Tag Archives: Criticism of Jesus

Faith

What is My Cup Full Of? – Part 1


This entry may have a harsher tone than I like.
I did that on purpose. 
Bear with me through the end of this series.  Thanks!

It’s Impossible!

 

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“Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.” – Lord Kelvin, president of the Royal Society, 1895

Credit where credit is due: quote comes from NOVA Online.

 

It’s all about the Boxes

We are comfortable in our boxes. We want the world to look and behave a certain way because we do not like surprises. We look to Respected Authorities to tell us how the world works. We want them to be right so we can sleep at night.

Respected Authorities have published papers and books and lectured the world on how the world works. They have taught their disciples and students, knowing that their world view lives on after they are gone. Suddenly, someone who knows better comes along and says, “Look at THIS!” In order to agree with the new guy on the block, they must first admit that they are wrong.

Respected Authorities want to continue to be respected, so, when something that differs with their opinion comes along, they work to squelch it. The “Upstart” had the nerve to upset the masses. What this upstart did was reveal a higher truth that contradicts their world view. Even if said Authority knows the upstart is right, he cannot afford to be in a position to lose his status as a “Respected Authority”. They decide to prevent any upstart by making rules, orders and laws that restrict “wrong thinking”. At this point, “The People” become “The Sheep”. The Respected Authorities become the wolves. We sheep want our boxes of ignorance and willful stupidity in place, so life looks normal; “normal” is defined by the Respected Authorities.  We rely on them to tell us what is real, and what is not; what is possible and what is not.

They define reality to the point the boxes don’t just “keep us safe”, the boxes become our prison. Respected Authorities know the only way to keep the sheep in the box is to make us fear what is outside the box. Inside the box is safer. They invent enemies of the box. Life is deadly outside the box. Our fears make us susceptible to whatever fable Respected Authorities tell us. We can all be happy as the box gets smaller and smaller, and our fears grow larger.

Ideas become the enemy. We believe everything in the box represents freedom. We embrace laws that say we are no longer allowed to peek over the top of the box to see what is outside.

Respected Authorities define “freedom” so well we do not recognize we are now slaves of their world view. Evil can rule when the sheep fear freedom more than they fear slavery.

We are proud to live in a world where we are free to wear chains.  After all, we need to be willing to give up our real freedom if it means we are safe.

Welcome to the fallen world

A very long time ago, Humans took the advice of a “Respected Authority” and ended up disconnecting themselves from the One who created this earth. Mankind’s understanding of things has devolved since then.

Centuries later, the One who created this earth came here in the form of Jesus Christ, who made it clear that He is the ONLY Authority. The Authorities of His day were upset that this upstart was breaking down the walls of the box. They talked the Romans, another set of Respected Authorities, into having Jesus Killed.

Their reasoning was so that “The People” will go back to enjoying the chains that their religion built out of the revealed God. They had hidden God to the point that they themselves didn’t recognize Him when He was walking the streets of Jerusalem. They had become prisoners of the very same box they tried to keep “The People” locked up in.

The Boxes are the chains that bind us.

Today we live in a world full of religions.

Some say there is no God.

Some say you are God.

Some say there are many Gods.

Some Say that a particular fallen angel is God; they are known as “The Religion of Peace”.  Currently, “The Religion of Peace” is spreading their version of love all over the Middle East, killing anyone that sees life differently than they do.

Some say we are not allowed to know or pronounce the name of the Living God. That not knowing it or pronouncing it shows respect to Him (Although He told Moses what we should call Him).

Some religions are Secular Humanist in their model, but go by several names.

Another Religion that recognizes that Jesus is our savior does not actually have a relationship with Him, but they feel free to judge everyone else that does not think like they do.

Governments the world over are working hard to BE the accepted religion. The world system wants you to believe they are the only source of life or happiness.

The list of religious beliefs about how to manage humanity is long.

Jesus did not come here to start a religion, but to repair a broken relationship with God.

Respected Authorities and all Humanity put to death the one who said the following very revolutionary truth:

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” (John 14:6-7 NASB)

Ask Yourself This

Ask yourself why Respected Authorities the world over are so fearful you will see the truth. Ask yourself why you are comfortable simply knowing facts about Jesus, but do not really know Jesus.

