Monthly Archives: December 2020

ON LOVE; PART MCCCLXXIII

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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).

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We ended the last essay with some thoughts on the way that the Master’s words on the Kingdom of God, His comparisons to Earthly ideas that can be understood by most, intersect with the causal factors of agape and keeping His words. Our excursion into Jesus’ comparisons began with the idea of prophecy from our selection from the Apostle Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians where we read that “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 agape, I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:2). We should try to see that Paul’s ability to “understand all mysteries“, his having “all knowledge” and his having “all faith” ARE a part of the “gift of prophecy“; that these ARE things that ARE divulged in prophecy which IS much more than the predictive ideas of the Old Testament prophets. It IS their ability as well to KNOW the mysteries, have intimate knowledge of the things of God and such faith to DO wonderous works that enables their teaching and their predictions. What we should see here IS that Paul’s ability to teach men on the gospel and on the Kingdom IS his “gift of prophecy” and that his caution here IS that without his expression of agape such teaching, such “gift of prophecy” IS worthless to the point were he would say of himself that “I am nothing“. Paul’s teaching IS NOT worthless however because of his expression of agape which IS lost to the doctrinal church’s obsession with those words from the apostle that enhance their doctrinal approach, words that have been used to promote the various theologies that ALL claim to be the One Truth of Christianity. It IS the illusion of men and their glamour that enforce their separatist doctrinal views and inherent in their various positions we should be able to clearly see an absence of True agape as most embrace carnal ideas of Love in its place. It IS from this perspective that their teachings, their “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:7), fail under Paul’s words on prophecy. It IS in the separatist attitudes of men’s various doctrinal positions that their presumed “gift of prophecy“, their separatist teaching, IS worthless and this because it functions in the absence of True agape. We should understand here that while most of this IS NOT intentional, most ALL who participate can clearly see how that each denomination and sect has separated itself from most ALL others and from the non-Christian majority of the world, from men who follow a different Path or NO path at ALL. We should understand here that the essential reality of agape IS Unity, IS a Oneness through which we ALL ARE that neighbor who, under the idea of True agape, should ever be seen as we see ourselves.

While this reality of agape can be quoted by most ALL Christians, the deeper meaning of it has been lost for centuries and this because the whole idea of Love IS centered around human carnal experience. To understand Love as that mental and emotional attraction or attachment that one has toward others, and often toward things, positions and even concepts, IS to miss the deeper spiritual significance of the Master’s words. Agape IS much more than these human carnal ideas of Love and it IS this ‘more’ that IS at the heart of such spiritual ideas as “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” and the Master’s explanatory note on this that IS become our Golden Rule. This Rule however IS equally misunderstood and IS become but a trite statement rather that a guidepost to Truth; through His words saying “all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12) we should see the essence of “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“. In these complimentary sayings we have the epitome of agape; in these sayings we have a spiritual statement that clearly says that it IS this Unity, this Oneness, that must prevail if one IS to Truly Love according to the spiritual reality of agape. However, this view IS NOT accepted by the church and this largely because it can and will destroy men’s view of themselves as individual forces through agape’s emphasis upon that Unity. Men DO NOT see the deep realities in such ideas as One Humanity, One World and One God; realities which we ALL share in but view ONLY from a carnal perspective. ALL ARE a part of this One Humanity; ALL “live, and move, and have our being” in this One World and ALL ARE ‘children’ of the One God despite ALL religious attempts to make this idea moot. Paul relates these ideas to us saying “in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring” (Acts 17:28) but the church has chosen to apply the apostle’s words to the idea that Greek poets cited this idea and that this was Paul’s reference rather than his exposition of a deep spiritual Truth. It IS in the Unity of these ideas that the reality of agape IS found and it IS our understanding these ideas, that “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” and the Golden Rule, that IS essential to one’s expression of agape without which we ARE ALL nothing as Paul tells us in our selection which we repeat saying:

“covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity agape, 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 agape, 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 agape, it profiteth me nothing. Charity Agape suffereth long, and is kind; charity agape envieth not; charity agape 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 Agape never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity” (1Corinthians 12:31, 13:1-13).

