Solomon’s temple was a type of Christ.

Joh 4:19 The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet.
Joh 4:20 Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.
Joh 4:21 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.
Joh 4:22 Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews.
Joh 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
Joh 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The Samaritan woman asked a question that had been a controversy for many years. Israel was told by Yahweh:

(Deu 12:5) But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek, and thither thou shalt come:

But when Jeroboam split from Judah, he established a new place in Samaria so the northern kingdom would not be tempted to return to Jerusalem (1 Kings 12:26 – 29).  This was why the Samaritan woman asked Jesus her question.  The first place that Yahweh chose was Shiloh (Josh. 18:1).  But the sons of Eli the High Priest at Shiloh became profane before the Lord so the Lord ended their priesthood (1 Sam. 2:34-36) and removed the place of worship.  This was devastating because Shiloh was used to confirm their victories in battle.  When Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem he dedicated it to Yahweh, which according to his prayer, was accepted by Yahweh .

That thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place of which thou hast said, My name shall be there: that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall make toward this place.  (I Kings 8:29)

But because of the transgressions of the Jews, it, too, was destroyed as Shiloh was destroyed (Jer. 7).   During the interim after the place of worship was destroyed in Shiloh by Yahweh and the building of the Temple by Solomon, Israel sought alternative locations for worshiping (that is, to offer sacrifices), so they used the high places that were created for the pagan deities (1 Kings 3:2).  As Solomon intermarried with the daughters of the surrounding kingdoms for political expediency, he brought worship to the high places along side the pagan sacrifices (1 Kings 3:3). It was a natural command of Jeroboam to encourage the northern kingdom of Israel to offer sacrifice in the high places, to further ensure that Israel did not return to Jerusalem to worship Yahweh (1 Kings 12:31 & 32).  It is also natural that after the Jews were expelled from Judea into the Babylonian captivity that they would set up their synagogues as alternative places of worship.  A system that had continued during the time of Christ and unto today.

Shiloh became a messianic term because of the prophecy that Jacob gave his son Judah on his deathbed.

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. (Gen 49:10)

Shiloh is a transliteration of the Hebrew word and means, “tranquil” or “peaceful” and relates to the word shalom.  Likewise, Jerusalem in Hebrew is a combination of words that means, “to rain peace”.   Jesus, after turning over the vendor tables that sold doves, was asked what sign would he show to back up his authority for disrupting the vending booths.

Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. (Joh 2:19)

John tells us that He was referring to his own body as the Temple (John 2:21). The place that Yahweh has chosen for His worship is in the Temple of the Prince of Peace, that is, Jesus.   To worship in any other place is unacceptable. The victory found in Shiloh was found in Yahweh, who later became the man, Yah-shua, (Yeshua), that is Jesus, which means, “Yahweh is salvation”.   The Temple stood in front of the Samaritan woman at the well.

After the death and resurrection of Christ, Paul said to the Corinthians,

(1Co 3:16)  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Did the temple change? No. Christ is the Temple. However, He expanded His own life into all who receive Him as their Lord and Savior into their hearts. He is the chief cornerstone (Eph. 2:20) and we are living stones built up into a spiritual house (1 Pet. 2:5). The tabernacle (upon which Solomon’s temple was an expansion) had to be built according to the pattern that God showed Moses on Mt. Sinai (Ex. 25:40 and Heb. 8:5) because it was a picture or type of Christ. Before the Temple was built Israel was forbidden to carve rocks into building blocks, but had to make their altars from natural stones (Ex. 20:25) because the artifice of man was not to be used in God’s temple. Instead living stones created by God, that is people, were to be added to the temple, that is Jesus. Orthodox Jews today still believe that Messiah is to build the temple. They err in thinking that means the 3rd temple of carved stone. Messiah has already built his temple, the body of Christ.  And anyone who wants to worship Yahweh has only one place that He chose, his living temple, believer in Christ.  Going to a building called a church will not bring you to God.  It is in meeting the people who gather in that building is where God is found.  And they are found everywhere.

Why are so many Christians angry?

The Foundation

I can not speak for everyone, but I can speak for myself.  I have been an angry Christian, and I have also walked in genuine peace and humility.   The first thing that needs to be understood is the emotion of anger, which I believe is misunderstood by many people.   Emotions are treated as some kind of independent part of our human nature as illustrated by the common definition of the soul – our mind, will and emotions.  This definition does a disservice to understanding our human nature, and I think (but do not know) that secular psychology is the cause of this misunderstanding.

The Mind

Emotions are the expressions of our thoughts, both in our mind and heart, or our conscience thoughts (mind) and sub-conscience thoughts (heart). In other words, our emotions are the result of what we think upon.  Film-makers and advertisers understand this and know how to create emotional roller coaster rides through their stories.  Emotions, therefore can be controlled by controlling our thoughts, which is the heart of true Christian discipleship. Consider these imperatives from Paul in 2 Corinthians.

(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;   And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.  (2 Cor. 10:4-6 KJV)

In other words we are to watch our thought life and think on those thoughts that agree with God and to stop thinking those thoughts that oppose the way of Christ.  Paul gives us more specific instruction in Philippians.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. (Php 4:8 KJV)

If we keep our thoughts on positive things, our emotions will express this.  Anger is not an expression of positive thoughts.  This control of our thought life is the meaning of Romans 12:

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Rom 12:2 KJV)

The Heart

While emotions are controlled by our controlling the thoughts of our mind, they are rooted in our hearts which is another matter.  The thoughts of our heart are ineffable:  that is, without words. The mind expresses the thoughts of our heart with words, but the heart is the seat of reactions and responses to the real experiences of life.  To tell a parent not to think about the death of their child, for example, will not stop the heart from dwelling on such a loss.  This is the realm that the Holy Spirit works in us.  He may orchestrate events to bring our attention to Him and He works directly on our hearts to work out and sort out the knots the thoughts of our hearts  can be tied into.  This can happen either quickly or over a very long time.  Only the Lord knows what is needed for each of us and how we need to be dealt with by Him.

When I was a teenager I decided to leave home during the summer between my Sophomore and Junior years of high school.  I knew my mother was planning on moving, but I did not think about that when I left.  When I returned at 4 AM,  a week later,  I found the house empty of furniture and I had no idea where she had moved.  I remember sitting there in the living room,  after I had crawled through an unlocked window, thinking, “How could she leave without me?”   At the age of 33 after I had been a Christian for one year, I told this story to a sister in Christ.  She was shocked and told me I had experienced a severe blow of rejection and that I needed to pray with the pastor. When I told the pastor I needed prayer, he told me to fast 24 hours first, then he would pray with me.  The next day as I was about to join him in his room for prayer, the Lord spoke to me and said, “I make those things that are not as though they are” (a variation on Romans 4:17).  I immediately understood that He meant that even though I had the experience, it would be as though it never happened.  When I went in to pray, I never heard a word of the pastor because I immediately burst into tears.  The next day when I experienced a small rejection (we experience rejection of some sort almost daily) I was surprised by the experience.  In the past such a rejection would have been a gut wrenching experience, but now it was merely a slap in the face.

I don’t think that is the usual way of the Lord, though.  When I married at the age of 38 (my wife was 36) I wanted a family immediately.  But because we had not known each other for long, she did not want to have children for a couple years.   When she was 38 she agreed to have kids, and we tried, but by that time fibroids had grown in her womb and she had to have a hysterectomy to remove them.  My hopes for a family were dashed and I despaired blaming both her and God.  I would not divorce her, so to placate my grief (which became lust),   I fell into pornography.  I knew this was wrong  and I tried the recommended route of telling her and several men to keep me accountable. What a failed system that turned out to be. Men don’t keep you accountable and it was too hard for her to deal with.   My deliverance came through the gradual  work of the Lord.  Every time I sinned He would let me see the death that sin immediately caused.   It was from seeing the harm I created from sinning over and over again that brought a true repentance that comes from godly sorrow.  It was not my wife’s fault, nor did God rob me of children, for having a family is His will.  It was the fallen world of sin and death that we all live in – even if we are not directly sinning. We all die regardless of how virtuous we try to be.  And I think, Father wanted me to know that He alone is my Savior, not other people.  Perhaps the Lord uses other people for their deliverance, but my guess is that if success comes through these accountability groups, it does so because the person being delivered knows it is the Lord using those people on His behalf.  But such accountability groups, without the guidance of the Spirit, is no more than just a work of flesh.

As a side note, that experience taught the truth about lust.  Lust is not natural in men. Lust is natural desire compounded by obsessive imagination. When one stops dwelling on the lusted activity – not just sexual acts, but lust for power, money, or anything – the natural desire functions as designed by God.  Any man who says his sexual lust is God-given is deceiving himself to justify his errant behavior.

Life is complex and is more than just the material world we see.   Only God fully understands the complexity of life, and He will do no harm. So when we consider Isaiah,

A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth. (Isa 42:3 KJV)

This is how God treats our hearts.  He works in us in such a way that He will not cause more bruising nor quench any life or spirit within us.

Why Christians are Angry

So, then,  anger as an emotion is created by both the thoughts of the mind and the thoughts of the heart which reacts or responds to the real experiences of life.  The thoughts of our minds can be fueled by things that have nothing or are remotely connected to us.  The emotions of the mind, real or imaginary, are set in attitude by the state of one’s heart.

