THE POWERHOUSE HILL NEWSLETTER
Brother, Can't You Hear Me?
A WALK IN TRUTH – Brother Walk With Me
The Light of Spiritual Truth expresses itself in many forms
but emerges only from ONESOURCE.
-igman
- But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. 2 Peter 3:18
The leaf is an evidenced fact symbol of growth probability having taken place.
Awaking Sunday morning, I proceeded to keep a commitment I’d made to a friend who is also a relative, to read the Epistle of Jude as a follow up to an extended conversation regarding truth. Having done so I contemplated its content and attempted to reason the purpose of the elected calling to read it. Reminding myself of proper contextualization back to our previous conversations and its multitude of topics, I especially recalled my comments regarding interpretation of Scripture and the resulting context upon its many writings about sin, which I have come to regard as error. I remember the contentiousness of the points of view between our two perspectives and our subsequent perceptions.
We are all babes in God’s Word. Interpretations can lead both to better understanding just as well as they can lead to inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and sometimes illogical and baneful
imprisonments of the mind and heart. By examining the Scriptures of the Bible and the events of record and how it was written and compiled, it is possible to come up with a method of interpretation that is sensible and understandable. I truly believe there are a plethora of unlimited understandings of Jesus as The Living Word and The Scriptures and the Knowledge within them. There is also knowledge beyond them.
I see these as manifestations of different forms but of One Truth to which they speak. I also trust there are other resources of Knowledge that are not codified in the Bible. In stating this, I am only saying that the legislative cleric bodies of learned men who gathered together for this great cause, certainly performed admirably, but not perfectly. Agreement is not perfection. We can easily recognize and attest to their accomplishment resulting in the Bible and its longevity amongst us. I would not and am not attempting to bring any dishonor to the Bible, as if it were possible I could do so. A man can bring dishonor to himself. The Bible is the cornerstone of my foundation providing ongoing revelation of truth in my experience. What else can we attest to honestly if not by our experience upon the subject matter?
I have found the lack of a sincere conversation about ones own personal experiences of "walking in the faith" to be problematic. I hear more religious dogma, seemingly without giving personal examination upon the thought of what is being prescribed. It sounds proselytized, ritualistic, and void of one's own personal journey toward the presence of truth.
Is it not the Knowledge of God and His Purposed Will for us to love one another, which we each seek to find and implement in life? Is this not The Walk of The Way and Its Lighted Path for us, and that same Light be in us and we in It? Is this not what Christ Called us to do as we allow our Light to shine?
This brief treatise is an opportunity for an examination; an opportunity for simple discourse with the purpose of illumination and enlightenment for unity and harmony; not one meant to indoctrinate, inculcate, imbue, or separate us into confusion and away from our common love which is our common cause.
Each of us have drawn non-common conclusions, though in the final analysis, I don’t believe they cause separation from our common call to Love The Lord Thy God; to Love His Son; and to Love one another. We are all attempting to better understand GodCommunication to each of us. We are born alone and we will die alone. Each of our life experiences are different. Who among us can deny what your experiences are? I believe we interpret GodCommunication as we experience our individual lives.
As a dependent child, my Christian religious experiences were taught to me, and very little dealt with my life-circumstances as an African American living a vicarious life dominated by a hegemonic society and its use of information, symbols, and rituals upon me. I knew little about my own humanity or the humanity of those who looked like me. Through some form of unconscious focus that I cannot truly explain even today, I began to experience a physical discomfort between what I was taught and the contradiction of what I was experiencing in personhood. As for questions – they were given little regard. Reverence reigned over reason and understanding, even though the very scriptures stated the people of the Bible were destroyed fo r a lack of knowledge, and without vision the people perished, and for all you gain, gain understanding.
My mother had always touted education as a means to lift her children from our current condition to a better future, but the doctrine of my religious upbringing seemed to guide me and guard me to doubt what I would become exposed to in “the world.” As my education proceeded, I could not forever ignore this obvious contradiction for discourse.
As an independent adult, I had the obligation to my belief of faith, to attempt to live it out in order to discover its relative truth. To live it out, I had to attempt to use my belief as faith. And in order to live it out, I could not simply ignore my experience filter, which is the lens through which I glimpse and engage life. I decided that I could not and would not ignore the inhumanity of the exploitation of Africans and the prodigious practice of slavery of my ancestors, who were subsequently called African American people. How could I call this right or righteousness? What type of insanity must I assume in order to accept this crime against humanity? Was I angry? Sure I was. But anger is not enlightenment. Knowledge is the key to the relief from ignorance that held me bound. Something was wrong and I had to explore evidence in order to become a free-thinking member of humanity. Perhaps you too, whether African American or otherwise, have this internal conflict that must become manifest and dealt with in your life.
