Monthly Archives: September 2017

ON LOVE; PART MCLXXIX

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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).

In the last essay we discussed how that the personality, the Truth of the mind and the emotions of men and therefore the provider of carnal willfulness, IS that aspect of everyman that must come to be the expression of Love, of agape, in this world. We discussed how that the doctrinal church applies these personality attributes to the Soul and in this they DO believe that it IS the man in this world who will continue in an eternal heaven or a hell. This idea of the continuation of the personality gives some degree of relief to the idea of death insofar as the Life that one had on this Earth can continue in death.

We should understand here that the Soul IS a spiritual aspect of man and that the personality IS NOT; it IS a primary goal in this Life in this world to have that spiritual aspect reflected through the personality rather than to have the personality reflect the more carnal thoughts and feelings that ARE the vanity of which the Apostle Paul tells us saying that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same“. This vanity IS found in the placement of a Soul into an infant child thereby divorcing that uninformed mind from the Truth which IS further lost by the child’s many years of nurturing and indoctrination into the ways of this world. It IS here that we can most clearly see Vincent’s ideas on this vanity as he calls it: a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends ⁴.

We should remember here that this IS NO accident as the apostle tells us that this subjection IS “by reason of him who hath subjected the same” which we identify as the Plan of God behind which lies the purpose of Life in this world. It IS this subjection and the reality that through this, plus the nurturing and indoctrination, men take on the identity of the personality and lose sight of the deeper realities of Life; they ARE lost and separate from God. Men however DO NOT see this reality, nor DO they see the deception in which they live; they DO NOT see the illusion and the glamour that this vanity IS. Nor DO they see that the deeper one gets into the doctrines that help to form one’s personality identification, the more difficult it becomes to even glimpse the Truth.

Men DO NOT however see themselves as lost; they see themselves through the eyes of their personality and they identify themselves along the separatist lines of race, religion, national allegiance and customs among other things. There IS no one to teach and to show the deeper realities of Life and much of this IS because those who have taken authority teach as though they already KNOW the Truth and that it IS this presumption of Truth into which they then nurture and indoctrinate others. This illusion permeates most every part of Life and especially the fields of religion and politics. Most ALL men DO NOT see that they ARE deluded by the what they have come to KNOW; not so much in concrete knowledge of things but in their knowledge of Life.

As we have cited in past essays, Mark Twain captures this reality in his saying that “In religion and politics people’s beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing“**. Men’s tendency to DO as Mr. Twain suggests IS a factor of the vanity to which ALL ARE bound and here we should see Paul’s idea of the “bondage of corruption” that IS inherent in the personality Life of the “natural man“. Again, the “natural man” IS ALL men who have NOT escaped some measure of this bondage….ALL men whose expression IS NOT some real measure of agape.

And, as we have discussed in recent essays, these authorities ARE the reality of the Apostle John’s antichristos. While these same authorities and their doctrines paint the idea of the antichrist in terms of an individual of power and with an eschatological bent, the greater reality IS that there were and yet ARE “many antichrists” (1 John 2:18). These ARE merely men who ARE teaching and preaching ideas and spiritual concepts that ARE NOT in accord with the words of the Master but ARE that idea of “another gospel” which Paul shows us saying “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7).

And this IS the point: through the nurturing and the indoctrination and then the tendency to believe “at second-hand, and without examination” the words of others who have taken authority, the whole of the Truth that IS “the gospel of Christ” IS perverted. This IS the human dilemma concerning spiritual matters and religion and this same dilemma IS spread across ALL areas of human thought and most especially for the man whose leaning IS yet largely emotional. And what IS the Truth that IS “the gospel of Christ“? The doctrinal answer varies based upon denomination and sect and has also varied over the 2000 years since Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Some say that Jesus’ message IS the Kingdom of God and there IS much to be said about this. Jesus DID say “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15) but this message IS more than merely announcing the Kingdom, this IS announcing the Way to the Kingdom through Repentance. The Apostle Matthew shows us of the Master that “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17) and while these ideas ARE essentially the same, it makes little sense to reduce ALL of His many words to this simplicity.

Others have a more complex view regarding Jesus’ Kingship and the government to be set up upon His return which ideas are gleaned from several obscure sayings and taken largely out of context. Some others interpret His message in terms of salvation and this most often through His blood and the cross; still others focus upon the ideas of atonement and the forgiveness of sins through His blood and the cross. Few however focus upon the teaching itself, few see His message in His words on Love and on the reality of Repentance as the Way to the Kingdom through keeping His words. Most ALL miss the Truth that Repentance leads to keeping His words—this IS the primary motivation for True Repentance—and that keeping His words IS inextricably linked to one’s expression of agape. Understanding this it should be easy to see the Truth of Jesus’ message in 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).

