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Jesus is Our Sabbath

Posted by jefferis on February 24, 2024 in Religion, theology

Reprint from Scholars Corner

Jesus is our Sabbath, our Day of Rest.  He is the fulfillment of the Law. For he said, 
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Matthew 5:17 (ESV)  Therefore it says: 
“It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 1:30–31 (NIV)   Our righteousness and holiness are to be found in Jesus alone; and in his labors that fulfilled the law we can find our rest. 

That is why it says of Jesus, “For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 
“Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”  Hebrews 4:8–11 (ESV) In other words, if you want a true Sabbath rest, then you will rest in Jesus and his fulfilled work of the cross, because the Old Covenant had failed to bring the people of God into a complete rest, but was a sign of what was to come. 

So, the question I have for your is this: Are you more holy or more righteous if you worship the Lord on one day or another?  Clearly not, for neither Noah or Abraham are recorded as having a Sabbath day of rest, but both were accounted righteous before God, even before the Law, the Torah, was given. Abraham was accounted righteous by faith, as Paul says, and Noah was found to be righteous and blameless in his generation (Gen. 6:9). 

 Before the Torah and before the covenant with Abraham, we have a covenant made by God with all the nations in Noah. It is for this reason that when Paul went before the Apostles in Jerusalem, he was not told to insist upon the Sabbath among the gentiles (or circumcision), but to walk in the covenant of Noah:   
“For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.” Acts 15:28–29 (ESV)

Indeed, it would have been hard to insist upon a Sabbath rest for Christians in a secular empire, where slaves and employees were required to work 7 days a week.  Such a setting would have made obedience to the Sabbath impossible.  It is for this reason that Christians would gather early in the morning or late at night, when they were free from their duties. 

Paul is even more stringent in his approach, warning against sowing argument and division in the Body of Christ over such things as the right day to worship. 
“Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.” Colossians 2:16–17 (ESV),  and 
“One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.”Romans 14:5–6 (ESV)  Paul clearly declares liberty of conscience in regard to the day of worship, and so should we, lest we become divisive in our walk with our fellow believers. 

You have said that you following a Torah observing church, but the Torah is not just the 10 Commandments, it is the whole Law, the 5 books of Moses. As such, not only Saturday worship, but food laws and beard, hair, and robe tassels are part of that law.  However, again, going back to Noah,  whereas the Hebrews were instructed not to eat certain foods, Noah was given every food: 

“Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. 

“Whoever sheds the blood of man, 
by man shall his blood be shed, 
for God made man in his own image.”  Genesis 9:3–6 (ESV)

This is again why the Apostles did not insist on Torah Kosher food laws, but reminded them to abstain from strangled food which would have its life blood in it.  Again, those who want to reinstitute Kosher regulations are clearly violating what the scriptures say on multiple occasions: 

And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) Mark 7:18–19 (ESV) 

“Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving 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 thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. “ 1 Timothy 4:1–5 (ESV)

Here we see that reinstituting Kosher food laws is contrary to the New Covenant in Christ who made all foods clean, and may indeed be a deceitful spirit and a doctrine of demons.  

So, what was Jesus’ attitude towards the Sabbath? Clearly, he honored it, as it says
“And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read.”  Luke 4:16 (ESV)   However, he also rejected the misappropriation of the Law used  to bind people up in legalism and judgment, which was not the purpose of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made to set people free, and so, he was in conflict with the spirit of religion that condemned him for healing on the Sabbath, and he used scripture as a precedent declaring freedom from the way the Law was being misused:

One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” 

Mark 2:23–28 (ESV)

 If the Law binds rather than frees, then it has been misused to enslave.  As Lord of the Sabbath, again, He says He is our Rest, and the fulfillment of the Sabbath is in Him. That is, if we trust Him to be our righteousness. But Paul says, if we look to follow the Law, we are actually looking to our own performance before the Law, and it offers no salvation:

“For all who rely on works of the Law (Torah) are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Galatians 3:10–12  

“Now before faith came, we were held captive under the Torah, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. So then, the Torah was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Galatians 3:23-26

Now, does this mean that the moral requirements of the Law are no longer valid? As Paul says, “by no means.” For the moral law preexisted the Torah: Noah was told the penalty for murder was capital punishment. Righteousness required also honoring God with your substance, lifestyle, and reverence. For we are called to be a Holy People, and Jesus summed this up with by saying “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 22:36–40  

