Monthly Archives: February 2017

ON LOVE; PART MCXXI

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GoodWill IS Love in Action

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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).

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WHAT THEN IS LOVE? In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God

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PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).

We began the last essay with some thoughts on the Life of the Apostle Peter and how that he IS our living example of the Life of the disciple who, by measure, reaches the ultimate goal of the fullness of the expression of the Christ Within as a man in this world. While this IS lost in the doctrines of men, the reality of this IS his legacy and the legacy of ALL the apostles from whom we have written text. As we have been discussing, this legacy which IS their words of prophecy, their service, their teaching, their exhortations ,and these ‘gifts‘ which they impart with singleness of mind, have been obnubilated to the convenience of men whose doctrines portray their spiritual Truths through carnal ideas.

We took a turn into the reality of Peter’s own struggle in overcoming his own sense of sin while he IS following the Lord and here we should easily see that from the doctrinal perspective the apostle’s thoughts and attitudes ARE NOT sin at ALL. But they ARE sin, they ARE the product of Peter’s continued focus upon the carnal aspects of living and we should see this in Jesus’ rebuke of them as he says to Peter “Get thee behind me, Satan: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men” (Mark 8:33). Peter had NOT yet attained the fullness of discipleship but, at the same time, he DOES have some measure of the Truth that Jesus tells ALL that they can have according to the first part of our trifecta which we repeat here again:

• “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free“ (John 8:31-32).
• “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” (Matthew 7:21).
• “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).

In Peter’s Life with Jesus he DOES as the Master says; he DOES “continue in my word“, and in so DOING he DOES have a measure of the Truth which IS the result of keeping His words. This too IS missed by the doctrines of men as IS the reality of just how this Truth comes into the Life of a man, this Truth which IS “the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38). This gift IS one’s realization of that “unction from the Holy One” by which one DOES “know all things” (1 John 2:20). But this idea of gift from the Greek word dorea IS better understood as Strong’s defines this, as a gratuity, and this NOT in the ordinary understanding of the English word.

In gratuity we have the idea of Something given in return for a favor; an acknowledgment ¹ as Webster’s 1828 dictionary shows us and with this in mind we can look at the apostle’s words as saying that for one’s Repentance and baptism “for the remission of sins” that “ye shall receive the gift of in return the Holy Ghost“. We should try to see here that this dorea IS one’s realization of the unction by which one DOES “know all things” and then in conjunction with Jesus’ words that tell us how it IS that we DO come to KNOW as men here in this world.

We came upon the ideas of Repentance and baptism “for the remission of sins” which we ARE told IS the teaching of John the Baptist from the perspective of being “born again” and from the doctrinal idea that to be “born of water and of the Spirit” (John 3:5) IS a direct reference to the baptism of John. While it IS NOT, these words ARE become a foundation for the baptism of men as a rite and a ritual rather than in the True meaning of the word….immersion. The Baptist’s message IS then that that if one will immerse (be baptized) himself into the Way of the Lord, that he will perforce change (Repent) and be free from the ways of the world and of the affliction of vanity which keeps men in “the bondage of corruption” (Romans 8:21); this freedom IS “the remission of sins“.

As we discussed, the lexicon’s definition of the Greek word aphesis which IS rendered here as remission IS: deliverance and freedom from bondage ² and we should note here that Strong’s definition of this word IS freedom and: (figuratively) pardon:—deliverance, forgiveness, liberty, remission ⁹. In ALL of this we should try to see again how that the words of the New Testament, the Greek words, ARE rendered and interpreted according to the doctrinal leanings of the translators and the interpreters and it IS this way of reading the words of the Master and His apostles that has created the multiplicity of doctrines that exist today.

And these words that we have been discussing should give us a rather real idea of the doctrinal dilemma in which men ARE bound. Words such as Repentance which IS become sorrow or remorse, baptism which IS become the rite and the ritual, remission which IS seen by most as forgiveness, and dorea which IS seen in the context of the ordinary idea of gift, ARE but a few of the misapplied word ideas that must be overcome before a man can see True Christianity clearly. To this we must ever add the words that ARE rendered as sin and evil, those rendered as faith and believing and most importantly the Greek word agape; ALL of which leave doctrinally oriented men in a morass of ideas that will NOT lead them to “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” as we read again in Paul’s words to the Romans:

“I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 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. For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Romans 12:1-3).

