The origin of true knowledge

Today, I discuss a subject of increasing importance, especially as the world has we know it is seeing a great rise in secularism, heathenism and paganism. It is the increase of esoteric knowledge that human beings are increasingly seeking to possess and choose over the knowledge of the scriptures that God would rather have us mull over.

Fallen angles have delivered to humanity esoteric knowledge that God would rather us not have until we have developed wholesome character. It is God's will that human beings inherit the earth, with all the wholesome goodness therein. The precious metals and stones, the herbs, roots and vegetation therein and life eternal and great knowledge about our environment and our potential  is ours to inherit. However, it is God's desire that like children who are to grow and inherit great wealth from parents, we first come to maturity and develop the spiritual values needed to properly manage the inherited estate. God has predestined us for possession of  knowledge, possessions and wealth (Romans 8:29; Ephesians 1:5; Luke 12:32), but has set for us that our character development can only take place over a span time.


Imagine for a second that God could have made us perfect beings from the beginning possessing all the knowledge that we need in order to fully manage the earth. In the garden of Eden where it first began, human beings existed in a state of innocence, daily interacting with God each evening and executing  responsibilities given daily over a time in order to understand their needs, who they are and the goodness of God. Adam and Eve were given the mandate by God to dominate and subdue their natural world and to develop the spiritual values of God (Genesis 1:26). We were created to be like God and to control all the resources of the earth. In the first description of the garden of Eden, we learn of the wealth of the land that mankind first inhabited. In Genesis 2:11-12, we learn of the precious metals that were in the land. However, it was through relationship with God and other human beings (plus the animal kingdom and the earth environment) that God intended to fit and equip human beings to possess all the wealth.

Today, our world system,  informed by fallen angels, encourages human beings to place emphasis on extracting precious stones and metals, at the expense of relationships with other fellow human beings, animals and the earth. Wealth and greed is stressed and emphasized, with greed being seen as ambition. Yet in God's system, it is relationships that is stressed and emphasized, with the emphasis on sharing our world with the other inhabitants. It is in meekness that God says that we shall inherit the earth (Matthew 5:5). It is through being patient and waiting on God to daily deliver through our relationships and interaction with him and the others on earth, as well as the earth, that we are to learn what we need to properly manage all that the earth possesses.

Let us today endeavour to seek after the kingdom of God that we lost, for in it we have everything we need (Matthew 6:33). This kingdom though is inherited not through eating and drinking for enlightenment, or even in doing rituals and communicating with inner self, but in interacting with God, and relating with other human beings and animals through caring for them and sharing one's present world with them.

Cracked Cisterns

After a long spell of not writing down my reflections, partially because I had little time to reflect and have been swept into a life of bustle and activity, I now pause to write and tackle some issues that I am thinking about as it relates to the state of Christianity today.

I begin by recalling my early experience when I was persuaded about the 'Sabbath truth' and sharing with friends who were otherwise minded. At that time I was on job at a public library, and pulled for encyclopedias to convince my audience that what I was telling them was not being made up by me or even the denomination that I was apart of at that time. I was delighted at that time that the encyclopedia did not disappoint and was able to show them 'who changed the Sabbath'. One of my friends begged me to stop, and so I did.

Years later, the landscape of my entire worldview of Christianity has shifted. It is not just the Sabbath that has been changed, but a whole lot of 'traditions of men' have been inserted and a whole lot of  the practices of the early apostles have been abandoned. I have even recognised that seventh-day Sabbath-keeping churches have also been guilty of the same issues as Sunday Christians.

Think for a moment with me. If the logic for observing the seventh-day Sabbath is because it was a custom of Jesus, then why just observe one such custom and ignore the others? Why do we attend 'church services' instead of 'synagogue services'? Why not keep Sabbath services on the mountain, by the beach, by a lake or by a river, in people's homes or school? Why create a specific building to formally minister to the needs of people?

