Choice and Freewill

One of the most difficult thing for humans to accept, even those that believe in YHWH, is that we, as humans, cannot have free will, a choice in our destiny, without the existence of human suffering.

If God had chosen to protect us from all harm, from all ill will, and from the consequences of our mistakes and free will choices as we grow and learn, He would have had to make a race other than that of Humans.  He would have had to make us puppets, with no choice or will of our own, because, by definition, a social equal of God cannot be forced in any way to choose a relationship with God.

But YHWH is no Grand Puppeteer, and since the only object of His creation of humankind was to make a being in His own Image to enjoy, who would be able to enjoy Him in return, without fear, in full trust of Him, He had to be able to create us with the ability to say no to Him.  There is no trust or love in a relationship of Owner to Slave, PuppetMaster to Puppet, Creator to Created.

And to be God's social equal, we would need to be able to be trained to use His power, and have the ability to know what He knows, as He teaches us.  Without equality, there can be no true relationship.  God does not want pets! 
He did, and does want equivalent emotional exchanges, and for that, we need to be like Him.

A relationship of equals between Creator and Created, however, is not possible.  We are not God's equal, nor can we ever be.  Even if we are made exactly in His image, God cannot give us His entire knowlege, or power.  He is God.  We are not.

Still, God wants a real relationship.  We cannot BE God the Creator.  We must be ourselves, unique, and able to be cherished and enjoyed.  We also need to be able to cherish and enjoy God, and all of His immenseness.  God doesn't want to relive His own experience, and cherish only Himself.  To be equal, and yet different from Him, to be able to share all the wonder that we experience in Him, and His creation, to be like God, bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh, and still be uniquely different from God, we have to be seperate from Him, and yet
able to be like Him.

Making us in His own image was not the difficult part.  Making us in that image,
with an equal's right to His power and majesty, and yet to not be forcably
controlled by Him, and thus able to trust and love Him, we had to be able to be
completely like Him, ant to be in a relationship with Him, treated as a social
equal.

Unfortunately, even though He made us in His likeness, with His potential and
His power, to be uniquely different, we must be seperate from Him, and not
copied from Him. But with our potential to be NOT like Him, and to cause harm
to the rest of His creation by our actions, God needed to set safeguards in
place.  God limited our power so as not to be overly dangerous to each other or
to His creation, but in making us similar to Himself, similar enough to participate
in a relationship of equals, there have to be consequences for any misuse of
power, even the very limited power we have of hurting one another by the
choices we make.

No one but God can handle absolute power, and knowing this, God needs to
control our wrong use of power without controlling our will.  Consequently, He
made us like Him, but like Him in the way that a seed is like a flower.  Before we
can be like Him, we have to learn that power is not a gift lightly given, nor lightly
used. We have to be self controlled and balanced in our use of power, but how is
God to teach us, except to give us a pattern to follow, limit our ability, and ask us,
for love of Him, to follow in His footsteps.  In return, He promises us Himself.

Humans can not be allowed to use the power of the Holy Spirit in a full, creative
way until we can control the outcome of the simple uses of Power.  If we are not
able to do the things He is able to do, in a similar way, we are too dangerous to
be allowed to live, much less be granted more life or power.

And unless we become very like God, we can not have an equal relationship with                               
Him either, nor will we be able to enjoy Him and His creation in full.  So God
makes the ability to live and grow into His likeness conditional on our becoming
like Him. We have to prove to Him that we want to be like Him before any power
can be given to us.  We need to choose Him, and His way of thinking, His rules,
and His very balanced, mature and complete understanding over our own
wayward desires, or we become worthless to Him, and to ourselves.

And being God, He makes the use of power contingent on growing to be like
Him, while not endangering the rest of His creation.

Consequently, God had to offer us from the very beginning a choice. If we would
but love Him, trust Him, and choose His way, in the course of time, we would be
taught to use and control the gift of power by God Himself.  We could be unique,
and different from God, and yet be like enough to Him to share the enjoyment of
His creation in us. But we cannot choose a different way than God's, and stay in
relationship with Him.  It must be God's way, or no way at all.  God gives us the
choice.  If we will become like Him, we can.  If we will not, our lives are limited to
a span of time that allows the gift of life to be appreciated, and enjoyed, even if
that life is not eternal.

