two-volume set. It focuses on "the teachings of Jesus," which are contained in the first four books of the Greek writings (New Testament): Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Although there are a few references in the footnotes to the Hebrew/Aramaic writings (Old Testament), the commentary focuses only on what Jesus said when he walked the earth with his guys.
Here is a graphical representation of the number of pages in each book of the Bible (printed version of the New American Standard Bible, 1997). Not all of the books are listed on the left, but the number of pages of all 66 are represented by horizontal bars...
Click to enlarge.
The green bars in the middle are the pages considered by the author of the commentary.
He did not study the rest (blue). Of the 876 pages, he only considered 10%.
This is taking things out of context.
The entire Bible is about Jesus. The early parts explain why he needed to come and contain predictions about his coming; the later parts explain his impact. Focusing on just a small part in the middle does not tell the full story.
Karma is a euphemism for sin. According to some religious beliefs, people "work out" their bad karma by doing works. The Bible says that is not possible. People need a savior, not a guru (teacher).
Despite the author's best efforts, the idea that the Bible and the Hindu scriptures are equivalent and say the same things is a gross prevarication.
All glory to God.
UPDATE, June 8, 2026...
Anna says the "Karmic Wheel" has been shut down...
Article 5865, International Public Notice: The End of 2500 Years of Karma, June 1, 2026.
When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”
“You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.
Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:14-20 NIV)
The woman with an infirmity had faith...
Just then a woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be healed.”
Jesus turned and saw her. “Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment. (Matthew 9:20-22 NIV)
Peter eventually had faith, and so did the people who saw what he did...
The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed. (Acts 5:12-16 NIV)
When our shadow is changing lives, we can be confident we have faith. Until then, we must ask for more.
The Pharisees knew the Scriptures, but they did not have faith.
Jesus came to show us how to do our jobs. His Father will put us through tests to build our faith.
This Creation we live in is very complex, and there are many things we do not understand.
I have learned to trust Jesus.
He tells me I should have the faith of a child. That means I should trust him. I should trust what he says. And the only place where he has spoken is through the Bible.
I trust the Bible, and as I have learned to trust it, I have learned that it is right. Things always line up with it. As my faith has increased, that has been more and more so.
I see the world getting all upset about many things. But Jesus gives me peace.
I have been following Anna von Reitz because the Spirit of Jesus led me to do so. He led me to correct my status, and I was obedient. Currently, I am working in the Michigan Assembly to help reconstruct our Land Jurisdiction government, which has been dormant for 160 years. Jesus wants me doing these things, and I see evidence of it daily.
I trust Anna's leadership about American History and Government. I trust her as she leads us in Reconstruction. She helped us (Michigan) get out of a bad situation earlier this year, and she freed us up to do our work. I thank her for that.
As I have said before, I do not believe her about everything. She is not god, and does not claim to be; nor am I. I can be wrong, and have been. When our opinions diverge, I generally have been silent, although I did comment about it in one post, just to make sure people comprehend where I stand. (See the December 11, 2022 and June 27, 2024 updates to my Authority post.)
It seems every time Anna and her allies are getting close to making a significant advance in the War between Good and Evil, the Darkness tries to discredit her. The posts she makes, like the one above, frustrate me because I believe she discredits herself when she makes them, but she clearly believes what she believes and sees what she sees. And she has the right to her beliefs.
I have been deceived before, and I have written about some of those situations in this blog. Perhaps I am deceived now, and I am open to changing my opinion, if evidence supports it.
But that's the problem. I fail to see evidence. When I look for what these people say they are seeing, I do not see anything. Anna and her colleague Teri said in one of their webinars that it is easy to see space alien ships in the sky at dawn and dusk. I went and looked, but did not see anything. Am I deceived? Perhaps. But Jesus gives me peace.
One of my Michigan Assembly colleagues said yesterday in a Zoom call that he saw a giant "ship" in the sky. Nobody commented. I'm sure he saw something, but I can make no comment about it. It was his experience, not mine.
Here are my logical thoughts about these things:
The Bible talks about demons, but not space aliens. Hollywood talks about aliens.
The Bible says man is made in the image of God, which means man is special. A universe with aliens implies man is nothing special.
The Bible says the earth is only a few thousand years old; Anna talks about millions of years and Evolution.
The Bible says Jesus is the Son of God, that he died to make atonement for sins, and that he rose from the dead. How do aliens fit into that?
The Bible says miraculous healings happen and I have learned how to do it myself, just like Jesus did. The people who see alien ships put their hopes in alien technologies like "med beds."
In all of Anna's writings, I do not see that she comprehends the Gospel, which implies she does not have the Gospel. She needs the Gospel, and I pray she receives it.
People claim there are treaties and documents supporting these revelations about aliens, but I have not seen any of those documents. All I hear are claims and opinions. The engineer says, "Pony up the evidence. Let us see it. Prove it."
I believe people are deceived. We can all be deceived. If we have been deceived about The Great Fraud and the chicanery of the British Monarchy and Papal Rome, surely we are susceptible to demonic influence. I know I was, until I was set free.
I am at peace. God is fully in control. I trust my Yehoshua.
All glory to God.
UPDATE, September 19, 2024...
This recent AVR article seems rather reasonable. Decide for yourself...
Article 5012, What Christians Don't Know, September 16, 2024.
This one seems like "friends" talking to me...
Article 5015, International Public Notice: Meddling by the Galactic Council is Prohibited, September 18, 2024.
In this one, she says there are no "aliens," except the immigration kind...
Article 5010, International Public Notice: The Phoenician Bank System, September 16, 2024.
Make up your own mind.
UPDATE, December 10, 2024...
This is a very interesting article. She has consistently mentioned her identity before.
She claims angels have been split into Twin Flames, and that they have amnesia and do not remember being One.