Love of others forbids adultery, sexual immorality, dishonor, theft, murder, and Love of God forbids idolatry, but requires us to put God first above all.  We are called to be Holy in all our ways, as Peter says, “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” 1 Peter 1:14–16 (ESV)   But holiness goes beyond the letter of the law, it includes the attitudes of the heart, which Jesus pointed out. And no man can escape the depravity of the heart except by the grace and power of the Holy Spirit who lives within us and gives us the Lord’s righteousness as a gift, whereby he gradually conforms us to the likeness of the Son. 

Furthermore, the number 8 is significant in Hebrew. Being raised on the 1st day of the week, Jesus made all days Holy as we should live in them, not by one day a week, but every day.  Jesus was raised on the 8th day, which is the number in Hebrew of new Creation, for there were 8 people on the Ark when the world was cleansed and made new.  On the eighth day, every newborn male was circumcised, signifying the cleansing from the world and new relationship to God.  So also, on the eighth day, Jesus has sanctified all days by his resurrection from the dead, therefore, every day should be holy unto Him. Keeping the Sabbath on Saturday may fulfill the letter of the Law, but keeping the Sabbath every day fulfills the spirit of the Law. 

Now as to the issue you raised: “And we have become convinced and saddened that we were not observing the Sabbath, where the church, beginning with the change in Roman law by Constantine outlawed the Sabbath and replaced it with Sunday “resurrection day” or the “1st day”. There is a lack of historical understanding here.  Constantine did not outlaw Sabbath worship and there was no penalty for worshipping on the Sabbath.  He did not even create a Sabbath day on Sunday, but created a civil day of rest each week, just as we create holidays like Memorial Day, or a 5 day work week. And there was no civil penalty for not worshipping on Sunday:

Here the article inserts the edict from the source Codex Justinianis lib. 3, tit. 12, 3: “On the venerable Day of the Sun let the magistrates and people residing in cities rest, and let all workshops be closed. In the country, however, persons engaged in agriculture may freely and lawfully continue their pursuits; because it often happens that another day is not so suitable for grain-sowing or for vine-planting; lest by neglecting the proper moment for such operations the bounty of heaven should be lost. (Given the 7th day of March, Crispus and Constantine being consuls each of them for the second time [A.D. 321]”)

In point of fact, however, the Christians had regularly been meeting on Sunday as the Lord’s Day, as is clear in scripture, since it was a day to celebrate the resurrection: 

It is well documented that the early church adopted Sunday as their day of worship. Acts 20:7 speaks of this, “On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people …” and 1 Corinthians 16:2, “On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.”  

The practice of Sunday worship among Christians was widespread well before Constantine. For a more in depth look at this issue,  I advise these sites among others: https://www.christian-history.org/sabbath-to-sunday.html and 1.2Early Christianity.  When Constantine made Sunday a civil day of rest, it allowed the majority of Christians, who were already celebrating on Sunday to gather together more freely.  In other words, he chose that day because Christians were already worshipping on that day, not to impose it against their customs. In fact, Constantine did not have authority over the bishops in their role as leaders of the church and instructions on days of worship.  

“Constantine, as emperor, only had jurisdiction over civil observance of the day of rest. Constantine did not have authority within the church to designate or change the day of worship.  In fact, Constantine helped stop the persecution of Christians by making Sunday a day of rest, so they could not be singled out for discrimination by a mostly-pagan populous.” https://www.examiningthewmscog.com/did-constantine-abolish-the-sabbath/

The idea that Constantine imposed Sunday worship and banned Sabbath worship, which was still practiced among the Jews and some Jewish Christians, is just false. Rather, he allowed what was already common practice among the church to be protected.  This is proved by the earliest writings of the church, starting circa 86 A.D. 

Ignatius (appointed by Peter as Bishop of Antioch) in the IX chapter of his letter to the Magnesians in 110 A.D. writes:

“If they who were concerned in old things, arrived at a newness of hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living according to the Lord’s day, by which our life sprung from him and by his death (whom certain persons deny)…we have been made his disciples, let us live according to Christianity.”