What would your confession of Christ be if someone put a gun to your head and demanded you renounce your faith?

Ask yourself this; why do Respected Authorities and religions fear you will get to know the Living God through Jesus Christ?

Why do religions, at best, fill your head full of facts about Jesus, true and false, but fear that you will discover you can know Him personally?

Why is it becoming unpopular to believe in Him? Why do the “Tolerant Ones” have no toleration of Jesus, the Living Christ?

All religions have their boxes.

Jesus didn’t.

He rose again to prove that He is the Son of the Living God. He rose to prove that all he said was true. He put finished to all sin so we can have a real relationship with the Living God, and call Him, “Daddy” (Abba).

Jesus had the nerve to say this:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father. “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it. (John 14:12-14 NASB)

Maybe the freedom to be just like Jesus is what Respected Authorities and religions fear. If we are truly free through Christ, we don’t need them.

The Uncomfortable Truth

Respected Authorities fear Jesus. Not the religion of Jesus, but Jesus Christ Himself. Religions are OK, they fit nicely into the plans of the worldly system.

A prison cannot be disguised as freedom if we know what real freedom is. We will destroy our boxes if we can see that we are free, and no longer slaves. We are free when we begin to understand who Jesus is, and what he accomplished on the Cross.

Jesus made it clear; you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven apart from Him. You cannot have a relationship with the Living God apart from Him.

What all worldly systems fear is that we discover that Jesus is right, that we are free, and the lies they told us no longer can enslave us. We can no longer be controlled if we see and understand what Jesus accomplished. Respected Authorities lose all power when we become exactly what Jesus says we are, free from the world.

When you DO know Him, He will reveal the kingdom of Heaven is IN you. He will reveal that you are a Son or Daughter of God. He will reveal that you have all power and authority on Earth because He has sent the Holy Spirit to live inside you. He will give you His mind and spirit in exchange for your old self. He made this possible when He rose from the dead. If you believe He rose, and confess with your mouth that he rose, then he will show you that you rose with him, a new creation, and a Child of the Living God.

He will show you the only boundaries that exist are the ones you think exist. The idea that you will be free to do and be as Jesus is, is what Respected Authorities fear.

With God, all things are possible

It is possible to be free. It is possible to call God our Father. It is possible to have the kingdom of Heaven in us. It is possible to enter the kingdom of Heaven when we die. All things are possible when we have a genuine relationship with Jesus.

Don’t do it because Respected Authorities say not to, that would be the wrong reason. Do it because when you do, you will be free to live as Christ did. Free for all eternity.

Let’s be about it.

I love you in the Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

David G. Perkins

Sammy.snardfarkle@gmail.com

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Faith

Me and My Big Mouth – Part III


This is from my personal journal, “Lessons From a Broken Heart.”

My definition of “Broken” is,  sometimes God has to break a man in order to make him teachable.  I am one of those men.  My personal journal records the lessons I have learned through the process of being broken, and subsequently healed by the Lord.

He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck,  will suddenly be broken beyond healing. Proverbs 29:1 ESV

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid. Proverbs 12:1 ESV

If Discipleship were easy, everyone would be doing it, and it wouldn’t require discipline.  It would have an “Easy Button”, and at one click, we could all be wise.    I guess that would make it Easyship, instead of Discipleship.   Unfortunately, discipleship is hard.

Discipleship is hard because what the Holy Spirit is trying to teach me is completely contrary to my flesh, and my natural mind.  I have prayed to be possessed of the Mind of Christ, yet have spent the majority of my life doing things my way.   I was not willing to give up my character in return for the character of Christ.  But I still insisted that God deal with me.  I could have avoided all the pain of being broken had I either submitted in the first place, or admitted that I wanted to practice a counterfeit Christianity.

God disciplines the son he loves.

Instead of admitting I was faking my Christianity, and had no real relationship to the Lord, Jesus Christ, I kept asking God to make me like Christ.  None-the-less, I refused to submit to the will of God; To be made in the image of Jesus Christ.  I didn’t think it was all that important that I read the bible, pray, fellowship with other believers who are also being disciplined, etc.  I wanted to go on doing “My Thing”.

The reason I did that is because I didn’t know the difference between the personality that makes me David, and the Character that would make me Christlike.  I figured my fleshly character was fine.  “If you didn’t like it, stuff it.”  What I didn’t want to see was that I had to get out of the way, and let the Holy Spirit build in me the Character of Christ.  We were originally created in the likeness of the Living God, but our sin separated us from Him, and we forfeited His character for a fallen, sinful nature.

The rebellion cry of the fallen is , “I am me, you have to like me on my terms, and if you don’t then **** you!!!”  I have heard this a lot, recently from several people I correspond with.  But the prayer of the Saved is that we be remade into the image of Jesus.  The rebellious cry, “I am doing it my way!!!”  Sadly, so is much of Christendom.  The ones who have a shallow and cheap grace, believe that they can go right on ignoring the call to Christlikeness

We all have a personality.  Our personality is one of the unique things that makes us identifiable as individuals.  God didn’t mass produce a bunch of “I Robot” machines.  We are individual notes in a symphony of unimaginable beauty.  What makes our individual note sour and out of tune is the character of sin.  That is all we have to offer.  I am fearfully and wonderfully made, but, without Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord, I am just my personality full of lousy character.

You never lose what makes you unique, but you gain what makes you acceptable to God.  We are all called to submit to the discipline of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit does not deal in accusation and shame.  That is what Satan Does.  The Spirit of God convicts, but never condemns.  You are already redeemed.  And u=in God’s eyes, you are complete in Christ, because of Christ.

SO!  What’s the big deal?  Here is the Big deal.  I lived most of my life insisting that God has to accept me as I am, period.  But I was not raptured the second I believed.  So, while you are still here on Earth, God wants to take you through the process of being remade in the likeness of Christ.  Your flesh will rebel every step of the way, but, you can overcome simply by submitting to the will of the Lord.  You have to lose your own life to gain His life in you.  You have to let the Holy Spirit take apart your character and replace it with His.  The reason for this is so you can be a living testimony of Jesus.

My misadventures in to all the dark places I have been were hell’s of my own making.  I never had to go there.  All I had to do was obey, and submit.  I could have avoided all that misery, had I just given my entire life over to Him in the first place.

But now I am finally there.  I have given up.  The strangest thing for a warrior of God to so is first surrender to God.  But you cannot, and will not serve God if you are stiff necked, arrogant, full of your own knowledge but devoid of the Knowledge of the Holy.

If you can read a Bible, open it with the desire to hear from God.  You cannot teach the Bible, it already knows more than you ever will.  But you can learn from it.  You cannot do that unless you have surrendered your way to God, and allow the Holy Spirit to lead you into His righteousness.

I have joy to day because God broke me.  I have peace, I know love, REAL love.  I am being prepared for His service.  I no longer have that fire of hate and anger in me.  The Spirit of God is putting the light of His fire in me.

I grew weary of being stupid.  And it is a stupid man who claims he serves Christ bur refuses to learn wisdom.  This lesson came hard to me because I fought against God’s wisdom.  He let me wander around in my own filth.  No one saw Jesus when they saw me.

I can now say, with confidence, with the Apostle Paul, I am confident that He who began a good work in me, will be faithful to complete it untill the day of our Lord Jesus.  That is when I will perfectly reflect His image.  In the mean time, I choose to grow.  I choose to know the word.  I choose life over death.  It is only cheap grace and rebellion that says all you have to do is claim youare saved simply because you acknowledge Christ.  You will be part of the great falling away, because, when the storm blows, you will not have th edeep roots to withstand the tempest.

I was just like that, and every wind that blew, blew me off track, because I insisted that even the Almighty God has to accept me without changing me.  And I had the stones to ask God why nothing went right in my life.  A fool’s way will lead to death.  But the heart of the wise is ever learning.

Dear God,

Thank you that you love me enough to discipline me.  Thank you that you never gave up on me and kept at the art of breaking my will.  I surrender to you, My God.  I surrender to you because of the shed blood of Jesus the Messiah.  I pray you continue to fill me with YOUR spirit, as you remove my fallen character and make me in the image of your precious and only Son, Jesus Christ, My Lord.

I love you God.  I praise you God.  You are my delight and joy.  To you I give my heart.  Amen

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;  

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.  

Psalm 51:17 ESV

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