On the matter of the feasts of the LORD beside the Seventh-day the Sabbath, there are also problems. Most denominations I know observe Communion and justify the practice by arguing that Jesus commanded its observance. Unfortunately, as practiced by denominations, it reflects nothing like what Jesus actually practiced and instituted to the early church or Christians. First, most denominations celebrate the custom as often as seeming suitable to them. In addition, the communion no longer becomes a supper, as it is usually celebrated in the day. Further, it is celebrated without a meal, so that Christians only eat the bread and wine. No bitter herbs, no dip. Further, some Christians celebrate the supper with leavened bread, biscuits or cakes. Jesus and his disciples ate unleavened bread (bread without yeast). So whether or not Christians say they are following Jesus command to celebrate the Lord's supper, it is yet to be established that they are in fact doing so, as the time has been changed both in terms of time of day and even the season. Also the emblems have been changed. These have been done without biblical authority, but man's theological extraction and development. It is therefore correct when they do not use the term - the LORD's supper, but instead use the term communion. For it is indeed a communion meal in honour of the LORD, but not the LORD's. As Jesus says ""Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" (Luke 6:46 NIV).

Were Christians today doing what the LORD command, the operation of the church today would be different. However the corruption or influence of the world has creeped in, and traditions of men have usurped the commandments of God. I don't have all the answers and have just raised the questions. My intention is not though to raise doubt about the Church or Christianity, but more so to cause reflection about the state of Christianity today. We celebrate pagan festivals while claiming that the festivals of the Bible have been nailed to the cross. Even those festivals of the Bible that we celebrate, we choose how we feel that they should be celebrated and command others to do the same. Without authority we have established broken cisterns.

"For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me--the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all! (Jeremiah 2:13, New Living Translation, 2007)

So cracked we are, that the Holy Spirit (the living water) which should be poured in us, is flowing through our cracked vessels and cannot be fully entertained in our formal church services. He flows through our cracks and we end up with little power and little results in our ministries (that is if he flows or is poured in any at all). In fact, Jesus tells us that cracked vessels cannot be used, as they would be ruined (See the parable in Matthew 9:17). We cannot receive the outpouring of the Spirit, if our vessels are cracked, because we are unable to keep him in us. So that's why we feel alive at some times, and dead at other times. That's also why we can do God's work this minute, and the Devil's work the next. Cause we ain't full. Vessels that are cracked are never full.

I therefore sit on the fence, for after 2 decades of church involvement, I find that the work that I do is not all about serving the LORD, but carrying out denominational duties and the traditions of men. But the one who I really want to serve is the LORD. May we all have that wish and desire, and examine ourselves to see if we are indeed in the faith (2 Corinthians 13: 5).

God bless you.

Cursed days

I believe that there are days that are actually cursed. Both Job (Job 3:8) and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 20:14) prayed to God to curse some days. Whether it was 9/11 or Friday the 13th, I don't know.


Mark you, those who are believers are not subject to such curses as delivery from those curses comes from acceptance of the covenant with Christ.

Also, death and life are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). Some Old Testament fathers cursed their children, grand children like Noah ( Genesis 9:20–27 ) or Jacob (Genesis 49:1-7). I do not think that Job's and Jeremiah's words fell to the ground.

My views on Churchianity

Over the past month I have listened to some discussion as well as contributed my own views to the discussion. I have heard a discussion where believers were opposed to the idea of a small group ministry substituting 'traditional church'. I have also heard persons talking about traditional church services and attending these services as being very important as if these were the highest pinnacles of God's command. Participating and listening to these discussions grieve my spirit, as I know that what Christianity in the West is today, is inherited man-made traditions from which we need to break away and experience reformation.

I believe that the Christians in the West in general, and Jamaican Christians in particular, have a view of church that is different from that in the Bible. Our focus is so much on the building and programs (the so-called ministries), that we lose sight of the fact that the church is really the community of believers and that the early believers did not have a building for themselves from which they attended and conducted services.