This is not consistent with the Bible. It says that we, the (spiritual) children of Abraham will judge angels (1 Corinthians 6:3) and that Yeshua helps the offspring of Abraham, not angels (Hebrews 2:16).
I am not an angel and would not want to be one.
UPDATE, June 5, 2026...
We are in the final stages of a war in the jurisdiction of the air.
The Prince of the Air has been captured and imprisoned.
The timeline he was building for the annihilation of Mankind and the planet we call Earth has been derailed. (AVR#5871)
Demons are spiritual beings, like us and like angels.
Can angels inhabit people, as well? It follows logically.
When I was encumbered by my demons, I was still there. I had my thoughts, dreams, ideas, feelings and beliefs. Those things were built upon my experiences and who I was. The demons were just uninvited guests, and they had their own agendas. They were in me, but they were not me.
Anna has thoughts, dreams, ideas, feelings and beliefs, too, and those things are based on her experiences and who she is. She was taught about Evolution, The Big Bang, chemistry, mathematics and the history of our government. She has been influenced by others in her life. For example, who, or perhaps what, is the Piper?
All of these things influence Anna's ideas and opinions.
My demons did not make me evil; Anna's Seraph doesn't make her holy or infallible. Just as God did not want me to idolize my Calvinist pastor, He does not want Anna to be a cult figure. She has a job to do and she will be imperfect as she does it.
This is why I reject what is evil and cling to what is good. I try to practice using my eyes.
Despite what Anna claims and what my friend (Twin) believes, I see them as precious women and cannot stand the thought of them being deceived. I can't stand the thought of being deceived myself.
So, I am navigating this amazing part of my life. The solid Rock I stand on is Yehoshua. He will absolutely not fail me.
UPDATE, June 24, 2026...
Anna is a woman. Let that sink in.
Now she is promoting Reiki healing.
Article 5887, Granna Bytes: For Earth Angels and Everyone Else, Too
Liz on Scotland has something to say about Reiki...
I was prompted to walk to the coffee shop yesterday. I thought about driving because the weather forecast had a slight chance of showers and I could see a few on the radar, but the instruction was specific so I was obedient and walked.
It takes me about an hour to walk from my house to the coffee shop. When I got there, I was offered a chair across a small table from the leader of the "non-profit" coffee-shop business. She and another woman were playing Skip-Bo™️, a popular card game in the shop. I sat and watched until they finished and then had them deal me into the next game.
I listened to the conversation and observed what was going on in the room. The leader occasionally got up to serve customers because it was her usual shift, and when she did so the other player and I skipped her turn to keep the game moving. That is why it is called "skip bo," of course! Even with frequently being skipped, she had won all of the games.
There was an empty seat at the table which was successively occupied by one of two "special needs" young men who were visiting the shop with their "staff." These people have significant handicaps and are supported by the Welfare State. Part of that support includes regular escort by a paid employee of a State-of-State franchise corporation who takes them out to socialize and assists them with their day-to-day needs. Everyone refers to this help as "staff," and there were several people in the shop with staff at that time.
I have seen "special needs" people frequenting the coffee shop ever since I started going there almost two years ago. The drinks are free and the people are kind, so the "staff" commonly use it as a good destination to spend time with their charges. My spiritual sibling has "staff." I immediately realized the Father was bringing these people into the coffee shop and each one was an opportunity for healing and glorification of the Name of Jesus.
My spiritual sibling wanted to be healed. After getting to know her and showing her examples of healing in the Bible, she came up to me, stuck out her hand, and said, "It's a deal!" I replied, "I guess this is happening!" and off we went to a couch and I began praying for her to be healed. Things started happening and people were amazed. I was, too, because I had not done it very much and was pushing outside of my "comfort zone."
We prayed for her to walk, just like Jesus did, and we were both very determined. I am a trouble-shooter and if things are not working I try something else. Soon, I was using my prayer language because I did not know what was needed, ... and it worked. Between the two of us, my spiritual sibling and I worked to free her from many things, but she did not walk. For some reason that was blocked from happening, and it still is.
As I used my prayer language, I came under attack.1 One day as I prayed, I had an unusual headache that almost made me sick. People in the shop prayed for me, but I did not get relief until I had gone home and laid it in front of Yeshua, who was sitting right next to The Father. I sneezed four times and then the headache was gone. God is good.
Many people in the coffee shop started to become uncomfortable with what we were doing. That is not surprising because the denomination of the particular church sponsoring the coffee shop does not teach about "Pentecostal" kinds of things. The non-churched people did not comprehend what we were doing, but some of the churched people became hostile. I was asked to stop, and I immediately complied.
At the time, the coffee shop leader had been out of the country on a mission trip and when she came back I was told she had received complaints about what I had been doing. Even though I was no longer doing it, I was reprimanded. "Stop trying to cast demons out of [my spiritual sibling]!" We had proven to ourselves that there was a demon tormenting her because ... it spoke. Twice. My sibling did not say those things.
My spiritual sibling is very outspoken, and when people tried to tell her she did not have demons, she would reply, "I only have one." I became a pariah for doing this, and am apparently still one according to some people by the way they treat me. That's okay; it is part of the battle.
When I was reprimanded (on the day before Good Friday, of all things!), I ended the discussion by saying, "We're done," and turned to leave the establishment. As I was about to "wipe the dust off my feet," I was reminded of my spiritual sibling who had temporarily left the coffee shop while I was having my "meeting" with the leaders. When she came back, I was gone. She became very upset because the two people she loved the most in the coffee shop (me and one of the other leaders) were fighting. She ended up being the catalyst to bring us back together.
Even though I had stopped using my prayer language, I continued to read to my sibling from the Bible during subsequent visits to the shop. She had never heard those things before and was fascinated. Soon, I began hearing criticism about even doing that! Apparently they "did not know what I was teaching her" in their shop and we started being pressured to cease what we were doing. We decided to leave and take our discussions down the hall.