“For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer; Distributing to the necessity of saints; given to hospitality. Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not. Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep. Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:4-21).

But what IS worse IS that men DO NOT believe that they need to DO this sacrifice; and still worse IS the doctrinal assumption that by one’s doctrinal precepts of baptism along with one’s confession and affirmation, that he has made the sufficient sacrifice. These ideas ARE contrary to the Master’s words and the reality of the clarifying and amplifying words of His apostles. And as the idea of baptism has been doctrinized by the church, so has the idea of being baptized in the Holy Spirit. The meaning here IS the same except it IS presumably on a higher level; the first IS one’s immersion into the Way of the Lord along with that change of focus that allows for one to be free of the fetters of Life in this world; to be free of the “the bondage of corruption“.

In this IS the reality of striving which IS a necessary part of the journey of everyman upon the Path to Truth; it IS here that men take a stand against “the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4). This striving IS part and parcel of “the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins” (Mark 1:4). It IS here that the True spiritual Life of everyman begins and while the doctrinal experience may help some to overcome and to see the greater Truth, it IS ever by one’s own volition that True change comes. Men ARE NOT ‘saved’ by their doctrines….men ARE freed by striving to keep His words.

And like the Apostle Peter in the beginning of his journey, it IS one’s heeding the call of one’s own Soul to the Good, the Beautiful and the True that makes the difference. There IS NO New Testament record of Peter being baptized yet we DO KNOW that he was immersed in the words of the Master and committed to that change of focus that makes of him a disciple of the Lord. Peter DOES those things that ARE necessary to becoming a disciple of the Lord and chief among these IS that one keep His words or, as the Master frames this, that one “continue in my word“. The Greek word meno that IS rendered here as continue IS the same word that IS most often rendered as abide, remain and dwell ² and the connotation here IS simply that….that one should live in His word.

We should see that there IS a marked difference between striving and abiding and that the one leads to the other. In this is our sense of measure, one that IS initiated by the True baptism of a man with his Repentance and his intention of freeing himself from the ways of men and of the world, and which then continues to the point where one IS abiding in His words. It IS here that we find the “disciples indeed“, the True disciples of the Lord. And there IS much to His words that IS missed by the doctrinal thinker who sees himself in the role of the disciple. There IS first the fullness of his words which Peter shows us ARE found in a secondary level, a level where the man who IS the disciple must yet strive toward.

There IS NO real line of demarcation here and the experience of every man who strives IS likely different as IS his starting place and the equipment with which he must work. There IS however the Master’s words that one must abide in His words and this we should see more in the form of one’s commitment than one’s fullness of success and this we take again from the Life of Peter. And a part of this commitment, a part of this abiding, IS found in Jesus’ other words on discipleship; words that reflect upon the Great Commandments and one’s ability to set himself apart from his former self.

Here we should see Paul’s words in action as he tells us to “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“. If we can understand here that both one’s conformity and one’s Transformation operate by measure, we will have the clearer picture of what must be done in discipleship. Jesus shows us the Truth of discipleship in his words that ARE a part of our trifecta which tell us that we must abide in his word and He also tells us how that this IS DONE; he tells us just how that this commitment works. The Apostle Luke shows us that the Master’s criteria IS clearly stated; we read Jesus’ words saying:

“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. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple….So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26-27, 33)

Can we see the force of these words and can we understand that ALL of the True disciples of the Lord have DONE these things? Peter acknowledges this as he asks the Master in words that ARE contrary the Jesus’ intent saying that “Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?“. While Matthew offers us the Master’s words regarding the disciple’s future in the Kingdom of God, these ideas should NOT be taken literally; we read Jesus words here saying that “Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:27-28).

The ideas of sitting and of thrones ARE symbols of equality and the idea of regeneration, an idea used ONLY two times in the New Testament, IS from the Greek word paliggenesia which defined by the lexicon as: new birth, reproduction, renewal, recreation, regeneration ² and by Strong’s as: (spiritual) rebirth (the state or the act) ⁹. If we can see the idea here of being “born again” we can perhaps glimpse the fullness of this idea and understand that the fullness of His Presence, the fullness of the Truth and the fullness of His Kingdom come to the man who has “forsaken all” according to His words above from Luke’s Gospel.