As a mature adult, I've found revelation through knowledge, which either affirmed the ethos of some of the teachings, as well as revelations that conflicted or even confirmed the error or deception of some of the teachings. A great deal of the teachings were found to be the perpetuation of ignorance due to the lack of research and scholarship. Discovering what I truly believed became as important to me as living my life. In this sense, I gradually discovered the "authentic me."
The intentional purpose of this assertive work is specifically to call attention to the importance of recognizing our own limited perspectives upon a subject and its trailing limited perceptions which become our own perceptions as we accept them. They are introduced and fortified in us through our focus upon them.
If we accept information as knowledge without scrutiny, we close ourselves to first impressions possibly becoming lasting impressions, which are very difficult to alter. Rather than relying upon prevailing perceptions, which don’t always stand in The Light of Truth, we can continue in our study to understand for today how we can better live now in this world for the same cause as the early brethren to Jesus’ Teachings of yesterday. We don’t have to attempt to make today the yesterday of two-thousand years ago, as if nothing has come into The Light. Yesterday, men were seeking truth and today men are seeking truth. The truth we seek is inside us and not outside of us. It is what we are made of and our Essence. It is not truth alone that we seek, but Revelation of Truth, which is Its Treasure. In truth, we are Empowered. In truth we are delivered beyond the evolution of our myth to the Revelation of Truth, where we learn to live in harmony with God and each other. Regardless to our lack of knowledge of It (truth), nothing can separate us from the Love of God.
The Bible is an historical book of personages in history. If we are concerned with truth of interpretation, we must understand its historical background and context. Words are vessels or containers of meaning. The words over time have gained somewhat of a life of their own as they have been conveyed. As they are translated into different languages from their original Ancient Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic expression, context changes through interpretation are happenstance upon the customs and traditions of the languages. It is a necessary rigor that they are translated as closely to their original intention, in order to understand to what they allude.
Sometimes errors were inadvertent; other times not so.
I mention the following for clarity sake and am by no means justified by research and scholarship. But reason must be grounded in some rigorous work and not narrowly defined but broadly researched and contemplated. Faith alone is not enough. Study alone is not enough. And interpretation alone and out of context is not enough.
Having personally studied many historical texts and books written by well scrutinized authors, works, such as The History of God – The 4000 Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam written by Karen Armstrong; The Power of Myth, by Joseph Campbell, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus: What’s So Good About The Good News by Peter Gomes; The Power of Intention by Dr. Wayne Dyer; The Lost Language of God by Greg Braden; Ask and it is Given by Abraham, Ester and Jerry Hicks; The Secret by Rhonda Byrne; and studied The Buddha’s Teachings; and several others too numerous to mention.
Along with and these, and certainly not least of these is the Bible and its narratives and histories, as well as having experienced several non-credit online course studies of seminary topics, I feel confident stating that religion in general and Christianity in particular, is rife with numerous interpretations about who God is, how to approach God, and “right-thinking and right-practice” of the faith, that in truth, continually change with the social needs of the people over time, whether they be Jew, Christian, or Muslim. Our purpose is to serve God’s Will and His Will for us is to Love and serve His People.
I would truly like to discuss without zeal and passionate, emotion-laced rhetoric, the diversity of thought pre-dating Greek Hellenism and Roman paganism as the foundation of Judaism evolved and a branch morphed into a religion called Christianity. The Christian faith we know today evolved through a host of assaults upon it by the aforementioned empires, as well as others like the Islamists, the Ottomans; and even schism assaults from within itself (The Western Church versus Greek Orthodox Church; The Catholic Church versus The Protestant Reformation (Martin Luther/John Calvin), The Christian (Colored) Methodist Episcopal (CME) and the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) and so on.
Clearly, there were vastly different conversations about how to best “know God and approach God with each calling itself Christian.” There is no wonder Christians are confused and even somewhat lost; confused by men and their own conundrums (confusion and difficult) that cause conniption (fits of anger) and intolerance and lack of open understanding and failure to act as Christ truly taught. We are our brother’s keeper as our brother is our keeper and that is the truth we know.