The coffee shop is part of an indoor mall, which is comfortable year round in four-season Michigan. We found a bench in the common area away from the shop and met together there for more than a month. I continued to pray for her using my prayer language and we made even more progress, but she remained unable to walk and in the power chair.
Some of the people who frequent the coffee shop are "mall walkers" who get exercise by walking circuits around the perimeter of the common areas. They, of course, saw us and would occasionally stop and talk with us. So would the housekeeping staff, and other people who knew us. It became common knowledge that we were consistently there and having a great time. God's ways are not our ways, and I was overjoyed to be used by Him.
I was able to help my sibling with many things, and eventually we realized we are spiritual brother and sister. I am her big brother, and in some ways have been able to give her fatherly advice. She is on good terms with her dad, but I have more insight into the spiritual matters she needs right now.
We eventually got to the point where things had significantly improved for her, but she was still unable to walk and still had her speech impediment, the two things that are most visible to people. Her "friend" was still there, and it was still tormenting her. I told her the next thing to try was baptism in water, and I pointed out that the church sponsoring the coffee shop does immersion baptisms. With my encouragement, she went and asked to be baptized, and they did it for her.
What a difference that made! She went from being tormented to being almost completely free. She said that her friend was still there, but it was like it was hiding. Her frantic, emotional text messages to me and her dark Facebook posts ceased. God is good. We moved on to other things to improve her life.
People have acknowledged that my efforts have greatly helped her, and as of the 15th of Nisan this year, she has been much more independent from me, although we still mutually crave and enjoy what we call "sibling time." This has freed me up to work with other people, and those efforts have been noticed, too.
Which brings me back to the card game yesterday. I was there because I had the time, and because The Holy Spirit had led me to go. I made further observations as we played...
Someone came over and started talking about getting tattoos. The two women I was playing with mentioned the typical side effects of that practice, such as inflamed skin, pain, and the time required for healing. They were all very matter-of-fact about it and seemed to consider tattooing mainstream, which it is these days. Apparently, they are not aware the practice of tattooing is something God forbade the Israelites from doing (Leviticus 19:28). The leader of the coffee shop business has a big tattoo on her right arm.
The leader of the coffee shop is leaving today with her husband for a vacation overseas. She "checked in" to their flights on her phone as we played our game.
The leader of the coffee shop lives with her husband in the parsonage of the church she preaches at. It is in a small town, and there is a well that provides both the church and their home with water. For some reason, they have no water, and she was making inquiries about getting it fixed.
As we got near the end of our final Skip-Bo game, both women said it would be their last because they each had things they needed to do. I took that as my cue to head home and got up to leave when we were done. The leader answered someone's question about the time difference where she was going, and I related that when we lived overseas our small children had a hard time with that. I wished her a good trip, and she thanked me for coming in. I think it surprised her that I had spent time with her.
As I walked home, I chuckled. I had all of a sudden won that final game. God has an interesting sense of humor.
This morning, The Spirit debriefed me about the reasons for my walk to the mall yesterday. That is His pattern, letting me know just before I get out of bed what He wants me to do during the day.
The people running the coffee shop just do not see what is plainly there. Opportunities to heal people in the Name of Jesus are everywhere,2 but people just serve coffee and play cards. Two of those opportunities sat at the table with us while we played the game yesterday, as I mentioned above.
Before I finished this post today, I needed a photo of the card game, so I went to the coffee shop and ended up indirectly talking about these things with someone who is beginning to have some of the same concerns I have. We agreed the leadership is stuck in their box and does not see the opportunities the LORD is creating, and we agreed we need to continue praying for these folks and helping them understand the real game we should be playing.
I hope the people I care about will soon realize what their true job is: to glorify the Name of Jesus by performing miracles so people will be receptive to the full and complete Good News, so that they might repent and praise our Father in Heaven.
All glory to God.
UPDATE, September 27, 2023...
Putting it another way, Jesus did not say:
"Go and serve coffee to all nations, serving only the finest beans from remote parts of the world, and teaching them everything except what I commanded you.3 And surely I am with you always, no matter what you do."
Think about it.
UPDATE, September 28, 2023...
1Added the meme I made.
2Why do people not see these opportunities? Frankly, I think it is because they do not believe it is possible for average, everyday people to do miracles. They think it is only for Jesus to do, and they put their faith in doctors instead. This is all based on lies and does not line up with The Book.
I used to think that way, too. I did not believe. Jesus said:
"...Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.” (Mark 16:16-18 NIV)
And...
“Unless you people see signs and wonders, ... you will never believe.” (John 4:48 NIV)
It is crucial for people to see miracles, or they will never really believe. They may notionally believe some things about Jesus, but they do not really and truly believe.
We must believe like a child:
And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." ... (Matthew 18:3 NIV)
The coffee shop is operated as a corporation, too, and when I started to demonstrate what can and should be done I came under attack and was eventually driven out and controlled by those who are being used as tools of the Darkness.
Is there hope for these people? I always have hope, and when things don't pan out I hope some more, but it can get discouraging. Saying that, God is faithful and I work for Him. He is going to do what he intends. He is righteous, even if we are not.
He is developing my faith.
UPDATE, November 1, 2023...
I had a stressful day yesterday, and late in the afternoon I wanted to spend some time at the coffee shop to unwind.
When I arrived at the mall, the parking lot was pretty full. "What's this?" I thought. Then I remembered... Trick Or Treat. It was Halloween.
The mall was full of parents with kids in costumes lining up at the various stores getting "treats," commercially-available candy. The coffee shop had extra volunteer staff handing them out, too, along with free coffee for the parents. I waded through all of this and made my way to the back of the shop to visit with friends.
As the time period for the festivities wound down, the coffee shop volunteers cleaned up in preparation to close. They were exhausted.