Believers in the early church age went to the synagogues (clearly evident in the Acts of the Apostles) and gathered outside of the synagogues in houses and borrowed rooms or court yards/other land spaces to conduct their services and activities. There were more street meetings and house meetings than being within the four walls of a building called 'church' in the early church age. These services had no standardised rituals and liturgy has we have today. The believers did not go to a building at a set time each week to perform or carry out rituals. 'Christian' ceremonies today are man-made and not God-ordained, except for communion (which is another story) and baptism. Baby blessings, infant dedication, christening, funeral and wedding rites are all just cultural imports and adaptations of Jewish rites and traditions.

We must remember that Jesus warns that our traditions can come in the way of the commandments of God and in the way of true worship (Matthew 15:9; Mark 7:7). He states that true worshippers need not a place to worship God (John 4:23). We do a disservice to God, by erecting our own worship traditions and then insisting that these are how people must worship and to use these standards to judge others by. May I also remind you that Jesus went to the synagogues as a 'custom', but did his ministry both within the synagogue as well as outside and every day of the week. He needed not a set day to minister to the people, teach the people or heal them. But everyday to him was a day to do ministerial work. Jesus met the people where they were, and so the did the apostles, going into their market places, workplaces and their homes.

Immigration and Globalisation in the Bible: Part 5

One of the major themes in the Bible is that of immigration. G-d though creating the earth gave it to human beings to be inhabited (Isaiah 45:18). However human beings through Adam failed to live up to their responsibilities and had aliens, Satan and the fallen angels establish control over the earth. However, despite the wrecked earth, Jesus migrated from heaven to spend time here in order to reverse the rule of Satan and establish a revived worldwide mission to reinstate diplomatic ties between heaven and earth. Eventually, G-d and his son Jesus are going to move in and live on earth among human beings which would be the greatest immigration of all time.

It is on that latter point that I must spend some time emphasizing, as most Christians I know have an inverted view. Many songs are sung about Christians going to heaven, when there are so many passages of scripture that declare that God wants to live among us on the earth. It is not God's plan to have a exodus of the righteous people from earth to live in heaven. As Isaiah 45:18 declares, God's plan is not for a desolate and forsaken earth. In Genesis 1:28, God's explicit mission or mandate for humanity is to subdue, rule over, govern and take charge of the affairs on earth. That mission and mandate has not changed, though God has at least once repented about making man (Genesis 6:6).


However, God longs to once again have man fulfilling the mandate of keeping his garden on earth for him as he once did (Genesis 2:15). G-d wants to put his feet on earth, or more specifically, he wants to put up his feet on earth (Isaiah 66:1; Matthew 5:35). He wants a resting place here on earth with human beings. A vacation spot. A get away and resort with human beings who love and want to wait on him.


In Zechariah 14:4, the prophet declares that God's feet will be on Mount Olives, east of Jerusalem. He plans to establish a dwelling in Zion, with headquarters in Jerusalem, Israel.  Jesus tells us to pray that God's plan for earth be fulfilled as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). God wants to make earth like heaven or rather, wants to bring a piece of heaven to earth. While God has built his new city in heaven, he wants to take it down to earth. This is why John saw the vision of the new Jerusalem coming down out from heaven (Revelation 21:2).


God wants to re-establish diplomatic ties between heaven and earth. That's what the entire Scriptures are about. They are about God's attempt to re-establish diplomatic ties and access that human beings had to heaven before they fell. How much is this promise throughout the scriptures. Jacob in his dream saw a ladder stretching from heaven to earth with angels descending and ascending the ladder (Genesis 28:12).

In Psalm 84, the psalmist talks about how lovely it will be to be in God's getaway resort on earth, and about all the pilgrims/tourists that will want to voyage to God's city to hear from him, just as how the people from all Galilee and Judea flocked to hear Jesus. In Zechariah 14:16-19, all the nations of the earth will have an annual appointment to meet at God's headquarters.