Thank God for God’s Spiritual Reality; It is All There Is; Standing Still as One Truth awaiting us to Its Revelation. Thank God for Jesus, The Christ and His Ministry and Teachings. Thank God for His Holy Spirit Whom Is His Voice to us that we may Know Truth and be made free from this confusion. Words can be altered but Spiritual Reality is All There Is. The physical etching of a word attempting to convey knowledge, cannot change the Spiritual Reality of Truth Of God’s Word Which Is Knowledge.
But I digress - Jude primarily warns about false teachers and false teachings. Specifically, its content is calling into question Gnostic teachings of Early Christianity which favorably regarded freedom and liberty as paramount. I have no intention of addressing Gnosticism and its teachings. Nor is it my intention to proselytize anything but that which is unctioned me of the Holy Spirit. In Jude, I am unctioned of apologetics, commonly known as defending the faith.
Jude continually exhorts the brethren to earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints; and to remind the ungodly and the contestants of truth of their impending judgment. He is speaking toward lasciviousness and warning about denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. He speaks about hard speech of the ungodly and the swelling words of men’s persons in admiration because of advantage. (Jude 1)
This truly causes confusion in me. Lasciviousness means lustful and has a somewhat sexual connotation. It intimates actions and thoughts without restraint; I suppose also in speech. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s quotation comes to mind: "....The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands during times of conflict and controversy." Of course this is a bit of overstatement about the contentiousness of either of our points of view, but it truly came to my mind and I don’t believe it can be stated too often, so permit me this transgression.
I speak honestly about my conviction as I serve Christ. That is all. If I do so with reference to historical knowledge, it is through a desire to increase awareness in the search for knowledge of truth and not self-serving beyond that.
I have grown spiritually, learning to seek better understanding without judgment, rather than to accept emotional rancor of unbridled passion and intuitions that the mind can manifest and therein possibly incarcerate us. I will trust in Divine Revelation and Illumination and continue this journey of truth’s intent – for truth has purpose for us and I trust in its cause and effect.
Many times, our preconceptions or preconceived notions do not allow us to adequately examine the foundational aspects and perspectives that causes the perception’s content, and therein its default thought action. We sometimes begin to defend long-held thoughts which become beliefs of acceptance in practice of habit called axiomatic actions, independent of truth and necessary scrutiny of examination. Our obligation to our beliefs is to discover its truths or untruths.
Now if we abandon the search of truth, seeking support of our stalwart position upon truth, have we not then already “established our truth” and are looking for support of our position that agrees with our interpretation? I don’t know if this is correct or not, but I trust in the opportunity that we each must examine ourselves and our understandings in The Light of the Holy Spirit and It will bring us into understanding, acknowledgement, and/or Correction.
Certainly I am not the author of truth and make no claim to it. I do however know of The Spirit of Truth of Whom I speak; and I do know I am not special to gain The Knowledge. Holy Spirit speaks to us In Truth as The Voice For God; I trust The Understanding, The Correction, and The Unifying Counsel. The Voice For God will not say one thing to me and another thing to you that is meant for our private interpretation.
So how do we then acquire these prevailing preconceptions, misconceptions, and conniptions; why are we so strongly succumbed to defend them without examination and Guidance from the Holy Spirit?
Are we not each seekers of truth and therein Illumination of Its Light? Are we not each Called to our brother’s aid, into Illumination of God’s Light and away and out from the shadow of darkness? Does not the loving Psalm speak to walking through death’s shadow without fearing evil because of Whom we walk with?
When God’s Light has Illuminated our lives through His Truth, who in his right mind would prefer the shadow of darkness, remaining the same? Can we not best serve our brother in The Light of Truth? Can we not walk toward the darkness and it must flee when we are so Lighted? Can this little light of mine shine? I say to you that you we have no little light at all; we walk in The Light and The Light Must Shine, even as It Shines In us.
Can we of good faith, not work in good faith of one accord, though we work in different manifestations of the faith, without zealotry toward one another? Is not His Word His Truth; and is not His Word in Christ; and is not His Word in you and me? Can we not allow each other’s manifestation to be Truth Standing, as we each learn to walk in The Spirit and Freedom Of His Light and His Word and Its Knowledge, avoiding the shadow world of darkness and its attack from its illusions of perversion?
Yes, Truth defends itself and stands firm against any attack. It never attacks because there is no need and nowhere else to go except to Its Light. It is Reality. Truth stands awaiting you and me to Its Reality. It is manifestation of God’s Love. Even a lie is dependent upon truth. It needs truth in order to pervert it; without truth a lie is nothing at all. Can you then see if a lie is so dependent, how much more so are we who seek truth dependent on its revelation?