The Purpose of Anger

Emotions are part of our being in the image of God. Anger has a purpose. Anger is the emotion to right wrongs. But we deceive ourselves to think that our anger ever rights any wrongs in the world. What success we have is far from what the anger of God accomplishes. We are clearly told:

For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. (Jas 1:20 KJV)

When I looked upon the wrongs of the world, I used to say I had  “righteous indignation”.  But frankly I think that is merely an excuse for the “wrath of man” and is a lie.  Even with Christ dwelling within us, I do not believe that God creates anger in our hearts because the work of the cross has “reconciled” God with man.

And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation (2 Co 5:18 KJV)

God is not angry, and His anger is not reactive but responsive.  As a student at Christ for the Nations it was pointed out to me by Gary Osbourne that Jesus took his time to braid a whip before he overthrew the money changers in the temple (John 2:14 and 15). That was a response from Jesus not a reaction.  We imagine God in our fallen image and do not see his perfect image, which is why without the new birth no one can understand God because what we think is god is merely a product of our imagination.  Likewise the “renewing of our mind” (Rom 12:2) includes learning to know the true living God who has only revealed Himself through Jesus Christ. Therefore the emotion of anger we  experience is not “righteous indignation” but the “wrath of man.”  When we see wrongs and respond without anger, then we are more closely aligned to the Lord’s response.

The question also arises  then,  “What  is the wrath of man?”  The wrath of man is selfish;  that is, it is anger centered on self.  If injury happens to a person, they have been wronged and seek justice.  If harm is observed in others and one gets angry according to the wrath of man, it is based in self righteousness.  Self righteousness is a works point of view.  I am righteous because I do this but I don’t do that.  When the wrath of man is aimed at the harm done to another, it is still self righteous affirmation in judging another as unrighteous.  James said:

Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. (Jas 4:11 KJV)

It is righteousness based upon comparison.

For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. (2 Co 10:12)

Both verses are expressions of the failure of self righteousness.  All wrath of man is based in self.  The love of God is selfless.  God was harmed by our rebellion, yet while we were His enemies, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8-10).

The Source of Anger in Christians

This is a complicated answer and there is no silver bullet solution. Quite a few issues need to be addressed, and each angry Christian is a variation in mixture of these different issues. So all I can do is list those that I have seen in me, and hopefully the readers by the Holy Spirit will recognize those issues in themselves. As I said, the thoughts of the heart are affected by the life experiences of each person.  That is between you and the Lord. The gamut in people range from verbal, physical and sexual abuse, to dashed hopes and dreams that failed to come to pass.  These personal matters will create the leaning of attitude and will affect the issues I am listing in either a small or large way.

Four Kinds of Christians

When we think of Christians we need to remember that we are talking about a variety of people. Jesus told us that there are 4 kinds of people that the gospel touches in his parable of the sower and the seed (Matt. 13:18-23).

1. Hard Hearts  The seed (the gospel) falls on hard ground (hardened hearts) and takes no root because birds (devils) snatch it up before it can take root. These people never become Christians. However, Jesus also spoke about wolves in sheep clothing (Matt. 7:15) and they may call themselves Christians, although I think there are Christians who are wolves, too. Satanists have called themselves believers just to create strife in congregations.
2. Stony Ground  These are people who have no depth in themselves, yet receive the gospel with joy. However, when trouble comes they forsake trust in Christ and put their trust in the ways of the world. These are people who will be quick to become angry and embrace hate.
3. Cares of the World  These are believers who have some root in themselves, but they are choked by the cares and troubles of the world. Jesus said they bare no fruit. They, too, are prone to anger and hate.
4. Good Soil  These believers have root in themselves and bare much fruit. They, too, can become angry and have hate, but they retain enough humility to repent when they realize what they are doing. Being good soil does not exempt any believer from the affect of the world on them. But they are the ones who regularly confess their sins and wash themselves in the life (blood) of Christ.

Of these four, only one bears fruit.  It is wrong to think any Christian walks in the fruit of the Spirit all the time. The reality is that those who are truly seeking Him, and miss Him, will repent when they see their errors. Remember, only one out of four people calling themselves Christians knows the Lord well enough to be led by His Spirit nad makes repentance a regular practice as he or she sees him or herself going off course.

Discipleship is a partnership with Christ. Our part is to do what we consciously can, which is the area of our mind and choices of action.  His part is to work where we can not, that is, in our heart.

1. Misunderstanding God

I think this is the number one cause of self righteous anger in Christians.  They do not understand what it means that God is reconciled to us through Jesus Christ.  Instead they are on the performance treadmill, never knowing whether they have pleased God or not. There is a tendency to divide God into two gods.  One god is the loving god whose love is given to those who have accepted the gospel and are working to please Him, whereas the other god is the angry god who is ticked off at all those who reject Christ.  And with the works mentality, which is the basis of self-justification,  the believer never knows if God is angry with them or not.  Reconciliation means that God has already poured out His wrath on Christ, which was His response, not reaction,  to our sin. God is eternal which means He has no beginning nor end, therefore can not change and always is the same.  So what does that mean about God’s anger? It is not an emotion, but a spiritual element of His righteousness.  It is how He responds to wrong.  Thinks of anger in God  as the His immune system to wrong.  The same is meant for humans.  It is there all the time, but only is expressed when the wrong occurs. When the white throne judgment occurs, He is not going to be angry with those who reject Jesus, nor will He be angry with those who accepted Jesus. Instead He will be straightforward, just as Jesus was regarding the Pharisees, “they have their reward.”  Their reward is to continue in the living death we already exist in (we are dead in our sins and trespasses – Eph 2:1 and Col. 2:13) which will continue as decay in the lake of fire (see “Christianity is Physics not Religion“).  And for the believers our lives lived on Earth will simply determine how we live in eternity (cf “The Parable of the Talents” Matt. 25:15-30). God is reconciled to all people because of Jesus Christ, not just  those who have accepted the free gift of salvation.  This is the good news (gospel) that is to be shared.  But the benefit of that reconciliation lies in our hands. If we don’t accept it, then we retain the living death that the universe  currently exists in (called entropy in physics).  God is working in the lives of all people to draw them to Him by His Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ.

2. Erroneous Teachers

This misunderstanding of God comes from the teaching of men instead of the knowledge of God that comes from a deep personal relationship with God. In other words, it is the scholastic and academic approach to the Bible which is the natural mind comprehension, not spiritual mind understanding.  So doctrines on God have abounded through the millenia by men with sincere intentions, but with erroneous results.   This is compounded by organized religion which makes its living off the people of God.  There is little biblical justification for men to make their living off the donations of people, and no justification whatsoever to build businesses with CEO’s calling themselves “pastors” and their businesses “churches”.  That very system is going to create doctrinal error simply in its need to justify itself.  Of necessity for the system’s existence, self justification and elitist attitudes underline many teachings which creates in the congregation self righteousness.  To be fair, many in the pulpit also share wholesome and godly teaching, but organized religion creates a mixture of sweet and bitter water (James 3:1).  That bitter water pollutes the sweet water.

3. Lack of Critical Thinking

Growing up in an atheist family, attending the government schools, I was taught hundreds of lies about world history. These lies are reinforced by magazines, television and movies. The primary lie is the theory of evolution. The secondary lie is the presentation of history based upon that premise. Third is the government spin on American history. Experiencing the Living God through the new birth gave the Bible the credence for me to trust the accuracy of its narrative. I immediately began a comparative study of world history and the Bible that lasted 7 years. What the Bible did was give me a reliable yardstick to compare what I had been taught to the truth. What I did not realize was that I had for the first time experienced critical thinking. It is not possible to think critically (i.e., analytically, not derogatorily) without some kind of unchanging standard. Inflation is confusing until you realize that the standard of measurement, the dollar, keeps changing.  Earlier I referred to 2 Corinthians 10 which admonishes us to not compare ourselves to others. Why? Because people constantly change. Instead we compare our selves to that which does not, nor can not, change: God.

After my first year of salvation I had read the Bible from cover to cover dividing the number of pages in the Bible by 365. I told a sister who had been in Christ for 20 years, “Wow, you must have read the Bible 20 times by now!” She was embarrassed and admitted that she had not. In the last 28 years of my faith I have asked this question and have been dumbfounded by how many Christians do not read the Bible apart from a few famous verses taught from the pulpit. Consequently they don’t know God well because He has revealed Himself through the Scriptures. He and the Scriptures agree with one another. Our personal experience of God will be misunderstood or strengthened by how familiar we are with the Bible. Those who rely on preaching for their understanding of God are the ones who will blame God and be more angry with life crisis and politics.

Critical thinking and discernment of truth overlooks the rhetoric to see the action.  Many of these believers who do not read the Bible for themselves and are in the habit of relying on what is preached, never get past rhetoric.   A man’s character is known by what they do, not what they say.

