1411	Forums / Theology Forum / Re: My sheep hear My voice	on: April 09, 2012, 11:01:08 AM
Let me talk about the voice of the law. A lot of people think the law is just a standard by which we prove our need for Christ. In other words the whole focus in using the law is simply to lead a person to Christ. But the law is much more than this. The law speaks condemnation not just a rule. So the law is not just the principle that is to be followed but the law is the judge that pronounces the punishment upon the law breaker. The law is like a voice from the mount. Its like the voice of God. So the law has a spirit of the law. Its the standard where we see God. The law is Gods acting in judgement upon the violators of that law. This is why the law has an effect that we seldom experience in this day and age. In seeking to be good we lower the law to our own standards. This is what the apostle says that we make a law unto ourselves. So we excuse ourselves and at the same time we accuse others. But we must see that we must understand the spirit of the law so that we will be convinced that we cannot keep the law. How do we do this without being totally destroyed? How does the working of the law provide a reprobate with the freedom to be convinced that he is looking for acceptance in keeping the law that is only like following a carrot ...or a dog going back to his own vomit? Well we as believers have the ability to experience a loss of feeling for ourselves by understanding how the law speaks in blessings and cursing. We have the ability to provide the voice of the law in that we live in the fear of God ... or its a reverence for God that silences the flesh. A lot of people think that reverence is our seeing how awful the law is and the reality of the suffering of Christ. But this kind of searching only leads to a physical understanding of suffering. Because we have never had the pangs of the curse of the all the elect placed upon us. And God has provided us with an accurate understanding of the law so that we do not confuse our identity in Christ in being apostates. What He has done is provided us with an accurate voice of the law by the curses it pronounces on reprobates. He as it were developed in us a way to rise up in our faith to be transparent before Him so that we experience the light of the glory of Christ. In this we see the impossible task of law keeping and at the same time we find we are developing a reverence for God in hearing the law curse sinners. We can get a reprobate to play the christian part in society until he is judged.. lol Let me say the the purpose of the law is in the spirit of containing the wicked from violence against the righteous. Because we have the answers to sin and death. But God has put the wicked on a spiritual leash so to speak. He provides us with the ability to convince a wicked man that he can never obtain righteousness by the law so that the man experiences common grace while at the same time always returning to his school master. The law speaks like a judge. It pronounces the punishment. It gives a man an understanding that he is worthy of the eternal punishment that he will receive.
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1412  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: difference between affliction and punishment? on: April 08, 2012, 06:04:13 PM Let me explain myself about this physical elements and grace. I believe that the ot sacrifice was set off against Gods work through His word of salvation. So Gods grace came through His love for us alone. And this is exactly what the apostle says. So Gods grace was implanted in us by His word. So i believe that His word is the word of blessing that speaks of free grace. And any physical transference of the grace is a work and places man in the position of authority he does not have. So the act of communion is a word of salvation. So its a time to argue for further success and maybe break through a prayer that has not been answered. It provides the basis of the special success of the blessing and cursing. Because it is the difference not between the transference of the physical elements to the heart but its speaking blessing and cursing. It just like any kind of creed. Every person who says a creed publicly may not say it with the intent of what they are experiencing at that time. So there is a personal communication going on in this public worship. To just conclude that the communion was enough to provide the basis for success is the same as saying that the physical animal was acceptable without the heart. If you look at the ot view of the physical parts of the worship they were always a stench to God. I mean that maybe the sacrifice had a standard of acceptance but the physical part of that acceptance in my opinion is part of the argument of total depravity and speaks as a work. Any time we place a physical element in between acceptance and rejection we curse ourselves in my opinion. Its just like i argue with people about what to do with ongoing sin. They seem to argue that we cannot go any farther in our faith until we end that sin. But that in my opinion is cursing yourself and adding to the affliction. Because acceptance is blessing ... rejection is cursing. The standard of acceptance is that there is nothing that we can do to be accepted. If we did anything then it would be a curse. Because the principle of the law is to curse those who do not obtain something through their actions. So acceptance is experiencing forgiveness and love of God like a hitting the funny bone. We sin and we experience grace. Grace is our receiving the blessing that Christ earned. If we tried to do something then we are living like we are cursed. This is why we never give because there is something that prevents our giving the gift. But anyone who is forgiven is in a society where there is no need to prevent gifts. Because they are fully accepted by grace. So to prevent the gifts is to curse them. The physical part of the faith is always corrupted. No one ever cleans the cup enough for it to be real purity. So we really believe that we are totally depraved. We believe that we are corrupted in every part. The extension of our physical acceptance before God is placing an action as necessary to receive grace. But we see that we can speak blessing and it is a word of salvation. In other words the only pure means that we can experience grace is through the pure word. The bible says that we can ask for something with the wrong motives. But asking according to Gods will is essential to receiving. So to say there is no perfect way to ask is saying that the word does not judge other words. I mean does the word provide the basis for cursing or can it curse Christians? There is no in between. Either we believe that our actions are equal to the word and thus deserve the curse or we believe that the word supersedes our actions and it produces the fruit. If you really dont believe this kind of grace then your really not in good standing with the WCF. Hebrews 12  22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. Reply Quote Notify

1413  Forums / Politics Forum / Re: A Poll: Who should be president? on: April 08, 2012, 04:28:06 PM Well i guess you could find good and evil in any ruler. So respect would be a balanced view of the leader. And then there really is no respect unless we see how the balance of power as it moves world events has nothing to do with earthly leaders but its God responding to the evils of the powerful. So in a sense our personal needs are less frustrated when we see that God does as He pleases so that we experience the freedom to give a balance view even to our political opponent. I mean there is a standard of accuracy. There is a sense in which no matter what document you adhere to we still are subject to the power structures of this world as the rule of law. So you have a written document of law and then you have the reality of how power is exercised. If we compare it to just the constitution then I do not think we can be objective. Because the constitution is a document that argues for the personal rites of all individuals. Which in producing the protection of those rites we violate the spirit of the constitution by the shear weight of the economics to guarantee those rites. So the power structures are really a description of those individuals who understand the freedom as personal that is represented in the constitution. And so it must be reduced to the communication of these power structures as God is lifted up. And we find that God has no equals when it comes to ruling the earth. Why does God use warning to the powerful as the agent to arguing for His right to rule? Because all men reduce the spirit of the law to demanding absolute authority. Its like God says i give a man a little freedom and he his eyes will grow to want the whole earth. Its not natural for powerful men to condemn their actions as a necessary element in understanding true power. Or there is no real understanding of total depravity but its really worm theology. But in Gods world He demands absolute allegiance to this backwards way of ruling. lol And He says this by a clear reference to the kiss of a King. So in order to show allegiance to this King you must speak as He speaks about how power is exercised. And this King has a clear separation between heaven ruling and earthly rulers. This separation protects the poor by reducing the powerful from thinking they are gods to being just men. lol     Reply Quote Notify

1414  Members Only / Purgatory / Re: When Trust was gone on: April 08, 2012, 03:56:38 PM Any time your talking about trust it must be a surrounding of the person with protection. This surrounding is that God has given us words that meet our needs so that when we speak to Him then He answers us with taking the pain and giving us peace. But there is also the ongoing conflict in the real world. So we are moving these things by finding this refuge in God surrounding us with His protection and His love.  Any time we are talking about real grace we are talking about the intent of God to grant us courage. This is only accomplished through real encouragement of the Spirit. So this is not something that comes from the outside in our circumstances necessarily but it comes from the inside of us. So we are talking about unburdening our trials and then being encouraged by Gods kindness to carry our burdens. This is God condescending to us on our level to make us secure in His protection. I think there is a sense in which we must have a wise understanding of what is transpiring around us and how these trials are affecting us. We are warned that Satan will provide the words to us of destruction. Now i do not fully understand why our self talk is something that affects us differently according to our susceptibilities to some conflicts and not to others. But we cannot advance if we do not understand who God is and by that who we are. We must know ourselves. A weight that we carry holds us to a kind of personality that we must endure. It may be words that pierce us, or it may be guilt and shame but all of these things that we carry can be wisely rolled over to God. This is why we are always in danger of searching for something that is like taking a medicine but we never experience the release of that weight to God. Our souls are kind of like our sore bodies. Just like we some times need to experience something that relaxes our muscles so we need to be messaged in our souls. We need to feel the love of God advancing as if it was being pushed down into our most deepest parts. This is only experienced when we come to God and pour out our hearts to Him ... and even in waves.Like exercise. We begin to sweat and then we get focused and then we have a very intense work out. Crying out to God as the Psalmist is like being drawn into God as we experience God as Father more and more.    Reply Quote Notify

1415  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: The coming of the great Apocalypse on: April 08, 2012, 02:33:48 PM Quote from: Lone Arranger on April 07, 2012, 09:29:44 AM That's a great video.  Thanks for sharing.  Here is the scripture you are referring to. "Yahweh, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth...!" what is man, that you think of him? You make him ruler over the works of your hands. You have put all things under his feet: All sheep and cattle, yes, and the animals of the field, the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and whatever passes through the paths of the seas," Psalm 8:1&5-8 (part) That was interesting because if there is trapped air together with the land mass creating these pockets under the oceans that means that it was part of the open air creation at one time. So it may be that when the flood came you had the weight of the water creating a valley in the earth.. kind of like it folding in some and push the surface land apart and then you have this rush of water to these parts of the earth. Wow to think of the size of the disaster and the miles the air was forced in the ocean is amazing to me. There is another Psalm about this ... i think ive forgotten it... i ll bring it here. In Psalm 46 you have this comparison to Gods acts in creation and recreation...i mean its an argument that Gods acts in recreation are as clear as His acts in creation... so you have this description of waters on the earth that move and shake the mountains.. the end of which is a desolate earth. And then the comparison is Gods acts in war. He alone creates the circumstances of war and the ending of war. Which is the Psalmist comparison of the rest that Gods people enjoy. After the disaster there is silence. He silences all the earth.  This is Gods creation through the statutes, decrees, commands...or understanding how He decided to display His attributes in the counsel of the Godhead from before time. So that the evidence of God ruling all things is His design to create these world events. So we understand that the glory of God behind the event is His display of His power, wealth, wisdom , strength, and honor glory and praise. And this proves that we have a rest even from evil rulers in Gods power. Im going to be able to focus really well here in the next year because i am feeling better as i lose my weight so i am going to be a wild boar at the throne ... lol  Remove Reply Quote Notify

1416  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: difference between affliction and punishment? on: April 08, 2012, 02:06:42 PM I was listening to the book of Isaiah last nite and i need to give a little overview about these ot prophets. Because the wording in the text about the state of Israel at that time has so much of the culture of the words in the worship books. So these prophets in a sense were not directing their words against a group in particular but they were giving an explanation of why God was sending them into exile. So in a sense they were speaking to Gods elect about what happens when wicked men rule in that culture. A lot of people bring a charge against Gods people and the church by using these terms of pride, selfishness, hypocritical sacrifices etc. But we are not talking about a church setting when the prophets speak but about a national message in the form of a Theocracy. So these prophets were not attacking Gods people and ruthlessly causing harm while at the same time God is sending His elect into exile. We must understand that the language used is a profile language. The ot does not have these psychological profiles that we are so used to in todays world. But God only gives two profiles. One is a righteous man and the other is a wicked man. The reason that we have so many kinds of men described in todays world is because there really is not cause of reality in Gods covenant of love so in silencing God we have no contrast. lol So where there is no cause of love there is no clear anti love. And this is seen in the language we use to slander, to destroy someone, to gain ground in our particular economical endeavor. In other words without a clear profile of the clear separation of the wicked from the righteous we have a culture of words that is according to the economic principle. lol But God is attacking those who are just a religious group and the wicked. But at the same time God is reminding His elect that there is a protection of them by God judging the reprobate. People only see the Israelite as a sinner and God responds to all sinners. But God has a two dimensional culture of words in describing the economics of the problems of evil men so that the elect understand the level of the evil and the need to be exiled. Ive experienced this kind of distinction in applying the ot wisdom to our problems. I find that in discussing these problems that people have a different method in applying wisdom to them in todays world. So when i begin to apply the ot wisdom it sounds much different than the greek way of approaching these nt problems. And i think this is why we are basically man centered and have a universal God. What we need to do is apply oursleves to all of scripture so that we will develop a true language of the heart rather than an economical free language.    Reply Quote Notify