Now I can’t prove this to you or any other, since truth was not “proven” to me. I do accept and rest assured the condition for truth as I walk in the awareness of its Presence and Illumination of life experience. Anything other than truth is a perversion of truth and perverted truth is a lie. Again I say, I am not the author of truth for clarity sake.
The perversion of truth is the only presence a lie can have and no perversion of truth can become Reality of Truth. This is God’s Law. A perversion of truth is an illusion of thought manifestation. This is what I have learned over time, having Correction, both as an ignorant and unwitting liar, as well as a witting liar when I have chosen to pervert truth as false defense for some offense.
Today, I thank God for His Divine Presence of the Holy Spirit Within me and Within you, Who Calls our attention to truth through Gentle Correction of our errors. The desire for us is to bring us into remembrance of God and Godliness, which is Righteousness and Right Relationship, wherein is The Good News of our Salvation made Manifest. In our Christian tradition, Christ Jesus is our Messiah as The Son of God. His teachings tell us we are all sons and daughters of God and are so obligated to Love God and Love OneAnother.
Having expressed my thoughts upon Jude, I explored the Epistles of 1 John 1, 2, and 3. Here is what I’d like to express regarding truth and the subject of sin or error: For what cause do we speak so contumely of condemnation’s cause and of sin’s indictment, each of them rooted in fear; rather than speak to the freedom of salvation, rooted in God’s Unending and Uninterruptible Love? Is not salvation that which is able to keep us from falling? Is not He who brings The Good News of Salvation to us, not Jesus, The Christ, The Living Word, The Anointed One of whom was prophesied by the prophets of old in The Holy Scriptures?
Is not then salvation meaning Right and Righteous Holy Relationship With God The Father, God The Son, God The Holy Spirit, for Which The Purpose of Salvation – you and I and all our brothers – to Redeem God’s Sons to this Holy Relationship of Love and Joyousness?
Who then would knowingly argue against this Call? What do I say as an accepted helper that does not provide help to my brothersamongst us to The Call Home of Right Relationship? What do I say that does other than point to our thinking as cause for erroneous thought action and subsequent effects of that thought which must take place? What do I say that does not direct my brother to the Holy Spirit for Correction?
As I continuously learn and state by the perspective gained through much study as well as the teachings of “A Course in Miracles” to which I myself am a miracle of ChristVision and transformation; I am only a simple frame who does not attempt to frame himself in glory, but rather to frame He Who Is Worthy, the Holy Spirit as the content of my frame and I know Him not except through visible Christ who walked the earth. And Who Is He That does not attempt to bring Glory to Himself but is The Frame of Christ - The Holy Spirit? And Who Is Christ That does not seek to Glorify Himself, but is The Glorious Frame for God, Who Is The One Content of All Our Frames? In Holy Reunion and Reconciled with THE FATHER, We Are One. The purpose of the frame is to focus on its Content.
Is not then salvation is come to us as we Rightly-See Truth in Christ to Love God and God to Love us? Is this not The Good News of Salvation? Can you now see through Heaven’s Eyes how beautiful this Holy Righteous Reunion is to The Father? Is it not desirous to you also?
Scripture states that The Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the devil…..What then are these works of the devil if they be not in the incarcerated mind and the lies, perversions, illusions and confusions toward truth that keep it bound from freedom and Love? Are they themselves not the shadow scaffolds of unrighteousness that uphold illusion and non-reality? Has not death been shown to be ultimate illusion which has no power over us as Christ has revealed in His Resurrection? God demands no sacrifice, as He tells us in Micah 6:1 - 7 which you can read for yourselves. He goes on to say, He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin: for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin; because he is born of God. (1John 3:1-3)
As we are enabled to See and Walk In Light of This Truth through ChristVision, and In Light of the Holy Spirit’s Correction, we are then Empowered to help our brothers find the Way Home, unshackled from the heavy burden of sin upon his mind and his consequence.
Hear The Master's voice as he calls, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. – Matthew 11:2
The Master calls our souls home to Godliness, which Is Truth and Love. I have learned that these formative foundations are not things or places; you cannot touch them, however they can and must touch you if you are to be reconciled to them. They are OneSame and inseparable and inorder; they are our birthright, our condition, and our Eternal Destiny.