This morning, I had some thoughts about this. I am sure the folks serving the crowds for the coffee shop saw themselves as loving their neighbor, and I actually saw one of them wearing something that said something like that. I'm sure it was fun, but was it really what Yehoshua (Jesus' real name, the one he prefers) wants us to do?
Some of the people probably noticed the coffee was free, but that would have been the only difference distinguishing the coffee shop from any of the other businesses handing out candy in the mall. Actually, what is the difference between handing out free candy and free coffee? Hmmm. 🤔
Did this really do anything to advance Yehoshua's cause, especially given all of the effort involved? Was it actually "loving the neighbors," as He described it in his parable about The Good Samaritan? Or was it conforming to the world?
The world indoctrinates children through traditions like "Trick Or Treat." That lesson seems to teach them to disguise themselves, chant a mantra and be rewarded. I was indoctrinated in that same way as a child and later realized what was going on, but only after I had learned The Truth and came under its influence.
3 Added this link to a new post I made today about Yehoshua's commandments. Ever since I made that update about His non-existent words, I have been thinking about His commandments. I felt it was important to study them and share what I have learned.
UPDATE, August 19, 2025...
This past Saturday (8/16/25) was an unusual day in the coffee shop. Saturdays during the summer are typically slow, and it has been a blessing that the leadership has allowed it to be open. Were it not for my close friend who is essentially the "Martha" of the coffee shop, it wouldn't be open. She strongly feels called to be there.
I self-identify as the "Mary" of the coffee shop, and we "sisters" were sitting at a tall table at the back of the shop with three men who I consider to be "special needs." One who is very introverted and quiet was offering his opinions about things and the other two were very content to be in our presence. There was nobody else in the shop.
For me, it was an awkward time because I need deep and thoughtful conversations, and these gentlemen, bless their hearts, are not capable of that. I managed to engage in a bit of small talk, but eventually felt called to return home to my current reading assignments. I obtained my hug from "Martha," told her I was heading home to read, and bid the gentlemen goodbye.
This morning, the significance of Saturday occurred to me.
We normally sit more in the middle of the shop, but on Saturday they were sitting at the tall table in the back when I arrived. That is the table where I was betrayed and reprimanded for praying for my spiritual sibling to be healed and set free back in 2022, as discussed above. Saturday was over forty (40.67) months since that flashpoint. Actually, 40.0 was about the time I started my reading assignments.
I am certain if Yehoshua had encountered those three gentlemen he would have healed him. Actually, Yehoshua was present in "Martha" and me ("Mary"), but we had been forbidden from doing that kind of work by the leadership of the corporation that runs the coffee shop. Just as Yehoshua could not heal many in his hometown due to their lack of faith, I can't either.
I'm beginning to feel some closure in the coffee shop. We shall see what happens.
To my fellow Israelites, I encourage you to pray in the Spirit for all kinds of things, both known and unknown! Do it as often as you can!
Just as water flows from a well when the lever is pumped, so the Holy Spirit flows when we actively make ourselves available to Him. When we pray in the Spirit, the Father uses our lips and our groans to proclaim His will. Though we do not understand the languages we speak, our Father forms our words into mysterious prayers authorizing amazing events to propel His Plan forward.
Men, submit yourselves to Yeshua, your King and Commander in Chief. You are under His Authority. Be the warriors He has prepared you all to be!
Women, respect the men around you, who have been placed in authority over you and your households. Help them, comfort them and supply for their needs. Pray in the Spirit unceasingly to support and augment the work of your husbands and fathers and brothers.
To my fellow Apprentices of Jesus (Yeshua), equip yourselves for work. Make sure your tool bag is around your waist, and fill it with tools the Master gives you for your jobs. Align yourself with His Kingdom, Israel, the only kingdom that will survive.
To those who are uncertain about these things, but want to learn more, ask the Lord of the Harvest to teach you what He wants you to know, and to bring you into His Barn. Do not be afraid. The Darkness wants you to doubt, but the Darkness is already defeated and only tells lies.
The Holy Spirit manifests in amazing ways, but the world does not understand. As an engineer, I made my living in practical ways, and it is astounding that I accept and have any understanding of these things, but by God's grace it is so! As I humble myself like a child, I clearly see that we all live in an incredible Creation.
My friends, watch this video. Strange languages are spoken, but do not be afraid. This is what apprentices of Jesus are called to do!...
The entire video is a great example of many things:
Conviction.
Miracles.
Repentance.
Sharing the good news about Jesus, and what He has done.
Immersion (baptism) in water.
Deliverance from dark spirits.
Immersion (baptism) in the Holy Spirit.
Speaking and praying in an unknown language ('tongues').
Evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in a person.
Freedom.
Healing the sick.
Study it closely and see if you can spot all of those things.
Notice at the end of the video, the woman successfully healed the young man after she "prayed in tongues" silently in her head. Nothing happened until she did that. Healings don't always happen that way, but this example shows how utilizing that spiritual tool can produce results. When we pray in our unknown language, God intercedes for us and gives us the words necessary to accomplish the task. That way He gets all of the glory!
Sometimes I need to understand things before I can believe. In a previous post, (S.W.A.T. (Spiritual Weapons and Tactics)), I concluded speaking in a strange language is good and consistent with the Bible. You may find that discussion helpful.
Mary Magdalene, Leonardo da Vinci (c. 1515), public domain
Who was Mary Magdalene?
The world seems to have a lot to say about her, and you can find a good summary at
Wikipedia.
What does the Bible say about her? Not a lot, but what it does say is very important, in my opinion.
Here is a link to where her name shows up: "Magdalene."
These are the key points...
She was one of the women who followed Jesus.
She was the first person to see the resurrected Jesus.
She was blessed to be freed from seven demons.
Mark says it best...
Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. (Mark 16:9-11 NKJV)
The Bible has paired items (2) and (3) in the same sentence. She saw Him and believed, and she had been cleansed from demons. The others didn't. Were they, perhaps, not cleansed?
I think my own personal experience gives me a perspective about this that the world does not understand. I was set free, like Mary Magdalene, and it made a tremendous difference to my ability to see things and believe. I feel a kinship with Mary Magdalene. More importantly, I think this example shows how crucial it is to cast out demons.
What if Jesus had not cast the demons out of Mary Magdalene? Would anyone have recognized Jesus after his resurrection? Would it all have been a big waste of time? Imagine going through all that suffering, just to have the demons cloud the minds of His followers and wipe the thoughts from their memories. Well, God was not going to allow that!
I believe Jesus cast the demons out of Mary Magdalene to prepare her to see Him risen. I believe it was crucial to the Plan.
If demons are allowed to remain in place and do as they please, nobody will understand and repent. Satan knows his time is short, and his end will be most unpleasant. His only tools are lies, deception and fear. He must obey Jesus, and he must obey those who command him in the Name of Jesus. Satan is the chief demon; he is a demon. Jesus cast demons out with a single word, and we can do the same. We should do the same. It is our job; Jesus commands us to do it.
This understanding about Mary Magdalene is crucially important, and that is why the world tries to confuse everyone about her. It is why some Bible translations cast some doubt on these passages, and why history has conflated and painted Mary Magdalene as a sinful woman, prostitute and concubine of Jesus. Don't listen to those lies! Satan is the father of lies. Just cast him out!
All glory to God!
UPDATE, February 8, 2023...
My kinship with Mary Magdalene is even greater than I realized. Jesus cast seven (7) demons out of her and I was unburdened from at least seven (7) myself, as I discussed elsewhere in this blog:
Five (5) in Who Are These Guys?: "Sexual Sin," "False Tongues," "Anger," "Religious Spirit," and "Legion."
I got rid of one (1) all by myself, ... my "high school crush." (Bless her heart. It wasn't her fault. All she ever did was show me some unsolicited affection.)
That's a total of seven (7).
This is amazing. The freedom I have is amazing, and realizing how susceptible we all are to dark influences is eye opening.
We must all humble ourselves and ask our Creator to reveal to us our blind spots and weaknesses, so we can ask Him to heal us.
The word "disciple" appears 294 times in the New Testament. The word "Christian" only appears three times, and Jesus never used the term.
Jesus calls us to be His disciples, not Christians. What is a disciple? I think the word "apprentice" makes more sense to us in our modern culture.
An electrician begins learning their trade by becoming an apprentice. An apprentice is a newbie, someone in training, a student. They find, or are assigned to, someone who already knows the trade, and that person is known as a "master" or "journeyman" electrician. They are an expert, and the apprentice will learn from them.
The disciples of Jesus were His apprentices. Jesus told them to follow Him, learn from Him and do the things He did. Jesus told them they would do greater things than He did. Jesus healed the sick, cast out demons and raised the dead. What kind of things can be greater than that? I certainly want to know!
I am an apprentice of Jesus. I want to be like Jesus, and so I follow Him and do the things He did.
Do you want to be an apprentice of Jesus, too? If so, read on.....
The Apprentice's Tool-Bag
An apprentice needs a tool-bag. It is the first thing his Master will require him to obtain. He cannot do any work without a tool-bag.
A tool-bag has critical parts. It cannot function properly without those parts. It needs a belt to keep the bag in the proper position at the apprentice's hip; it needs a buckle to keep the belt fastened; and it needs various pouches to hold the apprentice's tools.
The tool-bag of an apprentice of Jesus has four parts: repentance towards God, belief in Jesus, immersion (baptism) in water in the Name of Jesus for the remission of sins, and receiving the Holy Spirit.
Repentance
What is REPENTANCE? We may be sorry about our circumstances, but that is not repentance. We may have remorse for what we have done to others, but that is not repentance. Repentance is understanding who God is and who we are in comparison to Him, and realizing that we have sinned against a Holy and Righteous God. Repentance only happens when we respect and fear God, and it requires us to change our ways and to put things right that can be put right. Good Biblical examples of repentance are the stories of the sinful woman in Luke 7, Zaccaeus in Luke 19 and the jailer in Acts 16.
1) Repentance in THOUGHT. It is conviction of sin. It is thinking again about ourselves. Most of us use wrong standards when we think about our own character. We usually compare ourselves to other people, but we need to compare ourselves to Jesus. Only then will we start to feel dirty and unclean, which is how we should see ourselves. We need a higher view of God, and a lower view of ourselves. It is that comparison that begins repentance. God hates sin, and true repentance begins to share that hatred. Some sins are obvious, but many are not. In his talk, David discusses a number of behaviors we don't often think of as sin: worry, laziness, debt. He said he counted 120 sins in the New Testament. Seeing things through God's eyes brings repentance.
2) Repentance in WORD. This is confession of sins (plural) to God -- naming specific sins. God will show us our sins if we ask Him, and they can seem quite small, but they are still sins and they are a big deal to God. David discusses some examples. Confessing our sins often is a healthy thing to do.
3) Repentance in DEED. This is the correction of sin -- putting right what has been wrong. This is where people find repentance difficult, but where it also becomes real. David discusses several examples, including an instance when someone stopped biting their fingernails. (If you do that, your nails don't look right before God, and He made them.)
We need to be serious about this. We must be afraid of God -- the Bible says fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
We need to be specific about our own situations. What sins do we want God to save us from? This is where repentance begins.
We need to be sensible. It is not about feelings. We can feel guilty for the wrong things, and not be aware of the things in our lives that are truly offensive to God. We need to be sensible about what can be put right -- nobody can put everything right that they have done wrong.
People need help with these things, and they need to talk about them with someone they trust.
Repentance will go on for the rest of our lives.