While the many divisions of Christianity disagree on the reality of His message and the meaning of His words there IS ever the reality of His words to rely upon; this reality IS lost however in the doctrinal reliance upon the words of His apostles….the misunderstood and misapplied words that have become the doctrines of men. And it IS this very division that the Apostle Paul, the apostle upon whose words so much of doctrine relies, speaks against in his words to the Corinthians. Doctrinal thinkers however see Paul’s words as specific ONLY to those who would follow the teacher rather than the Lord in those days; the apostle says “Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you?” (1 Corinthians 1:12-13).

Much like Jesus’ words to the Pharisees, these ideas ARE doctrinally understood as being said ONLY to those to whom they were addressed. If however the whole idea of scripture IS undying, should NOT these ideas be undying as well? Should NOT men see themselves in this idea of following the teacher rather than the Lord and in the Master’s words spoken against the hypocritical ways of the religious in His day? If doctrinal thinkers could but see themselves in Jesus words of reproach to the Pharisees and the other religious leaders of the Jews, perhaps the doctrinal approach to the Lord could then teach the Truth of His words.

This brings us back to the idea that we left off with in the last post: Love. We have often said that the common idea of Love as that mental and emotional attraction and attachment to others and to things IS NOT the idea behind agape and we have ofttimes offered our ideas on the reality of this word as this IS shown to us in Jesus’ words. Perhaps we can try to see how that the carnal ideas of Love ARE ideas of the personality which IS grounded in this world; the personality whose focus IS upon the self and the things of the self. It IS when this focus IS Truly elevated to the spiritual, to the things of God over the things of self, that Paul’s words can be Truly understood. We repeat again the apostle’s words to the Corinthians:

“Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail;c whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).

In the first part Paul shows us rather clearly how that ALL presumed spiritual ideas ARE for naught when there IS NO expression of agape and here we should understand this expression in a most universal way and NOT in regard to a particular person. These words ARE NOT intended to address the Love between a man and an woman nor between parents and children; nor ARE the in regard to relationships within a group or a church. The apostle IS showing us that the presumed ‘gifts‘ mean nothing and when we take this idea to its conclusion, we should be able to see that these presumed ‘gifts‘ ARE NOT the True spiritual ‘gifts‘ at ALL but ONLY carnal interpretations of them. This leaves these presumed gifts in the psychic realm which we should also understand as real; many people have such psychic abilities and wield them without the mention of God….and the mere mention of God or Christ DOES NOT make any such psychic phenomenon spiritual.

It IS important to understand the apostle’s point that without one’s expression of Love ALL these ‘gifts‘ along much of what he says in the preceding chapter IS meaningless. And, as we discussed in a previous essay, the idea of the singular ‘gifts‘ as he mentions them ARE likely afforded as the measure of Truth that the man who Truly strives can achieve. It IS when a man can fully express agape as this IS shown by the Master and defined here by Paul that that man has ALL. We should try to see here how that these ‘gifts‘ ARE the revelations and the realization that come to the man who will keep His words and paramount in His words IS the word of Love.

These individual ‘gifts’, “the word of wisdom“, “the word of knowledge“, faith, “gifts of healing“, “the working of miracles“, prophecy, “discerning of spirits“, “divers kinds of tongues“, and “the interpretation of tongues” (1 Corinthians 12:8, 9, 10) are the product of one’s striving to keep His words in accord with the proclivity of the personality….its natural leaning toward each. ALL ARE the result of one’s True focus upon the things of God and ALL require some measure of Love as a man’s expression to the world. Again, in the fullness of Love ALL are the possession of a man; “all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will” (1 Corinthians 12:11).

In these words from Paul we should be able to see the reality of the way that these ‘gifts‘ Truly work out in the Life of the man who will strive to keep His words and we should understand as well that the common idea of what these ‘gifts‘ ARE DO NOT accurately portray their reality. First we should understand that these ARE NOT ‘gifts‘ as this idea IS portrayed by doctrines; these ARE the “the manifestation of the Spirit” as Paul shows us later; these ARE spiritual operations in this world of men. Doctrines imply that these ‘gifts‘ ARE given to men by the Lord and then rather arbitrarily; but when we can understand that this word charisma that IS rendered as ‘gifts‘ IS from the root word charis which IS grace, we can then see that these ‘gifts‘ IS the flow of things from God and, most importantly, the God and Christ Within.

The word rendered as worketh in the saying above IS defined as: to be active ^9a in Strong’s and to be operative, to be at work, put forth power ⁹, by Thayer’s and if we can see this as it IS rendered by others, as “all these are the operations of the one and the same Spirit“, perhaps we can better understand the ideas of revelation and realization as these operate in the Life of the man who will strive to keep His words. There IS a natural order to Life here in this world of vanity and the operation of the spiritual realm within this vanity IS NOT arbitrary but purposeful and the result of our striving to achieve the spiritual goals by which we can escape “the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:4).