We should understand here that this expression of agape IS a Lifetime commitment; from one’s point of True Repentance through the other stages that represent spiritual Truth, the expression of agape IS the sign and symbol of the fruit which men should bear. Jesus tells us that “Ye shall know them by their fruits” and here we must understand that while this IS framed in the negative, that it also applies to the positive as the universal Truth that “by their fruits ye shall know them“. The Master IS showing us who NOT to believe in His words around this theme, He IS showing us the danger of following doctrines that ARE espoused by “false prophets” and here again we should look at the broadest defining ideas for the term prophet. What then makes a “false prophets“? Where IS the dividing line between the “good tree” and the “corrupt tree“? What shows us the reality between “good fruit” and “evil fruit“? The answer IS simply one’s expression of agape as the steady tone of one’s Life. To understand the completeness of the Master’s words here, one must be able to put aside his own selfishness which IS perhaps the hallmark of the analogy that Jesus shows us in His initial warning about “ravening wolves“. Can we see how that this picture shows us the nature of a wolf, ALL are ravening, and the self centered reality of the Life of a wolf who seeks ONLY for himself and those that he may hold dear. The Master tells us to “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them” (Matthew 7:15:20). In this we should be able to see Paul’s words on prophecy from our selection and understand that the “good fruit” IS agape and that without this expression the purveyors of any spiritual teaching ARE but “false prophets“. Of course we must understand this idea according to Jesus’ intentioned warning which IS simply that men should NOT heed the words of men whose motivation IS NOT purely agape but must test for themselves the fruits displayed by such purveyors. That the doctrines of men have obnubilated the Truths that the Master taught and have covered them with a veil of ideas that ARE NOT in accord with His teachings really CAN NOT be disputed. At the same time however we should understand that much of the doctrinal push has been formed in a sense of Love albeit one that IS NOT the reality of agape. This IS the result of the vanity to which ALL ARE subjected and which IS confused by too many with the doctrinal ideas of the ‘fall of man’ where ALL ARE seen as ‘sinners’ based in the sin of Adam, a sin which IS then imputed to ALL humanity. While this idea IS True to some degree, the whole has been convoluted by the various doctrinal views of this ‘original sin’ from which men must be cleansed by rites and rituals. These ideas may have been suited for those to whom they were originally intended, barbarous and superstitious people who could NOT grasp a deeper understanding, but the church’s interpretation of the ‘fall of man’ has NOT changed with the growing mental capabilities of men over the last 3500 years since Moses wrote them. If we could see that the writings of the apostles, the gospels and the epistles, DO NOT seek to maintain this illusion, perhaps we could better understand what it IS that they DO say. As we have discussed many times the reality of vanity IS exposed by the apostles in their writings and our approach has been to show, from their writings, the clues offered to the reality of Life. And while a certain degree of discernment IS required to fully understand, the simple language used IS completely understandable on some level for most ALL men who have been able to shed the barbarism and superstitious ideas that ARE prevalent to some degree even until now. A sampling of the apostles’ words that show us the reality include:

• From Paul we read: “the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:19-21). In this IS the deeper story of creation which shows us that the very birth of a Soul into this world IS subjected to that vanity which Vincent defines for us as a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends ⁴. We should understand here that this IS the plight of every Soul; it IS the Soul that IS separated while his Life in this world continues to be pursuing false ends, ends that ARE basically selfish from a spiritual perspective and which revolve around the desires for worldly things including those thoughts and attitudes that define men among men. Paul speaks also about being delivered which we should understand more clearly as being made free from the corruption by the influence of the Soul on the Life in this world, a theme that colors most ALL of the apostle’s writings.
• The Apostle Peter shows us a similar idea in a verse that we often quote; a verse that applies to the essence of men’s lives for those that ARE able to see past their vanity driven humanity. Peter tells us that “his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:3-4). This “divine power” IS inherent in the Soul of everyman as that unction of which John tells us that “ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things” (1 John 2:20). It IS the Soul, the spiritual man, that has “all things that pertain unto life and godliness” and it IS in the ability of the Soul, in conjunction with the Repentance of a man, that brings the “knowledge of him” to Life in his heretofore corrupt personality Life. This IS the spiritual reality that then effects the ability of a man to take his own “exceeding great and precious promises” into his Life and thereby escape, make himself free from, “the corruption that is in the world through lust“. In this we can become “partakers of the divine nature” as men in this world. We should understand that while Peter’s words ARE taken by the doctrinal church to apply to them as ‘believers’, the reality IS that such ideas as being “partakers of the divine nature” or, as Paul shows us, being “delivered made free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God“, ARE the nature of the Truly Repented and the Transforming man. We should remember here that this IS the Way of the True disciple and the saint and IS possible “through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue” of which the Apostle John shows us the Way saying “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love” (1 John 4:8) and here we should KNOW that this Love IS agape.
• In the above from Peter and Paul we can see the idea of vanity and the escape from the illusion and the glamour that vanity produces in the lives of men. James shows us similar ideas as he relates this idea of escape to the more universal idea of the world; we should try to see that these ARE ALL speaking about the same corruption which IS in itself living according to the world’s ways; ways into which we ARE born, nurtured and indoctrinated. James tells us “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:1-4). We should be careful here to understand that the Greek word polemos which IS rendered as war DOES NOT apply only to the national or sectional battles but also to the individual. Strong’s tells us that polemos refers to: warfare (literally or figuratively; a single encounter or a series)^9a while Thayer’s adds that this word also applies to a dispute, strife, quarrel ⁹ as they reference this verse from James. We should understand that these words from James follow on the apostle’s lists of what IS and what IS NOT that “wisdom that is from above“; that this idea of a dispute, strife, quarrel IS a reference to that wisdom which “descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish“. As we have discussed previously that the rendering of James words saying “if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work” (James 3:17, 14-16) IS wholly inadequate to show the apostle’s intent. The ideas in envying and strife should be understood in terms of emulation and factious division which IS the relative state of most men. More can be found on our understanding of the zelos and eritheia by searching for these Greek words on the front page of our blogposts. It is these ideas of emulation and factious division that lead to “wars and fightings among you” and this both universally and individually. If we can see more clearly the apostle’s ideas, we can then likely see the role of “your lusts that war in your members” as we emulate and divide ourselves from others in our effort to live as men in this world. This seeing IS ONLY possible we we can understand emulation as: The act of attempting to equal or excel in qualities or actions; rivalry; desire of superiority, attended with effort to attain to it; generally in a good sense, or an attempt to equal or excel others in that which is praise-worthy, without the desire of depressing others. Rom.11. In a bad sense, a striving to equal or do more than others to obtain carnal favors or honors. Val.5. ¹ rather than the common ideas of today. Perhaps we can see the harm that such attitudes DO and why James speaks against it as regards the desires of men saying “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain“. Should we look at this in terms of the vanity into which ALL men ARE born, perhaps we can see that it IS the illusions of Life in form and its glamour that propel men and that it IS this that IS at the root of James words saying “know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God“. In these ideas we should have a better sense of the need to focus, an idea that IS strongly covered by James in the first chapter of his epistle.
• In understanding the role of vanity in the lives of men we can better see the True spiritual cost of lust, of the desires that men have for the things of the flesh as things, as careers, as Love interests….as ALL that feeds the ego. It IS in this that we find emulation and NOT merely in trying to copy others; this emulation takes us to ideas of covetousness which IS a singular detriment to spiritual Life. Jesus tells us “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (Luke 12:15) and when we can understand this in terms of desire for ALL human advantage, we can then better understand the spiritual Truths that pit the world against God and the things of the world against the things of God. Paul speaks strongly against covetousness but his words, and the words of the Master and ALL his apostles on this subject of desire, ARE NOT understood and NOT made part of the religious lexicon as regards the ways of men. The idea seems ONLY understood in relation to wanting the specific things that another may have rather that the deeper ideas provided in the corresponding idea of emulation. Paul tells us to “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5) and here we should clearly see Paul’s statement against ALL that keeps us in our “bondage of corruption” and the opposition between the Lord and the things “which are upon the earth“. In the apostle’s framing of these words we should clearly see that most ALL of his ingredients, things with the carnal man will DO, have naught to DO with possessions or wealth but ARE terms that reveal the attitudes of men. Here again we should understand the the words as they ARE rendered here ARE but carnal interpretations of the Greek words; an example here IS the rendering of pathos as “inordinate affection“. Thayer’s tells us that pathos IS a suffering saying that this IS: whatever befalls one, whether it be sad or joyous; specifically, a calamity, mishap, evil, affliction. They continue on to tell us that pathos IS: a feeling which the mind suffers ⁹ before taking the idea to passions. While the idea of “inordinate affection” takes us directly to matters of sex and ‘deviant’ sexual behaviors, this IS NOT the apostle’s intent. While others render pathos as lust and passion, the intent of the translators IS the same sexual ideas which IS a fixation of most ALL of the church. Our point here IS that emulation and covetousness ARE similar in nature and ARE part of the vanity into which men ARE born. To this we should add that in the nurturing and indoctrination of ‘believers’, these ideas that ARE wholly contrary to a spiritual attitude ARE seen ONLY in their relationship to sex and to the physical desires of men. When we speak of the dichotomy between the things of the world and the things of God we usually use Paul’s words along with those of James. Paul tells us “they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit “the things of the Spirit”. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Romans 8:5-7). It IS in lumping ALL things of the flesh into the idea of being “after the flesh” that we can better understand the opposition between such things and “the things of the Spirit” and the deep reality of Jesus’ words saying that “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). We should try to understand that the apostles’ words ARE clarifying and amplifying of this Truth.
• Finally we should look to the Apostle John’s words saying “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2:15-17).