4. Politics and Christian Media

When I became a believer in 1985 Christian radio was predominantly Bible teaching, recorded sermons and contemporary Christian music and worship recordings.  Tele-evangelists and Christian television broadcasts such as Pat Robertson’s  “700 Club” the Trinity Broadcast Network, and others shared Bible teaching,  testimonial stories,  and Christian music and worship.  It was in the 1990′s that a shift began towards political activism  in Christian media.   Dr. James Dobson had a huge following with his “Focus on the Family” broadcast, and voiced his concerns over the political assaults on the family regarding abortion, homo-sexuality, divorce and other family matters.  Likewise, Pat Robertson became politically active, even running for the presidency of the USA.   I don’t know when the late Marlin Maddux began his Point of View broadcast, but he was an early Christian political activist.   The point is that it was during the 1990′s that Christian media began informing the Church about the political injustice that occurred, and they actively encouraged participation in the Republican Party.  These men and women are (or were) sincere in their genuine intention of righting wrongs.  However,  wisdom is preceded by knowledge, but misleading knowledge will result in  misapplied wisdom.  Or, to put it another way, it is a logical truth that if the premise is wrong, so will the conclusion be wrong.  Two misleading outcomes resulted in believers because of this: 1.  the growth of anger in Christians frustrated at the political abuses in America, and, 2. an alignment of the Church into the political divide that is orchestrated  by the powers that be.   Jesus said, “a house divided will not stand” (Matt 12:25), and the powers that want to control the nation know this full well.

5. Conservative Talk Radio

The move from expository Bible teaching and worhsip music into politics by the Christian media, made a natural connection to listening to conservative talk radio.  Rush Limbaugh is a very entertaining man, and he shares some important truths regarding limited government.   Many Christians began listening to other talk show hosts, many of whom are not Christians at all.  Radio and television are expensive mediums to broadcast through, and those who control the purse strings, that is the banks who loan the money, choose who gets on the air by their decision for whom gets the loans.  I believe that many conservative talk show hosts genuinely believe what they say, but they are there because they were given the money to be there.  So, while they are sincere, what they talk about furthers the bankers, or globalist agendas.   So the war on Terror is believed by many evangelicals because both the conservative talk show hosts and the Christian media build the case for it.  And since too many evangelicals are not “Noble Bereans” who search the scriptures to see if this is so (Acts 17:11), and simply accept what they are told from the pulpit, neither do they question what they are told  in conservative talk radio.  At the risk of sounding cynical, I am now at a point where I consider most conservative talk show hosts to be shills.  The “Hush Rush” bill and others that came afterwards, that so many talk show hosts sounded the alarm with panic, I now deem to be merely a tactic to increase belief in the listener that what they are being told is the truth, otherwise, why would they want to shut it down.  Mark my words, the day is coming when the internet will also be controlled by laws requiring huge fees to post online that independents will not be able to afford to pay.

6.  9/11 and War

For many evangelicals they have trouble coping with the government abuses because they believe that all governments are ordained of God, therefore are the will of God. They misunderstand the Sovereignty of God as being all things are His Will. This is not true. A king is called a sovereign over his nation, but he can not and does not control everything the subjects do. The patriot community believes that the USA was founded on the idea that each person is sovereign, which is a characteristic of being made in the image of God, and means that each person has the right to life, liberty and property. What each person does with their own life and things is their business, no one else’s. Likewise, what God has given us is the freedom to organize ourselves as we see fit. What is ordained are not the people or types of governments, but the right to form governments. As the Sovereign, God has the right to create and determine what He wants to do with His creation. What He did was give us to the freedom to decide things on our own, with or without His advise.

So with so many Evangelicals focusing on getting the Democratic president, Bill Clinton, out of office they confused the walk with Christ as the same as thing as fighting political causes. I first began to see the futility of politics with the meaningless “Contract with America” that Newt Gringrich touted. When George Bush became president (I live in Texas so had him as governor) I had already begun researching into the shadow government, being motivated by both the Y2K fears of the 21st century, and Irvin Baxter’s “Politics and Religion” broadcast. So, I was already aware of the globalist agenda of George Sr and the Bush family  banking relationships,  and that George Jr was a member of the secret Yale society, “Skull and Bones”. Nonetheless I was optimistic that he, a professing Christian, would be the needed change. How wrong that hope was. I believed that the fall of the World Trade Center was a terrorist attack as I was told, but was surprised at how they knew so quickly that it was Osama Bin Laden and Al Quaida. When nothing was done to get him, and no effort was really made to protect the US-Mexican border, I stopped believing. Especially since attention was turned towards ousting Saddam Hussein in Iraq. A few years after 9/11 I came across the Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth material and became convinced that towers were controlled demolitions and that the American government had murdered 3,000 American citizens in a false flag operation to provide the excuse for an undefined, unlimited war on terror to keep the war machine moving callously forward to plunder the world. Needless to say, I became bitter and angry at this realization. I was polluted and defiled in my spirit. The Lord had to speak to me a reminder that I am not a citizen of America, but a citizen of the Kingdom of God and that I was a pilgrim and a stranger passing through as an ambassador of Christ. That Word from God restored my peace. I have told my wife and others these things. To my surprise they refuse to believe it. I understand why. To believe our own government is murdering its own citizens is horrifying, and it is easier to remain in denial for peace of mind. But denial does not eliminate anger in the heart. It suppresses it so that it explodes by trigger issues. This is no way to live as a Christian because the anger will only grow as the reality of abuse is seen, and the frustration at feeling there is nothing to be done. The heart perceives and thinks on reality in a way that the mind does not. I believe this is so because in our conscience and spirit is the knowledge of right and wrong, and it is the eyes of the heart that watches these things in truth. And it takes the work of the Lord, and the cooperation of believers with the Lord, in cleaning our hearts. That divine perspective that Christ gave me has been the anchor that lets me come back to the peace of God that passes all understanding when I see myself drifting back to anger at the blatant abuses of the government.

And everyone did that which was right in their own eyes.

We have been taught to believe that the word “anarchy” means “chaos and pandemonium. ” And as it is used today that is what is meant by the speaker. But the meaning of words are not understood solely by current usage.  Dictionaries provide current usage and past usage through their etymological definitions so we may see how words have changed through the generations.  The word breaks up into two words  “an” meaning “without”  and “arch” meaning “leader”.  More broadly it means without government or hierarchy.  Not having a human leader does not automatically mean chaos and pandemonium.  That connotation is encouraged by leaders who want to retain their leadership.

I am proposing a new concept, which is as old as creation: biblical anarchy, and I am referring to the Church, not governments of the world.  Of course, God has created life to need leadership.  It begins with the family as the parents are the leaders of the children.  All children are born ignorant, except for the knowledge God inscribes on every human heart, so we all need to be taught by those who know what we do not know.  So, when I speak of biblical anarchy, I am not throwing the baby out with the bathwater.  Leaders that are used by the Lord, however, are temporary in leadership, not permanent.  Only professional students stay in school their whole life, for example. We all have to graduate and move on.   Because we live in a fallen world, civil governments still remain a necessity.  But the Church of Jesus Christ has no need for any hierarchal government system, because all regenerated believers have direct access to the King.

In 2008 I realized that the book of Judges had a bad rap.  The verse in Judges that is repeated twice, “In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 17:6 & 21:25) is usually understood to mean that they strayed because their understanding of what is right was wrong, so God had to raise up judges to bring them back.  But when you consider the amount of evil recounted in Judges compared to all the evil recounted in Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, the contrast of evil done through the kings is enormous! Since the Lord was already their king, God did not want them to have a human king, and gave them stern warning of the consequences if they chose a human king (1 Samuel 8:9-18). The Lord wanted His people to be biblical anarchists, that is to serve Him and not a human leader.  They rejected God as their King for a human substitute (1 Samuel 8:7).  The natural question is, why? The answer is that they did not want to be accountable to God since human accountability is much easier to manipulate.  I think the generation living under the time of the Judges was much more willing to be accountable to God, than those during the Israeli kings.

Two years later I came across a Jewish website that said that the Judaic view of that verse understood it to mean that there was no need for leadership because everyone knew what was right to do and did it. As I continue to watch both organized religion and civil governments abuse and use people, I am becoming more convinced that the government of the Kingdom of God is the complete opposite of what we are told.  More and more believers are forsaking institutional Christianity for house church gatherings or organic fellowship.  Regrettably, many have no clue what that means and continue meeting with a hierarchal structure – low key, but hierarchal nonetheless.

Jesus said, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation”  (Luke 17:20 KJV).   When one studies the history of the Church one sees two streams of the Church.  The visible Church which is organized religion, and the invisible or underground church.   The  real body of Christ is the organic church which exists in both the visible and invisble fellowships.  The organic church are all believers  regenerated through the new birth.  The underground church tends to flourish in areas of persecution. Persecution forces  believers to meet secretly, abandoning institutional congregations, thus embracing biblical anarchy since they must hear the Lord for themselves.  Advice from people can be too dangerous if one does not know for oneself what is the guidance of God. Of course, there are many underground congregations who continue to meet in the same manner of organized religion, but because of the persecution, those believers seem to be closer to God despite their format of gathering.

I believe that the trend in the United States for believers to abandon organized religion for alternative gatherings of believers is the beginning of the underground church, which is strengthening the organic church through what I am calling biblical anarchy.  I find it ironic that Hebrews 10:25 is the main justification for organized religion when the entire chapter declares the one-on-one relationship that God has given all regenerated believers makes the case that there is no more need for organized religion!  The point of verse 25 is that we need to have an intentional hospitality in staying connected with other believers.  And historically, the main persecuters of the underground church is often not the civil government, but the institutional churches that had become state churches.  By extension, though, the civil government persecuted the underground church through the state church.  This was the case for the post Protestant Reformation believers, and why the Pilgrims came to the New World.