Belief in Jesus
What does it mean to BELIEVE IN JESUS? Many people have heard of Jesus, and some have become very familiar with him by reading the Bible. The Devil knows about Jesus, too. Believing in Jesus is trusting that Jesus is who He says He is, and relying on Him to do what He has promised. Mark 16 tells us that Jesus said people who believe will heal the sick and cast out demons. If we have never done those things, can we be certain we really believe? If we have never seen those things happen, how will we ever believe? The more we believe the more we will be able to do those things. Believing results in seeing supernatural things happen. If we have doubts, then we do not believe. Doubting is sin, and we can repent from it.
How do we believe? Pawson says there are five aspects:
1) HISTORICAL: Believe in historical facts. In a court of law, the impartial jurors are not witnesses of the crime. They are presented with eyewitnesses and circumstantial evidence. There were many eyewitnesses who saw Jesus crucified, buried and raised from the dead. Also, there are many, many examples of miraculous healings, deliverances, resurrections and miracles happening today, in our lives and in the lives of others. These things confirm what the Bible says is true. Jesus is alive, and these things confirm that fact.
2) PERSONAL: Believe IN Jesus. We trust a bank to keep our money secure; we believe IN the bank. We trust our spouse; we believe IN them. Jesus is alive, so we can believe IN Him. If we believe IN Jesus, then we will trust Him. We can trust Him with everything because He is God.
3) VERBAL: Talk to Jesus. Speak to Him aloud, treating Him as a real person. Also, talk to others about Him. These things will cement our faith and help us believe. Very importantly, we need to use our own words, not the words of others.
4) PRACTICAL: When we really believe, we do something about it. Paul and James are not in conflict. Paul says we are not saved by doing good deeds and following rules and rituals, and he is right. James says those who have faith will take action because of that faith, and he is right, too. It is hard to have faith today because we do not need it to survive. It is easy to get food, clothing and shelter, and there are many options for alleviating our discomforts and fears, such as medicines, therapies, weapons, insurance and communication tools. Relying on those things is not exercising faith in Jesus; it’s having faith in those things. God is a jealous god, and He does not share glory with idols.
5) CONTINUAL: Our faith is not “saving faith” unless it is ongoing faith. It is faithFULNESS that we need. Believing today and not believing tomorrow is no good. It’s the faith we finish with that saves us. The righteous will survive whatever happens by keeping faith.
Baptism
What is BAPTISM? John the Baptist "baptized" people by immersing them in water. Jesus was baptized by immersion. The Bible says nothing about sprinkling.
The word "baptize" is the Greek word for "immersion in water." Religious institutions and Bible translators have chosen to not translate that word into English for some reason. I think that is unfortunate because I believe it misleads people. I believe the Darkness is behind this deception.
Our reason for being immersed is important. If we do it only to please men, it is worthless. If we do it to be obedient to Jesus and to follow Him, then according to the Bible, it is supernaturally effective. Once we are immersed in the Name of Jesus, our sins are paid for by Jesus (Acts 2:38). Immersion does other things, too, but an apprentice must have their complete tool-bag before they are ready for the Master to teach them about other things.
How do we get immersed? Find an apprentice of Jesus and ask them to do it for you. I was immersed in a church, and my life changed from that moment. I can see it as I look back and reflect on my experiences. We only need to do it once, provided we did it for the right reasons.
Receive the Holy Spirit
What is RECEIVING THE HOLY SPIRIT? It is what happened to the first apprentices on Pentecost (Acts 2).
There is always a sign when someone receives the Holy Spirit, typically speaking in a strange language -- the religious term is "tongue." The language is an actual language, but the speaker does not understand what they are saying. God is the one speaking, and others will understand what is being spoken, if they happen to understand that particular language. Go read Acts 2. Foreigners understood what was being said.
Many people presume they have the Holy Spirit because they have been told that they do, but they do not. Receiving the Holy Spirit is unmistakable to the person receiving Him. God makes sure of that. Shortly after my immersion, I asked God to give me whatever He thought I needed, and He gave me a wonderful experience. I asked a pastor what it was, and he was unable to help me, but I eventually learned it was the Holy Spirit. I did not speak in a language at the time because I did not know I was supposed to, nor did I know I had the ability to do so. The church I attended taught nothing about it. Apparently, it was God's plan that I not understand those things right away. Everybody's experience is different. God is so creative!
The Holy Spirit is a key part of the tool-bag, and we cannot be an apprentice without Him. He is a person, and He is fully God.
How do we receive the Holy Spirit? Ask, and He will be given to you! That's what I did. Another apprentice of Jesus can pray for you to receive Him, too. If you truly want to follow Jesus, God wants you to have the Holy Spirit.
Deliverance
Demons are real, and are very common, although many churches rarely discuss them. Some churches do talk about them, but do not cast them out and get rid of them. Demons want people to doubt their existence, but they can be the cause of many issues for people. Jesus dealt with them a LOT.
I had a number of demons driven from me AFTER I had my tool-bag. I did not know they were there, but I knew some things were not right. Since then, I have learned a lot, and have written about some of it. If you would like to read about my story, I suggest you start with my post Free! I think you may also find The Car helpful.
Since I wrote those things, I have found I have the ability to drive unclean spirits (demons) from myself, and fend them off when I realize I am under attack. I have always had this ability, since I have had the Holy Spirit, and even before. The Name of Jesus is powerful, but believing and wanting to be right with God seems to be just as effective. Before I was immersed, my childhood belief in the Theory of Evolution was blocking my faith, and I wanted it gone. One day it just left, and I laughed at how silly the concept had been -- see Evolution Revolution. Well after I was delivered on Neptune Beach, I realized my "high school crush" was still lurking deep inside me. I wanted it gone and commanded it to leave -- and it went.