Barnabas (named in Acts 14:14, who was an apostle and the companion of Paul) writes in the XV chapter of his Epistle in 120 A.D.

“Wherefore, also, we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day, also, on which Jesus rose again from the dead.”

Justin Martyr (one of the first Christian apologists) wrote in the LXVII chapter of his first apology in 140 A.D.

“Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly, because it is the first day on which God, having wrought a change in the darkness, made the world; and Jesus Christ our savior , on the same day rose from the dead.”

The Didache (considered by all major scholars to be the most authoritative historical writing on early Christianity outside the Bible) stated in 80-90 A.D.

“And on the day of our Lord’s resurrection, which is the Lord’s daymeet more diligently.”

Don’t just take our word for it though.  See for yourself, by googling, or visiting your local library and learn exactly what the first Christians thought about Sunday vs Saturday observance.  Note well, how everything written both before and after 325 AD. unequivocally states that Christians observed Sunday.  https://www.examiningthewmscog.com/did-constantine-abolish-the-sabbath/

So, in conclusion, from the earliest days of the New Covenant in a New Creation, the Christians would gather on Sunday to celebrate the Resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. It was not a day imposed upon the people of God by Constantine or any other emperor. With practice and later church councils and the Roman church,  there may have been a pejorative push to worship on Sunday and discount those who maintained a Saturday worship, because religious legalism crept into the organized church. However, that assumption only came about because the church had already practiced the worship of God on Sundays for centuries.  And going back to a Saturday Sabbath, and insisting on it as the only right way to worship God violates both the spirit of the law and sows needless division into the Body of Christ.  By contrast, we are to honor one another regardless of which day one chooses as his day of worship. 

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The Left Has No Guardrails

Posted by jefferis on December 14, 2023 in Culture, Political Events, Religion, theology

Guardrails on a road serve the purpose of protecting you in dangerous places so that you don’t drive into a ditch or off a cliff. Guardrails are a safety mechanism to keep you on the road. If there is no centerline or white sideline, driving in the dark can be treacherous, and if there is no guardrail, it is easy to drive off the road into a ditch. The issue the Left is facing is that it refuses to recognize any centerline or sideline, and it considers guardrails as a sign of systemic racism and oppression.  Take for instance the idea that mathematics is inherently racist, recently promoted by the Oregon Department of Education which said that a focus on getting the correct answer is part of white supremacist culture. The idea that there are no standards, no right and wrong, no truth except personal preferences, and that everything which questions this ideology is a symptom of a culture of oppression… well, that leads to outcomes that are marginally, if not completely, insane. 

This is the problem that the Left faces.  It has no standard by which it can judge right or wrong, and therefore whatever extreme or insane idea presents itself, the Left must accept as a legitimate expression of personal preference. A man can get pregnant, a woman can become a man by surgery, a person can identify as a cat, and personal pronouns are a preference, not a reference to genetics and chromosomes. But that is not the end of it. The Left finds any scientific fact that disputes the reality of these claims to truth to be an instrument of bigotry and oppression, instead of evidence, and therefore can be discarded. The Left screams “trust the science” regarding climate change and covid “vaccines,” but rails against science when it states the obvious facts of DNA.  The problem is that the Left, because of it supposed regard for tolerance, cannot distinguish between mental illness and normality. Anything anyone feels must be true, because it is true for them, regardless of whether it is scientifically correct.  To disagree with someone’s feelings about themselves, is therefore bigotry and hate speech. If you choose a ticket to cuckoo town, why do you feel the need to force me to go along with your charade?  Perhaps because, inwardly you know, what you believe is not true, and you cannot stand to hear any disagreement because you are unsettled within yourself. To question you means you must question yourself, and because you are not at peace with the lie you have told yourself, you must prevent other people from questioning you at all. The only speech your will permit is by those who submit to your demands to support you in your psychosis. All other speech is forbidden. 

One of the reasons we see a fracture in the Democratic party is that, even within the liberal cause, they cannot call any of their extremist constituents “out of bounds.” Traditional liberals, like Bill Mahr, who truly believe in free and open debate, are being ostracized by the Left, for allowing people to disagree with the woke agenda. Traditional liberals are recognizing that the Left is no longer liberal, but totalitarian. But they are being pushed out of the party, or are forced to make sycophantic apologies for telling the truth. This sounds similar to when the KGB forced people to sign confessions to anti-revolutionary behavior, whether real or imagined. After beatings, threats to their families, these forced confessions were then used to justify their execution or exile to Siberia. Liberals now have to sign this confession of error to be readmitted into the party. 