1417  Members Only / Purgatory / Re: When Trust was gone on: April 08, 2012, 01:25:28 PM I must put this in a conquest context. For fear that i might fall into the temptation to use psychological profiling that is a vicious attack against a mans character. But the rock really is our experiencing salvation through free grace. So we must understand that there are men who look at this grace with derision and contempt. So what we are talking about is a life and death issue when we are talking about being saved. But people play fast and loose with the language. They spread gangrene into many relationships. We must learn how God protects us in the day of evil. We must learn how to avoid the language of blame and violence. Trouble is under their tongues. They leave a legacy of adultery behind them. We are involved in a war and we must find all of our trust in God in the most fierce part of the battle. Any man who has experience free grace understands the vicious nature of this attack. Its the biggest coverup in the religious circles to redefine grace as cheap grace. But we see that grace is in our security of Christ our rock. Its in the security that He will bring us through because He is sovereign over all things. So we find that those who are weak and ineffective hide behind their religion of convenience. This is why Gods word must be the standard by which we measure every word we trust in. Because all of Gods word is connected in a way to be one word to us ... salvation through grace. We must understand that sometimes we must fight to obtain this grace. Not that it is hard or given for the struggle but we must stand up against the whole world if we are asked to do it. I mean it may seem to be this way to us. We cannot lose heart.      Reply Quote Notify

1418  Members Only / Purgatory / Re: When Trust was gone on: April 08, 2012, 12:46:59 PM I have a handicap son. Its so easy to neglect him. Why is it that the most vulnerable and helpless seem to be the most who are taken advantage of? I think its because we do not really understand how evil we are. I like the idea that the gospel is beggars telling beggars where to find bread because in a sense all of us could be reduced to begging with a few life changes. So the gospel really is bringing the elect to a place where they understand rest to the point that would not be offensive to the beggar off the streets. The point is that its hard for us to find love. Most of our lives we spend an awful lot of time looking for love in all the wrong places. And becoming an adult is being able to see the dangers of the potential for us to be searching for something that will in the end be like grasping for water. It just doesnt have the basis for being loved like God loves us. This is why the psalmist after reasoning with himself came to the conclusion that there was really only one place to safely be loved and fulfilled in knowing that it was a place that he could always go. Because our culture is so humanistic we do not even get to the point where we reason enough to see how evil it is to find acceptance in another person. And so we are always asking the question "What happened to my trust?" Because we do not see that every human being is going to at some point let us down. There is only one place to be loved. We must find our rest in God alone. If we want to be loved its gonna take a lot of time trying to search this God out. Because any relationship is a fellowship between two persons. But Gods communication of His love depends upon our seeing Him lifted up. We must understand that love ... real love is consistent and strong... with a potential to give us a sense of being stouthearted. A lot of people look for love in lesser things and they get a psychological bounce from that short term relationship. But most of the time it ends and then the fix is short lived. But in God love is always strong. God compares His care for us to being a rock for us. The rock cannot be destroyed.. it cannot be moved. Our worship of God is like ascending up the side of a mountain and standing on this huge rock. When we ascend to the top we have a view that puts all other things in this world in perspective. Now we can experience circumstances where people are unloving and un accepting of us but God will always accept us as we are. If we experience rejection from men that is not that surprising. We must learn how to worship God so that we ascend up to that hill and experience being loved consistently and fully.Gods love is always real...it always gets to the heart of the matter. It is the only real grace we will know... and its the only valuable experience that we can depend upon. Remember this that Gods love puts all things right in our lives.       Reply Quote Notify

1419  Forums / Break Room / Re: Qs about sex on: April 08, 2012, 12:21:18 PM "The average person in America has sex approximately 60 times a year, according to a study from the American Sex Survey ABCnews.com, The Kinsey Institute. Within every age group from age 18 to over 70 married people had  more sex than singles. The study reported that 70 percent of American men think about sex every day, compared with 34 percent of women. Individuals in the 18-29 age group had sexual intercourse most frequently (96.3 times per year for married, 77.5 times per year for singles). Each decade older corresponded to a decline in frequency of sexual intimacy." This is the up dated study....lol... most marriages are almost sexless. Dont let s1 put you on a guilt trip. The more we focus on performance the less grace. Remember that grace is free so giving is only free when we understand grace. lol So when we focus on grace then all the other things fall into place. Lets learn how to take the pressure out of our marriages by learning to go to God to be loved then we will experience more freedom for treating the other person like we would want to be treated. Theres not short cuts. lol Reply Quote Notify

1420  Forums / Main Forum / Re: Christians are discriminated against on: April 08, 2012, 12:17:05 PM wrong thread Reply Quote Notify

1421  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: difference between affliction and punishment? on: April 07, 2012, 01:28:39 PM Affliction is what the bible describes it as and not the experience itself. Because we need to see that there is a distinct difference between the trouble that comes to us in how we perceive it to affect us. So this struggle that we experience in our perception of the trouble is only seen correctly when we understand what and who is authoritative and thus we listen to the rite wisdom or instruction. So in understanding how we receive affliction we must always to the source of what we are required to unburden ourselves of its reception and not trusting in the words of man. Because all men describe their way of dealing with affliction in how they have received the affliction and to what level that affliction affects them. Most people deal with affliction on a surface level. The bible says that we are to seek for wisdom like we are digging for gold. So this is the only way the bible gives us the method to guard our hearts. This method of dealing with affliction is in the deep calls to deep. Its not through the agency of man. Ive had some troubles lately in searching out of what is real authority? Let me say this as i have reminded some people that i am not a company man. I do not see authority as if a man was given rites to give what has already been done in heaven to the earth. But authority is not in the means itself. Water, wine, bread, or laying on of hands but its in the practice of exercising the word as an athlete. There is always a war of words. This is the normal way of understanding how affliction rest in us. In a lot of ways affliction rest on us as to how we perceive ourselves to ourselves and how we understand our relationship to authority. That authority is only real as we understand grace.  So we must understand that grace gives us the only outlet for our affliction. The perception of how affliction is received by us is always measured by how much wisdom we have in understanding these forces against the power of grace. Affliction is that by which we seek a balance in a working principle. So we add to our affliction by presuming that it must be overcome through our next step. Or we add to our affliction by seeking the balance through a system of checks and balances. And although there is a correlation between our actions and our affliction yet the bible does not offer a process to trust in that gives us an understanding of ourselves and our afflictions. Let me say that those people who trust in the means ,that being the act of church attendance, the water, the grape juice, the bread have not grown in their faith to see their true need of grace. I can understand why they would be so confused between the sacred and the practical. Because affliction is always something that is received and grows as it gains more room to flourish in us. These elements will never address that kind of growth. This is why God has given us a way to express ourselves in a real relationship to the Person call of the Shepherd. God does not come to us through other men or physical things but He speaks to us through grace. This is why ive had so much frustration because we are  talking about a kind of pharisee ism when we use the physical elements to describe what true power is. And we must oppose those who do not live in grace as finding full acceptance to Christ and instead teach something that we need to do as a physical act to gain grace. This is the beginning of dealing with our personal afflictions.        Reply Quote Notify

1422  Forums / Politics Forum / Re: A Poll: Who should be president? on: April 07, 2012, 09:32:17 AM http://www.zerohedge.com/news/nfp-big-miss-120k-expectations-205k-unemployment-82 The percentage is based upon the lower population that is working. lol Reply Quote Notify

1423  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: The coming of the great Apocalypse on: April 07, 2012, 09:06:10 AM http://www.ted.com/talks/deep_ocean_mysteries_and_wonders.html This is interesting ...Its the old earth covered with water... mountains, streams, volcano's, etc.... there is a Psalm that speaks of the streams of water that are like currents of rivers running under the waters of the earth. I need to go back to that Psalm. But there may be some descriptions of the flood here in Revelation with these underwater volcanos. Remove Reply Quote Notify

1424  Forums / Politics Forum / Re: A Poll: Who should be president? on: April 06, 2012, 08:47:15 PM Obama Faces Tough Fight for 2012 Monday, 06 Jun 2011 04:00 PM President Barack Obama is in for a tough re-election campaign in 2012, according to the results of a new Newsmax online poll. The survey of more than 90,000 respondents found that only 27 percent plan to vote to re-elect the president, while 69 percent will vote for another candidate. The Newsmax poll is updated continuously, and you still can vote in this poll — Click Here Now. The poll reflects widespread dissatisfaction with Obama’s policies. Respondents strongly oppose the plan the president favors to give amnesty to illegal aliens. They believe even more strongly that Congress should restore the $500 billion that Obama’s healthcare reform plan removes from Medicare, and they believe overwhelmingly that the reform plan should be repealed. Do you agree with President Obama’s plan to give amnesty to illegals and cut Medicare? You can vote by Clicking Here Now. The nation’s economic condition is the issue that most concerns Americans, according to the Newsmax poll. A majority of respondents say that cutting spending should be Congress’s top priority this year, followed by paying down the national debt. Asked “What do you believe Congress’s top priority should be in 2011?” poll voters offered the following results: 1) Cutting spending: 53 percent 2) Cutting taxes: 7 percent 3) Paying down the national debt: 28 percent 4) Improving the nation’s security: 10 percent What do you believe Obama’s and Congress’s priority should be — Click Here Now to vote. Here are the poll questions and results (percentages do not total 100 because of rounding): Do you plan on voting to re-elect President Obama in 2012? Yes, re-elect: 27 percent No, for another candidate: 69 percent Not sure right now: 2 percent Do you support President Obama’s desire to give 12 million illegal aliens amnesty and a path to citizenship? Yes, I support Obama’s amnesty plan: 22 percent No, I oppose it: 77 percent Do you support the full repeal of President Obama’s healthcare plan Congress passed in 2010? Yes, repeal it completely: 67 percent No, don’t repeal it at all: 25 percent No, repeal just parts of it: 7 percent Should Congress restore $500 billion in Medicare benefits for seniors that the Obama plan cut? Yes, restore the Medicare benefits: 81 percent No, don’t restore the Medicare benefits: 18 percent Do you still support President Obama for re-election? Let the media know — Vote by Clicking Here Now. © 2012 Newsmax. All rights reserved. Read more on Newsmax.com: Obama Faces Tough Fight for 2012 Important: Do You Support Pres. Obama's Re-Election? Vote Here Now! Reply Quote Notify

1425	Forums / Prayer Requests / Re: For Our Mbg	on: April 05, 2012, 03:47:08 PM
I was struck silly about the weight that i put on as a result of this life style change. Ive lost 17 pounds in a little over 2 weeks on weight watchers but now trying to increase my food but it just is falling off. I will be back to passionate prayer in no time... well its gonna take another month.      1426  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Virgins, Honorable Women, Kings' daughters, King's Daughter, and the Queen on: April 05, 2012, 03:05:32 PM Let me make some points about this Psalm in the culture that it was written as well as some of these buzz words that connect the Psalms in describing the wise way. But the Psalms do not present a picture of those who were in the ot church outside of their culture. And you have all of these psalms explained in the 23rd Psalm as how the Shepherd watches over His church. I remember as a young man being taught about Christ as the shepherd and how He was described. And it was an attempt to relate His beauty and kindness of our culture back into that Psalm. But we must understand that every thing about our relationship with Christ has both worlds in describing how He protects His church. In other words in the Psalms the word of deliverance was not just a spiritual deliverance but it was a military victory. A lot of people try to separate our religious life from our culture in order to present the argument that all of these promises in the bible are future. In other words what we are taught is that Christ was this passive shepherd who was concerned for our suffering and only responded to us as we experience tribulation. And so we paint this picture as a person who is suffering from the evils of a very corrupt society and this special peace that God gives helps the person get through these troubles. But the Psalms connect the health of the church with the whole level of evil that is practiced in society. And they deal with the problems of a society where evil men prosper and the more evil people there are the more the church is gonna experience trouble. In other words the bible speaks about our relationship with Christ and how He deals with us as a very practical instruction. It does not just help us to find some kind of compromise but it protects us in how Christ responds to our opposition. So what we are dealing with is a Shepherd who appears to be very soft and concerned but actually He brings us to the day of evil and prepares a table for our enemies. We talk about how Christ loves us up to a point. He loves us until there is conflict in the world then we are told that this love becomes mystical. But Christ is concerned for our protection in this world as a definition of His love. So that part of the vision of the Shepherd are how He brings about a righteous generation through a righteous offspring. In other words Christ is not just concerned for the personal prospering but He actually brings along a whole generation of the righteous. How does He do this?.. He does it through conquest. A son is born to protect the wealth and name of the family. How does the son do this? He is a part of the military. So actually the picture in this psalm is a military wedding so to speak. He actually is dressed in his fighting garb as a warrior ready to go to battle so that his offspring can carry on the name and honor and glory of that family. And all of this is tied into how Christ is glorified in bringing real peace to the earth through His apocalypse response to evil governments. So that all of these purposes in marriage are raised above just being a good citizen and keeping clean but its actually endorsing a greater purpose.     Reply Quote Notify 1427  Forums / Break Room / Re: Inflation and spending tips on: April 05, 2012, 11:53:06 AM Here is the vice grip of debt. What has happened is that we have put more dollars in circulation over the last 4 yrs. I would guess there has never been so much printing going on in the history of this country. The only thing that is protecting us from massive inflation is that the demand for goods is not at the level where people are going to try to recover their losses. lol But as the economy begins to recover then the value of the dollar is going to become real because there is more demand pressure. More success makes the prices stabilize at the current value of the dollar..lol Which is like a big bubble in the market that is gonna come crashing down until we bring spending under control and stop making the dollar like a penny. Here is what this is. This has been a long road to ending foolishness. We are a country that has sold our wisdom for gold and silver. What does the proverbs say? Over the yrs in my 20s i sought to meditate on these proverbs so that i would not go down a road and get into something that would take all of my time or it would teach me a relationship of profit for acceptance. So the bible offers only one other alternative than that life style. It does not give us a way to believe in contradictions so we can put our foot in the world and have one in the wisdom we think is Gods wisdom.  It says that if we seek Gods word more than gold.. if we search for its truths more than silver that we will find life. But if we do not seek the truth as the most valuable commodity then we will walk in the way of death. What does this mean? It means that all man have a terrible problem. I think i have said this proverb before. Mans eyes are never satisfied. lol Its not talking about struggling with sin but its talking about the direction of life. So its really not bad verses good but bad and good replacing true wisdom.  So here is what we do. We place value on people by their portfolio. We in essence sell the most valuable act that was ever done in the history of mankind and seek after that which in the end will be left on this earth. lol We lose our soul for earthly pleasure. But there is only one thing we are too seek. That we may dwell in the house of the Lord to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him all the days of our life. We are only happy when we have grasped true value.  Reply Quote Notify 1428  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: The coming of the great Apocalypse on: April 05, 2012, 11:22:59 AM We could have in this chapter of the throne an introduction of Gods rule throughout time. So God is on His throne and there are all of these creature images that surround His throne that He orders to work in His sovereignty. The great struggle here is that God orders His creation but men seek to hide this image of it being before God as He is on His throne.  The response to this is that the angels which in order are Gods first messengers, then you have lights which are Gods heavenly messengers who do His will in ordering the earth.. and then you have all those who dwell on the earth of which this was in the ot .. in a Psalm. They are all giving praise to God through the history of time for His work. This possibly could be followed in the next chapter the coming of Christ and His work as the Lamb on our behalf. Kind of like opening up the scroll is the Word being revealed in time. And from this event of the cross He is the Lamb of God who is worthy to be the Apocalyptic Lamb who judges the nations. At the end of this section we have every creature in heaven an on the earth as it were surrounding the throne giving praise to God. And then we are given a more closer look at how this has transpired through out history in the next descriptions of these seals and trumpets etc.   Remove Reply Quote Notify 1429  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: difference between affliction and punishment? on: April 05, 2012, 10:55:50 AM I am writing this as not looking at any individual. But as you know the state of things today and the uncertainty in Gods people.But maybe since some people might have a miss understanding of me and why i talk so negatively about the world... i have never even been a middle class guy. Ive always been considered poor. Any thing that i got i worked for but in one time in my thirties when i was involved in a disaster. I can say that ive really never approached a person and asked for money. So this is not a guy who has lived without much trouble. And in fact ive always believed even being such an addicted sinner that God would provide. So i guess He has blessed me through my laziness as well. lol But it has become apparent to me that its really not how much we have in this world but its how much we worry about what we have that is so evil. And in my natural disposition i could be given to so much worry that i would not be able to function. So i understand how the evil in our hearts is very powerful. Sometimes our own hearts can fail us ... and this one psalm has always been one of my absolute favorites. Did you know that we can sin a lot and every day come to God as we are and begin to enjoy His smile and transformation acceptance? We really do place a lot of insignificant things on our shoulders that we were never required to carry. I guess thats why religion can be so deceptive. It can make a person overly sensitive to things that God has never said He was overly concerned about. So we really have a deep susceptibility to talk to our selves as if God was against us and we are lucky to be alive. lol  But really why live your life through someone elses concern for things that you struggle with but they do not. Because your health is depended upon you knowing yourself. And this is what God has made us to know Him and in knowing Him we know ourselves. Because when we have found God and all is well then we are not tempted to go to other things to find comfort and rest. I can see how people can take different parts of the bible and torture someone and themselves. lol But through my lack God has added in relationship. And this in my opinion is the great war of the 21 century. Its being able to set aside all of our desires for this world and be filled with the things that do not bring success in this world. Because we all come to a place where our hearts fail us. And we can look for other things to replace God to sooth our hearts and fulfill our dreams. But the Psalmist is content to say tho my heart may fail me ... You are the strength of my heart and my portion forever. And then he sets his eyes on heaven, on that Person who has replaced His failure. Because to have God replace all of the experiences of a failed life is to find Him as the God who orders all things for our good. Its to come to see that our failure was ordered by Him so that we would not be far from Him. When we find that God has ordered all things then all the things in our lives begin to flow one way. We no longer feel as if they are blowing against us like a very strong wind. But we are lifted about the adversity of this world and God becomes our eternal portion. In other words we begin to sit down and dine with the very God of the universe. We begin to be filled with His goodness and faithfulness.  Reply Quote Notify 1430  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: My sheep hear My voice on: April 05, 2012, 10:08:44 AM Let me say this that no matter how old one is that all men are only protected if God watches over them. Because God proves His authority by His works done in the past for His people. There is no counsel that can bring about healing without the focus of how God has saved His people. We can use all the psychological mechanism in an effort to bring wisdom to a person but the bible provides the basis of the security of a person in Gods history of providing life through how He loved His elect. This is why God holds authority in His hand. Because He proves His love by how He alone rules over all authority. God not only puts authority on a leash but He turns authority upside down. We think that God is listening to all the powerful people in this world. But God is spoken from heaven with a warning and He is working through those people who seem to be of no value . God who is a still small voice does not bring the smallness to high places. lol God puts His word up against the wise counsel of the powerful. He proves that His word alone will provide the safe counsel of His people by building the ongoing word through His covenant love. So that all the false words spoken to buy or sell truth will be silenced! There is only one protection from the death threats of people who have gone out and taken authority that God has not provided. It is Gods promise to love His people until the end! Reply Quote Notify 1431  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: My sheep hear My voice on: April 05, 2012, 09:43:17 AM The Shepherds voice is a clear voice. It is a voice that brings every thing in life to finding a refuge in God. So the Shepherds voice is the voice that determines how we are going to be safe.. how we are going to find who we are...how we are going to know real love... and how we are going to distinguish between the truth and the voice of treachery. The Shepherds voice is God describing the world as it really is. So there is only one source of the knowledge of the way things really are. God sort of puts a mirror of the universe and talks about things that are not common to the view of man. God proves to man that he is powerless by describing authority in terms of the focus on a mans heart. In other words God always deals with the thoughts of man as the reason that men go astray. But the problems of this world are rooted in the miss use of authority. Because God brings His truth to man through the description of the real Man. So that there is a distinct difference between mans attempts to describe the truth and how Christ has proven that He alone rules as if all authority is seen as borrowed. But men always go astray at some point in their lack of understanding of the wise counsel of God. Because every thing we talk about ultimate is a life or death issue. This is why God always starts with authority that comes down out of heaven. But man wants to present a world where authority is separated from heaven.Because man doesn't believe in borrowed authority but he really is his own god who wants to shut up the heavens. So in his thinking he is naturally given to the fact that all things are equal. But God reinforces His authority over man by putting man on a leash , that being the curse of sin bringing pain and misery to man, and ultimately extinguishing man who go away silenced. You may want to fight within the frame work of this kind of two line thinking but the clock is ticking and you will be silenced in death. Any time we view things without drawing conclusions from the very words of scripture we are taking authority into our own hands.  When we believe that there is a contradiction between Gods sovereignty and mans responsibility we in essence stand over both doctrine and practice as arbitrators. So that we no longer view God in heaven who rules the earth but we view truth in how one side of the issue best benefits us at the expense of our neighbor. So instead of authority being directed through Christ we excuse ourselves and it become the earthly imposition. You can use doctrine and practice as tools to demand compliance. The Calvinistic doctrines of grace are easily redefined as teaching man that pain is a necessary proof that God who is sovereign means business. lol On the other side of this equal equation we have practice. lol Because one side nullifies the other this puts people in the position of demanding compliance on their time table. They become the arbitrators of the morals of Gods people. Instead of authority being expressed through acceptance in relationship it becomes a process of economics. You can use the law to destroy the poor. You can lead a lot of people into disaster by mans counsel. Look at the statistics.  This is why the bible says to be skilled in wisdom of God. Because all wisdom starts with how authority is expressed in comparison to Gods revelation. And we find that God turns this world upside down in His church. Authority is only God like when we accept sinners on the basis of grace. But this is not something that man can endure. Because men go astray in their thoughts. So we need to give attention to the very words of God. We need to see how God provides the basis of His care and protection as He only gives His approval to authority that under girds the poor and is only valued when it provides the basis of acceptance in relationships that accept sinners.             Reply Quote Notify 1432  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: difference between affliction and punishment? on: April 04, 2012, 09:50:06 AM Let me talk about the curse as a contamination. I have really never been taught the difference between evil curses and good curses. But this is taught in the bible. And i believe that the curse has to do with the spirit of the teaching. So it goes something like this... trust is defined in the gospel of grace. Because that is where sinners are trusting that God accepts them. So this is the only real freedom in this world that one experiences as living in the spirit of trust or grace.  On the other hand a contamination is to withhold love on the basis of a work for grace. And this i believe is what Christ was saying about the leaven... a little leaven ..leavens the whole lump. Which to me speaks of a small contamination in doctrine and the whole person is contaminated. Now this is what is interesting. This is really related to the difference between the curses of the law and the curses of the wicked. Because in a sense someone who offers something in order to obtain forgiveness other than free grace is cursing the person. And this is why it is forbidden in the ot to wish evil on our brothers in Christ. Because we are in essence contaminating them with a works gospel. This is how the wicked are said to curse the righteous. They say "He trust in God let God deliver him." So its not necessarily a curse in the sense of saying a curse word but its compared to shooting and arrow of faithlessness. Or its offering to a person a remedy other than is authorized by scripture. So its also making some kind of philosophy equal with scripture and thus you have this evil curse or works salvation. You see this kind of spirit in Christ when we have the woman caught in adultery and the Pharisees standing there in judgement. The Pharisees in the presence of that sacrifice who became a curse for us ...this Christ was going to bless this sinner with salvation. But these Pharisees were prepared to curse this woman with a stoning. Its interesting that Christ did not really treat this situation as a way to argue His point but He responded to the Pharisees as if they were the ones who were contaminated. You see that a covenant child is fully accepted upon coming to salvation as if there was no curse. But he Pharisees were actually preventing this sinner from coming. Christ response to them was cursing or accusing them  preventing from entering into heaven. There is this correlation between contamination and works salvation because it is with the law that we prevent forgiven people from coming to Christ. The reason i say this is because i believe that someone can be deceived about what they believe is the gospel of grace. And so ive become very aware of this over the years and when i hear someone talk about grace i really do feel a spirit. Its probably from the exercise of spiritual gymnastics. But there is a level of grace that we live in that is like a spirit of a man. So that its very easy for a person who lives on this level to have real struggles about some people.  Reply Quote Notify 1433  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: difference between affliction and punishment? on: April 04, 2012, 08:53:34 AM Here is some questions about Christ suffering that i have. Is it necessary for us to think about the level of suffering by which we grow in grace? And i am wondering if being a curse for us as He died whether there is a cursed view of His being cursed. We are loved because God took care of the punishment in Himself. But the question is what did that work look like from sinners outside of that level of understanding? Could it be possible for us to draw conclusions about that level of suffering by our view of suffering? Because we have a view of suffering that is mixed with our physical suffering. Is that element of His suffering that important? I mean to act it out in a reenactment? At what point do we add to our misunderstanding of that suffering as if our suffering was some how related to it? At what point do we actually curse ourselves to try to get to the bottom of Christ suffering? If God did all the work in Himself, is there a level of good forgetfulness in those who receive that gift? Is it a common sense way to look at the suffering of the world in not understanding the other persons suffering in light of a real understanding of what is inside of God that we cannot understand and what we know about suffering in this world? Here we are drawing conclusions about something that in the mysteries of God as that by which we are better able to know sin and ourselves? Or is it more blessed to us to stay within the confines of scripture and only go as far as God does with the understanding we have of being protected from the curse by His being a curse? I believe that there is a proper look at the cross and yet not adding to our misery in the cursed sense.  Reply Quote Notify 1434  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Multiple wives? on: April 03, 2012, 02:41:38 PM Quote from: 1Sinner on April 03, 2012, 01:35:45 PM Men in these sorts of setups are nothing more than sire animals - like hiring a dog to get puppies.  Whether it was the "bad old days" when financial, practical issues made this necessary (setting aside the accumulation of wives as property for the rich - yesterday's trophy wives) or now with the (primarily) Mormons, the goal is babies. Babies then, as with the Mormons now, were/are property.  As you probably know, the Mormons believe any man (sexist) can become a God as (they believe) Jesus became. They believe that man will have his own world from among the planets in which he will rule over his kingdom of his wives and children - therefore the more wives/children the better.     Puppies, it's all about puppies.  Woof! Now here is what i am talking about. I am aware of sexual relationships that are focused purely on the man. The has no interest in God but the wife does her duty to be a good christian wife. But she is not doing it because she is free to treat people respectfully. If the children needed her attention or protection she would give it up for this man who needs his sex. She would allow him to abuse her children emotionally and make demands that are moral but beyond the ability of the family. lol Now here is the thing. I bet i describe most of the american marriages here. I mean it is the majority counsel.  People who have taken this religious thing and made it a behavioral focus. Rather than understanding how marriage is related to the love of God they make their own marriages like they are gods over the helpless. lol Reply Quote Notify 1435  Forums / Break Room / Re: Qs about sex on: April 03, 2012, 02:03:12 PM wow this may need to be moved to the purgatory...lol But i believe that at some point the person in the marriage feel like the enemy. So its a matter of saying can i sleep with my perceived enemy without taking it personally? Now i believe there is unintended hypocrisy. I mean there is malicious attacks and then there is just a lack of duty. Marriage is like going into a garden or an incubator...lol God protects more than He accuses. Because God really really places covenants as His all time pleasure and favor. So He is more interested in moving the marriage slowly than He is in making the people in the marriage look less of a hypocrite. And thats why He honors trade offs in a marriage. Because there is a sense in which hypocrisy can be funny.Because marriage is like the most personal conversation of all the things that can blow up and create all kinds of dangers inside of the two people. And this is why it is damn near impossible to understand these individual relationships but its more of an attempt to find a compromise.  First because God brings two people together to uphold the other person. But this is what is interesting. The self interest of the value of the person is only felt when the other person is protected. Its like spiritual life. There is an ebb and flow of life that is through weakness and strengths. One persons weakness is upheld by the other persons strengths.  And you get two severely damaged people in the marriage there is bound to be some behavior that is lacking. lol Especially in this personal part of the body. But because there is a chemistry there that keeps a person from destroy his or her life that is more important than the ongoing sexual part. Now because most people do not understand how to think and be accepting of their enemies.. because it really takes some one school in Psalm chanting .. then it really depends upon those who are spiritual to curse this cursed disposition in private prayer and try to advance the unity of the marriage.  If both partners were severely damaged people and they were really schooled in this kind of prayer they could have recurrence of these dreadful dispositions but find freedom within this practice rather than having to deal with the dreadful things and trying to come together. imho Reply Quote Notify 1436  Forums / Break Room / Re: Qs about sex on: April 03, 2012, 01:06:07 PM I do not believe this is a new struggle and it may be a rich and poor as well. Because it really comes down to the definition of respect. So throughout the history of the world i believe sex has not been a big thing in private. But in the old days the guys did not complain i guess. I know there is a long history of religious instruction that sex was just for procreation. So think about living in that culture. lol But in my opinion marriage is really not two people mixed together. But its two people getting their acceptance from another source that is Jesus and bringing that into the relationship. So there really is no room for blame if both people are focused on the rite things. Now i believe there can be a kind of trade off. One person does not really live a disciplined godly life so they may trade off other things to help them get through the marriage. But in my opinion focusing on sex only makes it worse.    Reply Quote Notify 1437  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Multiple wives? on: April 03, 2012, 12:39:05 PM Thanks Poppy... i just ramble most of the time. lol... I think they married within the family. I would guess that the gene pool was much more pure back then. Not like now where it has degenerated and become more of a social norm rather than a private and honorable respect motif. All the earth is experiencing a degeneration because of sin. So i do not think they had the potential of having a mongoloid. Along with God designing that child. Its just like anything. And i am not talking about being prejudiced but you mix the features of different races and cultures and you get different points in the face that may be awkward. There is in my opinion a standard of beauty. I do not think Christ only made that standard by being an image of the perfect man only as a spiritual man but some people are blessed with good looks in light of their needs and desires by God. I mean , all this focus on avoiding this and that .. then you have people talking about other peoples proclivities behind their back..i mean through observing the culture of different denominations lol .. and it takes away all the enjoyment of life by being so suspicious about other people . lol. But some people think religion is like voyeurism. lol. Reply Quote Notify 1438  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Gods Love on: April 03, 2012, 11:36:16 AM this stuff is coming to me like gangbusters... lol Let me say that in all my years of experience ...and i really hesitate to talke bout his because it seems that i get an onslaught of blame and broken relationships but i believe that the cursing and blessing motif has a kind of artistic rest built into it. I think it raises us to be in a kind of high spiritual experience like rejoicing with joy unspeakable and full of glory. This is gonna take  some people aback but ive longed for my cursing times to take their full effect. Let me explain. I believe that we are people who stand in between two forces not just spirits so to speak. I understand that this makes it kind of impersonal but i think we take for granted that God is automatically gonna come to meet all our needs by His promise to do it. But it seems to me that we can imagine that we are like disembodied spirits who are an image of what we were not in our old lives and not really flesh and blood who get injured. I really believe in Calvinism. I do not believe that God is only sovereign in proving how awful this world is by destroying us. lol But He has given us the means to fight. I often wonder what planet any scholars come from when they say that there is not longer a conquest going on. Troubles may not come to you but just step out your office some time and go to the cities. lol get out of your dream world. There is a cursing and blessing reality we live in. But we really lead by living in the reality of our own minds. So if we are confident in His power then it will effect what transpires in the road we take. lol And i may be talking strictly about rewards in heaven.  