It IS in this escaping that we ARE striving and it IS in this escaping that we gain some measure of the “exceeding great and precious promises” (2 Peter 1:4) which ARE themselves the grace of God and thereby these very same ‘gifts‘. And we should remember there that grace IS earned, it IS the reward for striving and this we can glimpse from the varied presentations of Jesus’ words on aspects of Love which we have previously discussed but will DO so here again. The Greek word misthos IS defined as wages and as reward ², a reward received for ones toils and endeavors as the lexicon tells us. Strongs defines misthos as: apparently a primary word; pay for service (literally or figuratively), good or bad ^9a.

Can we see here that personal activity needed to gain wages or reward in a spiritual context? Matthew shows us Jesus’ words as “I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?” (Matthew 5:44-46). In the full context there should be NO question that the topic IS Love.

Luke shows us this same idea from the Master in a different tone and here we must note that while the idea IS rendered as thank, this IS a nonsensical rendering of the Greek word charis which IS grace; we read: “as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again” (Luke 6:31-34).

Here we should understand that these ideas ARE identical, the topic IS Love, and the apostles’ use of words should show us first that the reward IS grace and secondly that there IS here, as there IS in most every place where we read of grace, a quid pro quo which requires a man to DO….that he strives to keep His words which IS to strive to Love. This IS the same quid pro quo that we find in the Old Testament and this idea of reward or wages runs clearly through ALL of the Master’s teaching as well as the clarifying and amplifying words of His apostles. This same quid pro quo runs as well through our trifecta which we read above.

Too much of doctrine relies upon the idea of atonement which comes from the Old Testament and which says that Jesus IS the sacrifice for the sins of mankind rather than the teacher of the Ways of men in the New Dispensation where God Immanent, the Christ and the God Within, becomes the Light of the “natural man” in this world. And the view of atonement IS at once a distraction from the Truth as men believe that through this they have ‘forgiveness‘ by God Transcendent and then, according to the self serving nature of their doctrines, they project this atonement into the future based upon, again, misunderstood, misapplied and out of context sayings; too many have come to believe that there IS naught that they need DO save to believe which falls far short of KNOWING.

Christ indeed “died for our sins according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3), an idea that IS tied to the words of Prophet Isaiah who prophesied the Master’s coming more than 700 years earlier and here we should note that the idea of atonement IS NOT a practical part of this prophecy. The prophet tells us: “Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:4-6).

We should try to see here that He “died for our sins” in a far more practical way than doctrines have tried to glean from these words and ideas. He died because of the selfish nature of men; He died because men’s transgressions and their iniquities allowed Him to die; it IS these same iniquities in the hearts of the Jews and the Romans that killed Him. And He Truly DOES bear the griefs and the sorrows of ALL who stood by and watched powerless as sheep while men of True iniquities brought Him to the judgement seat and ended His ordeal here in this Earth. It IS this ordeal of Life here in this Earth that IS the Master’s reference in His saying that “It is finished” (John 19:30) and NOT the doctrinal idea that He has DONE ALL and there IS naught that mankind must DO. Just look at the world yet today to most clearly see that these doctrinal assertions ARE NOT Truth.

We close today with the greater Truth of Jesus message to the world….His undying message of Love and how that to Love as He teaches us IS the ONLY cure for the ills of the world and the ONLY spiritual show that will defeat the iniquities that yet remain in the selfish and self serving hearts of men. Paul tells us:

“Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed”  (Romans 13:8-11).

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.

We change our Quote of the Day today to the words from Solomon on Wisdom along with our thoughts on them from the original postings of them in In the Words of Jesus parts 46 and 556.  These words ARE a testament to those things that we should be asking of the Lord and which are representative of the Holy Ghost. Wisdom, understanding and knowledge which will lead us  to understanding the fear (reverence and respect and awe) of the Lord and the knowledge of God so that in this world we can understand righteousness and judgement and equity and be preserved by discretion and understanding. Thus are we in a position to treat everyone as we would want to be treated ourselves.

Since we are centered on the ideas of Wisdom today we offer the following from Proverbs as our Quote of the Day. Solomon, who is KNOWN for his Wisdom, which we read in the story of his Life was His gift from God, a gift that he receives because he does not want for the things of the world. But Solomon gains as well the things of the world in plenty and as his Life story proceeds we can see clearly that it is his Life in the world that is to his detriment. The wisdom however produces for us the writings of the Book of Proverbs and it is this that he is remembered for. His Life is interesting reading and is well documented in the Books of Kings and Chronicles.

….incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee (Proverbs 2:2-11).

Let the peace of God rule in your hearts

• ² New Testament Greek Lexicon on BibleStudyTools.com
• ⁴ Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
• ⁹ Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
• ^9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org
• ** Autobiography of Mark Twain, Volume 3 (University of California Press, 2015)