God wants a voluntary relationship with people that are similar to Himself, yet
despite our very real differences, God needs us to use His power as He Himself
does.  God needs to be sure that unlimited power will be used in a limited way.
And since we do not have His knowledge, or His experience, we are not yet His
equals, and fortunately, with such a large head start over us, we may never
reach His knowledge and His experience. YHVH sets the terms...obedience to
His way of doing things, or rebellion against it.  And if we continually rebel, we
die, not instantly, but in due course of time, and to God's advantage rather than
our own.               

Consequently, we cause each other pain and sorrow, and YHVH uses our
struggle to conquer ourselves to His best use of us, for our own sake.

 YHWH is very much a 'My Way or the Highway' kind of God, which since it's His
planet, His Universe, and we are His creation seems reasonable to me.  By the                                   
gift of the Holy Spirit, the Ruach haKodesh through Yeshua, YHVH makes us
able to keep His ways without much difficulty.

YHVH doe not say we can't do something we want to do in our brief life on this
planet, but having told us what behavior is necessary to please Him, to be in
harmony with Him, and to graduate successfully from the school of life we are
enrolled in, He lays down guidelines for our behavior.  If we don't follow them,
consequences occur.

Starting out very simply with our original parents, Adam and Eve, YHWH gave
everything to us...we Humans...His new Creation.

Not only did the Garden of Eden have everything that mankind could have
wanted or needed, God Himself walked with mankind, and taught His new
creation.  But having created mankind with the ability to be completely seperate                               
from God, and to have the ability to grow and mature towards our Creator,                                        
God established a simple test of obedience.

It's very simple, really. God said, "Do not eat of the Tree of Good and Evil, or you
will die.

He didn't explain what 'death' was, and exactly what eating of the tree in rebellion
would do to us as a race, because it was a simple test of whether we would do
as He asked, or not.

Adam and Eve didn't even know what death was, but they knew they could avoid
all that was not good by simply avoiding the fruit of that one tree.  They would
have learned all about good and evil from the mouth of God Himself, had they
not disobeyed Him, because YHWH is taking care to spend quality time with
them daily.

The Adversary, who plays to the free will choice in us, the individualistic nature
that God placed, on purpose, in all of us, could not have tempted a mature
Human, fully taught of God.

And God, had He not wanted mankind to choose Him freely, without constraint,
or sense of obligation, would not have allowed the Adversary to test Adam and
Eve's desire to please God rather than themselves.

Needless to say, humanity flunked the test, and God had to arrange a sacrificial
redemption in order to get those of us who would believe in Yeshua haMashiach                                
out of the consequences of our own stupidity.

But many humans get angry with God for the pain and suffering we must
undergo in our life here, and blame Him for the bad things that happen in our
lives, refusing to realize that all that occurs is a free will consequence to a free
will action that we choose to make.

Those in particular that suffer great and painful losses always want to know
where a kind and loving God was when they suffered pain or agony in this life of
ours here on earth.  These hurting, childish and rebellious humans think that
God must be a loving and giving Being, and that we humans, having not asked
God to create us, should have nothing unfortunate happen to us.  In fact, most
people think that God owes us all that is marvelous in His creation, simply
because He created us.  Well, God said He would do just that, give us
everything, but He wants something in return.

YHWH will give us all He has, and all the wonders that He can devise, if we
would only live by His rules as the Holy Spirit writes them on our hearts.  The
rules are not hard, or bad for us, but in fact, help us to hurt no other human,                               
and to not abuse the power and dominion that God gave us on this planet.                                      
The more we became like Him, the easier it gets, and the more we can do.

If we obey these very simple rules, to harm no one and to do good
towards one another, simply out of love and trust of the Creator who made us,
not only will we live well with one another, but we will receive from God all
that He has to give.

God, being our Creator, has the right to make the rules. He wants us to keep
them, and trust Him to make everything come out well for us, for eternity. But                               
wellness, as God sees it, is not without pain and suffering.  Without shadow,                                     
one cannot see the Light, nor experience what is good, and pleasurable.

We want our own way now, like the childish brats we are, and when we suffer,
we forget that He took human form, and died in agony on the Cross so that we
would not have to die for our own failures.

When we lose someone, and grieve, we forget that God grieved from the
beginning for the losses we would have because of our disobedience, and that
He would experience those losses, as well as the loss of Himself, as Yeshua, so
that we could live despite our absolute inability to stay in obedience.  We forget
that He, as Creator, gave His human existence up in more suffering than we can
ever understand, because He suffered as God losing a son, and at the same
time, as the Son, Yeshua haMashiach. Being killed for our sins, YHWH took our
penalty for disobedience as both Creator, and Created.