As more and more mainline denominations embrace the global agenda, the underground church is going to grow in the United States.  The need for big government in civil society is a myth.  Even the unregenerate are not looking for trouble on the most part.   So even the civil government does not need to be large.  The wars of the world are created by governments, that is, people holding power wanting further power and wealth for themselves.  This is especially true in the 20th century, and if you look behind the scenes of what has really happened in the last century,  the United States government has been the driving force behind all the wars .

Evangelical Christians are also the main support group for these wars, and they don’t realize it. They have been taught that obeying human governments is the same thing as obeying God. So, without really thinking that teaching through, many believers blindly obey governments regardless of what the governments do.  Nazi Germany had a strong Christian support, so much so that the swatiska was created as another symbol for the cross.  In hindsight, how can Christians today say that invading Iraq was in the interest of nation defense? Does that jive with the teachings of Christ?

I fear that those believers who do not forsake organized religion and embrace the biblical anarchy that I am writing about, will be the new persecutors of the underground church. Why do professing Christians persecute other Christians?  For the same reason that the Israelis wanted a human king.  They can justify their selfishness easier in organized religion by their check list of do’s and don’ts, to make them feel right with God while remaining selfish.  Likewise, the arm of the flesh is easier to see as a resource for aid, then trusting God whose aid you have no idea how it may come about.  They want to stay in control. I pray that evangelicals do not become the persecutors of the underground church and that I am wrong in my concern. Those who want to lean on the arm of the flesh and remain in state churches have forgotten that the only way to gain your life is to lose it (Matt. 16:25).

Post Script 11/12/12

As I said at the beginning of the blog, I do not throw the baby out with the bathwater.  Biblical anarchy means having no human leadership, but only God.  However, human leaders are used by God.  Consider that Paul told us to “follow me as I follow Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1). But if you are following Christ, Paul is not your leader but is your companion. His example incarnates Christ for us so we are encouraged in our incarnation of Christ, too.

The Brady Bunch was a TV show that began the alternative family as an acceptable idea in America. This opened the door for living together without marriage, homosexual unions and any other arrangement that contradicted the divine plan of one man and one woman for life as acceptable. The father brought his sons, and the wife and her daughters to the blended marriage.

The first time I had heard the term, “blended families,” was in the 1990′s. It was from a father in a family at the congregation my wife and I were attending at that time. He was referring to his children and the children of his second wife living together.   At the time he was optimistic.  I had learned some 10 years later that they divorced and the families were split apart.

My parents divorced when I was 10 years old in 1964 when divorce was a rare thing.  As you may imagine my siblings and I felt like the “black sheep” of the neighborhood.  My mother did not remarry until we were all adults.  My father, however, married the woman of his affair and raised the two daughters of his second wife.   The two daughters were considered our step-sisters.   The man my mother married had 5 children of his own.  But they, too, were adults when we began “blending” our families through visits and short term living arrangements.  Since we were adults, my siblings and I appreciated and enjoyed our step-father’s children.  We also grew to love our step father.  But not so with my father’s wife and two daughters.  My siblings resented his wife, seeing her as the reason for our family split.   I had made the decision to accept her as my father’s wife, since it was really beyond my control and there was no sense in creating further angst.  I think the resentment for my siblings was increased due to their being children at the time. And as such, from my experience, it does not work with children.   My mother’s decision to wait for us kids to grow up before she remarried was a wise decision for it by passed the problems children experience with dealing with step siblings in a blended family union.  Blending children together in the new marriage exasperates the feelings that all children have that the divorce was somehow “their fault” and their longing that their parents somehow will still remarry.

No one in my family is a follower of Christ.  I was not at the time of the divorce.  I came to Christ when I was 32.  My personal experience, and the knowledge of the first family I mentioned in the beginning of this post, is that blending families are poor substitutes  for the failure of the first families. Blended families are not new and all have the same cause for existence: sin.  All the way back in Genesis families were dysfunctional from the fall of Adam and Eve.  Cain murdered his brother Abel.  Lamech took two wives creating the first recorded blended family, although technically  it is considered polygamy.  Lamech told them that he had murdered a man.  Was the man he murdered the husband of one of his wives just as David murdered Uriah to have Bathsheba?  We don’t know.  But having two wives is a type of “blended” family. Which was the same with Abraham and Sarah who gave her husband her handmaid Hagar as a surrogate mother since she was barren.  But when she had her own son Isaac, the Lord stood with Sarah in casting out Hagar and Ishmael.  If Ishmael and Isaac grew up together, only the Lord knows what kind of problems would have developed.

We do know that Jacob had 4 wives that begat the 12 sons of Israel.  That blended family was rife with sin. They sold Joseph into slavery.  Levi and Simeon murdered the men of Shechem after Dinah had been raped.  Judah slept with his daughter-in-law after she realized that he was not going to give his youngest son to her in marriage, so she pretended to be a prostitute to get a child.  The stories go on an on throughout the Bible of the troubles that arose from blended families. Need I continue by mentioning the problems David had after his sin with Bathsheba and the revolt of Absalom from his wife  Maacah?

I understand the desire and intention of those who have arisen from the rubble of one failed marriage to attempt to create a new marriage with a blended family.  But frankly, I do not see biblical support for that endeavor.  The New Testament has some very straight forward statements on these matters.

1 Cor 7:10-11
10 To the married I give this command (not I, but the Lord): A wife must not separate from her husband.
11 But if she does, she must remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband. And a husband must not divorce his wife. (NIV 1 Cor 7:10-11)

How can anyone miss this? It is a straightforward directive: if your spouse leaves you, do not seek remarriage. But that is not what believers do. They seek a new spouse as fast as possible. Don’t get me wrong, I know the grace of God which is why Paul said earlier in the chapter:

1 Cor 7:8-9
8    Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I am.
9    But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. (NIV)

But this understanding of grace is not an encouragement to go out of your way to find a new spouse. Rather, the Lord in knowing your lust or loneliness, in his time and wisdom will bring a new spouse when He knows you are ready. That is not based on your emotions but your discipleship and maturity in Christ. The encouragement not to seek remarriage is repeated many times.

1 Cor 7:19-20
19    Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts.
20    Each one should remain in the situation which he was in when God called him. (NIV)

1 Cor 7:23-24
23    You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.
24    Brothers, each man, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation God called him to. (NIV)

1 Cor 7:26-27
26    Because of the present crisis, I think that it is good for you to remain as you are.
27    Are you married? Do not seek a divorce. Are you unmarried? Do not look for a wife. (NIV)

Experience shows the wisdom of the biblical admonitions. There is only one thing that matters, your trust in Christ which is revealed by your peace and patience.  Seeking remarriage before Christ opens that door, is a formula for repeated divorce and damaged children.  All my siblings have been married and divorced at least two times and one five times.  One of my sisters was married once but never remarried. She is not a Christian. I, alone, have remained faithful to my wife and have remained married to her for 20 years.  I did not marry until the Lord told me to marry her.  Knowing that she is the will of God for me has been my anchor through our trials because of my first love for Christ.  And this is what Paul means:

1 Cor 7:28-29
28    But if you do marry, you have not sinned; and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.
29    What I mean, brothers, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; (NIV)

Of course, Paul does not mean men should live like bachelors. He is speaking of how our genuine freedom in Christ is manifested. Immature love is self centered. Those who divorce, at least one party, had a selfish love. Maturity in Christ means being Christ dependent and other centered not self centered.  Selfish love is addressed in the epistle of John.

I Jn 4:18
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. (KJV)

John is not referring to punishment in Hell. He addresses the anxiety and frustrations of trying to get your needs met through your spouse. The perfect love, or mature love, does not have these fears because the mature follower of Christ has confidence in his dependence on Christ to meet his needs. This is what Paul means when he says that we who have wives should live as if we had none. And this applies to the wives regarding their husbands, too.

The damage done to children through divorce sets them up, like my siblings for a pattern of immature love that runs away to a new spouse when the trials come. And trials come to all people who marry or stay single. Compound those problems with additional problems children face  in coping with step siblings, who may or may not be there in the future, too. If the family is not Christian, there is a high likely hood that the teen age sons may molest the step sisters, not seeing them really as “family”. Then there will always be the inevitable favoritism that the natural parent will show their own children.

Consider the story of Joseph. The Bible does not tell us who wanted Joseph dead the most. All the brothers hated him because their father Jacob favored him above all his sons. Why did he favor Joseph? Because he loved Rachel, who was the only woman he wanted to have as his wife. But because of Laban’s deceit towards Jacob, and his love for Leah, he switched them on the wedding night. Leah knew she was not loved by Jacob, and clearly loved him just as Rachel loved him.  God gave Leah favor and opened her womb first in providing her with the first set of sons. This put Rachel in a panic that she might actually lose Jacob’s love so she is the first to offer her handmaid Bilhah as a surrogate mother. Leah now had the fear of losing Jacob’s love (whom she never really had)  and offered Zilpah.