ONELOVE.
igman’071110
Brother, Can't You Hear Me?
A WALK IN TRUTH – Brother Walk With MeThe Light of Spiritual Truth expresses itself in many forms
but emerges only from ONESOURCE.
-igman
- But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. 2 Peter 3:18
The leaf is an evidenced fact symbol of growth probability having taken place.
Awaking Sunday morning, I proceeded to keep a commitment I’d made to a friend who is also a relative, to read the Epistle of Jude as a follow up to an extended conversation regarding truth. Having done so I contemplated its content and attempted to reason the purpose of the elected calling to read it. Reminding myself of proper contextualization back to our previous conversations and its multitude of topics, I especially recalled my comments regarding interpretation of Scripture and the resulting context upon its many writings about sin, which I have come to regard as error. I remember the contentiousness of the points of view between our two perspectives and our subsequent perceptions.
We are all babes in God’s Word. Interpretations can lead both to better understanding just as well as they can lead to inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and sometimes illogical and baneful
imprisonments of the mind and heart. By examining the Scriptures of the Bible and the events of record and how it was written and compiled, it is possible to come up with a method of interpretation that is sensible and understandable. I truly believe there are a plethora of unlimited understandings of Jesus as The Living Word and The Scriptures and the Knowledge within them. There is also knowledge beyond them.
I see these as manifestations of different forms but of One Truth to which they speak. I also trust there are other resources of Knowledge that are not codified in the Bible. In stating this, I am only saying that the legislative cleric bodies of learned men who gathered together for this great cause, certainly performed admirably, but not perfectly. Agreement is not perfection. We can easily recognize and attest to their accomplishment resulting in the Bible and its longevity amongst us. I would not and am not attempting to bring any dishonor to the Bible, as if it were possible I could do so. A man can bring dishonor to himself. The Bible is the cornerstone of my foundation providing ongoing revelation of truth in my experience. What else can we attest to honestly if not by our experience upon the subject matter?
I have found the lack of a sincere conversation about ones own personal experiences of "walking in the faith" to be problematic. I hear more religious dogma, seemingly without giving personal examination upon the thought of what is being prescribed. It sounds proselytized, ritualistic, and void of one's own personal journey toward the presence of truth.
Is it not the Knowledge of God and His Purposed Will for us to love one another, which we each seek to find and implement in life? Is this not The Walk of The Way and Its Lighted Path for us, and that same Light be in us and we in It? Is this not what Christ Called us to do as we allow our Light to shine?
This brief treatise is an opportunity for an examination; an opportunity for simple discourse with the purpose of illumination and enlightenment for unity and harmony; not one meant to indoctrinate, inculcate, imbue, or separate us into confusion and away from our common love which is our common cause.
Each of us have drawn non-common conclusions, though in the final analysis, I don’t believe they cause separation from our common call to Love The Lord Thy God; to Love His Son; and to Love one another. We are all attempting to better understand GodCommunication to each of us. We are born alone and we will die alone. Each of our life experiences are different. Who among us can deny what your experiences are? I believe we interpret GodCommunication as we experience our individual lives.
As a dependent child, my Christian religious experiences were taught to me, and very little dealt with my life-circumstances as an African American living a vicarious life dominated by a hegemonic society and its use of information, symbols, and rituals upon me. I knew little about my own humanity or the humanity of those who looked like me. Through some form of unconscious focus that I cannot truly explain even today, I began to experience a physical discomfort between what I was taught and the contradiction of what I was experiencing in personhood. As for questions – they were given little regard. Reverence reigned over reason and understanding, even though the very scriptures stated the people of the Bible were destroyed fo r a lack of knowledge, and without vision the people perished, and for all you gain, gain understanding.
My mother had always touted education as a means to lift her children from our current condition to a better future, but the doctrine of my religious upbringing seemed to guide me and guard me to doubt what I would become exposed to in “the world.” As my education proceeded, I could not forever ignore this obvious contradiction for discourse.
As an independent adult, I had the obligation to my belief of faith, to attempt to live it out in order to discover its relative truth. To live it out, I had to attempt to use my belief as faith. And in order to live it out, I could not simply ignore my experience filter, which is the lens through which I glimpse and engage life. I decided that I could not and would not ignore the inhumanity of the exploitation of Africans and the prodigious practice of slavery of my ancestors, who were subsequently called African American people. How could I call this right or righteousness? What type of insanity must I assume in order to accept this crime against humanity? Was I angry? Sure I was. But anger is not enlightenment. Knowledge is the key to the relief from ignorance that held me bound. Something was wrong and I had to explore evidence in order to become a free-thinking member of humanity. Perhaps you too, whether African American or otherwise, have this internal conflict that must become manifest and dealt with in your life.