Jesus can help us with anything. He can help us by using other apprentices and he can help us to do things ourselves. We just need Him. He is really all we need!
So, WHAT GOES INTO THE TOOL-BAG? The Master reveals things to an apprentice once they have their tool-bag.
NOTES:
1. Most churches only teach some of these things. If you do not have all parts of your tool-bag, get them! You need them! If your church will not help you, ask Jesus what to do. If your church discourages you from obtaining the complete tool-bag, walk away. A message that is 99% true is still a lie.
2. Read Mark, Luke and Acts, especially Acts. The rest of the New Testament is true, but not pertinent to obtaining the tool-bag. Anything before Acts is before the Holy Spirit was given, and everything after Acts was written to those who already had their tool-bags. A person cannot fully understand what is written in the Bible without their complete tool-bag.
3. Jesus is alive. Anyone can talk to Him. He is King of the Jews, the King of Israel.
4. "Gentiles" are grafted INTO Israel. Identification with Israel is critical! This is a discussion for those who have a tool-bag!
All glory to God!
----------------------
UPDATE, August 7, 2022...
Obtaining our tool-bag is just the start. We must follow Jesus.
Jesus said seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and he will take care of all our needs. What does it mean to seek the kingdom?
I wrote a post back in 2016 called Keys to the Kingdom. It is an analysis of what Jesus taught his guys in the middle of the book of Matthew. It is rather long, but I think it is crucial for all apprentices of Jesus to understand. I encourage you to read through it at least once.
The first key is the most important one, in my opinion: "Follow Jesus and die." Here is a quote from the post...
Jesus told his disciples he would be persecuted and killed, and then rise again. He then told them they must experience the same thing. This is the first "key." As his disciples, we must deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus. We must lose our lives in this fallen world in order to gain true life. We must give up what we want, and do what he wants. That is a tough message, but one we must heed if we want to enter the Kingdom (Matthew 16:21-28). Many people will turn away from this, but we must stick with Jesus because he is our only option for eternal life (John 6:68).
It is not our project and it is not our cause. We must let Jesus run His Project, and we must pursue His Cause. Jesus did not walk among us and die an agonizing and gruesome death in order to help us do what we want to do. We work for Him! If we are still pursuing things we were doing before we surrendered to Jesus, we are not following Him.
I was working as an engineer and I was pretty successful, but I committed my life to Jesus by being baptized in water and he followed that up by baptizing me in the Holy Spirit. Soon afterward, I learned I had signed up for something absolutely amazing and I began to learn about my job. You can read about it in other posts.
Eventually, he tested me to see if I would follow him. It was really, really hard, but I left my engineering job. He did not tell me why; I knew he would show me, like he did Abram.
There was silence for the first few weeks. It didn't take me long to start pursuing something I wanted to do: film-making. I began reading about it and taking steps to gain practical experience. I had the time so I spent it on my dreams.
Then the Father showed me what He wants me doing. Burned Toast. I will leave it to you to explore what that is about.
I still continued my pursuit of film-making for quite a while after that, and I certainly learned a lot of things that are useful in my walk, but I eventually realized God does not want me to be a film maker. The world uses film makers to control the masses. God wants me to be a disciple maker, and he does not use the world's methods.
I am more than twenty years down the road from where I was when I was baptized. I know my job. I know I am right where I am supposed to be. I have found the mustard seed and I have begun to water it. I am looking forward to seeing the huge tree and the birds nesting in its branches.1
Follow me. I am following Jesus. He has so many amazing things to show us.
Salvadora persica
UPDATE, August 8, 2022...
Once we are following Jesus there will be further tests. Difficult ones, particularly for those who have strong feelings for loved ones.
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me..." (Matthew 10:34-37 ESV)
Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” (Mark 10:29-31 ESV)
"...Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” (Luke 12:51-53 ESV)
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple..." (Luke 14:26 ESV)
Our love for Jesus must be greater than our love for family members and friends. This does not mean we do not love them. On the contrary, ...by following Jesus we can ultimately influence those we love to follow him. We must trust him and have faith he will eventually make it happen. (The word translated as "hate" in Luke 14:26 is a relative term in the Greek, not an absolute.)
Jesus' own brothers did not believe in him (John 7:5), but his brother James eventually did (Galatians 1:19), as did his other brothers and sisters (Acts 1:14; 1 Corinthians 9:5). The sons of Zebedee, James and John, left their father with the fishing nets (Matthew 4:21-22), but there is evidence they maintained contact with the family because their mother eventually made an impertinent request on their behalf (Matthew 20:21), so she had been listening to Jesus. By changing our behavior and following Jesus, those we love will see we are serious and perhaps ultimately be influenced to follow along, too.
The great news is we will find other people who will understand us and listen to us...
While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.” (Matthew 12:46-50 NIV)
These are our spiritual brothers and sisters, and they are part of the mustard tree that Jesus will grow.
UPDATE, August 21, 2022...
So, where is Jesus going? Where are we going when we follow him? The answers are in the Bible, of course.
These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ ..." (Matthew 10:5-7 ESV)
... Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. (Matthew 15:23-25 ESV)
Jesus taught his guys for forty days after his resurrection, and he told them they would soon be baptized in the Holy Spirit. Then...
[His guys] asked him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:6-8 ESV)
Notice Jesus did not correct them about the focus on Israel. He had just spent forty days teaching them, and he had not changed the message. It was still about finding the lost sheep of Israel and restoring the kingdom to Israel.
The Canaanite woman was one of the lost sheep of Israel. When Jesus went into the district of Tyre and Sidon all he did there was interact with her and then he immediately went home. The Centurion and Cornelius were lost sheep of the house of Israel, too. I covered this in great detail in the Paul's Mystery posts.
Jesus is looking for true Israelites so he can make them into his apprentices and use them to build his Kingdom. That is the task, and that is what we are supposed to do. Anything else is off-topic and unauthorized. We need to get with the Program and stay with it without getting distracted.
