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Christianity, Current events, doctrine, faith, Human Right, immigration, Theology, Uncategorized

AVOID THE SCARIEST VERSE IN SCRIPTURE

Matthew 7:21-23 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?   And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

I was listening to a video that said that this passage is normal glossed over in many of the modern Christian pulpits today. And truth be told, the ones that I have attended over the last few years did not speak on it much. And if they did, it was only as a prelude to a sermon that ultimately allowed for sin. They would use it to lead into verses like Matthew 7:1 ‘Judge not, that ye be not judged’ and Matthew 22:39 ‘And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself’.Both of which are generally taken out of context. But that is for another article.

In verse 21 above, it states that the ones who will make it to eternal glory (heaven) are those that DO the Lord’s will. That little two letter word is the hangup for many Christians. That DO in the verse means there is work to be done.Both spiritual and  physical. And I can here the screams now quoting Sola Fidei ‘Faith alone’ which in being saved by the sacrifice of Christ is true. But They neglect many areas of the Gospels and Epistles (and the Old Testament).

To understand verse 21, you must look at the preceding verses. Matthew 7:15-20 ‘Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.   Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them’. 

Know them by their fruits. Doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. If anyone has worked in agriculture, planted a garden, or done a plant based science project in school, one thing is certain. The fruit does not come by faith but through work. Having a seed and having faith it will produce will not make it produce. The ground has to be readied (plowed, fertilized), the seed has to be planted and tended. Then the fruit comes to bear. As the physical is a mirror of the spiritual, Jesus gave us the parable of the sower and the seed. The physical: Mark 4:1-8 ‘And he began again to teach by the sea side: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land.   And he taught them many things by parables, and said unto them in his doctrine,   Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow:   And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up.   And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth:   But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away.   And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.   And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred’.The spiritual: Mark 4:14-20 ‘The sower soweth the word.   And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.   And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;   And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.   And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,   And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.   And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred’.

Now that we have linked the two sets of verses as they should be, let us look at what the fruits are and what they produce. Looking at these will give one a full understanding of the text. Because too many pastors and christians today take a verse, usually out of context, and make a sermon that has nothing to do with the context that is required to understand the verse.

The parable above discusses the process of planting in various soils. So let us first look at the fruits of the world, sowed by the devil (Satan) and see what they produce. Galatians 5:19-21 ‘Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God’. So, this is the fruits that lead to the second death because God said He does not know those who do the opposite of God’s will.

Now, to do God’s will, we look at the fruits that the Holy Spirit help instill in the hearts and minds of the redeemed. Galations 5:22-26 ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another’.

So you may ask, if one has these fruits, what does it mean for us to do? These are split into two categories. Jesus says they are the two greatest commandments. Matthew 22:34-40 ‘But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.  And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.  “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”  And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”What Jesus did in this passage was regive the Ten Commandments in abbreviated form. The first set of four Commandments are how we related to God. (I have articles on my page about these if you wish to study further). The second set of six commandments are how we relate to our fellow man, and that is where the fruits come into play. Exodus 20:12-17 ‘Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.   Thou shalt not kill.   Thou shalt not commit adultery.   Thou shalt not steal.   Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.   Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s’.

The fruits of the Spirit, mentioned above, are seen in the way we do God’s will toward our fellow man. As I said previously, they are both spiritual and physical. Some call them the works of mercy. Some call them being the hands of God. However one chooses to term it, it is the meaning behind the writings of James in his epistles James 2:14-24 ‘What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?   If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit? Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.  Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?   Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?   And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only’. 

Spiritual

  • Counsel the doubtful:
  • Mark 4:10-20
  • Mark 9:14-29
  • John 14:27
  • Instruct the ignorant:
  • Matthew 28:19-20
  • John 20:21
  • Admonish sinners:
  • Proverbs 27:17
  • Luke 15:7, 10
  • Luke 17:3
  • Comfort the afflicted:
  • Psalms 9:8-11; 22:23-27; 27:4-5; 30:2-4; 46:2
  • Psalms 55:22; 56; 71:20-22; 116; 119:49-50
  • Isaiah 40:1-11
  • Jeremiah 29:11-14
  • Lamentations 3:21-24, 31-33
  • Nahum 1:7-8
  • Matthew 11:28-30
  • John 14:15-18, 27
  • John 16:20-23
  • 1 Peter 5:6-11
  • Revelation 21:4
  • Forgive offences:
  • Mark 11:25
  • Matthew 6:14-15
  • Matthew 18:15-35
  • Luke 11:1-4
  • Luke 17:1-4
  • Bear patiently those who do us ill:
  • Matthew 5:38-48
  • Luke 6:27-36
  • 1 Peter 2:18-25
  • Pray for the living:
  • Philippians 1:3-5
  • Colossians 1:3