As a mature adult, I've found revelation through knowledge, which either affirmed the ethos of some of the teachings, as well as revelations that conflicted or even confirmed the error or deception of some of the teachings. A great deal of the teachings were found to be the perpetuation of ignorance due to the lack of research and scholarship. Discovering what I truly believed became as important to me as living my life. In this sense, I gradually discovered the "authentic me."
The intentional purpose of this assertive work is specifically to call attention to the importance of recognizing our own limited perspectives upon a subject and its trailing limited perceptions which become our own perceptions as we accept them. They are introduced and fortified in us through our focus upon them.
If we accept information as knowledge without scrutiny, we close ourselves to first impressions possibly becoming lasting impressions, which are very difficult to alter. Rather than relying upon prevailing perceptions, which don’t always stand in The Light of Truth, we can continue in our study to understand for today how we can better live now in this world for the same cause as the early brethren to Jesus’ Teachings of yesterday. We don’t have to attempt to make today the yesterday of two-thousand years ago, as if nothing has come into The Light. Yesterday, men were seeking truth and today men are seeking truth. The truth we seek is inside us and not outside of us. It is what we are made of and our Essence. It is not truth alone that we seek, but Revelation of Truth, which is Its Treasure. In truth, we are Empowered. In truth we are delivered beyond the evolution of our myth to the Revelation of Truth, where we learn to live in harmony with God and each other. Regardless to our lack of knowledge of It (truth), nothing can separate us from the Love of God.
The Bible is an historical book of personages in history. If we are concerned with truth of interpretation, we must understand its historical background and context. Words are vessels or containers of meaning. The words over time have gained somewhat of a life of their own as they have been conveyed. As they are translated into different languages from their original Ancient Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic expression, context changes through interpretation are happenstance upon the customs and traditions of the languages. It is a necessary rigor that they are translated as closely to their original intention, in order to understand to what they allude.
Sometimes errors were inadvertent; other times not so.
I mention the following for clarity sake and am by no means justified by research and scholarship. But reason must be grounded in some rigorous work and not narrowly defined but broadly researched and contemplated. Faith alone is not enough. Study alone is not enough. And interpretation alone and out of context is not enough.
Having personally studied many historical texts and books written by well scrutinized authors, works, such as The History of God – The 4000 Year Quest of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam written by Karen Armstrong; The Power of Myth, by Joseph Campbell, The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus: What’s So Good About The Good News by Peter Gomes; The Power of Intention by Dr. Wayne Dyer; The Lost Language of God by Greg Braden; Ask and it is Given by Abraham, Ester and Jerry Hicks; The Secret by Rhonda Byrne; and studied The Buddha’s Teachings; and several others too numerous to mention.
Along with and these, and certainly not least of these is the Bible and its narratives and histories, as well as having experienced several non-credit online course studies of seminary topics, I feel confident stating that religion in general and Christianity in particular, is rife with numerous interpretations about who God is, how to approach God, and “right-thinking and right-practice” of the faith, that in truth, continually change with the social needs of the people over time, whether they be Jew, Christian, or Muslim. Our purpose is to serve God’s Will and His Will for us is to Love and serve His People.
I would truly like to discuss without zeal and passionate, emotion-laced rhetoric, the diversity of thought pre-dating Greek Hellenism and Roman paganism as the foundation of Judaism evolved and a branch morphed into a religion called Christianity. The Christian faith we know today evolved through a host of assaults upon it by the aforementioned empires, as well as others like the Islamists, the Ottomans; and even schism assaults from within itself (The Western Church versus Greek Orthodox Church; The Catholic Church versus The Protestant Reformation (Martin Luther/John Calvin), The Christian (Colored) Methodist Episcopal (CME) and the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) and so on.
Clearly, there were vastly different conversations about how to best “know God and approach God with each calling itself Christian.” There is no wonder Christians are confused and even somewhat lost; confused by men and their own conundrums (confusion and difficult) that cause conniption (fits of anger) and intolerance and lack of open understanding and failure to act as Christ truly taught. We are our brother’s keeper as our brother is our keeper and that is the truth we know.
Thank God for God’s Spiritual Reality; It is All There Is; Standing Still as One Truth awaiting us to Its Revelation. Thank God for Jesus, The Christ and His Ministry and Teachings. Thank God for His Holy Spirit Whom Is His Voice to us that we may Know Truth and be made free from this confusion. Words can be altered but Spiritual Reality is All There Is. The physical etching of a word attempting to convey knowledge, cannot change the Spiritual Reality of Truth Of God’s Word Which Is Knowledge.
But I digress - Jude primarily warns about false teachers and false teachings. Specifically, its content is calling into question Gnostic teachings of Early Christianity which favorably regarded freedom and liberty as paramount. I have no intention of addressing Gnosticism and its teachings. Nor is it my intention to proselytize anything but that which is unctioned me of the Holy Spirit. In Jude, I am unctioned of apologetics, commonly known as defending the faith.
Jude continually exhorts the brethren to earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints; and to remind the ungodly and the contestants of truth of their impending judgment. He is speaking toward lasciviousness and warning about denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. He speaks about hard speech of the ungodly and the swelling words of men’s persons in admiration because of advantage. (Jude 1)
This truly causes confusion in me. Lasciviousness means lustful and has a somewhat sexual connotation. It intimates actions and thoughts without restraint; I suppose also in speech. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s quotation comes to mind: "....The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands during times of conflict and controversy." Of course this is a bit of overstatement about the contentiousness of either of our points of view, but it truly came to my mind and I don’t believe it can be stated too often, so permit me this transgression.
I speak honestly about my conviction as I serve Christ. That is all. If I do so with reference to historical knowledge, it is through a desire to increase awareness in the search for knowledge of truth and not self-serving beyond that.
I have grown spiritually, learning to seek better understanding without judgment, rather than to accept emotional rancor of unbridled passion and intuitions that the mind can manifest and therein possibly incarcerate us. I will trust in Divine Revelation and Illumination and continue this journey of truth’s intent – for truth has purpose for us and I trust in its cause and effect.
Many times, our preconceptions or preconceived notions do not allow us to adequately examine the foundational aspects and perspectives that causes the perception’s content, and therein its default thought action. We sometimes begin to defend long-held thoughts which become beliefs of acceptance in practice of habit called axiomatic actions, independent of truth and necessary scrutiny of examination. Our obligation to our beliefs is to discover its truths or untruths.
Now if we abandon the search of truth, seeking support of our stalwart position upon truth, have we not then already “established our truth” and are looking for support of our position that agrees with our interpretation? I don’t know if this is correct or not, but I trust in the opportunity that we each must examine ourselves and our understandings in The Light of the Holy Spirit and It will bring us into understanding, acknowledgement, and/or Correction.
Certainly I am not the author of truth and make no claim to it. I do however know of The Spirit of Truth of Whom I speak; and I do know I am not special to gain The Knowledge. Holy Spirit speaks to us In Truth as The Voice For God; I trust The Understanding, The Correction, and The Unifying Counsel. The Voice For God will not say one thing to me and another thing to you that is meant for our private interpretation.
So how do we then acquire these prevailing preconceptions, misconceptions, and conniptions; why are we so strongly succumbed to defend them without examination and Guidance from the Holy Spirit?
Are we not each seekers of truth and therein Illumination of Its Light? Are we not each Called to our brother’s aid, into Illumination of God’s Light and away and out from the shadow of darkness? Does not the loving Psalm speak to walking through death’s shadow without fearing evil because of Whom we walk with?
When God’s Light has Illuminated our lives through His Truth, who in his right mind would prefer the shadow of darkness, remaining the same? Can we not best serve our brother in The Light of Truth? Can we not walk toward the darkness and it must flee when we are so Lighted? Can this little light of mine shine? I say to you that you we have no little light at all; we walk in The Light and The Light Must Shine, even as It Shines In us.
Can we of good faith, not work in good faith of one accord, though we work in different manifestations of the faith, without zealotry toward one another? Is not His Word His Truth; and is not His Word in Christ; and is not His Word in you and me? Can we not allow each other’s manifestation to be Truth Standing, as we each learn to walk in The Spirit and Freedom Of His Light and His Word and Its Knowledge, avoiding the shadow world of darkness and its attack from its illusions of perversion?
Yes, Truth defends itself and stands firm against any attack. It never attacks because there is no need and nowhere else to go except to Its Light. It is Reality. Truth stands awaiting you and me to Its Reality. It is manifestation of God’s Love. Even a lie is dependent upon truth. It needs truth in order to pervert it; without truth a lie is nothing at all. Can you then see if a lie is so dependent, how much more so are we who seek truth dependent on its revelation?