The two sons of Bilhah, Dan and Naphtali, were first raised by Rachel as her own.  But when Joseph was born, and she had her own natural son, she dismissed the boys, returning them to Bilhah.  No doubt, the boys knew who really loved them, Bilhah.  It would seem that Dan and Naphtali would have the most reason to resent Joseph.  Then after Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamen, Dan and Naphtali would resent Joseph even further as Jacob lavished his love on Joseph.  The straw that broke the camel’s back was the multi-colored coat that Jacob gave Joseph. I have been told that the coat was a symbol of authority, and that Jacob was saying to the rest of the sons, Joseph is my first born and heir to my wealth.  So it is easy to see why the rest of the sons would resent Joseph, too.

Blended families increase the dysfunction of the family. The Bible and life show this truth.  Television shows have willfully been trying to portray families in a wide variety of ways as being equal.  They are not.  Marriage for life of one man to one woman raising the family together is the only way families have a chance to succeed, and even that will be hard with Christ.  How much harder without Christ? Children need to see parents who are mature in love, who are married, yet do not depend on each other because they depend on Christ.

As I said earlier, the grace of God is there for us all.  He knows our needs and lets remarriage and blending of families occur.  My encouragement and point of this post is to all who are seeking either marriage for the first time or remarriage to wait on the Lord and not press the issue.  Father wants to bring us to mature love which requires our love for Him to surpasses our love for our selves or anyone one else.  Jesus said:

He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.(Matt. 10:37  KJV)

And in the same context:

Mark 10:29 -30

29  And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel’s,
30  But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.  (KJV)

This is His promise that if He is first in your life then He will meet your needs of marriage and bring you to mature love that loves others without need of return and is the state in marriage when you are married, yet  as though you are not.  It is not necessary for you to “arrive” in mature love before you marry. Frankly, marriage is the best tool that God uses to bring is into mature love.  But it is necessary that you “arrive” at the point where your heart desires God more than marriage.  So, if you have never married, brothers and sisters, wait upon the Lord. If you are divorced with children, you may have the heart attitude of God first, but do your children? Not likely, therefore all the more reason to wait upon the Lord, and perhaps, as my mother did, wait until the children are grown before entering a second marriage.

The sovereignty of the people

If you read or listen to any of the many  websites, podcasts and radio broadcasts from the patriot community, you will hear the expression, “sovereigns” used frequently.  The expression tends to be confusing both because governments and kings claim the term in reference to their authority over their subjects and because organized religion uses the expression as meaning the total control of God over His creation as the Sovereign Lord.   The term needs clarification for the Church (i.e., the people that are born again) and the people towards their governments.

First, the patriot community rightly understands that governments are not sovereign but the people who create their governments.  The American government was created “by the people,  for the people” (from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address).  It is a logical conclusion that the creator is greater than the created.  Thus the people who create the government are greater than the government that was created, and the people have the sovereign rights while the government has privileges granted by the people.

The Creator, Yahweh who became Y’shua, is also the Sovereign Lord who grants us our rights.  Unlike humans, God can not take back that which He gives because all that He says and does is eternal.  Eternal means from his unchanging nature which has no beginning nor end. Therefore His Word is immutable.  So our human rights are not privileges given us from God because what He gives He can not take back (Romans 11:29).

The sovereignty of God does not mean that He controls everything, but rather, that He has authority over Himself and all that belongs to Him.  Since we are made in His image, we also are made as sovereigns.  This means that He gave us the right to do what we want with ourselves and all that belongs to us.  Therefore, if we reject Him, He does not interfere with our rejection of Him.  We suffer the consequence of our choice, of course, for those consequences belong to us.  So if we reject the salvation offered to all, we own the consequence of the Lake of Fire because of our choice.

Having authority over something does not mean having control over that something.  If I drive my car in the ice I have authority to drive the car because it is mine.  But if I lose control over my car when I hit the ice, I have not lost my authority over the car, only the control of my car.  God gave us authority over our lives which makes us sovereigns over our lives, but we do not always control our lives.  We have the right to drink ourselves stinking drunk, but we will lose control of our lives as we become alcoholics.  We do not lose authority over our lives, but we have lost control of our lives.  Proverbs says:

He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls. (Prov 25:28 KJV)

This brings me to the point of my post.  Since we are made in the image of God, who is sovereign and made us individually sovereign, or that is, individually responsible for our lives, He has established freedom to enter into agreements with Him and one another.

 Can two walk together, except they be agreed? (Amos 3:3 KJV)

Many of the problems and difficulties we have between us and God, us and others, us and governments is due to our misunderstanding of our personal responsibilities in agreements made complicitly or implicitly.  God does not do our part.  He gives us responsibilities, and when we do not do them, we suffer the consequences.  Grace is given by God to us so we may correct our problems with His aid if  we ask for it.  Grace is not His fixing our problems, although in His kindness and love He many times does so.  But He is obligated only to do His part of our covenant with Him.  Fortunately His parts includes many gracious promises such as He will never forsake us or leave us (Heb. 13:5),  when we are faithless He remains faithful (2 Tim. 2:13), and many other such gracious promises.

It has been said by many preachers that covenants and contracts are not the same thing.  They are right.  A contract is an agreement for services or such things between two parties.  If one party breaches the contract, the other party is no longer under obligation to fulfill the contract.  Contracts can be disputed and sued in court.  Covenants, however, are agreements to the death.   In our covenant with God through Jesus of Nazareth,  God through Jesus, first died to the Mosaic Covenant and used His blood to establish the New Covenant with all who would accept the covenant with Him, first with Israel, then to all  the world.

Marriage is another covenant, not a contract.  It is treated like a contract today, but not from the Lord’s point of view. It is an “until death do we part” covenant.   When Yahweh made His covenant with Abraham, an animal was slaughtered and cut in half.  Abraham walked  between the two animal parts and so did Yahweh (Gen. 15:9-17).  This act of shedding blood and passing through the flesh is the ancient  means of forming a covenant.  This same act is done on the honeymoon when a virgin breaks her hymen  in the act of intercourse.

But our agreement with government is contractual, not a covenant.  When the founding fathers set up the US constitution, it was based upon the understanding that each person was a  sovereign individual of self government, or self control.   As Joseph Farah had pointed  out, self government does not mean representational government but each person governs themselves.

Which brings me to Christian maturity.  There is a distinction made between children of God and sons of God.  The Bible says:

For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Rom 8:14 KJV)

A son is mature,  and takes responsibility. A child continues in selfish pursuits.   As I shared in the post, “The Difference Between a Child of God and a Son of God”,  a prince, (Alexander the Great) was not considered a son of the king (Philip of Macedonia) until he became responsible enough to take over the throne.  At that time he  was adopted by his father, and he then became his son.    Being a son of God means being a responsible sovereign who has root in one’s self.

The American government was set up on this foundation.  As long as its people matured, it would remain a free nation.  But if the people remained children, even though the system remained the same, the nation would fall into tyranny.   The tyranny is based on the contract not being fulfilled by the people.   It is a deception, but a legal deception.  The responsibility to know our rights and responsibilities lies on the shoulders of the people.  If the people forsake their part, then the servants of government  can seize control and make themselves masters instead of servants.  This is where we are today and the forsaking of responsibility by the people occurred between the end of the Civil War and the turn of the twentieth century.   For the last 100 years the American people, by and large, have remained children and have not taken hold of their sovereign responsibilities.  Americans have not become sons of the founding fathers.

The resurrection transformed all creation

In an earlier post I wrote about the physical law of entropy being  not only the “curse” but the continuation of sin.   The Lake of Fire, in my opinion, is not punishment from God, but the continuation of decomposition that we already experience through aging then, finally, physical death.  It is decomposition in the spirit.  Our human spirits are made of divine substance, according to the Bible, called, “the breath of life” (Gen. 2:7).  This substance breathed into the nostrils of Adam came from God, therefore is everlasting.  But our spirits became corrupted because of Adam’s sin, along with degeneration through the generations, compounded by our own sins.   While the human spirit can not completely die, it will continue in corruption of decomposition in  the Lake of Fire.  This is our choice when we reject the gospel, which (as Wayne Jacobsen likes to say) is the cure.  If you reject the cure, then you retain the disease.

My point in that post was to encourage everyone that this is not the wrath of God  (I am not denying that God has wrath),  but the Lake of Fire is the consequence of our own choices if we reject the gift of life in Christ. God’s wrath has already been poured out on sin through Jesus on the cross.  Furthermore,  I want the reader to understand that the fall  of Adam affected the entire universe, whereas the redemption of Christ also affects the entire universe.   This, then, is the  purpose of this post.

As I said then, the statement made by James that if we break one commandment we have broken them all (James 2:9) explains the transgression of Adam impacting all creation.  This brought about what is called “the curse” in the Bible, but is called entropy in physics. When God explained the consequences of their transgression, He was not pronouncing judgment in the religious sense, but was illustrating the change in creation because of the fall.  The very fabric of creation was now fractured by their sin, and all creation became tainted with sin.

This does not mean the dualistic view of gnosticism which declares the physical world to be sin while the spiritual world to be sinless.  That view sees the spiritual world as separate from the physical world.  There is only one creation and the spiritual world is another dimension of creation which makes it an integral part of the physical world, too.   Sin did not begin in the physical world, it began in the spiritual world with Lucifer’s fall before Adam and Eve’s fall. The virus of Lucifer’s sin was passed onto Adam and Eve, and they, being in the image of God and having dominion over the physical world, spread the virus into the physical world.  Remember, the Lord Jesus declared that if a man lusted for a woman in his heart then he has already committed adultery with her (Matt. 5:28) which shows that sin begins in the spirit (or, in this illustration, the soul) first.

The infection of sin creeps and fractures all  creation. The thorns and thistles of  Genesis 3:18 were the beginning of this change to creation.  When the Earth was flooded by the intervention of God, everything had been corrupted by sin, animals and mankind alike.  It is wrong to think animals are sinless.  Understanding their taint of sin requires understanding the original intention of God.  Animals were made to eat plants, just as people were.  It was never God’s intention that humans or animals eat one another.   C.S. Lewis in his book, “The Problem with Pain,”  points out that animals in the wild is outside the plan of God.  For mankind was to care for the creatures and the  animals were to be in relationship with humans just as pets are in relationship with people.

So when you consider the destruction of all the world in the Flood or the local conquest of Canaan by Israel where they were commanded by God to destroy all living things,  people and animals alike, the command was not a destruction of innocent life.  The very fabric of all creation has been corrupted by sin, and as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, or Canaan in the Israeli conquest, that infection became deeply increased in those areas .  Sin  infects all creation like yeast affects all the flour dough it touches.  The restoration is the reverse of that.

Jesus said, by metaphor, that  He had to die like a seed in the ground so he could regrow and multiply (John 12:24). He tells us that we need to do the same (John 12:25 ).  In His earthly life Jesus was perfect and sinless, but he was not perfected, or completely sealed in His perfection. He accepted the sins of the world to be placed upon Him, which then “made Him sin who knew no sin” (1 Cor. 5:21).  Without His becoming sin, He could not die. But the corruption of sin/entropy infected Him so He could die.  The eternal Spirit left Him, so He remained solely human, a created body, soul and spirit which could die.  According to Romans 5:12-21 by one man [Adam's] sin came into the world and all die, but by one man [Jesus'] righteousness came so all may live.  Since it was not His sin that killed Him, and He had voluntarily laid His life down (John 10:17-18) for us, He was justified and resurrected back to life.

This action of being a seed that dies to bear fruit (John 12:24) is like starter dough in baking bread made with yeast.  Just as sin was like a starter dough of poison that taints every new loaf of bread made with the tainted starter dough,  Jesus became the righteous and wholesome starter dough that cleanses every tainted dough into wholesome and healthy dough. The cleansing, of course, is not total immediately, but requires our transformation into glory which happens at His return.   This starter dough of Jesus’ very life is not for humanity alone, but is the new substance that will make up the new Heaven and Earth after the White Throne Judgment when all the heavens will roll up like a scroll.  All creation is being purged, first mankind in the new life, but then the whole universe by the resurrected and glorified life of Christ.

“For God so loved the World [kosmos]…” (John 3:16) is not limited to mankind. It includes mankind and begins with mankind for salvation, but the Greek word “kosmos” also means the entire universe.  Christ came to save sinners, the source of corruption in the universe, but He also come to save His entire creation.  His gift and sacrifice is much greater than you and I, although we are the primary objects of His salvation.

But because God made us in His image as sovereign free will beings, He does not force anyone to accept His salvation.  So all who refuse the healing will be quarantined where their entropy of decomposition will continue forever in the Lake of Fire which was originally created for the fallen angels who (I do not know why) can not be saved.

God is a Father to the fatherless

And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. (Matt 23:9 KJV)

If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:26 KJV)

God is my father.  I had no problem accepting His Fatherhood in my life when I came to saving faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.  Yet, as I have come to know many believers over the last 25 years, I could not understand why so many have difficulty in embracing this truth in their own relationship with God.

For some it is the difficulty of knowing the fatherhood of God because their own fathers were such poor examples.  Their natural tendency is to superimpose the image of their earthly father onto their heavenly father.  For others it is a theological abstraction that blocks  their grasp of  the fatherhood of God.   For them, only Jesus is the Son of God, and we are merely adopted creatures.   To think we are actually the children of God is to imply  that we are divine, too, and that would be blasphemous to that theological frame of mind.

When Jesus said that we are to call no man father (Matt, 23:9), he spoke that statement to a Jewish audience.  I spent 3 months in Israel  on a Kibbutz as part of my Jewish Studies Minor, and as far as I understand, no one thought of God as their father in the Jewish point of view.  So His statement was radical to them. He was God Almighty, the Lord, but not “father” to the Jews.

What Jesus meant is further clarified in Luke 14:26.  Obviously we are not to “hate” our family in the natural sense.  Understanding God means thinking outside the box of natural thinking.  Just as the “wrath of God” is not the same as the “wrath of man” which does not work the righteousness of God (James 1:20), neither does Jesus mean we are to hate our family in the natural sense. Instead it is in the same spirit as a man and woman who marry are to “leave” the parents and to “cleave” unto one another.  Our dependency upon our parents end when we marry.  Likewise when we come into covenant with God, our dependency upon our family ceases.

James 1:27
27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. (KJV)

Hillsong music sings a song with a paraphrase of Psalm 68:5, “a father to the fatherless”.

A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. (Ps 68:5  KJV)

The first meaning is literal, of course.  God cares for orphans and works in their lives.  But the significance runs deeper.  While the new birth is the restoration of the Father in our lives, God is still a Father to every human being on the planet.  God cares for and about everyone.   When I look upon my past, now that I am in Christ, I can see in hindsight the many times that God intervened and took care of me both as a child and a young adult before salvation.   Non-believers in Christ, but believers in some kind of God, give lip service to being called a child of God, which I now understand to be true in one sense. We are all the children of God through creation by God, but there is a difference between being a created child of God and a child of God through the new birth. The two, nonetheless, are still vitally connected.

Those believers who have the new birth, yet still do not know the Fatherhood of God, especially in the intimate sense that Paul means when he says we are to call Him, “Abba” (Rom. 8:15 & Gal. 4:6), miss this intimacy with God because they have never seen themselves as orphans. Until you realize that you are fatherless here on the Earth, you will not embrace, nor see, God as your actual Father.

In my case, that process began early in my childhood, even though I did not know the Lord at that time. When my parents divorced, I felt that I was a burden to my mother who had to raise 6 kids on her own. My father was a good man in that he made the effort to visit us twice a week, nonetheless, I felt – and my siblings have expressed the same feeling – like a burden to them both and sought a way to leave the home as soon as I could. The divorce made me feel homeless.

As a young adult I did not look back home, but struck out on my own. Having no one else, I cried out to God for help, even though I did not know how to know Him at that time. When Christ came into my life at the age of 32, I naturally embraced Him as my Father. Jesus said that those who are forgiven much, love much (Luke 7:47). I do not think it is just the forgiveness of many sins that brings greater love. I think the condemnation of our conscience for sinning so much creates a sense of separation from people akin to being an orphan. When forgiven by God the sense of separation and orphanage disappears as we cleave to our Savior.

The cross is the surgical instrument of God to bring that separation from our Earthly families to join us to our Heavenly family. Those who do not embrace the cross on a daily basis, remain pulled between the two worlds of heaven and earth. If you want to know the Fatherhood of God in a more intimate way, you have to let the cross turn you into an orphan

I would love to hear from readers their point of view on this topic. How did you know that God was your real father? If you do not know this, then why do you think otherwise?

The ultimate corruption

It is a complete misunderstanding to think that Christianity is a religion. It is not. It is biology and physics. Preachers warp it into a religion through thoughtlessness and the needs of running a business. They are ignorant of how Adam and Eve broke the laws of physics and what God did through Jesus Christ to restore those broken laws.

Instead they water it down to mere “personal relationship” with God. I do not say that lightly! Personal relationship with God is the reason we were created. But it diminishes the magnitude of what happened with Adam and Eve and the cosmic work of Jesus Christ Himself.

Adam and Eve Knew Yahweh Their Whole Lives

Sin and judgment are clearly attributes of the the fall and redemption, but they, too, diminish the Truth. Adam and Eve did not just “sin” and lose relationship with God. In fact Genesis 3:21 implies more than it says in that Adam and Eve were given a means to retain their relationship with God all their lives.

The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. (Gen 3:21 NIV)

An animal had to die for the “garment of skin” to be made for Adam and his wife. In Jewish custom the Paschal lamb was kept in the house for three days before it was butchered for the Sedar. The head of the house slit the lamb’s throat. This created a great sorrow in the whole house as they watched the innocent animal die. I have no doubt that Adam had to kill the animal, perhaps a lamb, himself. They saw the horror and felt the grief for the loss of the animal life that was used to make their garments. The implication is clear: this was a blood sacrifice that pointed the way to Christ, which they knew of from earlier in Genesis 3:15. They understood that blood was shed for their sins. The blood sacrifice began with Adam and Eve and has been practiced by cultures throughout all of the world’s history.

Consequence Not Judgment

It is easy to assume that God was pronouncing a “judgment” upon mankind for Adam’s sin in Genesis 3.

• Genesis 3:16 – Women would suffer in child bearing and would be dominated by men.
• Genesis 3:17 – The ground would be so difficult to til it would bring great sorrow.
• Genesis 3:18 – Thorns would grow with the crop.
• Genesis 3:19 – Sweat would be expended harvesting the crop, but all that effort to live would not halt the ultimate death that would return our bodies back to the dust from which they came.

This is not judgment from God, but an exposition of the fuller meaning of death he was warned about before eating the fruit. Their one sin transformed the entire creation. We should also remember that death is part of the creation. Death existed as the positive force of regeneration. Plants and animals mature because the cells die then are replaced with new cells following the DNA plan for growth. Their sin caused that positive regeneration of death to fail and become entropy, and thus became our enemy (1 Cor. 15:26).

The Curse is Entropy

The word “sin” has many religious connotations that confuse the simple meaning of the word. It means to “miss the mark” in reference to the archer missing the bull’s eye with his bow and arrow. The curse is the result of this “sin,” or “missing of the mark” by Adam and Eve. The curse is the second law of thermodynamics, which states:

“The tendency for all matter and energy in the universe to evolve toward a state of inert uniformity.” The Free Dictionary by Farlex

It is interesting how one physics website describes the significance of this law of physics.

“Entropy (the subject of the second law) and energy (the subject of the first law) and their relationship are fundamental to an understanding not just of physics, but to life (biology, evolutionary theory, ecology), cognition (psychology).” Entropylaw.com

Or, in other words, this law impacts everything in creation and life.

Before they sinned all creation was declared “good” by God. The Hebrew word translated as “good” in English is “tov“. Tov does not mean “perfect,” but good as in the English sense of functional and working. Perfection in English means “complete” which means nothing can be added or taken away to make it better. The Hebrew word for perfection, “tamiym,” is not used regarding creation. We first see this used regarding Noah’s morality (Gen. 6:9). Science has pointed out that life on Earth only exists because the planet is the exact right distance from the sun for photosynthesis; the Earth’s gravity is just the right amount to sustain life; the atmosphere is just the right amount to protect us from cosmic rays. Creation scientists have pointed out that the slightest change of the DNA in a gorilla will kill the gorilla, not transform it into a human, even though a large percentage of the DNA between men and gorillas are the same. The “good” world of God’s creation can not have the slightest error. Their sin was the slightest error that brought on the Curse of Entropy.

Integrity of Creation

One might ask, “How could a wrong decision affect the material universe?” This question is asked because of narrowly defining the creation as the material universe. The creation is everything that is not God, for God alone has no beginning nor end with no creation. That means Heaven is a created place. That means all angels and demons are created. That means all spirits – angelic and animal – are created. That means all souls are created. Souls, as we remember from Genesis 2:7, are the product of the “breath of God” used to fashion our human spirits and the dirt of the ground to form our human bodies combining together. Souls are the faculties of our choices. Our choices, then, are also part of the creation.

There is a tendency to think that Heaven and angels are a separate creation from the material universe. They are not. They were created before the material universe because Lucifer is alive before Adam and Eve. What this means is that the spirit world is the foundation to the material world. In other words, the material world is another dimension of the spirit world, masking the spirit world. When we think of “ghosts” going through walls, we assume that the ghost is vaporous, when in truth it is the wall that is vaporous. Likewise, after the resurrection, Jesus became more “solid”, hence went through locked doors (John 20:19).

One Broken Commandment Breaks All the Commandments

How could one little mistake by Adam and Eve cause stars to die? The usual answer given by theologians is the “headship” of Adam. Yet this idea never made sense to me. Frankly, I think theologians tend to think inside a box. In asking the Lord for an answer to this conundrum He gave me James 2:10:

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. (James 2:10 KJV)

This is another verse that never made much sense to me. The common answer to this verse that I have heard is metaphorical. A beautiful vase, once cracked, is completely ruined. The metaphor seems to be hovering around the right answer. Perfection ceases to be perfection once one small error is introduced. At this point in the biblical narrative, the creation was not perfect, but “good.” The nature of perfection is that it can not be changed. Nothing can be added or removed. If Adam and Eve obeyed God and did not sin, they would have eaten from the tree of life, which, I believe, would have sealed them in perfection. If they tried to have eaten after their sin, it probably would have sealed them in a permanent state of corruption, hence the reason for barring the tree of life from them.

Once sin came into creation, error compounds more error in the second law of thermodynamics. It is like copying a photograph, taking a picture of that copy and making a new copy. There is a generational loss of degradation in the quality of the picture. Do this many times and the picture loses all detail to become a black and white line drawing. That one sin caused all of creation to experience that snowballing effect of degradation.

The Lake of Fire is the Conclusion of Entropy

Jesus told us that we should not lay up treasures on Earth where “moth and rust corrupts,” but rather to lay them up in heaven where “moth and rust do not corrupt” (Matt. 6:19 & 20). Regarding the Lake of Fire He also said that the “worm never dies” and the “fire is never quenched” (Mark 9:43). The two are the same. Those pagans who believe we make our own Hell on Earth are not far off. The Lake of Fire is the ultimate continuation of the entropy that already exists. We already live in a mild form of the Lake of Fire as our bodies decay and become infirm with old age, as we compound confusion in our thinking with wrong decisions, as we struggle to maintain our life styles. Moths are worms first, then moths second. Rust is fire. It is the oxidization of metal which is a slow burn of the metal. God is not punishing us with the Lake of Fire. Rather, the Lake of Fire is the ultimate conclusion of the entropy we already live in. The first death is the decomposition of our bodies, the second death (although all will be bodily resurrected for the White Throne Judgment) is the decomposition of our spiritual bodies, which never ends. It won’t be something new, but the continuation of the same. This is why the Lake of Fire was not created for mankind but for Satan (Matt. 25:41). Evidently, there is no repentance or redemption possible for the fallen angels. My guess is that is because they are spirits, not physical beings. The Lake of Fire is the place of their ultimate corruption. Since we are spirits and physical, those who reject the salvation of Christ continue their corruption in the second death with Satan. Satan will not be ruling anything in the Lake of Fire. He will be too absorbed in his own misery to rule anyone else.

This is important in understanding the desire and character of God. He does not want anyone to perish (2 Pet. 3:9). It makes no sense that He would desire such a thing. Does a painter paint a 10′ x 20′ canvass only to cut it down to 2′ x 3′? Of course not. It would be a colossal waste of time, paint and effort. Why should we think the same of God? When Jesus said that wide and broad is the path to destruction but straight and narrow is the path to life (Matt. 7:13), He is not expressing the desire of God, but the reality of our choices.

For God So Loved the World

The Greek word translated as “world” in John 3:16 is kosmos from which we call the universe. It is true that God loves mankind, but the world, is not just mankind. God fully loves His entire creation. He loves his animals, the plants, the insects, the atmosphere, the birds, clouds, stars and galaxies. The work of Jesus Christ was not limited to the salvation of humans. He died to restore the creation. Paul said,

Rom 8:22-23
22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
23 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (NIV)

Paul further explains in 1st Corinthians 15 regarding our glorified bodies:

1 Cor 15:35-36
35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: (KJV)

1 Cor 15:42
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: (KJV)

1 Cor 15:53-54
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. (KJV)

His context is the immortal bodies to come, but it encompasses all creation since the corruption of death will be no more.

The Finished Work of Christ

This hope is based upon what Jesus of Nazareth accomplished 2,000 years ago. Sin is corruption. Theologians say we have a sin nature, which simply means that we are naturally corrupted. Everything we say and do is impacted by this natural corruption called entropy. The corruption continues to degrade until the body breaks down in aging and dies, decomposing as the continuation of the corruption. Luke quotes the psalmist (Psalm 16:10 ) in Acts regarding the death and His resurrection:

He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. (Acts 2:31 KJV)

The primary meaning of this verse is that Jesus did not decay in the tomb. But I believe it is a reasonable stretch in understanding that Jesus never had corruption, ever His whole life. We begin life with corruption, but the power of our spirits, made from the “breath of God”, retards the corruption process until it weakens with old age. When our spirits depart from our bodies (James 2:26) the life force that retards the corrupti0n of entropy is removed, thus the body decomposes in only a matter of days. Since Jesus never had any corruption in his body, decomposition was impossible. That is not to say that Jesus was perfect. He was still only good. His perfection came after His resurrection when he had proven Himself totally good by accepting our corruption (read, “sins”) upon Himself on the cross.

Heb 5:8-9
8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; (KJV)

As I understand this verse, He was not made perfect until he was raised from the dead, and glorified. Now it is impossible for corruption to ever be placed upon Him again. He can not be crucified a second time. But not only was He perfected after His resurrection, but so are we in Him.

For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. (Heb 10:14 KJV)

Realizing that sin is entropy of physics clarifies how there are no works to salvation. We can not do anything to change the physics of the fallen world, but God can, and did. Therefore, there are no religious works that can save us. However, understanding that sin is entropy brings greater wisdom. We know that every choice of action in behavior that is called sin, brings further degradation as a consequence.  We can retard that consequence of degradation by choosing those actions and behaviors called “righteous” in the Bible. To make such choices is to choose life and wisdom. Christ gives a hope for the end to corruption in this world, but He also gives us a means of wisdom in obeying Him. We benefit from obeying Him, and our obedience brings this benefit to others as well.