Corporal (Physical)

  • Feed the hungry:
  • Proverbs 22:9 – “The generous will be blessed, for they share their food with the poor.”
  • 2 Kings 4:42-44 – “A man came from Baal-shalishah bringing the man of God twenty barley loaves made from the first fruits, and fresh grain in the ear. Elisha said, “Give it to the people to eat.” / But his servant objected, “How can I set this before a hundred?” Elisha again said, “Give it to the people to eat, for thus says the LORD: You will eat and have some left over.” / He set it before them, and when they had eaten, they had some left over, according to the word of the LORD.”
  • Luke 3:11 – [John the Baptist preaches to the crowds]: “Whoever has two tunics should share with the person who has none. And whoever has food should do likewise.”
  • Jesus Feeds the 5000 – Mark 6:30-44; Matt 14:13-21; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-14
  • Jesus Feeds the 4000 – Mark 8:1-10; Matt 15:32-39
  • Give drink to the thirsty:
  • Isaiah 55:1 – “All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come, buy grain and eat; Come, buy grain without money, wine and milk without cost!”
  • John 7:37-38 – On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and exclaimed, “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. / Whoever believes in me, as scripture says: ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within him.'”
  • Revelation 21:6b – “To the thirsty I will give a gift from the spring of life-giving water.”
  • Revelation 22:17b – “Let the one who thirsts come forward, and the one who wants it receive the gift of life-giving water.”
  • Clothe the naked:
  • Luke 15:22 (Parable of the Lost/Prodigal Son) – “But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.”
  • Welcome the stranger:
  • Ezekiel 47:21-23 –“You shall divide this land according to the tribes of Israel. / You shall allot it as heritage for yourselves and for the resident aliens in your midst who have fathered children among you. You shall treat them like native Israelites; along with you they shall receive a heritage among the tribes of Israel. / In whatever tribe the resident alien lives, there you shall assign his heritage– oracle of the Lord GOD.”
  • Heal the sick:
  • Luke9:1-2 – “Then he called his twelve disciples together, and gave them power and authority over all devils, and to cure diseases. And he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick.”
  • Visit the imprisoned:
  • Hebrews 13:1-3 – “Let mutual love continue. / Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have unknowingly entertained angels. /
     Be mindful of prisoners as if sharing their imprisonment, and of the ill-treated as of yourselves, for you also are in the body.”
  • Bury the dead:
  • Acts 5:6 – And the young men arose, wound him up, and carried him out, and buried him.

These are the works of God that go with our faith. These, done in a right mind, heart, and spirit that are aligned with GOD, will keep you from hearing Matthew 7:23.

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Christianity, Current events, faith, Human Right

A Look At Our Past Evil To Envision Our Future Good

Welcome to CPNP. I was going to make this week’s article about the US President. He has said and acted in a manner that further embarrasses the nation among our fellow nations and further widens the gap between his administration and the majority of the US populace. So that will be the main content of the next article,

This week, I have decided to take a stroll down the nation’s memory lane. With all the hype over two hundred and fifty years, which is actually an error, I thought it would be good to go through the nation’s past. I will give a trigger warning, especially for those that hold the current right sided ideology. But, I am a center of the road person. I’m neither left or right. I understand that there is good and bad on both sides of the political aisle. So within this article, both may get angry, a little squirmy in their eats. And I will be doing this article without detailing a particular side. Just some historical facts.

Let’s start with our founding. The date we celebrate is actually wrong. True, the Declaration of Independence was written on June 11th and 28th of 1776 and ratified on July 4th of 1776. But it had not started to be signed until August 2nd of 1776 when John Hancock was the first to sign. The final signature did not occur until  January 1777. Here is what will upset people. That 1776 document was nothing more than our written declaration of desire to be an independent nation. The war ended on September 3rd in 1783 at the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

So, to accurately celebrate the independence of the United States, the date should be the date of the treaty. Here’s why. Without French aiding the colonies and the combination of France, Spain, and the Netherlands causing a two front conflict with Britain, the colonies would have lost. That means, the great heroes and leaders of the insurrection of the colonies toward the crown, would have been tried and hung for treason. It was the day in Paris that is the true day of independence. So the nation is only two hundred and forty three years old, this coming August.

Now that you are probably starting to feel that patriotic blood boil, lets get you really upset.

First, let’s start with the fact of the founding of the nation not being as open as the declaration states. We all know the second paragraph. “We hold these truth’s to be self-evident, that All men are created equal, that endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

We will start here. All men. Interesting since an estimated 500,000 Africans were in the colonies (with an estimated 10% being free). There were also an estimated 24,000-51,000 indigenous slaves in the colonies. And while not being chattel slaves (permanent lifelong enslavement), there were an estimated 350,000 European white indentured slaves (those who had the ability to buy or earn their freedom) including about 55,000 prisoners (criminals) from Britain. So, not ALL men were equal.

In 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation by President Lincoln started the ending of slavery. That wouldn’t officially come until the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865. But it came with a caveat. Prisoners could still be used as slave for labor. But freedom didn’t mean equal. That came in steps, thanks to Jim Crow laws. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 gave them full citizenship and equal rights (on paper not in practice). In 1864, the 14th Amendment was ratified, making every person born on US soil, US citizens. The 15th Amendment, in 1870, gave Black Men the right to vote. However, the ruling powers decided that, to vote, a person had to pass testing. Guess who seldom passed.

In 1924, the Snyder Act gave Indigenous peoples citizenship and the right to vote. On paper. But like the black community, testing and others issues barred them from that right.

In 1954, the case of Brown vs the Board of Education, determined that there would be no more segregated schools. However, that was the second court case for non-whites being allowed to enter any school of their choosing. The first was Mendez vs Westminister School District of Orange County California (1947). It determined that those of Mexican descent could not be disallowed entry into the white public school systems. From the earliest days in the 1700s through the mid 1900s, Indigenous students were barred from White schools, but forced to live and study at white ran boarding schools.

In 1964, the Civil Rights Act allowed the inclusion of the black community in all facets of life. On paper. Then came the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that disallowed any barring of black citizens from voting. And in 1968, the Fair Housing Act put an end to housing discrimination. On paper.

Now we see, under this administration, and the latest ruling by the US Supreme Court, start tearing apart those hard earned rights of the minority communities that they were created to protect. But in reality, those Congressional Acts were good on paper but not in life. Even prior to the current administration, prejudice and bigoted ideology still created the problems that the Acts were suppose to remedy.

These issues were then had attempted to level the playing field with things like DEI initiatives and Affirmative Action. This administration has eliminated these initiatives, And the like minded bigotry consuming part of the populace cheers. I suppose they forget that, these initiatives only opened the door. Students still had to achieve academically. Women still had to learn the trade or business they were to work in. Minorities still had to work hard, prove their ability, and earn the spots in their respective professions.

President Trump said he wanted to take us back to the gilded age. And that statement alone proves his ideology and the mental inability to govern with respect to the populace he now governs. The gilded age was both great and horrible. The 1920s gaped the rich and the poor further than it had been up to that point. Then in 1929, the rich became the poor in many cases. Jim Crow was the standard minority political prison. So, he did keep that promise.

Now, a few small notes of miscarriages of justice and mercy (and pure evil) of this nation’s history. Since we already looked at slavery and the political fights. We will look at other areas and actions. While not listing all (as it would take volumes, and others do a better job of writing about the finer points of the nation’s evils), I will hit on some. I will trust the reader to have the academic fortitude to look up details of the things to be mentioned.

From 1787 to 1871, the US government ratified and signed 374 treaties with the Indigenous peoples of the land. All to the deterioration of those same indigenous. And guess how many were either broken or ignored. Any guesses? All of them. They took the different nations, placed them on tiny plots, gave them rancid provisions, disease infested materials, committed genocide (Wounded Knee, Trail of Tears, California Genocide) and tried eliminating their respective culture (banning rituals, banning language, and kidnapping the children and forcing them into boarding schools). To this day, not all nations have recognized tribal status.