Again this idea IS reported ONLY by Matthew but ALL three gospel synoptic gospel writers DO tell us the rest of Jesus’ answer to Peter’s question which we show here from Mark’s Gospel as it seems the clearer presentation; Mark tells us Jesus’ words as: “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, 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” (Mark 10:29-30).

We must see here the symbolism that the Master employs: in exchange for one’s forsaking ALL and becoming a disciple of the Lord there IS reward and this reward IS according to the trifecta….it IS His Truth, His Presence and His Kingdom. Jesus likens this reward to being “an hundredfold” of what was forsaken and we should KNOW here that the ideas that ARE listed ARE NOT what IS received. What IS received IS the rewards of the trifecta which easily replace what was forsaken in manifold ways.

We should try to see here that to be “born again” IS an end and NOT a beginning as doctrines dictate and that the True beginning IS in “the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins“. It IS in this immersion that one begins to strive and it IS in Truly striving that one becomes the aspirant to discipleship. Again there IS NO line of demarcation between the aspirant and the disciple and if we can see the idea of striving in the reality of being an aspirant, we can then see that ALL ARE always aspirants to some higher place. What then of the baptism in the Holy Spirit?

While it IS become commonplace according to some doctrines to baptize in the Holy Spirit by the “laying on of hands” (Hebrews 6:2), we should try to see here that in the True meaning of having the Holy Spirit, which IS the Presence of God in one’s Life, it IS required that one to be Truly striving to keep His words. With this in mind, who then IS qualified to ‘give’ the Holy Spirit to another? Who IS Truly in accord with the Great Commandments? Who IS Truly the disciple according to His words? We should look here again at Peter’s words which we cite and adjust above saying “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of in return the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:38).

Here we have Peter showing us the Way to have the Holy Spirit through Repentance and immersion “in the name of Jesus Christ” which Vincent shows us saying:  In the name ( ἐν ) has reference to the sphere within which alone true baptism is accomplished. The name is not the mere designation, a sense which would give to the baptismal formula merely the force of a charm. The name, as in the Lord’s Prayer (“Hallowed be thy name”), is the expression of the sum total of the divine Being: not his designation as God or Lord, but the formula in which all his attributes and characteristics are summed up. It is equivalent to his person ⁴. In DOING these things for the freedom from sin that these bring one “shall receive the gift of in return the Holy Ghost“.

There IS NO “laying on of hands” here nor IS there any in Jesus own words on “the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost“; this too IS tied to the reality of keeping His words. We should note here that these words ARE offered in terms that even His apostles have difficulty in understanding. The Master tells us “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you” (John 14:15-18).

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

Aspect of  God	Potency	Aspect of Man	In Relation to the Great Invocation	In relation to the Christ
GOD, The Father	Will or Power	Spirit or Life	Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN	Life
Son, The Christ	Love and Wisdom	Soul or Christ Within	Heart of God	Truth
Holy Spirit	Light or Activity	Life Within	Mind of God	Way

Note on the Quote of the Day

This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.

This daily blog also has a Quote of the Day which may not be in any way related to the essay. Many of these will be from the Bible and some just prayers or meditations that may have an influence on you and are in line with the subject matter of this blog. As the quote will change daily and will not store with the post, it is repeated in this section with the book reference and comment.

We repeat here a Quote of the Day that we spent much time with over the course of our essays. In this affirmation we find the Truth of discipleship as we have been ever been expressing and here we can relate our themes of the last few days; “take no thought” for the things of the world and that we approach the Kingdom and discipleship in the nature of the little child, in humbleness, meekness, unashamed in any way and unassuming. The message that this imparts for us today IS that it IS the Soul that is at work in the world of men as it expresses to some degree the purpose, power and the will through Life in this world. These words are from a meditation offered to his students by our Tibetan brother and in which we find greater understanding of the message of the Master. This IS Truly the way of the disciple.

My Soul has purpose, power and will; these three are needed on the Way of Liberation.

My Soul must foster love among the sons of men; this is its major purpose.

I, therefore, will to love and tread the Way of Love. All that hinders and obstructs the showing of the Light must disappear before the purposes of the Soul.

My will is one with the great Will of God;. that Holy Will requires that all men serve. And unto the purposes of the Plan I lend my little will.

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts