Hiswordxray:
Happy Sunday beloved of God

...

Happy Sunday beloved of God

Wikipedia as well as Encyclopedia Britannica defined mysticism as the practice of "union with the Absolute, the Infinite, or God". The first thing you must understand about mysticism is that each religion has their own mystical way. Just as each religion has their own way of salvation, or their own belief system.

According to Wikipedia, "mysticism can be found in all religious traditions, from indigenous religions and folk religions like shamanism, to organized religions like the Abrahamic faiths and Indian religions, and modern spirituality, New Age and New Religious Movements."

Yes, Judaism has it own mystical tradition and beliefs. Islam has their own mystical tradition and belief. Buhad, Hindu, and any other religion you could think of, even our traditional religion has their own mystical beliefs. But first, let's look at the difference between a mystic and an average religious person.

An average religious person is one who is only concern about worshipping their god or doing the normal religious rituals, ceremonies and practices. But a mystic is one who believe that he could go further. A mystic is one who desire to get to the peak of the religious experience of a particular religion.

In every religion we have these people (mystics). And the Mystical tradition of each religion is based on what that religion defines as the peak at a particular period of time. In early Judaism, during the time of the prophets, Jewish mystism was focused on having visions. This mysticism is called Merkabah. But later the era of the prophet ended and Judaism was focused on the law of Moses. This was what gave rise to the Pharisees and the emphasis of following the law absolutely.

As such a new kind of mysticism arose among the Jews. This mysticism is called Kabbalah. It focuses on a kind of union with the law and word of God that leads to the ability for both mystical and literal interpretation of the scripture.

So a religion that focuses on the word of God has a mystical tradition that is all about union with the word of God. But a religion that believe that there is no God, there is only knowledge. Such are the beliefs of the Greek philosophers. Although, they will not call it a religion but it is a system of belief. Now, this system of belief is centered on knowledge. The average adherent of this belief system is only concern about acquiring knowledge. But it has a mystical version which goes beyond that.

These mystics want their soul to ascend and become one with the absolute knowledge which Plato called the divine. Now, there are other religion whose beliefs is centered on the balance in the universe. I am referring to Buddhism and Hindu. Buddhism has it's normal tradition of practicing the 8 fold path. Hindu has their own normal tradition of worshipping multiple gods and carrying out certain rituals and ceremonies.

However, they both have their mystical traditional which is not satisfied with balance in the universe and the release from the continuous circling in the universe. They want to go further and become one with the universe. They want to enter into union with the universe.

Can you see my point? A religion that is centered on God's word has a mystical tradition that is about union with God's word. A religion (belief system) that is centered on knowledge, has a mystical tradition that is about union with the Knowledge. While the religion that is centered on balance in the universe has a mystical tradition that is about union with the universe. Each of these mystical traditions are different from one another because the religion that they are based on are different from one another.

Christianity also has it own distinct mystical tradition. The Christian mysticism is not about union with the word or with knowledge or with the universe. It is rather union with God through Christ. So mysticism varies from one religion to another. And even with a particular religion, mysticism varies from one epoch to another. So when you say you are a mystic, the question is which mystic are you? Even if you say you are a Christian mystic, there are modern Christian mysticism and there are ancient ones.

In Christianity the more we become Christ-centered in our theology, the more our mystical tradition evolve and become Christ-centered. In the courses I made available in my website soncommunity.com I present a very Christ-centered mystism. I have studied the history of Christian mysticism and I have reinterpreted and reconfigured Christian mystical practices from across the centuries and made them more Christ-centered.

I am a student of history, and I can assure you that in the history of man there is no mysticism as powerful and safe as the Christian mysticism. Most mystic of other religions end up whether crazy, possessed, overly eccentric, indifference, stoic, emotionless and antisocial. Christian mystics are the most happy people, and they involve in a lot of social activities, changing the world around them. Just look at the life of Teresa of Avila.

I am inviting you into the life of a Christian mystic. Visit my website [url]soncommunity.com[/url] and join the community to have access to free courses on various Christian things especially Christian mysticism.

It's now free to register and create an account. The website is much like Facebook or Nairaland. Like Facebook you can share posts, images, videos, audios, documents (ebooks). You can comment, like, follow people, private chat people, create groups and forums for discussion and learning. Basically, you get to meet new people and learn Christ together. Then it has a lot of courses where they could learn spiritual stuff.

Divine202:
Op your question should rather be, will people go to Hell because they worshipped on Sunday?

This is why I don't read every book

Hmmm, do you think people would go to hell for worshipping on Sunday?

Many of us have gotten ourselves entangled in one sinful habit or the other, and we cannot break free from it. It's ruining our relationship with God. Some Christians have even given up after struggling for years to break free. Some continue to live an hypocritical Christian life. But some the guilt will not let them remain a Christian, it has drove them so far away from God that they now hate God.

Well, I am telling you today that there is a way out. If I can break free from mine, I am sure any other person can. The truth is that in Christ the power is available. It doesn't even matter what state you are currently or how deep you have gone. You can break free, you can have an amazing Christian life. I am currently experiencing a very fulfilling Christian life and my days of struggling with that sinful habit that almost ruin my relationship with God is over. It's all history now, at some point I thought I would never break free.

I am walking in greater and greater victory every day. And it's just so exciting seeing myself bruise the head of something that has once enslaved me and have been a master over my life. The victory has always been there in Christ, but no one taught me Christ. They only taught me religion, and it almost killed me. Thank God I found this reality in Christ, and for a while now I have been leading other Christian into it.

Those who are experiencing this victory are growing, and who says you can't be one of them. I wrote a book to help, but I realized that some may not be strong enough to follow the instructions in the book and discover this victorious reality. Because of this I added a course to the book, in order that it might help to guide them. But still some will not be strong enough even with the book and the course.

So I decided to create an online community where you get to meet other Christians going through the same stuff and working together to breakthrough. Here you will have all the assistance you need and you will surely experience this victory and learn to exist in it. In this community you keep your anonymity, nobody will know who you are even if you are the G.O of a mega church. You are safe in this community and you are free to share anything and let beloved Christians join hands with you and help you break free.

Here in this community we are doing everything we can to help you walk in victory. So rejoice for you have come to the end of the search. This victory is a reality already in Christ. We know the way to this dimension, we have guide others into it, and we would not just guide you, but we would give you every resources and every assistance needed to complete this journey until you've found a home in this reality and you manifest it daily.

The online community is at [url]soncommunity.com[/url]

Visit it, join by completing the registration, create your anonymous account and let's work together. Let a glorious and victorious generation of Christian rise, for the testimony of the power of the new life (salvation) that Christ died to give us.

Here is a Christian online community strictly for Christians who are passionate about God and who want to work on their spiritual growth. It is a very powerful website that is a combination of a community and e-learning website. Yes, you will have access to free courses on spiritual growth and various dimensions in God.

The website is [url]soncommunity.com[/url]
You can go create an account.

Below are screenshot of the community section and the e-learning section when you can enroll for free courses.

Hiswordxray:
Hmmm...

Let search out truth

Happy Sunday beloved of God

Christians often talk about salvation, and when you ask what this salvation is they are quick to answer, "we are saved from sin". But do we really know what that means, or is it just a cliche? If you are in a lion's zone and someone says, "we who are on this side are saved from the lions", it means they are safe from lion attacks. Probably at some point they were within the reach of being attacked and killed by the lions, but now they were delivered out of the den of the lions and they are now at a spot where the lions can't get them.

If you are saved from sin, it means sin cannot get you. Yes, you can no longer be influenced by sin. Other people in the world may sin, but you can no longer sin. Now, can we say this is true of those who claim to be saved from sin? You don't need to look far before you see one pastor or some Christian leader who is deep in fornication. How then are these people saved from sin? What is wrong with this salvation that we proclaim?

Our leaders who are supposed to be a model of what a mature Christian should look like are yet deep in sin. If it were the baby Christians we can easily say they are still being socialized into this salvation. But that is not the case. The ones falling deep in sin are the very leaders that are supposed to socialize us into salvation. What does that tell us? Is this salvation a scam?

When you speak of things like this some well meaning Christian will come to offer a psychological, social, or some human solution. They will tell you pastors should undergo sex education, they should be taught how to interact with ladies in the church and avoid temptation, they should do this and that. But if human solutions could deal with sin why then did Jesus died?

"Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry." (Matt 4:1,2).

Avoiding temptation is good, I am not discrediting it in anyway. But here Jesus was not avoiding temptation. He went into the wilderness so that he could be tempted. He went looking for temptation, and in addition to this he made himself very vulnerable. This is like entering into a gladiator match with no weapon and armour after refusing to eat for a month, just because you want to prove a point. Jesus didn't went to the wilderness in order to fast and pray so that he could receive power to do miracle.

Jesus fasted so that he could bring himself to the lowest point of vulnerability. When a Man has not eaten for 40 day he automatically shifts to survival mode. At this point he could no longer think like a man, he is thinking like an animal. He could eat anything, even his own brother. Jesus intentionally brought himself to the lowest point of vulnerability so that the devil would bring his best temptation. He wants to defeat the best of the devil at his (Jesus') most vulnerable state just to prove a point.

Yes, even at his worst state — his most vulnerable state — the devil still cannot defeat Jesus. That is the greatness of the salvation that Jesus came to offer. Right there in the wilderness he demonstrated the salvation he wants to give to his body. No, it is not a salvation that needs to be supported and assisted with human solutions. It is a salvation so great that no matter the situation, no matter the level of temptation, it will always come out victorious.

Let stop giving excuses for pastors fornicating. It doesn't matter how many beautiful women are in your church or how sexually lose they are. This salvation that we have in Christ is all sufficient. It is very much powerful to overcome whatever temptation the devil brings to its doorstep.

"Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, The God who is our salvation. Selah." (Psa 68:19).

"He [God] alone is my rock and my salvation," (Psa 62:2).

“The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation;" (Exo 15:2).

“Behold, God is my salvation," (Isa 12:2).

If you understand what these scriptures is trying to say, it will revolutionize your Christian life. Salvation is not just something that God gave us. God Himself is our salvation. Our salvation is God. This means whatever attribute that God has is what this salvation has. If God is Almighty and all-powerful, then this salvation is Almighty and all-powerful.

God has not given you a weak salvation — something that can only manage your sin. No, you have an Almighty and all-powerful salvation — one that vanquishes every power of darkness in its path. It does not struggle with the power of darkness. Oh when have Jesus ever struggled with casting out demons while he was on earth? Just one word from his mouth and they flee immediately. In fact, even before he says anything, even while he is still far away, the demons will run and start begging.

The power of our salvation is overshadowing, and overpowering everything it comes across. Nothing is remotely strong enough to resist. No addiction can resist, no perversion, no urges, no sinful habit, there is just nothing that has enough power to put up a resistance. They are vanquished at his mere presence. That is the greatness of the salvation that lives in you.

Oh Christians really need to see this, we need to see how great this salvation is. What is sin? What is the oppression of the power of darkness? What is sickness? What is even death in the presence of this mighty salvation? They are nothing, absolutely nothing. Yes this salvation is Almighty and all-powerful. He doesn't even break a sweat in vanquishing these things. He does it so graciously. Overcoming sin is child's play to him; living a sinless life is child's play to him.

We can't be going to church every week, singing how God is Almighty as if God is far far away, or abstract. This Almighty God lives in you; this Almighty God is your salvation. You need to see that your salvation is Almighty. There was a time I was talking about sinlessness and Christians were raising their eyebrows. They were like, "don't mind him, he is talking about impossible things". If nothing is impossible for God then nothing is impossible for this salvation that lives in me.

If nothing can defeat God, then nothing can defeat this salvation that lives in me. If God always have absolute victory then this salvation will have absolutely victory in me. All the powers of hell combined together cannot stop it, and I won't break a sweat in conquering them. Everything is done graciously and effortlessly because there is too much power available.

The power available in this salvation is excess, it is exceedingly abundantly above every power that exist whether on earth or in hell. Nothing can ever be strong enough to even put up a resistance. Yes, effortless victory. That is the greatness of the salvation that is in you. So what then is wrong? If our salvation is this powerful why does our experience and statue quo say otherwise?

The problem is definitely not from the salvation. That means the problem is with us. Specifically, the problem is with the way we have been administering this salvation. We are ministers of a gospel that preaches a salvation which gives victory over sin. We are like doctors who administer a drug that cures sin. A drug may be very potent, but if not properly administered might be detrimental to people's health.

It might end up making people more sick, or even kill them. How many have come into the Church, sincerely seeking for salvation only to end up as atheist. Yes, after they've tried and tried in the way of the church, but meet failure every single time. They finally come to a conclusion that this salvation is all a scam and God is intensionally being wicked — he is probably a psycho. They end up hating God for demanding such an high standing when he knows how weak humans are. Looking for ways to hurt Him back, they deny His existence and teach others to do the same.

Bottom line, we caused it — yes the church. We choke these little ones with legalism until they come to a point where they can't bear it anymore and they are forced to go deeper into the world and all its perversion. Even those who preach grace end up going deeper into perversion. Incomplete knowledge can be as terrible as false knowledge. When a drug is not properly understood it will end up being administered wrongly. You need to have a good knowledge how a drug works in order to determine how to properly administer it.

The body of Christ have not properly understood the salvation that we preach and that is why we have such poor result. But if only we can acquire the proper knowledge then we would be able to build the right structure that will enable proper administering of salvation. Here in School Of Oneness our focus is unveiling the reality in Christ and learning to operate, exist and develop all the faculties needed to manifest this reality.

We have available several courses, of which one of them is called Victory Over Sin. This an effective Christ-centered approach in dealing with sin. Join us and enroll for this free course. Our desire is to see every Christian demonstrate the fullness of the salvation Christ has given us. To join, follow the link below to the website and click "Join the community", then complete the registration.

[url]Soncommunity.com[/url]

Hmmm...

"He has rescued us completely from the tyrannical rule of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom realm of his beloved Son." (Col 1:13).

The Christian life begins right here. He was first under the government of the tyrant king called the devil. He was ruled by the power of darkness, but then through the gospel Christ swooped in and rescued him from that terrible kingdom. He is then brought into another kingdom and another government — a rich kingdom and a government full of grace. He is called a believer because his access and existence in this new kingdom realm is based on how much he believes in it.

He would only have access to as much as he believes. That means that the more he believes the more he is able to experience this kingdom and it riches. As such his initial faith needs to be developed until it is able to encompass the fullness of the kingdom. This is a test, it will prove how much he wants the kingdom. If his desire for this kingdom is great then he would believe all the way. But if his heart is divided then he would believe half way.

"the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force." (Matt 11:12).

When one believes with all of his heart he becomes violent (passionate). He thinks about the kingdom all the time. He studies and meditate about it. He wants to know all that is available to him in the kingdom. In fact, he wants to know everything about the kingdom. He would often fantasize about the kingdom, imagining all the reality of the kingdom and how life in the kingdom would be like.

He would imagine how it feels to be seated on the throne in Christ; how it feels to be incapable of sinning, how it feels to live above sickness, how it feels to have a Father who anticipates all your needs and provides for it even before you ask. The Christian knows that these things are not futuristic, for he is now already in the kingdom. He is in this reality where all these things are. As such he believes that his current situation and circumstances will begin to fade and give way for the reality of the kingdom.

They say when two power clashes, the lesser will give way for the greater. The Christian has opened the gates of his heart to a greater reality, and as he focuses on this greater reality it begins to gradually sweep into his life, bringing everything into conformity to the reality in Christ. Yes, the more the Christian meditate, contemplate, fantasize, imagine, celebrate, anticipate and demand the reality of the kingdom, the more this reality comes into his life, conquering the reality of the rule of darkness and establishing itself in visible manifestation.

Even though at the moment the Christian still see the rule of death and darkness all over his life, he laughs. Oh yes, he laughs, for he has seen something greater — a reality so great and mighty that every other thing bow to it. They cannot help but bow. Nothing can stop the advancement of this mighty reality, nothing is strong or powerful enough to resist the manifestation of this reality. Oh it moves with such great power, bringing all things to conformity, and all the Christian needs to do is surrender to its greatness.

He beholds the reality of the kingdom and he is in awe of its greatness. He is lost in the gaze of it, and he cannot help but surrender to its mighty advancement. Sinfulness will bow, every addiction will bow, every moral flaw will bow, pain will bow, depression will bow, poverty will bow, hates, envy, jealousy, and every other thing that belong to darkness will bow. Nothing is powerful enough to resist, they will be swept away by the mighty advancement of the kingdom of the life of the Christians.

Oh, the Christian is so excited about the kingdom that he gravitate towards anyone who is also a fantastic of the kingdom. They form their little fan club, obsessed about the riches of the kingdom and pressing in to be caught up in the life of the kingdom. Yes, they become caught up in their lives as kings in the kingdom, ruling from the throne and releasing the power of the kingdom as it continues to advance on earth through them. They become conductors of the kingdom reality. Everything they touch becomes envelope the reality of the kingdom. Oh, and it excites them whenever they see this happen.

They love to see the kingdom advance, they love to see death and darkness overtakened by the kingdom reality. They so much enjoy it that they begin to pursue this also. They want to see everything around them enveloped by the reality of the kingdom. They would meet regularly to talk about the kingdom and its advancement. They join hands together to see to it that everything around them (including the whole of their locality) becomes overturned by the kingdom reality.

They are kings of the kingdom, they are horns set before this advancing kingdom — horns that collides with everything on it path, forcefully bringing them under the power and reign of the kingdom. They cannot be stopped, they are so caught up in this activity. For this is their joy, this is their pleasure, their enjoyment, their occupation, their happiness and fulfillment, their reason for living. They so enjoy this that they forget to take breaks. They continue to advance with the Kingdom, and with each advancement they are growing, learning, maturing unto the fullness of God.

This post belongs to a series. If you interested in the whole series you can follow this link:

https://exodus-ecclesia..com/2021/01/what-is-christianity-part-1-from-first.html?m=1

You can also enroll for free courses in [url]soncommunity.com [/url]

Before going into how the Christian meeting became a worship service we must first understand what it used to be. When you call something a worship service, then it means the whole meeting is centered on the worship. The Christian meetings in the first century were not worship services, they were called ecclesia. Ecclesia is a meeting where the community gather together to deliberate and make decisions. The first century Christians were a community.

They were a self-governing community that did everything by themselves. They were their doctor, they treated and took care of their sick. They were their farmers and they distributed food among each other. They were their carpenter, masonry, treasury, bankers, charity and everything. They were a self-existing community, depending on themselves and trying as much as they can to help themselves in everything. All of these activities will require a lot of discussions, deliberations and decision making. These are the things that are done in their meetings.

If you look at 1 Corinthians 14 you will see that from the beginning it talks about the hymns singing, tongues, prophesying and mutual edification. They start their meetings with all that, but then they move towards the decision making session. This is where Paul said the woman should not speak (1Cor 14:34), rather they should allow the heads of each home to discuss and make decisions concerning the community.

Then before departing they feast on the blood and flesh of Christ. This was not done as a religious ritual. It was more like a social event as they drank and ate a full meal, and enjoyed fellowship with one another. Some were even getting drunk and Paul had to warn them to eat and drink moderately, and also ensure that the food reaches everyone (1Cor 1:17-22).

What I am trying to say is that the first century Christian meeting was not a worship service. We have to understand what worship means to these ancient people, rather than using our current traditions to interpret what they were doing. Worship to the people of the first century is sacrifice, especially blood sacrifices. Yes they may sing and pray, but as long as they are not doing some sort of sacrifice or ritual, or a rite of prostrating themselves before God, then according to them it is not a worship service.

So they were not doing a worship service — not according to them (you must interpret a people based on their own culture). If you should meet a first century Christian and ask him about their meeting he would never tell you that it was a worship service, cause according to them it wasn’t. How did the first century Christians worship?

“Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer.” (Rom 12:1). The whole of their lives is their worship. They would never hold worship service because their whole life is their worship and service. So their meetings were not worship services. They were fellowships and they were councils (decision making meetings).

In a previous post I explained how men perceive religion. Man perceives religion as a system of appeasing God. And they appease God by carrying out sacrifices. This act of carrying out sacrifices is called worship. Worship to ancient men (the people in the Bible times) is not singing and dancing. Praise is singing and dancing, but worship is sacrifices, especially blood sacrifices. There are three words translated as worship in our English Bible:

(1) aboda in Hebrew (also – abad or asab) and latreia in Greek (also – latreuo). The literal meaning is service. The KJV as well as other older translations did not translate this as worship (this is because these translations were written before worship was redefined to mean any religious service).

(2) shachac in Hebrew and proskyneo in Greek. The literal meaning is bow down or prostrate.

(3) zabach in Hebrew and thusia in Greek literally means sacrifice.

None of these words had to do with singing and dancing. Worship in the religious sense is mostly about sacrificing to the gods. So religious men believe they have to carry out certain sacrifices (worship) in order to appease their gods. This worship is what their religion is all about. In fact, it is how men perceive thesis religion. Now we would look at how the Christian meeting moves from a fellowship and council meeting to a religious worship service. It all started around the 3rd and 4th century when many pagans were sweeping into Christianity.

Christianity had become the emperor’s religion and everybody wanted to be a Christian in order to become favourable to the emperor. Many became Christians for political and social reasons. As the emperor’s religion, Christianity attracts a lot of privileges and many people wanted those privileges. So Christianity became filled with people who were not truly converted in their hearts. They were still pagans in hearts, and they brought in pagan ideologies and practices into Christianity. They wanted to continue to do in Christianity the things they used to do in their pagan religion.

These people wanted to do blood sacrifices in worship. They were used to doing this, they believe this is what religion is all about. However, blood sacrifices are not allowed in Christianity. Christianity teaches that Jesus offered his blood as a sacrifice unto God, and he did that once and for all. No other sacrifice is needed. However, we were instructed to carry out a ceremony called the Lord’s Supper. In this ceremony we share wine as the blood of Jesus, and bread as his flesh.

Now, the Pagans tried to reinvent this Lord’s Supper by filling it with their pagan ideology. They assumed the Lord’s Supper is the Christian sacrifice to appease God. So rather than it being a feast as it was in the first century where everyone ate, drank and spent time together, enjoying the Lord in each other. They turned the Lord’s Supper into a religious event where a priest carries out a sacrifice by mystically turning a cup of wine into Jesus’s blood and offering it unto God to appease him. Yes, that was what the early church masses were about. It was a sacrifice where Jesus’ blood is offered again unto God. Remember, sacrifice (especially blood sacrifice) is what these ancient men called worship.

Now because of this sacrifice (worship) this mass was called a worship service and that was how worship service was invented in Christianity. These Christians believe God constantly needs to be appeased. As such they would try to do masses as often as possible. They would even do it several times a day. They believe the more you do it, the more God is appeased and then he could forgive their sins, answer their prayers and make life and death sweet for them. In fact, this mass was the way of salvation. You have to work for your salvation by going to masses regularly in an attempt to appease God and get him to save you.

Thank God for the grace message today, but we still do Sunday worship service. We still hold on to that idea that Christianity is practiced by holding worship services. That is how powerful tradition can be. Though now we understand that we don’t need to offer Jesus’ blood again in an attempt to carry out regular blood sacrifices. Yes, even though we understand that the wine does not magically turn into Jesus’s blood. Yet we still continue to do worship services, ignoring the Biblical meaning of worship and reinvesting it to mean singing and dancing.

If you should take your time to study that Bible you are carrying, you will realize worship is not singing and dancing, but mostly about blood sacrifices. How many blood sacrifices have you done in your church? Why then is it called a worship service? The masses in the 4th century were called worship services because they believed they were carrying out a blood sacrifice by turning a cup of wine into blood and offering it unto God. What blood sacrifice are you doing in your church worship services?

Can you see how irrelevant the idea of worship service has become since the moment we recanted the belief in doing masses as it was done in the 4th century Catholic Church. Even till today Catholic Church still carries out their Eucharist in every Sunday worship service. The Eucharist is the worship service. If there is no Eucharist it is not a worship service. Worship was never about singing and dancing. It is a ritual, it is a sacrifice. How can you remove Eucharist, and then claim you are doing worship service? We really don’t know what we are doing.

One thing about history is that over time things twist and change, and we lose the meaning of certain things yet we continue to do it as a tradition even though it no longer makes sense. Sometimes we invent new meaning in order to cause an archaic practice to make sense.

Am I saying we should return to doing Eucharist. Of course no, the idea is pagan. There is no other sacrifice needed. Jesus’ sacrifice is once and for all. What I am saying is that our meetings shouldn’t be a worship service, rather it should be a governmental assembly (more on that later). The main purpose of Christianity is not to worship God. Yes, other religions (man’s religion) are about worshiping their gods. But when you come to Christianity you have not come into the worship of another god, rather you have come into the manifestation of God and his Kingdom.

The main reason God created man is not so we could worship him — God already has angels specifically designed to do that. The purpose of Christianity is to restore man back to the original intention that God had for him, and that is to reign, rule, govern and have dominion (Gen 1:28). And of course, to maintain an intimate relationship with God, just as we see with Adam and God in the garden of Eden.

Let me quickly highlight the points I am trying to make in this series so that we don’t get confused.

1. Thesis religion is all about the worship of their god.

2. This worship is usually sacrifices and rituals.

3. The first century Christians didn’t see themselves as a religion as such they were not bothered about doing worship services (carrying sacrifices and rituals). Rather they saw themselves as a community of God’s kingdom, and as such they focus mainly on community issues.

4. The 4th century Christians included a lot of pagans who wanted to do religion (the worship of a god). These pagans turned the Christian meeting into a worship ( blood sacrifices and rituals) by claiming to turn wine into the actual blood of Jesus and offering it unto God.

5. As such Christianity moved from the practice of a kingdom to the practice of a religion.

Now you get the point I am trying to make?

This is an excerpt on a small course about What Christianity is. The course is free, as well as other powerful and interesting courses in [url]soncommunity.com[/url]

Visit the website, create an account and have access to a lot of free spiritual courses and training that will enhance your spiritual life and greatly inform you in the things of God.

Happy Sunday beloved of God

Happy Sunday beloved of God

Happy Sunday beloved of God

Hiswordxray:
Happy Sunday beloved of God

Still on

Hiswordxray:
Happy Sunday beloved of God

You need to read this

Happy Sunday

Happy Sunday beloved of God

Happy Sunday beloved of God

Happy Sunday beloved of God

Hiswordxray:

Still on

You can join anytime.

Hiswordxray:

Happy Sunday

Still on

What should be our attitude towards the end of the world? Should we be scared or happy? Should we become lackadaisical about the events in the world or should we become conspiracy theories, trying to figure out the master plan of the devil?

I often hear certain preachers say they are called to prepare God's people for the end time. This makes me wonder, how do you prepare God's people for the return of Christ? Do you gather them together and teach them a bunch of end time theologies? That is exactly what most of these preachers do. I just think it's silly. Let's look at it this way, if you are a manager of a branch of a company and the founder of this company decides to come visit this branch, how do you prepare the workers for his coming?

Would you gather them together and begin to teach them the different theories, rumors and speculations about the "coming of the boss"? Or would you ensure that every one of these workers are in their post, running their departments perfectly so that when the boss comes he would see how everything is running smoothly and he would praise you for being such an effective manager?

"All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it." (1Cor 12:27).

In Christ we are a body and each one of us is a part with a unique function, role or mission. At his second coming the Lord wants to meet each one of us in our own post, carrying out each of our unique functions very effectively.

"A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward. I tell you the truth, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns. But what if the servant is evil and thinks, ‘My master won’t be back for a while,’ and he begins beating the other servants, partying, and getting drunk? The master will return unannounced and unexpected, and he will cut the servant to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." (Matt 24:45-51).

Jesus reveals what he wants to meet his people doing at his return. He wants to meet us at our post doing a good job. He doesn't want to meet us abandoning our work to party away, thinking his return is still far. And he doesn't want to meet us abandoning our work to plan an elaborate surprise welcome party for him. Keep working, remain faithful to the work he has given you, be focus and keep at it until he comes. Let him meet you right there where he has placed you. Yes, let him meet you faithful to the work he has given you.

Our job is not to get carried away by conspiracy theories, trying to figure out how everything will end. And we are not to become lackadaisical, abandoning our work and saying to ourselves, "what is the need of trying to be the light and shine this light when it has already been prophesied that darkness will take over during the end time. Why engage in a futile work. Let's just relax and watch how it all goes boom!" Jesus wants to meet you being the light that he has made you to be, and being the part that you are in the body.

"Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ... He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love." (Eph 4:11,12,16).

We are all different parts of this body in Christ, and Jesus has given us the apostles, prophets, pastors and so on, to equip us to function in our individual parts. And when each part is well established and is carrying out its function properly then the body will be healthy and Christ will have a glorious bride at his return. This is what the Lord wants. He does not desire to meet a people running up and down, trying to figure out what to do about the end time while ignoring their posts and parts in the body.

Please, if you want to help people prepare for the end time, rather than stocking their heads with a bunch of eschatology or conspiracy theories, why not help them figure out their unique part in the body of Christ. Equip them, help them get established in their part and leave the rest to the Holy Spirit and the indwelling Christ.

"Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices." (2Cor 2:11).

Fine, if your part is to uncover the evil plans of the devil, and you are very such that his the part that God has given you to play in the body, then do it with grace. Don't be so sloppy and cause so much confusion, fear and commotion everywhere. Do it with grace. Seek the Lord for grace and wisdom, do a clean, decent and very good job. That is what the Lord desire.

“He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” (Rev 2:29).

If your job is to reveal what the Lord is saying in this last days, then be very sure that what you have to say is actually what the Lord is saying. Don't come out to spit man-made theories about the end time. Just because it is back up by scriptures doesn't mean it is accurate. Be very sure you have gotten a word from God. Don't come out over confidently teaching theologies that are actually inaccurate.

Prophesied are interpreted accurately by the Spirit. You don't do guess work or use human logic. This is the reason Nebuchadnezzar refused to tell anyone his dream. He wanted to get an accurate interpretation and he knows if he tells people they would only do guess work. Daniel had to wait on the Lord until he got a word from God. Going to the Bible and doing logic and guess works on end time prophesies, that is not a word from God. Humble yourself, your logic is not superior to that of those who got it wrongly.

Your logic is not God either. How dear you exalt your logic as God. Humble yourself, wait on the Lord, and if he is willing he will give you a word. But if that is not the plan God has for you then let it go. Try to figure out your part in the body and focus on it. You will not win a noble prize for being the one who accurately interpret the most difficult book in the Bible (the book of Revelation). Please, let's focus on what really matters

If you are sure you've received a word from God then come out and ensure you only say what the Lord has asked you to say. Then leave the rest to the Holy Spirit as he teaches each individual how to apply the word as he/she goes about carrying out their unique part in the body. Let's stop acting like children and causing so much commotion in the body. Know your ministry, be mature ministers, and let your work be full of grace. Let each part be focused and diligent, doing a good job and building up the body until the coming of the Lord.

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There is this ideology prevalent among Christians. We assume that the Bible teaches that "end time" means that everything will only get worse in the world until finally Jesus comes. Here in the post we would scrutinize such ideology and see how true it is. First we must ask when did the end time begin?

"But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days; And they shall prophesy.'" (Acts 2:14-18).

In the above scriptures, Peter declared that an Old Testament prophesy about the last days is being fulfilled just 10 days after Jesus ascension. This implies the last days had started in the first century.

"God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;" (Heb 1:1-3).

This above scripture is speaking about Jesus first coming, and it implies that Jesus first coming was in the last days. Can you see that the last days — which is also called the end time — had started long ago. Now if you say that from the beginning of the last days everything will only get worse and worse until Jesus comes and the world ends. Then you are implying that from the moment Jesus was born until today the whole world has only been getting worse. How true is this?

Have the whole world been getting worse since the first century? A capital no to that. It doesn't matter how you define "worse", the truth remains that the world has not been getting worse. If you know your history you will realize that it has in fact been getting better. It doesn't matter the criteria that you use to look at it. Let start from the acceptance of the Christ. Would you say there are less people who accept Christ today than in the first century? Christians in the first century was not up to a million, but today we have two billion Christians.

Christians are accepted in many part of the world than ever before since the first century. Yes, we have persecutions today but it is nothing like what happened in the first century where the world power was constantly looking for new and fun ways to kill Christians. Killing Christians was a game in the first century, it was fun, and it was publicly displayed. Christians where used as streets lights (sets on fire to light up the streets at night). In the first century, if you are a Christian just get prepared to die.

Now, how many of you Christian go out each day thinking, "I might be killed today for being a Christian"? Christians are being celebrated in many parts of the world today. In some places you get special privileges for being a Christian. Alright, let's talk about sin. Have the world been more sinful since the first century? A capital no to that too? Man has always been sin if not restrain. There is no limit to our sinfulness. In fact, that was the reason God destroyed the man with flood at one time. Right from the fall man has been terribly sinful.

However, things are a bit better today because of the improvement in the enforcement of law and order. In the first century there isn't much security as such the evil in man had a lot of opportunities to express itself. There were more immorality and evil in the early centuries than they are today. A lot of evil practices which were legal in the first century have been banned today. For example slavery and slave trade. In the first century it was respectable to have slaves. But today it is considered evil, yet you say the world has gotten worse.

There are several bad things that were once celebrated but today they are banned and considered evil. Homosexuality, beastiality, and pedophilia had long existed even before the first century. And they were considered normal in some society. In many societies in the early centuries boys had to learn to kill fellow human beings, otherwise they would not be considered as men in the society. Today, how many of you know how to kill a fellow man (I mean, were you trained to have the gut to do so)? Yet you claim the world has gotten worse.

Many of us today are living lives that even kings, cheifs and other leaders of early centuries society could not afford. We have greater security, better economy, more freedom rights, and so on. So how has the world gotten worse? Truly if you look at time and history from every angle you will realize that the world has not been going a downward slope towards evil. Rather there have been high and lows. There have been times when things got really terrible, and there are times where things got really better.

It is a battle between light and darkness. Sometimes it seems darkness is winning and another time it seems like it's light winning. In Scripture Jesus said we are the light. This means when the Church is healthy she will naturally shine greater light and suppress much of the darkness in this world. So just by being who she is, she has become a threat to the devil. Her very presence light up the world — it transforms the world as it drives out darkness. This is why the devil would not allow the Church to be healthy. He would do all he can to stop her from being who she is.

It is the devil's greatest desire that Christians should decide to hodl the light. Sadly, that is exactly what our eschatology is telling us to do. Ever since we developed this wrong ideology that we are in the end time and everything is supposed to get worse, Christians have been so quick to throw the towel. Just like that we would say, "oh well the Bible said it, things are supposed get worse, what can we do, it has already been prophesied, let's just sit back and watch the show".

"Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you." (Isa 60:1).

At the time when darkness is growing, the Bible tells us to arise and shine. Push back that darkness with the light that you are. Don't relax and throw the towel, telling yourselves, "what can we do, it has be prophesied, everything is supposed to get worse". I wonder where we see such prophecies in the Bible. I have searched my Bible over and over again and I still can't find where it says the world will only get worse throughout the end times. Surely there are scriptures that say in the last days terrible things will happen. But it never said good things will never happen in the last days.

If I should say, "In that bag, there are mangoes". That does not mean that you will only find mangoes in that bag. As long as I didn't say, "there are only mangoes in that bag", there is still a chance there are things other than mangoes in that bag. I never gave you a detailed description of what's in the bag. I only told you one of the things you will find in it. The Bible never gave us a detailed description of all the events that will happen in the end times. It only told us that surely there will be a lot of evil. However, along with the evil times there could also be good times in the last days.

The world has experienced a lot of good times since the time of Jesus. And there is no evidence that the world will not experience more good times in the days to come. Anyway, let's quickly look at one of the major scriptures that Christian use to conclude that the end times is filled with only evil.

"Then Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and His disciples came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, “Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”" (Matt 24:1-2).

The disciple were admiring the temple, they didn't know that in less than 70 years from that time the temple would be totally demolished. Jesus had to tell them that, "look, this magnificent building you are seeing will be totally demolished soon". And what were the disciples response? We would look at the next verses.

"Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”" (Matt 24:3).

They said, "Tell us, when will these things be?" When will what be? Of course they were referring to the previous conversation about the destruction of the temple. They wanted to know when the temple will be destroyed. But together with that they also asked, "And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

Now, they were asking 3 things:
1. When the temple would be destroyed, and the events surrounding the destruction of the temple. This happened in 70 AD, but Jesus didn't tell them the date. He never mentioned any date in any of the prophecy.
2. The signs of his second coming?
3. The signs of the end time?

None of this prophecy is a detailed timeline of everything that will happen from the moment Jesus died to the end of the world. In fact, prophecies are usually so mixed up, and that is why they are difficult to interpret. For example, in the Old Testament the prophecies of the coming of Jesus speaks of two coming, but people couldn't detect that because it was all so mixed up. The prophecies of his first coming and his second coming was so mixed together that most people thought they were referring to one coming.

None of these prophecies gave a timeline between his first coming and his second coming. It was all jumbled up together. So also the prophecies in Matthew 24 is jumbled up together. Jesus gave no hint of distinction between the destruction of the temple, the second coming and the end of the world. He just prophesied everything together as if they were one event. As such everything looks like they are going to happen the same time. But today we know the temple has been destroyed almost two thousand years ago and yet Jesus's second coming and the end of the world has not happened.

So it is difficult to ascertain which part of that prophecy is about the temple's destruction and events surrounding that, and which part of the prophecy is the second coming and the end of the world. However, Jesus mentioned that things would get really bad especially for Christians. Paul, Peter and many others were persecuted just a fews years before the temple was destroyed.


The disciples asked Jesus for signs (events that would happen) towards the destruction of the temple, the second coming and the end of the world. Jesus said there would be famine, and indeed there was famine in Jerusalem before the temple was destroyed. Jesus said there would be great tribulations for the Christians, and indeed there was a great tribulation just before the temple was destroyed. Emperor Nero unleashed such great persecution against Christians. He also said many would lose their faith and many false prophets would rise. All these things happened before the temple was destroyed.

There were several things that he said but didn't happen in the first century, these means they were meant to be signs of his second coming and end of the world, rather than signs of the temple's destruction. But all these things are so mixed up that it is difficult to tell which is for the destruction of the temple, which is for his second coming and which is for the end of the world. Today, if you don't know history and the things that happened in the first century you will still not know which prophecy is for which event.

In fact, many end times teachers today still talks about the "‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (Matt 24:15). They teach it as something that will happen in the future. But here Jesus was specifically referring to the destruction of the temple. Look at the words that followed it.

"“Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place” (whoever reads, let him understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house. And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes." (Matt 24:15-18).

Do you know that these very words was the reason many Christians escaped the massacre that happened in Jerusalem 70 AD. When the Roman soldiers who were gentiles began to match towards Jerusalem, the early Christians understood that they were the ‘abomination of desolation’ coming to the holy place as prophesied by Jesus. And just as Jesus warned the Christians obeyed and fled to the mountain immediately. They didn't stay with their fellow Jews to fight the Roman soldiers. They fled, as such they escaped the massacre.

The prophecy was fulfilled in the first century. Yet out of ignorance, many end times preachers still attributes it to a futuristic event. Anyway, the prophecies in Matthew 24 are about things that would happen shortly before these three events; 1. the destruction of the temple, 2. the second coming, 3. the end of the world. Those prophecies are not about things that will happen through out the end time period. Indeed several of these things happened just before the temple was destroyed. But after a while many of these terrible things stopped.

Years after the destruction of the temple persecution of Christians stopped in Rome. The great tribulation stopped. Many accepted the gospel rather than lose their faith. Everything got better. And since then there have been highs and lows in the world. Things have not constantly been going down a slope. Surely just as Jesus prophesied, when his second coming is close then things would get really worse again and all those terrible things in Matthew 24 will happen.

If there is space between Jesus's second coming and the final end of the world then probably things will get better for a while and get worse again when the end is very imminent. If someone should ask, "what is the sign that rain is about to fall", and if another person answer, "the sky will be filled with dark clouds". Now does this mean that the sky will always be filled with dark clouds and would continue to get darker and darker until whenever rain falls? Of course no. It rather means that the sky will always be normal until shortly (emphasis on the word shortly) before the rain would fall.

Jesus never said from the time he ascended terrible things will continue to happen and constantly increase until finally the second coming and the end of the world. We were the ones that interpreted his prophecy that way, and this interpretation is wrong. History has proven this interpretation wrong. But most of us are so ignorant of history that we can't see how wrong this interpretation is. Jesus never said Christians should throw the towel, sit back and watch how everything continues to go wrong in the world. He never asked us to help him fulfill his prophecies by folding our arms and encouraging the world to go very wrong so that we can say, "Hey, Jesus prophesied it". God doesn't need your help to fulfil these prophecies. He said it will happen and surely it would.

We don't need to hodl our light so that the world can be filled with darkness in order make God's prophecy come to pass. Yes, you don't need to help God to get the world filled with darkness. He said it will happen and surely it will happen. It doesn't matter how much light we shine, when the time comes for these things to happen it will happen. He never asked us to stop shining the light so that he could come. Don't think you are hastening Jesus coming by isolating and hodling the light you are supposed to shine. This is not the job that God has asked you to do. You are called to be the light of the world. So keep shining the light whether end times or no end times.

Seek for the righteousness of the land rather than sitting back and saying, "well, there is supposed to be l moral decay in the end times, for the Bible says so". Seek for justice, seek for truth, and fight this growing darkness. The moment light stops driving out darkness then it is no longer light. Your job is not to sit back and watch how the end times prophecies are fulfilled. Your job is to be the light. Keep being the light, and trust that God prophecies would be fulfilled whenever it is time for it to be fulfilled.

Hiswordxray:

Still on

Happy Sunday

Hiswordxray:

Happy Sunday beloved of God

Still on

Hiswordxray:

Another wonderful Sunday

Happy Sunday beloved of God

Hiswordxray:

Still on

Another wonderful Sunday

Hiswordxray:

Happy Sunday

Still on

Hiswordxray:
Still on.....

Happy Sunday

Happy Sunday