Nothing that we feel, and no one that we lose temporarily in life will ever be as                             
painful as that sacrifice that God, for love of us, took on Himself.  He made this                                    
life we live brief, so that our suffering would be minimized, and YHVH keeps His                              
hands held out to us, giving us the choice to take hold of them, or not.

He wants us badly, but He also wants to be loved for Himself, and not just for
what He can give us.  We humans are very like YHWH, for we want the same
from people in our lives, when we are old enough to understand how valuable a
love relationship is, and how fulfilling that alone can be.

God makes it easy. If we choose Him, He creates in us a new heart, and a
tender conscience, and the ability to hear Him, and though we must still endure
this life, He makes it as pleasant a life as He can, under the circumstances of our
choices, and all the choices of others.  And then, He gives us a new life, a new
body, and all Himself.

Yeshua haMashiach is returning, and sooner than many people think.  If we do
not choose YHVH, we get nothing but death.  Worse, if we worship the
Adversary in order to benefit in this life, we suffer with the Adversary in the Lake
of Fire, forever.

Take heed of that fact.  Take what YHWH so freely offers.  Choose Christ.

The Uncertainty Factor

We have had a new President for less than two weeks, and yet many of us would already hazard a few dollars on the probability that most everything that President Obama does or tries to do will be harmful to our country in the long run. In the short time that he has been in office, the President has made it plain that he dislikes the profit motive, bonuses to Corporate executives, and free speech on Public Radio. He has also made it clear that throwing good money after bad is on his agenda. Not very American, really, in my viewpoint, but as an American, my viewpoint is biased against Europeanism.

I have nothing against a President racking up huge spending plans in an effort to get the economy rolling, but I don't think that a stimulous package should be sending us down the road to socialism.

We do need to get our banking system in order, or someone will do it for us that is neither American, nor merely a young politician with more empathy than skill in governing, but I don't think that politics as usual are going to work for us.  Neither is living as usual going to work for us, nor will religion as usual help much as a slow economy, suffering a hangover from a twenty year spending spree, wears out our patience, and our good will towards one another.

As we watch our nation, our way of life, and our political structure being distorted by blind idealism running riot through our Nation's capitol, we need to ask ourselves, how, as a Believer, do any of us follow Messiah in the world we see around us?

What can any of us do in a world that has disassociated from reality in a manner that is at all Christ-like?

None of us who believe in Yeshua l'Eloheinu, and walk after Him as best we can are going to find ourselves at home in a global economy that resembles Europe, while most of us are going to be greatly troubled by the social engineering that is going to be forced on us over the next few years.

Fortunately, we are not supposed to find what is coming pleasurable, and we have all been warned that the end times would trouble us a good deal.

Yeshua taught primarily that we cannot live as the world does, and end up in Eternity with Him.

He didn't do a lot of threatening when He spoke to people, but He did make it clear that those that Believed in Him did have to act a bit differently than the norm.

The Sermon on the Mount is a classic example of what Christ expected us to be like, and act like, though, reading it as it is given in the Bible makes it seem an impossible task to understand, much less to obey.

But when you look at the qualities Yeshua spoke of, and think for a few moments as to how they are able to be expressed in our everyday lives, one finds that we are actually enabled by this Christ-like behavior to ignore a good deal of what the politicians are doing to our world at the bidding of Lucifer as he sets up the rule of the Anti-Christ. We must be proactive in our behavior.

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed indeed are all of us who walk in humility, and do not rebel against the laws of God merely because we are not as comfortable as we once were. 

Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.  Blessed shall all of us be, who are saddened by the ills of this world, and by our own sin, that we may seek to make things better.

Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.  Blessed are all of us who can accept our daily portion, and not rail against the unfairness of the world, nor worry, or be troubled, because we trust what God has for us.

Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.  Blessed indeed are those of us who want to have a Torah abiding world, and who act in those laws already, for we harm no one, and do good to others.

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.  Blessed indeed shall we be who forgive, and forget, and do not hold grudges, for it makes our lives so much easier to not walk in anger, or bitterness.

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.  Blessed indeed are those of us who think of what is beautiful, and good, and bright, for we are able to survive in good spirits all the ugliness of the human race, and look forward to a time when Yeshua's face will be before us.

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.  Blessed indeed are we, when we fight not against each other, but against the desires of a corrupt human heart, and all that works against the light.