So in this sense we are looking at reality much different than everyone in this world. So our goals are much greater. They are the whole earth.. heavenly blessings....taking spiritual land so to speak. Bringing down the forces in this world who actively oppose God. It amazes me how small some peoples views of God like what they talk about as life goals. If we do not conquers what good is success in this worlds terms? We fight against forces that are beyond this world. lol Remove Reply Quote Notify 1439  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Gods Love on: April 03, 2012, 11:10:57 AM cont... In this world we sort of reverse the important things and make other things have powers that are like holding onto a weak branch that is gonna break and we end up falling to the ground below. But God has given us a garden language so to speak. He did this with Moses of whom it was said that Moses spoke to God as a friend. In other words Moses when speaking to God was really Moses but when he descended to the people Moses was a small shell of himself. And this is exactly the same frustrations we have. We are completely different from the world .We even think different and talk different. So there is a sense in which we are outcast. And this is a terrible experience for some people. Because we are social creatures .So we have longings of the heart where we want connection. And most of the time we are a shell of ourselves when we begin to compromise and please. lol What we need brings us into frustration. Because some times when we go to speak with God He has in some ways withdrawn Himself. Now i am not trying to say this by one experience but let me say that this psyche can feel like a really intense struggle to deal with life. I really believe that most of our mind problems are because of some kind of power of grace that we are not standing in. Because God does make us something we are not. I understand how different natural disorders can play into this equation but we really have a lot of this experience of pain and misery to give us a hunger for God that makes us get on a path where we search for God in a way that we have not done before. I am not saying that dulling the pain through medication is a sin. But really the fact is that all of life is lived before God but all the natural artistic abilities are brought to life in us through the means of faith. So in a sense we live in prayer before God as our only life apart from this life in the world. So whatever transpires in this world is dependent upon what we say to God in private. But i think we reverse this and in doing this we suffer harm in some ways and we do not find rest as we should. The gospel is so radical... so anti intuitive that it redefines all of life. So we think of all of these culture responsibilities kind of back wards. lol But i don think they are backwards but the world is backwards and we are using common sense. Because the world is trying to actively silence our thinking about God. So we experience not necessary the temptation of evil but to replace what we love with something that is lesser. This is where i think people become neurotic because they want to have their feet in both worlds. But we see that to rest is to work with more understanding. To pray is to activate the power and direction of our lives. etc. So when we find a rest in God then we are enabled to be at our highest in our callings. This is why self righteousness is more dangerous than a purely evil character. Because it makes us double minded. lol Let me say this because i am already gone through life in a family sense and now i am older. But our prayer life will determine how we look back upon our lives and save us much grief of what they call middle age loneliness. In a sense prayer is the only hope we have for growing enough to endure the older years with rest.    Remove Reply Quote Notify 1440  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Gods Love on: April 03, 2012, 10:31:01 AM This is why God turns the world upside down. Because He looks at all the thoughts of all the people in this world every day. So He has already defined the terms of how this world is going to oppose His authority. He is only concerned that His name is honored. So in this sense His battle is not against sin but its against men who think they are gods. The remedy then is to reduce men to being men. lol This is why we have this instruction that God will not be mocked. Or that God is in the heavens overlooking the earth. Because men through power seek to silence the heavens. They seek to shut up the kingdom of God. But God sits in heaven and laughs.. then He rebukes them in His anger and He silences them in His fury. Now then we see that men rise to power on their own authority and God reduces men to being men. lol The only hope for a peaceful society is when God has destroyed all the threats that are made by man. Now this is interesting because you would think that a threat used by man is necessary to establish authority. But this is why we have a covenant keeping God who describes Himself as containing all authority in the God head. Christ alone is the ruler who has placed all things under His feet. The problem with men is not one of power necessarily but those who do not acknowledge Christ as deserving all authority. There is not in between authority. Christ must have absolute rule on this earth or it would be destroyed in a day by man. Let me talk about this relationship between threats... authority... and the powerful. Because the human race fell into sin man has gone astray to his own gods. Or man has become his own god. So every day his thoughts go astray. The great war in the universe is this silent war against heaven. Its men saying in their hearts that there is no God. But the other side of this is that they are caught in this cycle of pain because they stand in condemnation to the law. So here they are saying God is not really serious and at the same time they are naturally given to doing the right thing by the law. So on the one hand they are denying that reality.. and on the other hand they are seeking to show they are compliant. lol What is so evil about doing good things and being a positive influence upon society? Because it could be an effort to replace God. And God has told men already what is going to happen in this world and all the voices of the law and everything that will ultimately bring them to self destruction. He has described the workings of mens hearts in the bible and tells them what they are going to do from morning to nite. lol. But men are blind to Gods healing words. They would much rather take something that dulls their call to have their real needs answered. I think this is a lot to do with the lack of understanding of how hurt and curses... anger and bless are miss understood in the heart of all men. But the basic problem is because they are blind to all that is good they say in their hearts... God is not watching... I can rule as i wish. God is dead .. i worked hard for this. I was a wise investor. But the reality is this is a way of thinking and not necessarily a good bad issue. Its mans natural way of trying to develop a world where he replaces God.But God looks in His foresight and holds on to the leash of this person who is shaking his fist in Gods face. God is only concerned to protect His covenant promises as His name is seen through His people.