Now I can’t prove this to you or any other, since truth was not “proven” to me. I do accept and rest assured the condition for truth as I walk in the awareness of its Presence and Illumination of life experience. Anything other than truth is a perversion of truth and perverted truth is a lie. Again I say, I am not the author of truth for clarity sake.
The perversion of truth is the only presence a lie can have and no perversion of truth can become Reality of Truth. This is God’s Law. A perversion of truth is an illusion of thought manifestation. This is what I have learned over time, having Correction, both as an ignorant and unwitting liar, as well as a witting liar when I have chosen to pervert truth as false defense for some offense.
Today, I thank God for His Divine Presence of the Holy Spirit Within me and Within you, Who Calls our attention to truth through Gentle Correction of our errors. The desire for us is to bring us into remembrance of God and Godliness, which is Righteousness and Right Relationship, wherein is The Good News of our Salvation made Manifest. In our Christian tradition, Christ Jesus is our Messiah as The Son of God. His teachings tell us we are all sons and daughters of God and are so obligated to Love God and Love OneAnother.
Having expressed my thoughts upon Jude, I explored the Epistles of 1 John 1, 2, and 3. Here is what I’d like to express regarding truth and the subject of sin or error: For what cause do we speak so contumely of condemnation’s cause and of sin’s indictment, each of them rooted in fear; rather than speak to the freedom of salvation, rooted in God’s Unending and Uninterruptible Love? Is not salvation that which is able to keep us from falling? Is not He who brings The Good News of Salvation to us, not Jesus, The Christ, The Living Word, The Anointed One of whom was prophesied by the prophets of old in The Holy Scriptures?
Is not then salvation meaning Right and Righteous Holy Relationship With God The Father, God The Son, God The Holy Spirit, for Which The Purpose of Salvation – you and I and all our brothers – to Redeem God’s Sons to this Holy Relationship of Love and Joyousness?
Who then would knowingly argue against this Call? What do I say as an accepted helper that does not provide help to my brothersamongst us to The Call Home of Right Relationship? What do I say that does other than point to our thinking as cause for erroneous thought action and subsequent effects of that thought which must take place? What do I say that does not direct my brother to the Holy Spirit for Correction?
As I continuously learn and state by the perspective gained through much study as well as the teachings of “A Course in Miracles” to which I myself am a miracle of ChristVision and transformation; I am only a simple frame who does not attempt to frame himself in glory, but rather to frame He Who Is Worthy, the Holy Spirit as the content of my frame and I know Him not except through visible Christ who walked the earth. And Who Is He That does not attempt to bring Glory to Himself but is The Frame of Christ - The Holy Spirit? And Who Is Christ That does not seek to Glorify Himself, but is The Glorious Frame for God, Who Is The One Content of All Our Frames? In Holy Reunion and Reconciled with THE FATHER, We Are One. The purpose of the frame is to focus on its Content.
Is not then salvation is come to us as we Rightly-See Truth in Christ to Love God and God to Love us? Is this not The Good News of Salvation? Can you now see through Heaven’s Eyes how beautiful this Holy Righteous Reunion is to The Father? Is it not desirous to you also?
Scripture states that The Son of God was manifested to destroy the works of the devil…..What then are these works of the devil if they be not in the incarcerated mind and the lies, perversions, illusions and confusions toward truth that keep it bound from freedom and Love? Are they themselves not the shadow scaffolds of unrighteousness that uphold illusion and non-reality? Has not death been shown to be ultimate illusion which has no power over us as Christ has revealed in His Resurrection? God demands no sacrifice, as He tells us in Micah 6:1 - 7 which you can read for yourselves. He goes on to say, He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin: for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin; because he is born of God. (1John 3:1-3)
As we are enabled to See and Walk In Light of This Truth through ChristVision, and In Light of the Holy Spirit’s Correction, we are then Empowered to help our brothers find the Way Home, unshackled from the heavy burden of sin upon his mind and his consequence.
Hear The Master's voice as he calls, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. – Matthew 11:2
The Master calls our souls home to Godliness, which Is Truth and Love. I have learned that these formative foundations are not things or places; you cannot touch them, however they can and must touch you if you are to be reconciled to them. They are OneSame and inseparable and inorder; they are our birthright, our condition, and our Eternal Destiny.
ONELOVE.
igman’071110