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Blessed indeed are all of us, for until now we have had little persecution, and yet, when it comes, we will be supported by the Holy Spirit in standing up to it.

Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.  Blessed indeed will we be when people do more than merely speak evil against us, and we stand together against the storms that are gathering.  Matthew 5:3-12.

Most of us regular folk find it easy to simply keep on doing what we were doing this time last year, and in those everyday pursuits, the Adversary can make little headway against us. Even with a dull and dismal economy, and a changing social landscape, we Believers can do pretty much as we have always done, and so too can most of the other people on Main Street.

We eat, and we drink, we pray, and give thanks, we sleep, and work, and enjoy our lives, and as we do so, we enable those around us to do the same, simply by ignoring what is going on in the centers of power, and hence, find ourselves managing quite well.  The politicians and the media can pretty much do without us, and we, to a great degree, can do without them.

Those growing our food crops will continue to do so, because the powers that be do not dare let them fail...it would cause way too much turmoil to have our very armed citizenry rioting in the streets. 

And those businesses that get the food and services to market, or transport them, or advertise them will do much as they have always done, employing most of us as we provide each other the things we all need.

Certainly, we will all be a bit less wealthy than we were, and consequently a bit less comfortable, for we are going to need to share out of our plenty with the rest of the community that is not in good shape, and many of us will have to chip in to help all the members of our families survive the dismal economy we are in, but other than helping others get through these troublous times, what do we have to deal with that is so hard?

Not much, if we walk in the footsteps of the Messiah. 

Please, in every moment, in every action, every day, choose Christ.

Why NOT Miracles?

It's a good question. 

Why not miracles? 

Why don't they happen as they did when Yeshua walked the earth, or when the Apostles were yet alive?

They do happen, but not to order.  God does act in our lives, and He does answer prayer.

But without perfect belief in God's ability, and willingness to heal, to save lives, to raise the dead, God does not move through us.

And yet, I have seen miracles, and experienced them. 

I have seen hurricanes turned from their target, or suddenly reduced in strength, when many people prayed against a storm.

I have seen a car heading straight towards me, bound to hit me head on, and seen the car moved over by an invisible hand a full foot to the left, so that the car literally moved in my sight, without even a prayer being uttered, and known that God had intervened in my life.

I have survived a car crash that should have killed me, then survived sleeping on a hangman's fracture that same night when it should have snapped my neck the rest of the way through, leaving me to die in my sleep.

And sometimes, when I, and my fellow believers have prayed together, other's have been healed, but not in the way that Yeshua healed people, or the Apostles. 

People got better, or lived when they should not, at least for a time, or were partially healed. 

I myself have been blessed with three separate partial healings, and yet, I am still disabled...just not as badly as I was. 

I don't know how to believe for a complete healing, and worse, I know that God does not always heal in full if there are lessons to be learned from a disability.

Very few of us do know how to Amen a prayer with such certainty that God has no choice but to agree with us, because we are taking Him at His word.

Oddly, the places where healings actually occur, and the dead are raised, even in this day, happens where the people are simplistic enough in their belief to take God at His word.

But we do not see people made whole in an instant by the words of a someone who is in complete belief, trusting so much in our Father in heaven that there was no doubt of an answer.

We do not see the lame walk, and the blind see, and the deaf hear, and the dead raised...not these days...and rarely even with a bonafide healer is the healing complete, and permanent, and not due to a psychosomatic illness.

We do not see it because we do not believe that it can be done. 

In our sophistication, we no longer have a childlike belief in what God can do, if we would just ask Him the right way.

And we don't know how to ask God in the way that would make the healing wonders happen again.  We do not know how to ask in belief, and knowledge. 

For those of us that are not living in an undeveloped country, or a rural village, the only wonders we will see, and believe in, will be those made by the Anti-Christ when he comes.

Then, people will believe, and think that the wrong person is God in the flesh, and many will lose their souls over it.

That Anti-Christ is coming soon, which I dread, but I am also glad, because it means that Yeshua's return...Jesus Christ's return in glory...is also coming soon, and the generation that saw Jerusalem restored to the Israeli's is our generation. 

Our generation is the one who will have people still living to see the promises fulfilled...the generation that saw Israel take back Jerusalem in 1967, as was prophesied. 

Please, be ready. Tell your friends...tell your family...and believe it yourself.

Miracles do happen, and many of us will see them done to bemuse and destroy those who will be taken in by the Anti-Christ.

Educate yourself. Get close to God. Be safe in Yeshua.

Choose Christ.

GOT CHRIST???

Who is your god?

Yourself?

Very well, you may have it all as you would like, as you can create in your own strength.  For now....

And eternity?

NOTHING.  No joy, no peace, no love, no light, just...death.

It is what God promises to you.  The second death.  Your spirit quenched.

Hell is for the Devil and his angels, and those who take the Mark during the Tribulation. 

For you, even if you believe in a Creator...without Yeshua...at best there will be nothing.  An eternity of darkness...no light...no hope.  Complete seperation from God.

I chose Yeshua haMessiah, and an eternity with Him.

You can too, but you must CHOOSE Him, TRUST Him, and then act like Him, as best you can...by DOING good and kind things to others, and NOT doing anything unkind to them either, forgiving those who do you harm.  It is simple.

Call out to Him.  Ask for His help.  He WILL give it to you.

Inaction, indescision, is the same as saying no to God.  

When you say no to God, and refuse to obey Him, well...He promised the death of the soul. 

So, it's your choice.  Choosing God, and obedience, or The second death, and a crushing out of all that you are, and can be.

You MUST act.  You MUST decide.  Choose Christ.

A QUIET LITTLE JOY

It is evening, and Christmas is almost upon us.

We have had the many glimpses of the a true Messianic spirit show here and there, and much more evil seemingly everywhere.

It is a confusing time.

We can barely catch a breath between economic wailings of the press, and the daily, pompous proclamations of the current and coming presidencies of the United States, and the continual enumerations of crimes committed against all of us, or some of us, or to even a pitiful few.

Yet still we rejoice.

We will mark officially the day that the fulfillment of the beginning began...the birth of the Messiah, the anointed one, who would save us from ourselves, and create a new reality.

The holiday festivities are everywhere, and the decorations that are made to celebrate the time, people meet, and gather, celebrate, and sing, and somewhere, everywhere, on the planet, people have heard of the Christ Child.

It is strange to have a whole world, however commercially, celebrating, or at least marking, or even complaining against the day Yeshua ben Notsri was born.  It wasn't on this day, or even in this month, but a day near the winter solstice still satisfies those who do not look too deeply beneath the legal holiday.

It is good for all of us to attempt to show some gentleness towards others, to bring a gift of food or good cheer to someone who is alone, or needy, or has more than enough of the world's goods, but has nothing of the Spirit in them.

If nothing else, Jesus would have liked the celebration of His birth, and wouldn't have been offended that we keep time so badly that we miss the actual feast day, calculated by the best historians to be in September or October.

He would have enjoyed the celebration, and the gift giving, for these things were known in His time. 

He would have played with the children, and laughed, and danced for the joy of His birth, and the effect that it would have on so many of us through the ages. 

He would have sipped a cup of wine, and broken bread and eaten salt, and not disdained the poor celebration that we put together each year.

He would, though, even in the joy of the celebrating recall those that have nothing to celebrate with, and in His infinite power, He would give a moment of quiet joy to even the most wretched of the human race, whether or not that person even knew of the day, or what it portends.

It might only be a moment, even in the midst of hunger and poverty, and cold, but there would be joy.  In between the gasps of pain even on a death bed there are moments of relief that against the agony seem pleasant, and for a moment, joyful.  There might be a gentle hand to comfort, or the bitter heat of tears falling, and even in their sparkling catch light and color, and encapsulate joy.

Even the most depressed, agonized hour that is spent this celebratory day will not be without that moment. 

For many, the joys will mount on one another, until the surfeit of sensation is overwhelming.

For others, this day will mean nothing as a feast day, and yet, those experiencing it will find pleasure in the day...a moment...a fleeting, transitory wisp of grace will be there for anyone who chooses to acknowledge it.

God gave His Son so that we might cling to Him, and have salvation, and for those of us that trust in Him, no matter how grim the day may dawn, there still is joy.

We have only to reach out, and God will place it within our grasp, and He, in His infinite knowledge and understanding, will even experience it Himself.

Salvation has come, and our Creator is watching us all, waiting to experience what He has declared to be important to Him...that we should accept the Christmas gift of His Son, and the eternal grace that is given with Him.

What joy, that it is all so simple. God gives the Salvation, Yeshua, our Saviour.

We receive that gift, acknowledge that the Gift was given, and that it is valuable beyond measure, and in that simple transaction, a giving and a receiving, is our joy.

Union. Redemption. Resurrection. Eternity.

Our joy is Christ. Choose Him.