A small look at the Mexican population. Erasure from record books throughout history. The previously mentioned issues listed that affected every minority group. Operations like Wetback in under the Eisenhower administration and the current national sweeps by ICE and Border Patrol. Both parties have been involved with this. It was started by President Trump. This current set of events is because of the progression of events. A period of gassing Mexicans in El Paso started around 1917. They were forced to bath in gasoline. Then in the 20s and 30s, Zyklon B was used to ‘fumigate’ them. This product was cyanide based. It went on to have a huge historical significance. It was used by the Nazi regime to kill millions in the death camps. (Wonder where they got the idea from). The from the 1940s through the 1960s, the government used DDT. They also used various other chemical compounds.

This brings us to a few other areas of ‘medical’ interest. The original abortion program was placed around interurban  (minority prominent areas). Planned Parenthood founder, Margaret Sanger said it was for these reasons. “We do not want word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population” (1939). “Advocate the stoppage of procreation of those deemed diseased and feeble-minded” (1921). “certain populations spawning a class of human beings who never should have been born” (1921). Proposal of sterilization of Dysgenic (the deterioration of hereditary qualities of a population) groups. (1932). Can you guess what it was never meant for? Women’s Heath. It was, and is, nothing more than population elimination control system.

The black community, like other minority communities, had more than its share of the elimination of the Hippocratic Oath in medicine.

The 1840s brought the gynecological experiments of Dr. J Marion Sims. He did procedures without anesthetics because ‘black people felt no pain’. Forced sterilizations of the 20th Century. The longest running STD test of the 20th Century. Called the Tuskegee Study (1932-1972), this tested the untreated effects of Syphilis on black men. A cure came in 1947 but was not used. In 1951, John Hopkins took cancer cells from Henrietta Lacks, without consent, to develop what is known as the HeLa cell line. Cellular treatment came from this. And in the 1950s, radiation was used on members of the black community. Just to see what the effects would be.

And while we are talking about the evils toward the black community, let us not forget names like Black Wall Street, Strange Fruit, Rosewood, Colfax, Wilmington, East St Louis, Memphis and all the pre and post Jim Crow lynchings. That 2nd point is important to me. My great grandfather was at the last official lynching recorded in Indiana. He is front (and almost center0 in the memory postcard of that lynching of two black men in Marion. Poet Abel Meeropol (Lewis Allen) wrote about the scene in the postcard. The Song was later done by Billie Holiday.

A country that, at one time, placed itself as the last beacon of light in a dark world, has its own shadows. And while things had started to be on a better track, we have gone backwards. Elimination of needed programs, elimination of aid, soldiers on the streets, the government law enforcement agencies defying the laws that guard against abuse in duty, dehumanization, and other evils that cause the deterioration of civilization.

As I said toward the beginning, this current administration is the result of issues that have been within the US psyche since in foundation as a nation. All great civilization throughout the eons of time have fallen because of the issues within, more than the issues without. Political ideologies have switched places over the years. Democrats formed the original Klan and less than a hundred years later, brought in civil rights.Republicans that gave freedom and equality to the black community, now end equality initiatives and treat those they deem unworthy as trash to disposed of. The conservative today forces their version of Christianity (which it isn’t) while the liberal advocates a vast majority of things that are unethical and immoral.

While this nation was found on the biblical foundation of the Creator and the last six commandments were the basis for our laws, the founding fathers (despite their evils) saw fit to make sure that the government DID NOT force one faith over another by demand adherence to one.

The Right demands judgment without mercy while the Left demands mercy without judgment. Both are wrong. There has to be Justice and Judgment but it must be done with Mercy. Christ wast one or the other, conservative or liberal. He was both. Conservative on the Laws of God (Matthew 5:18) and Liberal on how to treat our fellow man, friend and enemy (the entirety of the Gospels).

Ill leave you with this to ponder. First we are not a Democracy. We are a Constitutional Republic. Our voice can be heard in protest, but our say is truly in the ballot box. Second, The Constitution is not a set of God given rights. If they were, they could not be taken. They are only privileges that can be amended and removed. So elect those that will protect them.And last, whether you agree or disagree with another. Do it civilly. Do it ethically and morally. Remember. Every person born, whether or not you agree with their politics, ideologies, religions, gender issues, etc….they are worthy of dignity, just by the fact they were born. Not whether they were born here or elsewhere…..BUT because they were born.

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