Perhaps the worst consequence of this lack of guardrails it the abuse of children promoted by big money and big pharma, forcing puberty blockers and transgender ideology on the formative youth. Generations of psychological studies on pre-teens and junior high school aged kids have shown their identities to be in flux and the greatest desire is to conform, be liked and fit in. Their brains are not mature enough to make decisions about themselves, much less their future selves. Yet, schools and radicals on the Left are all about forcing life altering decisions on the young and preventing parents from interfering or even knowing about what is going on in their children’s lives. The idea that there is no such thing as gender, or that gender is a social construct, flies in the face of the most basic science, but now it must be considered true or you are considered an oppressor.  This is madness. Woke culture has decided that the patients should be in charge of the psych ward as they know better than the doctors who are treating them. 

The root of the Left’s dilemma is that it has no standard by which to distinguish truth from error. If the universe is a matter of chance and gender is a construct, there is no scientific reality, and no order to nature, then by what measure do you count what is true?  Feelings? Even proponents of the Theory of Evolution would embrace gender as necessary to understand nature and evolution. Humans, insects, and animals would not exist without reproduction through gender differences. The Left has decided to try and overcome this fundamental truth of nature through ideology and propaganda. George Orwell called this DoubleThink: a process of indoctrination where the subject is expected to accept a clearly false statement as the truth.    But reality is intransigent and will not change its nature just to suit some personal preference. Even if you identify as a bird, if you jump off a 10-story roof, you will not fly. Gravity will make bloody mincemeat of your ideology using the hard pavement of reality. The fact that the government is now trying to enforce this delusion as a matter of public policy makes this indoctrination into GroupThink* all the more threatening to true liberty and freedom. 

All this error of thought goes back to a rejection of God as the author of Creation, who has put into existence both order and purpose. Because God represents a restraint upon lawlessness, license, and moral perversion, the Left must reject the idea of God, and any order in Creation. And so, the Left is left without bounds, without ultimate truth or standards, and like a rudderless ship, it is blown by whatever wind comes its way. The only guardrail the Left has seems to be a hatred for anyone who disagrees with them. That provides a distant rail on the opposite side of the road but leaves them open to driving off the cliff on their own side. Weaving like a drunken man, all other drivers must Be Ware! You don’t have any rights to the road they travel on. 

The bottom line is that God created humanity with an order and a purpose:

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  Genesis 1:27–28

Those who choose to rail against this Created order, rail against God Himself. The consequence of this rebellion is deception, disease, violence and perversion of God’s image in humanity. It isn’t liberty, but slavery to self and emotions, which leads to blaming others for all one’s problems and to accusing others of all sorts of supposed offences. In other words, rather than look in the mirror, these slaves of an unsettled conscience seek to close off debate, shut down disagreement, restrict free speech, cancel and censor anyone who dares disagree. The fact that they cannot stand open debate or disagreement reveals the inward weakness of their position. They aren’t really confident in what they believe, no matter how much they protest. So, they resort to anger, threats and violence to shut others down, which only proves the tenuous nature of the one-legged stool upon which they stand. 

The only resolution to this dilemma is repentance: a return to faith in God and in the order of His Creation. This repentance provides liberty from self and freedom from the downward spiral of insecurity brought about by believing in a lie about who you are and who He created you to be. He created you to be wonderful, to be an emblem of His image, a thing of beauty, and someone who reveals the Glory of God. Do not settle for less than what you are created to be. You were created in the very image of God.

*Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational or dysfunctional decision-making outcome. Cohesiveness, or the desire for cohesiveness, in a group may produce a tendency among its members to agree at all costs.[1] This causes the group to minimize conflict and reach a consensus decision without critical evaluation.[2][3]

image by: Image by Davgood Kirshot from Pixabay

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Linkedin Is Turning into a Spam Facilitator

Posted by jefferis on December 5, 2023 in Technology

Today I received 4 identical messages from different senders saying that their company was expanding into the USA, etc. I reported these messages to Linkedin, and apparently none of them violate their spam terms. The fact that all the messages are identical and all from different users indicates to me that some kind of spam or AI service is being used. I get the same message every day or two. Yet Linkedin cannot identify these repetitive spams as spam.