It will leave a visual memory in their minds that God might eventually use to bring them to repentance.
The methods Jesus teaches in the Bible are the best ways to do things, and this is one of them we need to learn to apply.
UPDATE, August 27, 2022...
1 Apparently the identity of the "mustard tree" in the parable is uncertain. I added the picture of Salvadora persica to show the kind of tree Jesus might have been referring to.
UPDATE, August 28, 2022...
Who Do You Work For?
The 1980 Olympic U.S. Men's Ice Hockey team accomplished a "miracle" by defeating the Soviet Union team, and Disney made a movie about it. There is a scene where the coach asks the young men who they play for, while putting them through a grueling workout after they played poorly in an international exhibition game. One of the players finally gives the right answer and the coach lets them go.
Jesus said...
“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven..." (Matthew 10:32-33 NIV)
He also said...
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money..." (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13 NIV)
The question is, "Who do we work for?"
I have this at the top of my Facebook profile...
I put it there because I take Jesus seriously and want to acknowledge Him before men. Was it easy to do that? No. Do I get spiritual flack for it from the Darkness because of it? Sometimes, but it's part of the job.
We need to decide who we work for, and then let the world know it. Otherwise, we are just another actor on the stage. (The Greek word for "actor" is hypocrite.)
UPDATE, September 1, 2022...
When I worked for the top person at my employment location, one of the production managers asked my boss for help. They had a problem with the quality of one of their products and his people could not solve it. My boss sent me out into the plant to find out what was going on.
One of the first things I did was show the team a picture of rowers. If rowers do not work together they are going to lose. It took some time, but we eventually figured out what had gone wrong and fixed the problem. Had the team been working together to begin with, I think they could have solved the problem themselves, and perhaps may have been able to avoid the mistake altogether.
Jesus is assembling his Team. He has equipped people with various abilities and he expects us to work together. There are different kinds of abilities.
Physical Abilities -- We all have physical bodies. Some are big, and some are small. Some are men, and some are women. Some have big hands and long arms, like me, and some are short-wasted, like my wife was. Some are athletic, and some cannot walk. Some are left-handed, but more are right-handed. Some are blessed with wealth, and some are unburdened by it.
Personality Abilities -- I recently learned about personality types, and in accordance with my particular personality type, have been learning to use this tool. There are four different aspects to personality:
How people interact with the world: Extroversion and Introversion.
How people comprehend the world: Intuition and Sensing.
How people deal with the world: Thinking and Feeling.
How people operate in the world: Perceiving and Judging.
This results in sixteen (16) distinct personality types (24 = 16), with variation in each, depending upon how extreme some of the functions are. There is no right or wrong personality; it's just the way people are. The LORD gives us each our own individual personalities, and Jesus can use them all for his purposes.
Spiritual Abilities -- The Bible talks about spiritual gifts that come from the Holy Spirit. Some churches talk about these things and encourage people to learn what their spiritual gifts are, but if people do not actually have the Holy Spirit living inside them they do not have anything from Him.
Some people may have spiritual gifts from other spirits. I recently had a conversation with a witch and she said she experienced some spiritual capabilities that seemed to fascinate her. I told her I believed her, but was not interested in what she was selling.
I have observed people who have strong intuitions seem to be more in-tune with the spiritual aspects of Creation, whereas those who are strong at sensing do not seem to notice or understand those things as well. Perhaps this is one reason Jesus taught us to heal the sick and cast out demons. Those who are strong at sensing will see the person has been physically healed, and those who have strong intuitions may need to have some garbage removed, which was true for me. In this way, all can learn the Truth and believe.
Experience -- We are each at different points in our walk, and the LORD uses our experiences to teach us and train us. Some have been at it longer than others, and that is the main reason the Bible encourages us to respect our elders and older people. If we listen to them talk about their mistakes and what they have learned, perhaps we can avoid making mistakes of our own and can begin operating at a higher level sooner than we might if we try to do things by ourselves.
Authority -- The LORD has established certain authorities. The little guy who sits in the stern of the boat calls out and tells the rowers when to pull on their oars to keep them in cadence. He also steers the boat to keep it heading in the right direction. He is small because it minimizes unnecessary weight, whereas the rowers are hulking beasts and are strong. God's ways are best and we must do things his way because he is the boss, ... and he is always right.
Paul wrote one letter to "the Ephesians." He visited Ephesus twice. The first time was just a brief visit (Acts 18), but the second time was for much longer and his influence resulted in a riot (Acts 19). He wrote to the Ephesians while he was a prisoner in Rome.
To whom was Paul writing when he wrote to "the Ephesians?"
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to God’s holy people in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 1:1-2 NIV)
He wrote to those he had been with while he was in Ephesus, to those who were his fellow, spiritual Israelites, who believed in Yeshua.
...be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:18-21 ESV)
Then he got more specific:
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:22 ESV)
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her... (v 25)
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. (v 6:1)
Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ... (v 6:5)
Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him. (v 6:9)
Earlier in his letter, Paul told them how to work together:
I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit -- just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call -- one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. (Ephesians 4:1-7 ESV)
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds [pastors] and teachers, ... (v 11)
And he told them why:
... to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (vs 12-16)
Together, we are Jesus. Together. Us. We spiritual Israelites. Not "the neighbors;" not "the world." Us. We must learn to discern the difference, and submit to each other.
Paul was an apostle. I am not Paul, and I am not an apostle.
I am not an evangelist either, nor a pastor (shepherd). Those are not my things.
Whether I am a teacher, or not, is for others to decide.
What people should take note of, I believe, are my experiences -- those amazing things I talked about elsewhere in this blog. I believe those things point to what my role is.
Please listen to me and learn from me, ... as I try to listen to you and learn from you. We are Jesus in this present Age.