Paul shows us the idea of vanity, of the “bondage of corruption” resolving itself in “the glorious liberty of the children of God“. Peter sows us this same idea of vanity as “corruption that is in the world through lust“. The apostle tells us that it IS this that we must escape in order to find in Life “all things that pertain unto life and godliness“, things that make of us “partakers of the divine nature“. James shows us many things related to vanity as he shows us the ways of men versus the ways of God; he shows us the detrimental value of emulation and factious division and could we but see that the church as it exists today IS a prime example of both, we could better understand our plight. James sums up his argument as he shows us the depth of the dichotomy between the carnal and the spiritual as he tells us that “the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God“; unfortunately these words ARE ill-understood by most ALL of the church. Our other ideas from Paul’s epistles show us the same ideas of vanity and the opposition between the carnal and the spiritual and while Paul speaks about the carnal mind, we should understand that the mind IS the center of ALL human activity which IS for the most part self-centered and NOT focused upon the things of God. It IS in a deeper understanding that “the carnal mind is enmity against God” that we can begin to see that most ALL thoughts ARE also self-centered, ARE carnal and ARE therefore “not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be“. Finally John shows us vanity as our perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends ⁴ in graphic terms that show us that so long as a man DOES cling to his presumed human values that “the love of the Father is not in him“. We should understand here that these words from the Apostle John ARE rather bluntly stated as ARE many in his first epistle. At the same time however these agree with the words of the Master who tells us a similar idea in the third part of our trifecta which we repeat here saying:

• “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).

Here in the third part we have a spiritual quid pro quo which IS denied by most and misunderstood by many others. Jesus clearly tells us, using the conditional word if, that it IS to the man who will keep His words that the “love of the Father” will flow. Here we must keep in mind the dichotomy between the carnal and the spiritual as well as the reality of our realization in the carnal mind of spiritual ideas. While the church professes that God Loves ALL, which IS True because “God is love agape“, it IS the man who will keep His words, the man who strives toward that goal, that can realize that Love and understand it as part of the whole process of KNOWING God. And John also speaks to this idea of KNOWING God in equally blunt terms saying “He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4). We should try to see in these things the reality of the dichotomy that pits the carnal against the spiritual and understand that in the view of God the Life here in this world IS separated from the True Life through which the Soul expresses himself through the form. It IS here that the deep reality of the idea that “God is no respecter of persons” can become evident to the man who has some measure of Truth, some measure of the expression of the Soul in his mortal Life. In this we should try to see that it IS the carnal man that DOES NOT have the attention of the Godhead and that the whole of Life in this world IS apart from God who will NOT determine one mortal being above another. This IS a Truth that IS generally ignored by most ALL of the church and we should note here that in these words saying that “there is no respect of persons with God” (Romans 2:11) we have a cornerstone of Truth. Using the church’s proclamation of the inerrancy of these words from their inerrant scripture and adding to this the factual idea that God DOES NOT change which the Prophet Malachi shows us saying “I am the LORD, I change not” (Malachi 3:6), we should be able to understand the idea that there IS NO direct interaction between the Lord and men. There IS NO preference of one over another and the ONLY awareness of men by the Lord IS founded in every individual’s relationship with his own Soul. It IS this relationship that must become the realization of men. These things have ever been True of God and of the Christ of whom the writer of Hebrews tells us “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). It IS when our Souls intervene in our mortal lives that we can say that we have the Lord active in our lives and whether we call this God the Father, the Christ, Jesus or the Holy Spirit, the reality IS the same….the reality IS the unction.

It IS this intervention that IS brought about by our Repentance and our Transformation and it IS this intervention that allows the Love that IS God, and thereby our Spirit and Soul, to flow into our heretofore carnal mind and this according to Paul’s words saying “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” (Romans 12:2). With these words we should again see the dichotomy between the carnal and the spiritual and understand that “the friendship of the world is enmity with God” and Paul’s words that tell us clearly “the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be“. We close today citing our selection from Paul’s First Epistle to the Corinthians which IS our focus upon agape and while we DID NOT discuss this directly, we DID establish that the Way of Love IS found ONLY when our focus moves off of the self and the things of the self and onto the things of God. Our final thought here IS one that IS NOT ONLY for us to use to judge the spiritual nature of others but IS also the useful tool to measure ourselves; Jesus tells us “Ye shall know them by their fruits” and that it IS “by their fruits ye shall know them“.

We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.

• ¹ Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1828 and 1913 from https://1828.mshaffer.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
• * Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.

Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher