Two night ago, I woke up in the middle of the night and heard one word. Speiss. That's all I really needed because I knew what I was to do... I've read enough books about how religion has infiltrated into politics and all that entails. Now, I needed to move on from those and talk about Jesus. He Loves His Children, You Know... And, His Love Is Greater Than Any Other Who You May Care to Love... I've been in Peace since the time I got another message: I've Got This Glenda...
I believe that what is happening right now in America is God's Plan. He has been watching how so many people are being hurt, murdered, and even rejected because of who they are. Those who are not white. Those who are not from one specific political party. Those who have chosen power, hate, and violence, over Love... The Love that Jesus asked us to receive from Him. A Love that would allow us to both love God and love our neighbors as well... In yesterday's review, I pointed out that Jesus didn't say Love All--but these people... This book that I began to read the same night that I heard the author's name, includes commentary by the author. What he is suggesting is something that, to a lesser extent, I had known and recognized for many years...
Jesus gave us a new Life In HIM. He died for US! ALL of US... For most of my life I've been a person who asks WHY. Since 2016, I've been asking WHY some chose to follow the former president, while at the same time saying that He was chosen... Now, I do believe that God does choose people. I'm One of Them... But, there are MILLIONS who also are chosen of God, through His Son. He extended a Hand to those of us who would be living on His Planet named Earth and even at one point Sent His Son!!! To Die For US! And then, He returned to His Father, but He left His Spirit within each of us... All we had to do is open our heart and mind to hear His ongoing Message...
But just like those who chose Barabbas over two thousand years ago, to live, many have never actually listened to the words of Jesus, allowing them to be learned and remembered in our minds... Those who were left after Jesus went back to be with His Father, continued doing exactly what they had always done?!? Why? Why had they chosen Barabbas to live rather than Jesus? If you think very hard, without allowing your own opinions and life fog up your thinking, you may remember what Jesus Himself taught... Jesus was not on Earth to establish a rich kingdom where we could worship Him rather than God Almighty. The Great I AM!
Jesus told us not to worry about our lives, that He would provide, just as he did with the birds and all of creation. He told us that riches here on earth was not important, even that we should give up all that we owned to enter His Kingdom. Yet, how many place money, riches, all that make us popular and a leader here on earth... Even though it is worthless if we do not Love... Many have been given riches and used to help others here on earth... Jimmy Carter comes to mind as one of our politicians who gave part of his life in service to our nation. And, when he was not reelected, he simply continued to serve people all over the world. Truly He had been called by God... I remember a lady, wife of a pastor, at a church I attended half a life ago, who literally beamed Love. Her husband had died and she had continued her Love for all God's children as long as she lived as well... We didn't have to wonder--His Love flowed outward to anybody within her presence... Not all are called to be such outward servants of God... But when I asked my foot doctor to pray for me at my side when he was operating on me, He did that. I heard him respond to a question that, yes, I had asked for his prayer and he did as I asked, but added that he prayed in advance before all of his surgeries... I remember one of the thousands of writers I have known in my life. I've told this story before... His Name is Harold Michael Harvey, a Black lawyer whose books I'd read and had the chance to talk with him on social sites. One time I was needing prayer and I asked him to pray for me...He immediately began! I'm sure I could go on...just as many of you could... I don't possess that outward show of love as many people do... I'm a Listener, though, and when God needs somebody to listen and share His words, I'm one of those people, ready and waiting to pass on His Call to Love!
Do you Speak Jesus? What gift do you have that God asked you to use? I believe the author of The Light of the World was given a very important job. He was to be specific and open to tell the world that their continued use of rules, commandments, even some prayers were nothing unless we Loved our Neighbors. My guess is that he has been criticized, turned away from and, yet, he continued to write the book as He was directed. It is up to you whether you read his book, which includes his commentary... Or, just start to read the first four chapters of The New Testament... Or, saying it another way... Read the Words of Jesus Alone! After all, He died for us, after traveling the world at that time, spreading his love, demonstrating how we were to act toward others, and assuring us that He would provide a messenger for us to remain in contact with Him!
What I know is that there is joy, hope, and assurance crossing our nation these days. I've seen one candidate for our presidency speak about helping those of us who need help in so many ways... While the other speaks of violence, hate, and white supremacy... If you cannot see and know the difference, I urge you to talk to Jesus... And start Speaking Jesus... Here's a little of what you will be reading...and Hearing...
Recovering That Which Has Been Lost…
To those who think they know “Jesus Christ,” the following illustrations will help you understand that which has been lost. Imagine you were kidnapped and put in a horrible place, and other than the kidnapper, there was only one person on the planet who knew where you were. Fortunately, this person cared about you and although they were half way around the planet, they knew someone near you who could rescue you. So, they wrote a message to the prospective rescuer, telling him exactly where you were and how you could be rescued. They then mailed the message to the prospective rescuer. The message arrived safely at the remote post office, however the post office employee only delivered mail to the rescuer occasionally. So, he took the letter and placed it in a large envelope with many other letters to the rescuer, and on the outside of that envelope was written, “Important Messages.” By the time the rescue letter was delivered to the rescuer, it was just one note among many hundreds in the large envelope labeled, “Important Messages.” Therefore, your note was ‘drowned’ in a sea of other people’s notes, and thus you had little hope of being free from your bondage any time soon, if at all.
Here is another illustration to help you understand what has been lost. Imagine you are stranded on a remote island with only one piece of paper, pen and bottle. So you write a note to tell those who find the bottle where you are and your situation and you throw the bottle into the ocean. The bottle finds a current which carries the bottle towards land, but there are thousands of other bottles in that current as well. It seems there were many people who, while not desperately needing to be rescued like yourself, nevertheless greatly enjoyed putting messages in bottles and throwing them in the ocean. Unfortunately for you, all those other bottles found their way to the same current which carried your bottle, and your bottle arrives at the beach with thousands of other bottles containing ‘urgent’ (but pretend) messages. Thus, you have little hope of your message being found anytime soon, and little hope as well of getting free from the island.
Perhaps the most accurate illustration of that which has been lost, would be as follows. Let us say you wandered into a large and dangerous city and got yourself lost in a maze of streets, and you desperately need directions out of the city. Let us say that a person who knows the way out of the dangerous city has clearly and concisely written the directions down in two sentences on a page of paper. That person makes those clear directions available to any who request them and many groups and organizations of people take the directions and use them for their own purposes. In your case, the person you requested the directions from is a member of one of those organizations, and they felt they needed to add to the directions, even though they don’t know for certain the way out of the city because they have never been out of the city. So they write, on a copy of the correct directions, their beliefs on how to get out of the city. And so, when you are handed the one page document, the two sentences containing the way to freedom are surrounded by many sentences which contain errors and which at best confuse you and at worst, hide the truth in the two sentences of the way out of the dangerous city. Thus, you don’t find your way out of the dangerous city because in your sincere efforts to read the directions, you get more and more lost due to the errors surrounding the facts.
To continue that illustration, let us say that many people regularly get lost in the large and dangerous city, and so there is a regular need for clear directions out of the city. However, the main authority of the city benefits economically from having more people in their city, even if some are lost and don’t want to be there. The paper with the two sentences of clear directions becomes well known amongst the city dwellers, as well as the one page that contains both the two sentences of clear directions surrounded by the erroneous opinions of others. The city authority wants to give to those people lost in their city, the confused one full page of ‘directions’ instead of the two clear sentences, since they gain city members and make more money that way. So that authority formally makes a diligent practice of telling the people that the one page document is one-hundred percent truth and they ought to believe all that is written on that page. They also tell the people that the page with the two clear sentences of correct directions is ‘inadequate and incomplete’ and people should not rely solely on that document or its instructions.
Now, if a person looking to escape the city respects that authority-person more than wanting to know truth (correct directions), then what will happen to their ability to find their way out of the city? Will it not be compromised at best, or destroyed at worst? If disagreeing with the authority will have uncomfortable consequences, or even cost the person something they value, won’t they be in even a worse situation to find the truth buried in that one page? One final step to complete the illustration…
In the same way, what if there is a book which contains sixty-six chapters, and only four of the sixty-six chapters contain what you need to be set free. And what if an authority that many people respect including yourself, and who claims to know the book better than you, tells you that all sixty-six chapters contain the truth that you need to be set free. And what if they tell you that the four chapters which contain what you need to be set free are “inadequate and insufficient” in-and-of themselves? If you respect the authority more than wanting to know the truth, then what will happen to your ability to find the actual truth in the four chapters? Will it not be compromised at best, or destroyed at worst? And what if the cost of rejecting the authority’s beliefs about the book will mean you will be rejected by friends and family? Perhaps you will pretend the dangerous city is not so bad after all? Or perhaps you will believe that the dangerous city or places just like it, is all that is available on the earth? Or perhaps you actually like some aspects of the dangerous city and thus you are not looking to be set free since you see no need to be?
This brings us to that which is most valuable and has been lost. What if there was a man who said… “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no one gets to the Father except through me.” …and… "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." …and He performed many miracles including defeating death to prove what he said was true…
But other’s came along after he leaves and places his Words in a big book with many other people’s words and say, ‘this whole book is truth,’ not just the person who says, “I am the truth,” …and the religious authorities who like having authority over others say, ‘you need more than the red letters, you need the whole counsel of God’s Word, and you need us to understand it.’
…and as years, decades and centuries pass, the book is handed down from generation to generation, each generation before it saying that the whole book is the truth that people need. And if a person can’t understand the book due to the errors and contradictions, the people’s religious leaders say, “well, you need us or christian leader so-and-so or bible scholar so-and-so to properly understand the book. And the religious leaders, whose authority the people respect, point people to the book as well as many other voices, both dead and living, in addition to the one who says, “I am the truth.” and they say, “the book and all these other voices which quote the book are “the truth” you need to be set free, not just the one who says, “I am the Truth.”
Not just the one who says, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
If this happened, then isn’t the truth of the statements above by the one who says, “I am the truth,” LOST as the people look to the book and other’s words and other voices, and those other words and voice’s nullify, cancel or make of no effect the one who says: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life…” and “All who are of the truth listen to MY voice.” ?
If this is so, then is it not true that those eternally valuable truths… “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, and no one gets to the Father except through me.” "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." They have been drowned out … buried … LOST.
And so, that which is extremely valuable - and which has been lost - has been revealed. The Creator/Father sent One beloved, error-free Messenger who can bring freedom from your hopelessness, confusion, bondage or pain. But his voice has been drowned out, nullified, hidden, obscured, spoken over, made-of-no-effect, ignored… Lost.
It is a difficult truth to receive, but in truth, the teachings of the One who calls himself the Light of the world have been covered, buried and for all practical purposes, lost. His Voice has been drowned out by thousands of other voices. In fact, at the most essential level, his Voice has been replaced by a book, ‘the Bible’, by a clever sleight-of-hand which says that the book IS (or accurately represents) His voice. His statement, “All who are of the truth listen to MY voice,” has been changed (and thus corrupted) to, ‘All who are of the truth listen to the bible’ with all its millions of words and its many contradictory concepts, accounts and teachings.
Perhaps the reader has believed the lie that the bible has no contradictions? Here are just a few of many:
“If I sharpen My flashing sword, And My hand takes hold on justice, I will render vengeance on My adversaries, And I will repay those who hate Me. ‘I will make My arrows drunk with blood, And My sword will devour flesh, With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the long-haired leaders of the enemy.’ “Rejoice, O nations, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And will render vengeance on His adversaries, And will atone for His land and His people.” (Deut. 32:41-43)
"There is none like the God of Jeshurun, Who rides the heavens to your help, And through the skies in His majesty. “The eternal God is a dwelling place, And underneath are the everlasting arms; And He drove out the enemy from before you, And said, ‘Destroy!’ (Deut. 33:26-27)
“Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? I hate them with the utmost hatred; they have become my enemies.” (Psalms 139:21-22) Versus "You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:43-45)
One can pretend there is no contradiction, but that only proves that one is NOT listening to the one who says, "I am the Truth."
Paul’s teaching of all scripture being inspired by God has God inspiring Moses to bring violent vengeance on his enemies, and David to express his justified hatred for his enemies.
Contrast that to the voice of truth which says, “Love your enemies.”
And so, the time for the printing of this book is quite long overdue. It should be curious to the reader that there are no similar books easily available given the thousands of books about “christ” and many dozens of bible versions available. Why is it that so very few are concerned about focusing wholeheartedly on Jesus and his person and his teachings ONLY? Perhaps, just perhaps, these things are true…
"This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.” "But because I speak the truth, you do not believe me.”
Maybe the truth is that the one Voice that brings freedom, offends the vast majority (especially the religious people who claim him as their ‘Lord’ and ‘God’), and they do not want to let His simple and uncompromised truth shine forth? Perhaps most christians/biblians are especially loath to turn to the Light because they very much like believing they are “saved” and “heaven bound” while they continue to ignore the real Light of the world and instead live the way they want?
…beware of the all too common self-justification and self-deception of, ‘oh yes, that is true, but not of ME or MY church’…
This commentator hopes that those who are in the darkness of bible and christian religion will allow the Light of the world to shine on their hearts. Seek to understand this key saying of His…
"He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.”
…and then, please, come, follow HIM!
God Bless Us All
Gabby
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