I am also getting a bunch of invitations from Asian girls wanting to connect to me, because they have “seen my good work, and it so be nice to be connect you…” They barely write proper English and have pictures of pretty young Asian girls. I am so glad they think it would be worthwhile to connect to a small-office, home-office web service from Texas.

I am also getting many inquires to offer web design services… hmmm… from India.

I realize that a lot of people are trying to use Linkedin to create business connections. They are paying for the ability to approach me, but 500 connections may improve their SEO, but it sure doesn’t help to make irrelevant connections to someone like me, who is in a related field but not a likely candidate for their services.

In other words, Linkedin is become more annoying than useful. I enjoy connecting to friends and colleagues, but a lot of it is becoming more time consuming than useful to me.

Unless Linked in gets better filters for AI spamming, I may be bowing out.

Here is a sample of the identical messages I receive:

  • Anna Campbell  12:11 PMHi, are we related in any way? Linkedln recommended you to me several times. Out of curiosity, I checked your profile. Linkedln was right, your experience and achievements attracted me and though our careers are different but I believe we can learn a lot from each other. When we travel to each other’s city we can also have a cup of coffee together and exchange more experiences whether in work or life. It would be fun. If you agree, please give me your # and let’s keep in touch! Surely we will be good friends? Sincere best wishes! 🤗 Anna
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It Isn’t Hate Speech If It Is True

Posted by jefferis on November 8, 2023 in Culture, Political Events, Religion, theology

It isn’t hate speech if it is true. Apparently, according to YouTube and the slavish sycophants on the left, anything that dares to question transgender ideology is now classified as hate speech and can get you banned.  Facts are facts, and feelings are feelings, but feelings are not facts.  How a person feels about themselves, or others, or reality itself, does not make it true. It is a projection of a thought process and an expression of internal motivations that speak to a person’s perceptions about the world or to one’s self-perception. But as with any feeling or thought, a person is liable to deception, especially self-deception.  Believing something does not make it true. You can believe the earth is flat, but that does not make your belief true. It makes you a denier of reality.  

The facts are that 99.9% of all human beings are born with either XX or XY chromosomes. The former makes them genetically and materially female, and the latter, male.  Reality is not pliable. Beliefs contrary to reality are symptoms of psychosis, not liberation. No matter how much one asserts they are something other than their DNA, their assertions do not make a difference to the cold, hard reality of facts or science.   

Rather than dealing with reality, we are now dealing with an ideological /political, religious dogma being forced upon everyone who dares to question the prevailing narrative in the media, in government, the schools, or politics. This movement is trying to silence every sane person through fear and intimidation so that they will shut up and not speak out about an obvious truth: there are only 2 genders. The fact that this movement cannot stand to hear a challenge or freaks out at any disagreement is proof of their inability to face reality and of the inherent weakness of their beliefs. What is worse, rather than a respect for free speech and disagreements, this movement wants to shut down and cancel anyone who dares speak the truth.    It reminds me of a little child who sticks his fingers in his ears and starts yelling “nana nana nana na” in order not to hear what someone is saying.  

The attempt to force others to use clearly non-scientific pronouns is a violation of the 1stAmendment in 4 different ways.  

  1. It is preventing others from exercising free speech.
  2. It is an attempt to promote a belief system (a religious ideology) on others, and therefore is an establishment of religion if ordered by a government agency, public school, state or federal institution. The fact that the Biden administration is trying to establish transgenderism in the military and preventing religious disagreement, is also an establishment of religion. 
  3. By promoting a belief system and forbidding disagreement,  it is preventing the free exercise of religion in others. 
  4. It is forcing speech contrary to one’s belief under threat of lawsuit, job loss, or persecution by the courts. Therefore it is coercive establishment of religion.

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

https://law.justia.com/constitution/us/amendment-01/09-freedom-of-belief.html

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The Spirits of Fear, Horror, and Witchcraft

Posted by jefferis on October 29, 2023 in Technology

Fear, Horror, & Witchcraft

The Spirits of Fear, Horror and Witchcraft

2 Timothy 1:6–7 For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God has not given us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

1 John 4:16–18 ESV

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

›     What is the Spirit of Fear?

Deuteronomy 18:9–14 (ESV)

“When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.

›     What is an Abomination?

Have you ever smelled rotten meat or rotten human flesh?  Foul, disgusting, vile, sickening.  Something that God absolutely hates and finds disgusting. 

Gary has talked about opening the doors to satanic and demonic oppression, and the occult is the easiest way satan can pervert and enslave children and adults. 

              As a nation, we have now about 10,000 practicing witches. Over 2 million Ouija boards are now sold annually. It is the most popular parlor game today. In Cleveland, Ohio, you can rent a witch from an agency for parties, who will do anything from fortune-telling to conducting seances.

            Witchcraft is the “IN” thing in our schools. Thousands of public schools—not allowed to have prayer or the Bible—are teaching courses in witchcraft.

            A major television station had a potpourri of news and showed the great interest high school students have in witches. The commentator said, “Nearly every respectable high school these days has its own witch.” The program pictured a pretty 16-year-old, eyes staring and voice chanting incantations, conjuring up all sorts of spells. A psychiatrist intoned that he thought the trend toward witchcraft was “healthy” for some because it helps relieve aggressive feelings.  

Example: Rabbit killing, Seeing demons and having haunted houses. 

Harry Potter, spells, incantation, occult training. 

But the kids will read!  Well no Duh! The spell of witchcraft is enticing.  

›     There is no such thing as white witches or white magic. Why? 

Witchcraft and sorcery, seances, etc…. It is trying to go to satan get supernatural power  or know the future without going to God.

It is a counterfeit of prophecy, Holy Spirit signs and wonders and miracles.  

Because it is going to the devil it is rebellion against God and puts you under demonic oppression, because  you have surrendered your will to serve demonic powers. 

God’s battle against evil supernatural magic was on display when Moses confronted the priests of Pharoah.  God would not allow Moses to know his Name… 

How the Spirit of Fear entered me. 

Horror is from the devil to make you afraid. 

Halloween is a demonic counterfeit of Worship. It involves a threat : I will trick you if you don’t give me a treat. 

Halloween is used as a a high holy day for witches and demonic covenant, child and animal sacrifices. 

›     Why would you use for entertainment  the things that God hates?

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Submission, Authority, and Power

Posted by jefferis on August 13, 2023 in Religion, Sermons, theology

Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 

But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

Matthew 3:13–17 

Why Did Jesus Have to Submit to Baptism? 

John was the last bearer of the Law and the Prophets and carried the anointing of the Word…  

Jesus was submitting to the Law and the Prophets through the Baptist. 

Only  then did he receive the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit. 

—

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 

but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5–11

There was no record of Jesus doing miracles before his Baptism. As a man, he was not able to do miracles in his own strength and nature. The power came through his total reliance and dependence upon His Father and The Holy Spirit. 

When he had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, “Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.” And he said to him, “I will come and heal him.” But the centurion replied, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. 

For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” 

When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 

And to the centurion Jesus said, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very moment. Matthew 8:5–13ESV

What was the Centurion’s Faith?   

His authority came through his submission to his generals and ultimately the Emperor.  

He recognized Jesus’ authority over disease came from his submission to God the Father. He was under command authority so he had authority to command.

Submission is not Servility.  It is a willing sacrifice of self-esteem in order to esteem others more highly than yourself. It is to excel in giving honor to others.  

Think about this: John the Baptist was an imperfect man, and yet the perfect man, Jesus, submitted to his anointing.   

We submit to the Word of God in a Man, but we give honor to the man through whom God is speaking and using.  Just as we are to give honor to one another. 

Note:  We are not to submit to anything ungodly or contrary to the Word of God, even if told to do so by those in authority.  We give honor to those in authority who are imperfect like ourselves,  and cannot expect them to be without flaws before we give them honor. 

We also allow for disagreements over minor interpretations of scripture. I have seen more pride coming from those who think they have the only avenue to the truth than from those who give grace and allow for different interpretations on matters not essential to the faith. 

There are 2 types of submission which God honors: 

1, is to those in authority, whether natural or spiritual; and

2, the other is to one another in mutual submission and honor.