Throughout the history, the Bible details the migration of so many persons. But the greatest migration is yet to take place. The migration of the Holy God to earth to live in the midst of human beings. May we be ready and look forward for that great day.

Contemplating church library ministry

Been contemplating the church library ministry for some time now. While I have always been considering the issue (in the back of my mind), two recent events brought this thought to the fore:

• pastor asked me to consider it
• recently missing Children DVDs from the Children's ministry room

 Is this where I must serve? Should I apply my secular calling to my current fellowship's library? How different it is from a regular library?



Googled and found some good resources online that discuss the considerations of church library such as:

• • DeMattia, Robin F. (1998, March/April). "Church Library Makeover: Get the assets of that special room back in circulation." Christianity Today. http://www.christianitytoday.com/cbg/1998/marapr/8y2044.html?start=1

  • Maness, Ron. (2005) "Starting a Church Library." Bible.org http://bible.org/article/starting-church-library

• 
  

  • Towns, Elmer L. and Cyril J. Barber (1974). Successful Church Libraries. BAKER BOOK HOUSE ! Grand Rapids, Michigan http://elmertowns.com/books/online/sccss_ch_lib/Successful_Church_Libraries%5BETowns%5D.pdf

I know that they are good sources and are very useful in indicating how I can apply what I have learned from library school to establishing and running a church library. I browsed the material and its all familiar and based on what I've learned or seen in practice.

What would it mean for me though?

I am more a manager rather than a doer or technician. I know the work that ought to be done, but do not enjoy doing it. I prefer to interact with people or technology rather than the actual information sources.

I would also have to join/become a member of Church library associations such as:

• National Church Library Association http://www.churchlibraries.org/
• Evangelical Church Library Assoication http://www.eclalibraries.org/

I would need to meet with other church librarians to network and discuss the issues that are specific to church library development. Are these issues similar to the other challenges faced by the librarians of secular collections and services?

An exposition on waiting on the Lord

This morning, I found a very relevant reading from a periodical that I want to share. It is not my own words or thoughts, but an interesting reading that has a message that is important to me. What I am going to share is taken from:


"Wait on the LORD" The Bible Searcher January 2012. Supplement to Messages of God's Love Volume 113, Part 1 - Section 1 (published in 5 parts) by Bible Truth Publishers: January 1, 2012.

The word 'wait' (qavah in Hebrew), used in many verses that have the phrase "wait upon the Lord," does not mean to sit or rest. The thought is to look expectantly while waiting for, or waiting on the Lord. Psalm 123:2 explains the type of waiting that is meant: "Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress; so our eyes wait upon the Lord our God." Waiting on the Lord does not mean that we should do nothing, but rather that we should focus on the Lord watching for His signal to us, while we serve Him.

Breaking into the thought, I find this as a very good explanation or definition of what it means to wait on the Lord - watching for his signals and signs. It reminds me that I must constantly look at my environment and monitor what's going on in my world as well as to study the prophetic scriptures of end times, so that I can be aware of God's signs and signals. It also reminds me that I must at least commemorate that annual Sabbaths of the fall festival with contemplation, deep introspection and reflection. For all these are given as God's markers of what he's doing and going to do, as well as tells of the nearness of the coming of Messiah (as well as the Anti-Christ incarnate).

Continuing though on the author's trend of thought:

"A good waiter at a restaurant keeps an eye upon the guests he is serving (or waiting on) so that he can quickly answer even a look. Similarly, we should practice the same behavior toward the Lord. As we serve the Lord doing whatever He has put infront of us to do, we should keep our eyes, ears and hearts tuned toward the Lord so that we can quickly answer His call when He looks our way. To accomplish this practically in our lives, we need to always remember that no matter where we may be, we are the Lord's servants."

 I need not say any more. A timely reminder that location does not matter for an immigrant student in Canada.