This perfection that comes from Him will be manifested in us that have accepted His gift of salvation in the future. It is this perfection that will make it impossible for us to ever sin again. I will continue this discussion on the what Jesus has done for us and creation in part 2 of this blog. For now, the takeaway for the reader in this part is that the Lake of Fire is not punishment. It is the ultimate conclusion of the corruption we already have in this fallen world cursed with entropy. All of us that have accepted the free gift of salvation are like “firebrands plucked out of the fire” (Jude :23). Jesus did not just save us, He saved the entire creation. Since by one man, Adam, all creation became corrupt, by one man, Jesus, all creation will be perfected (a variation on Romans 5:17).

I am convinced that Lord has dropped this realization into my spirit. I have walked with Jesus for 25 years now and know how He communicates to me. However, most of the time His communication is in realization, not words, and I have to put the words down to express His thoughts given to me. I have struggled with this post for awhile, for this reason. I will greatly appreciate feedback from any reader to help me clarify anything that I may have stated poorly. Please comment below and help me make this message clearer. Thank you for your help.

Post Script July 23, 2011

Thinking further on the topic.  The question has come to my mind as to how we will be raised from the dead.  For those in Christ, we have everlasting life of His Spirit constantly sustaining us.  I accept the opinion that we will be in our perfect prime of life.  I do not believe we will be the same after our resurrection.  The glory of our immortal bodies will be somewhat different as indicated by the Lord’s own body description in Revelations chapter one.

But what about those who reject Christ at the White Throne Judgment?  It is our spirit that gives life to our bodies, but since they will have the same spirit as before, and since I think that the spirit will forever decompose without fully decomposing,  it occurred to me today that they will be resurrected in their old bodies and will continue to age with infirmity since the created spirit will lack the restorative Spirit of Christ.   The nightmare scenes of horror movies will be a reality for the millions who have rejected the free gift of salvation.

Christian game programmers could create a discipleship online game

I first heard the Lord of the Rings read to me in 1965 by my 6th grade teacher, Mr. Lum, who read the entire trilogy every day for the school year. Since my attention span was not good back then, I decided in 1967 to read the trilogy for myself as a 7th grader. Since that time I have re-read the entire series about 20 times.

Indeed, God used the Lord of the Rings as stepping stone to Christ in my life. In 1973 He gave me a dream with the Silmarillion in it. At that time the book was yet to be published. He gave me the dream because I was reading the Bible for myself just to see what was in it. I was reading many Christian fantasy books at that time: George MacDonald’s “Curdie” books; C.S. Lewis’s “Perelandra” trilogy; and the many Frank L Baum “Oz” books. I had bought those from a Christian bookstore, although I was not aware of the religious significance. The store had all these great fantasies that Tolkien had enamored my heart towards. So when I told the book store owner of the dream, he told me that it was written by Tolkien and was going to be published in a few more years. That convinced me that my dream was from God.

The Silmarllion is Tolkien’s Middle Earth Bible. The Creator of Middle Earth (Tolkien) is called Illuvatar. Tolkien wanted to create a myth for the English. They had myths, of course, for the English were the Germanic Angles who conquered and intermarried with the Celts of Brittany. So the English actually have two sources of mythology: the Norse myths (the Scandinavian are Germanic peoples, too – i.e., Teutonic) and the Celtic myths of the Irish and Welsh. Tolkien saw England as the middle ground between these two lines, thus was Middle Earth.

Many people tried to make cinematic presentations of the Lord of the Rings, but fell way short of the grandeur of Tolkien’s opus. Not until Peter Jackson created his live action version was justice given to Tolkien’s grand work. In Jackson’s DVD of the Lord of the Rings, he makes a comment about how he and Fran Walsh were giving their contribution to Tolkien’s myth. That comment struck home with me. In my research of world religions and mythologies, I came to understand that the same story is retold and embellished again and again so the original is enhanced through those re-tellings. Jackson was following the desire of Tolkien to create a myth for the English people.

Recently Turbine made their online game, Lord of the Rings, which is a role playing game, free to the public. Because of my love for the Lord of the Rings, I was interested to find out what they have done. They succeeded in the same spirit that Tolkien and Jackson had done in developing the Middle Earth myth. I confess, I am hooked on the game. The world of Middle Earth is much more real and alive in my imagination now that I am playing the game.

Turbine has thought of everything. It is not just the Tolkien story, but it brings all of us into the saga in new and unique ways. The online game is alive with a multitude of actual players. There are stores (which is how Turbine makes a profit on the game: once in you see the need for things and are willing to buy them because the game is so engrossing); there are quests; there are virtue, power, focus, skills and other character development attributes; there are injuries and healings; food that needs to be eaten to sustain vigor; in short, they recreate all that would be needed if this were a real world and life.

To my surprise there is a large Christian community who play the game and form kinship fellowships to conquer monsters as a team. So the idea has come to me, why not create a Christian discipleship online game program like this one where players could learn how to walk in the life of Christ? The tool would be a tremendous resource for the body of Christ.

Sharing the gospel with unregenerate CG characters could be a simulation of missions. Injuries and sickness could be prayed for healings. Conflicts with other believers could be training in forgiveness, love and fellowship. Spiritual warfare with demons and crucifying the flesh in self denial could be the battle ground training. Biblical narrative could be woven in like John Bunyan had done in his classic, “Pilgrim’s Progress”.

If there are any Christian game programmers reading this blog, I challenge you to come up with one. The business model that Turbine is using would work for a Christian discipleship game, too, if you scratch your head and think about it. I would hate to see a religious version of church as usual, though. That would fail. So would begging for money. I think Christ is dishonored by all the sanctified begging that exists. So if you have the ability, ask the Lord. Who knows, perhaps you were led into the gaming career by the Lord for such a task as this.

Jesus was the last Old Testament Prophet

We usually do not think of Jesus as an Old Testament prophet because He is both God and the Savior of the world through the New Testament. The gospels are part of the New Testament canon because they show how the New Testament came into being, but the New Testament did not come into being until His death and resurrection, which are the end of the gospel narratives.

The writer of Hebrews (I believe to be Paul) makes this point, too.

Heb 1:1-2
1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, (KJV)

As you can see,  Jesus, as the Son of God, is listed as the last Old Testament prophet.  Which means that we should view the gospel narrative as the last instruction of Yahweh to the Jewish people still under the Mosaic Covenant.  This is what Jesus meant when He said:

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. (Matt 5:17 KJV)

He completely fulfilled the requirements of the Old Testament.  He did not come to fulfill the rabbinic additions of the Talmud, however.  The New Testament was impossible to bring in without His total obedience to the will of the Father, which is the Spirit behind the Old Testament.  Our salvation is based upon His works.  Without His works, we could not be saved.  Therefore, we can not understand the gospel story if we ignore the Old Testament dispensation that He lived in and closed.

All His instruction to the crowds and the disciples were a bridge between those two covenants.  Until His death and resurrection, there was no experience of the regeneration in His audience.  There was a temporary experience that came with the sacrificial offering of animals whose innocent blood provided a brief experience to the contrite Jew.  Hence David, in Psalm 51, cries out to the Lord:

Ps 51:10-11
10    Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
11    Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. (KJV)

Likewise, a personal relationship with Yahweh was experienced by some even up to the time of Jesus.  Consider Simeon at the Lord’s birth:

Luke 2:25-30
25    And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
26    And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
27    And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
28    Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
29    Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:
30    For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, (KJV)

But these were not permanent experiences.  Only after the Lord’s resurrection could the Holy Spirit permanently indwell in the hearts of all believers, thus creating the new birth.  For Jesus, He spoke to an audience that was partially blind about those things that could only be understood after the new birth.  This is why Paul was raised up by the Lord to further clarify and explain to the infant Church the ramifications of the new life in Christ fuller.

Consider the Golden Rule.  We all know it.  Long before I ever became a Christian, my mother had admonished me to live by the Golden Rule, even though she does not have the new birth.  Jesus gave this great statement in His Sermon on the Mount.

Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. (Matt 7:12 KJV)

It is noteworthy that this understanding of “doing unto others as one would have others do unto us” is found in every major religion and culture of the world.  While this rule was stated in the book of Leviticus in a similar fashion (Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself – Lev. 19:18) and was quoted by the lawyer to Jesus (Matt 22:25 and Luke 10:25), it is an expression of natural law, which any unregenerate person can understand.   Jesus was speaking in terms that the unregenerate can follow in His Sermon on the Mount.  The Sermon was not an instruction in the new life in Christ.

The Golden Rule for the regenerate is better stated this way:  “We should do unto others as the Father does to us.” This is how Jesus lived.  He said:

John 5:19 – 20
19    Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
20    For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. (KJV)

And many more examples could be used to make the point. We have the permanent indwelling of the Father. We, too, need to be about our Father’s business.

Every believer needs to compare all that they hear regarding Christ and the Bible to what you know first hand from Christ Himself dwelling in your own heart. Read the gospels and keep in mind that they are transitional narratives. They could have just as easily been the last books of the Old Testament as well as being the first books of the New Testament. We live as Jesus lived in the gospels, who had the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit. He died and rose again so we could share His same great joy.