Psalm 133:1–3 ESV

Behold, how good and pleasant it is

when brothers dwell in unity!

It is like the precious oil on the head,

—

How does submission work in practice? At work, you submit to your boss; on a worship team you submit to the worship leader; in a church you submit to pastors and elders who are to lead and guide you in all gentleness and humility and to bring correction when necessary. 

—

1 Peter 5:1–11

So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 

shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 

not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. 

Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” 

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 

Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. 

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 

To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

You can’t resist the devil unless and until you submit yourself to God. Otherwise you are in the devil’s hands. 

Examples of Effectiveness: 

Submission is the lamp connected to the light switch.  

No King but Jesus:  Protestants vs. Catholics

Flesh:  Independent Self Will – Do it on our own, decide for ourselves, don’t need to rely upon God. Self Made Man, Be all You Can Be. It isn’t really a sin.  (Haughtiness)

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Introduction to the Deliverance Ministry

Posted by jefferis on March 22, 2023 in Religion, Sermons, theology

Last week’s message was on forgiveness: Some may struggled and feel like you can’t forgive: Forgiveness is an act of the will not of the emotions. In fact, your emotions won’t get healed until you forgive.
Gary will be preaching about demons. I’m going to do a quick introduction into deliverance ministry.
The Body of Christ (that means you) has authority to deliver people from demonic bondage. Jesus Said:
“Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole 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 cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God. And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the message by accompanying signs.” (Mark 16:14–20, ESV)
Not everything is a demon:
PTSD, Trauma, Satanic ritual abuse, and sexual abuse can result in Split personality disorder. There is no demon to cast out here, but the past needs to be faced,
Difference between demons and principalities and powers. We have authority over demons, but not principalities and powers. Against those we wrestle, we don’t cast out:
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:10–12, ESV)

“Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.” (Jude 5–13, ESV)
How the devil disarms us…through fear
Entrance of Fear (my story)
Opening Doors for the evil one to oppress you
Signs of oppression:
addictions to sex, drugs, alcohol, gambling
fear of the occult
compulsions and uncontrolled anger
Unforgiveness – cause and/or result of oppression

Getting Back the Key: Renunciation of past occult practices and repentance: https://www.scholarscorner.com/occult-oppression/

Getting Back the Key: Renunciation of past occult practices and repentance.

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The Color of the Church: God’s answer to CRT, Racism, DEI, & Woke Ideology

Posted by jefferis on March 13, 2023 in Art, Culture, Musical Compositions, Political Events, Religion, theology

The Color of the Church: God’s answer to CRT, Racism, Woke Ideology

Back To Life – Zahriya Zachary

The People of God come in all colors but make up one family. Watch the joy as we worship together!

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Coming to the End of Yourself

Posted by jefferis on February 20, 2023 in Religion, Sermons, theology

The sound quality is meh… had an echo we couldn’t fix.

Welcome

Habakkuk 2:4  “The Righteous Shall Live by his Faithfulness.”  – Quoted by Paul.  In Hebrew, faithfulness means trustworthy or steadfast.  It is different from faith. It is being faithful to do what is right and follow the Lord’s leading even when you don’t have faith to move mountains. 

Genesis 16, 17:15–21 1 Samuel 21:10–22:2 Mark 14:26–31 Matthew 26:69–75 John 21:15–19

God uses people who are broken of faith in themselves. Examples: Abraham, David and Peter.

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Abandoning Reason to Find God

Posted by jefferis on February 8, 2023 in Religion, theology

I have given up reason in order to see with the eyes of faith, for only through faith does the world make sense. Reason reaches its limit with what it can see and hold and measure, but it cannot see what is yet to come. Faith, it says, is the substance of things hoped for and the conviction of things unseen. These things are not accessible in the natural realm of reason or the senses. 

Reason stands at the precipice of mystery and can only look into its abyss with wonder and awe. It cannot measure the unseen, nor count the power of resurrection. It is beyond the mind of man. 

Ecclesiastes says “God has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”   In other words, man can ponder the infinity of time and space, but does not have the ability to comprehend it. Not by natural reason can one understand eternal things or things unseen. 

Reason scoffs at faith because it does not understand it. It mocks what it cannot know as if what it does not know cannot be. Who are you, oh finite creature and small of mind, to think that because you cannot fit eternity in your small hand, that things beyond you cannot exist? Were you there when the foundations of the earth and the universe were created?  In your blip of existence on this earth, do you think you can see all and know all? You are but dust and to dust, you shall return. What hubris to think we can know there is no God when we cannot even understand why this universe holds together? Could it be that it is held together by Love? Quarks, muons, and bosons are expressions of love holding things together?

It is impossible with Reason alone, but with the eyes of faith, we can see the beginning from the end; for we have the mind of Christ. 

“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:14–16, ESV)

It says we have been given the mind of Christ.  What is that? For those who are in faith, in whom the Holy Spirit resides, it is to see truth through a reborn spirit and a spiritual communion with the divine. In the mind of Christ, God speaks to the human soul, and it is heard not with the ears but by the spirit within us. Reason and logic can be an impediment to this communication because they confine understanding to the material world; to that which can be measured by natural means through the physical senses. What has not been seen or experienced with the physical senses cannot be true; or if hoped for, cannot be believed unless encountered. 

But the eyes of faith see beforehand what is yet to be, believes, and calls it into being. 

By faith we understand that the  worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. (Hebrews 11:3) 

We are to walk (or live) by faith, and not by sight, which only the man who has the Spirit of the Living God within him can do. Only by yielding to God’s wisdom and His understanding can we surrender our own and then walk in the presence of Living God. His ways are above our ways and his thoughts above our own. Only in faith and by faith can we be free of the constraints of our self-centered thoughts and deeds. Then our limited minds can be transcended by a heavenly invasion of divine thoughts spoken into our spirits.   

Lest someone think that by liberation from reason, we can engage in lawless imagination and create our own truth, it cannot be. For the mind not subjected to Jesus Christ and the Word of God written in Scripture, cannot have the mind of God. Many occult and lawless cults are so led astray, creating their own “revelations” that have nothing to do with the immovable truth set in stone by the Law of God. They are led astray by the imaginations of their own minds. They have not transcended, they have descended into darkness. 

To abandon reason as our chief cornerstone of truth is to subject reason to its proper position: to become a servant of faith and not the master of it. For in searching the riches of Scriptures and meditating on the mind of God, the sweet reasonableness of faith is revealed in a relationship of love for God and of God for us. Yes it makes sense, through the eyes of faith and there is a reason in it, but it is not subject to reason; any more than love is subject to reason. 

The heart has reasons that the mind cannot comprehend, and chief among those is Love. Love fulfills the heart and the soul in a way that reason cannot. Reason can stand at the edge of love and point to it, but cannot grasp it or reduce it to a mathematical formula. For anyone who loves, has been in love, or longs for love, reason is not and cannot be your master. Reason must sit before the mystery of love and be in awe. Who would not abandon reason for the sake of true love that does no harm? Yet it says: “God is Love.” To be loved by God is to be taken far above these earthly bounds to the glory of a heavenly intimacy that calms all fears, heals all wounds, and restores all hope.  Faith and love working together make one truly whole. 

Only when we give up trying to confine God to our rational understanding and leap the leap of faith to trust in Love can we find our place of peace and contentment.  Reason alone is a faulty guide, like a broken crutch that sends us in circles as we lean upon it.  But reason as a servant of faith can lead us straight into the deeper things of God. 

I have been burdened with a restless mind always seeking answers and desiring proof but never settled. I have found myself wanting in so many ways. Trying to understand God with my mind has caused me so much doubt and confusion. “How can these things be?”  My broken crutch would send me in endless circles. Thinking could point me to the mystery of healings and miracles and faith, but it would not let me cross over. Bound by reason, the thoughts of my natural mind, were prison bars that would not let me trust the God of all creation. Yet slowly yielding my right to be right and my mind to be my master, I have opened the door for God to come in to my house and be all that He wants to be in me.  I am just beginning to yield my mind with its limitations to the open-ended possibilities of all that God wants to do. O Lord, let my thoughts be taken captive by you,  King of the Universe.

Come, Lord Jesus, Holy Spirit, and Father: take captive my thoughts and mind and yield them to your will and your way, for the sake of your glory and beauty. Amen.

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