If You’re Truely Wise …

Larry Norman wrote and released this in 1971.  I believe no truer words could be spoken today in light of all the activity between Isreal and Hamas.  Consider the words as you listen to the music from this passed away sage.

PeacePollutionRevolution (from the album Streetlevel, circa 1971)

 

The word is revolution, but no one’s fired a shot,
Each side has its battle plans and a million counterplots.
And the world is closely watching as we near the battle line
But if you’re truly wise you’ll keep your eyes on Palestine.

The water is polluted and the air is filled with death
Someday it won’t be easy to stop and catch your breath
It’s all in Revelations, it part of the design
And if you’re truly wise you’ll keep your eyes on Palestine.

Ba, ba, ba, ba…

I marched for peace in Washington when things were getting hot,
I gave blood in Chicago, went anemic on the spot.
I would have hitchhiked to Toronto, but it’s all a waste of time
So I’m writing down this song for you
To sing and pass along to you
And if you’re truly wise you’ll keep your eyes on Palestine.

Ba, ba, ba, ba… revolution.
Ba, ba, ba, ba… peace and pollution.
Ba, ba, ba, ba… tribulation.
Ba, ba, ba, ba…

 

I am not one to be wildly prophetic in any sense of the word, I tend to keep silent more than anything, but today’s news has my heart thinking what God still has in plan for Isreal, and what prayers we need to raise for them, for Hamas, and for peace. 

I am not as once I was chpt 9.5 = 16 Steps to Salvation

OK, this post is not going to make sense to many of you because (a) it is a part of my testimony series which has been privatized.  Only Chapter 10 has been public thus far.  Likewise, (b) This skips forward to give the actual time-line of events in a very short period of time (September 3rd – October 8th, 1992) which immediately follows Chapter 9…. which has yet to be written.

The following List is something I typed up in 1993 when the information was still fresh on my heart.  It took me weeks to compile, as I had to really think hard about what steps I covered along the way and how I got to them.   I knew this was around the house somewhere, I just hadn’t seen it in years.  I just discovered it today while packing to leave, thus why I have rushed to present it while it’s still in my hands.  I present this to you in it’s original point / resolution format, just as I originally wrote it.  I did add notes in parenthesis with italics for clarification.

1. The confession of my crime to the Elgin City Detectives, & that (in order) to come clean before God, (not man).  (9-3-92)  This from direct intervention into my heart prior to the meeting with them.  I don’t care much to state that “God said to me…” but this is the only time in my life I can honestly say that He did, & what he had to say hurt and made me angry at Him.
   • Realization:    that God was giving me one last chance to turn to Him for mercy & to be honestly honest not just with Him, but with myself and everyone else.
   • Resolution:      There really wasn’t any at first.  I hated Him for being so cruel as to force the decision upon me, now I see that it was the best thing that could ever have happened, even though I lost a lot initially: Friends, family & financially.
2. To pray to Learn the true meaning of Repentance. (9-3-92)  This from a phone conversation with (Pastor) Dave Hegg.
   • Realization:    That Dave is correct, I don’t know what True Repentance is.
   • Resolution:    To pray for understanding.
3. Learned that I love my sin more than any desire I ever held for salvation (as I had called it.) (9-5-92)  This from a conversation with (Christian inmate) Pat Hughes whereby he asked me “what keeps you from Jesus?”
   • Resolution:     NOT TO!!!
4. Learned that I was missing a brokenness for my sin.  (9-8-92) From a personal Visit by (Deacon) Wayne Knowles.
   • Realization:     That all the time I’d ever prayed for brokenness, what I actually meant was that I wanted to be stripped externally of all the things that weighted my life down, not to inwardly see my sin as Christ did.
   • Resolution:      To pray for inward brokenness
5.  Learned that I tended to blame others for sins that I myself committed.  (9-12ish-92)  From personal study of “Psalms of the heart” by George Sweeting.
   • Realization:      That by saying “I was upset at …. so I….” I actually was giving someone else the blame for an act I myself had done. Blaming others means that I am not taking responsibility for my (own) actions.
   • Resolution:       Not to blame others for the things that I did.
6. That I need to start praying for the needs of others as much as for my own.  (A lesson I need to re-address in my personal life today….ouch.)
   • Realization:      that I have been rather selfish in my prayer time
   • Resolution:      That I need to start focusing more outside of myself and less upon myself.
7. That I’ve been using confession as a “sacrament” in an attempt to alleviate my guilt.  (9-12ish-92)  From personal study on ??? (confession?)
   • Realization:      that the so called honesty that I’d had for years was nothing more than me trying to pass the buck & have someone else pick up the “tab”, anyone but Christ.  That when I cried loudly for accountability, my actual meaning was that I wanted someone else to take responsibility instead, and that what the Lord wanted of me was not to “confess” my sin away, but to forsake it entirely.
   • Resolution:     Not to use confession wrongly again & to forsake my sin, as it arises (& the Lord enables me).
8. That I needed to put my efforts into seeking God, & not towards frivolous pursuits such as playing cards or watching TV.  (9-17-92)  Conviction both from Psalms 119:38-39 and a phone call to (personal friend) Tom Lenas.
   • Realization:     That God may yet only be dealing with me one last time & that I had better not squander that time away frivolously.
   • Resolution:     Not to take the Lord’s prompting too lightly, nor to use my time so wastefully.   (Started action upon this on 9-19-92 when I gave my cards away to another inmate and started using my time more productively in leading a Bible study among the inmates.)
9. That (My then wife, now ex)  Sarah was occupying my heart, time & endeavors more so than any concerns for my own salvation.  (9-16-92)  From personal prayer time and meditation.
   • Realization:     That God comes second to none.  he is either the whole of your life, or he is not in your life.  This mainly from Jesus Statement “Whoever does not hate his…. is not worthy of me.”
   • Resolution:      By / in prayer to give up Sarah to God and leave her from my heart, except by prayer for her needs.  This is a daily struggle.
10. That scriptures are to be obeyed, when and where clearly understood.  (9-19ish-92)  From personal Study.  (See Note preceding the Steps list)
    • Realization:      That this is something that I’ve never attempted on any simple level.
    • Resolution:      That, no matter what the opposition to this, I need to follow where the way is clearest.
11. That I have done much to hurt Sarah (it took me this long to learn the obvious), my church, and others by my crime, and that now I needed to somehow make restitution for these wrongs.  (9-21ish-92)
    • Resolution:      That I must write letters where necessary to pursue the forgiveness of those I have hurt, even when those people may be unreceptive of such action.  (My then-wife Sarah wanted nothing to do with me at this time and was screaming for a divorce… something the Church told her “NO!” on… until they saw / found out what my turning myself in was truly all about.)
12. That I must seek forgiveness of Sarah, and not rest until it is given.  (9-22ish-92)
    • Realization:     That the command of Jesus is not to rest until you’ve exhausted your efforts to receive the pardon of one who holds something against you.
    • Resolution:     That I need to write to Sarah and plead this, that she not need to condone my sin, but that she forgive me, even as Christ forgave her & to continue doing so until an answer is given. (yes or no)
13. Again, a realization of all the hurt that I have caused and what a grievous sin it was.  Brokenness attained, I cried for the first real time in my life.  (10-2-92)  (previous to this, the last time I had cried was in 1981 when my Grandmother died.)  Personal prayer time.
14. That trust is the only means of salvation.  (10-4-92) Hit me like a ton of bricks from nearly out of nowhere.  (Was watching some preacher on TV, and he mentioned Proverbs 3:5-6.  It was like I’d never heard the verse before in my entire life.)
    • Realization:     That the only way to satisfy God is to merely trust Him.  This is why Jesus said “Let the little children come…” because even a child can do that.
    • Resolution:      To learn the full and actual meaning of trust and to understand it before I took the step.  (although I didn’t quite put it that way then.  Wasn’t I foolish??? Proverbs 3:5-6)
15. Realization of what true forgiveness is.  (10-6ish-92)  From a letter I wrote to Sarah.
16. Salvation found the night of October 7th / 8th, 1992, when I finally gave up trying to understand trust and simply said I will, even if I don’t know what it fully means.

OK, there’s something to that last step which needs to be explained.   I resolved for days to understand trust, and set myself upon it with a vengeance.  I reviewed dictionaries, Bible verses, consulted friends…. all trying to understand it.  On the night of October 7th, I resolved to stay upon my knees (literally) until I knew what trust was.  For 2 full hours I remained there, while the Guard made his rounds and kept close eye on me cause he couldn’t figure out what I was doing.

After two hours I took to setting upon my bed.  I remained there for another 45 minutes.  The passage of time was easy to mark, the Guard came around every 15 minutes like clockwork.  After 45 minutes I finally threw my hands into the air and said (and I quote)

“I give up! I’ll never figure this thing out”

And I went to sleep, frustrated.

I awoke the next morning as if I had never fully lived before in my life.  Here’s the poem I wrote upon waking up that next morning. My first poem as a real Christian.

 

10-8-92 8:15 AM  (Wow!!)

I breath in Air
   as fresh and sweet
       as love’s most purest strains
it fills my senses
   & tingles my spine
       & calms my anxieties
I gaze about
   with eyes of wonder
        sights marvelous to behold
the truest form
   of poetry is life
        and that in all it’s motion.

I feel the texture
   subtly, in nerves
        I never knew, before, I had
if this is salvation
   then give me more
        that I might more fully savor You!

My taste buds sing
   my hearing enjoys
        this poetry in motion
life can never
   be as complete
        as when seen through Christ, Your Son.

 

I wrote four or five more than morning, all expressing a joy I’d never known previously.  Since that morning I have never doubted or questioned my salvation.  The burden of doubt I had lived under for over a decade evaporated in one simple “I give up!!!!” and it was as if by sleeping, all doubt was cast aside never to be found again.

_____________________________________________________________________

Note from Step 10 :   You have no idea how much hatred this resolution brought back upon me FROM CHRISTIANS!!!  Both inmate and Church alike told me that obedience wasn’t so dramatic and that I didn’t have to take this so literally.   Those of the Church tried to convince me that the Bible wasn’t to be taken at face value for many things, and The “Christians” in our cell-block (there were 4 of us who took to meeting daily, separating ourselves from the rest of the inmates to talk and play games and such.) were adamant that God didn’t really mean “To Obey is better than Sacrifice” except to fallen kings.  Surely that was said to Saul and not meant to everyone.

Very shortly afterward, those Christians then started excluding me because I felt it honoring to Christ to obey even the rules laid down by the Jail we were in. (Based upon Romans 13:1-8 & the first chapter of Daniel)  From this conviction, I stopped trading food I hated for things I liked, and started eating everything I was given… whether I liked it or not.  When pressed for why I would not trade my food, I cited the rules of the Jail, which clearly stated we were not allowed to.  To honor God meant to honor the men set to govern over us.

They formally asked me to leave…. honestly…. their table, and so I started a Bible study in the block…. which believe it or not lasted 4 years AFTER I left!!!!!  That Bible study was open to anyone who wanted to come, and to my surprise, most of the rest of the inmates in our block who wanted nothing to do with the “Christian table” flocked to my Bible study…. except of course, the Christians.  Go figure. 

That Bible study, at one point had nearly 20 attendees!!!  In the morning I would go through Pilgrim’s Progress, which I was spending hours updating to modern English and breaking down into bible study format… and in the evening, after dinner, we’d cover a few verses in the Sermon on the Mount.  This morning / evening format carried onwards for 4 1/2 months under me every day except Sunday,  until I was sentence and shipped onward to prison.  (side Note: Is anyone at all interested in the Pilgrim’s Progress Bible Study?  I still have all 35 original lessons covering most of the book and converting the last part wouldn’t be that hard.  Let me know your thoughts and I’ll consider it.  NOTE: 1-27-2012 — I have already started posting it up, it can be found in my December 2011 and following posts.)

I had an opportunity to do Jail-house ministry for several years after my eventual release, and that is where I had learned that the after-dinner Bible study I started was continued for years afterward.   I can’t say that whoever led it put as much time into preparing for it as I did (upwards of 2-4 hours a day), but to hear that there was still a daily Bible study in my former cell-block nearly brought tears to my eyes.

I have one more thing to share some time, a letter from my Lawyer given to me several months after my release.  It validates most of what I have said about turning myself in for the crime and not fighting the charges against me.  Likewise, he also states that were it not for my full cooperation, I probably would not have been sentenced or even charged!!!  There was little to no evidence against me.  I’ll try to get a high resolution picture of it to post here some day.

Chapter 9 will come… just for you, Becca, since you’ve been so patient.

Flooded – Again

Sigh.

Pictures to follow.

My Car was in 2 feet of water tonight cause I didn’t move it fast enough.  Pray that it dries out fine.  No water inside the vehicle, but I’m more concerned about the muffler, under-carriage & engine.  All this at a time when we’re trying to find someone to take the Car Loan off our hands.  Ouch.

Prayer & Accountability Update Pt 2

I closed up my Ebay store today.  Abba’s Christian Music (JulieMillerFan) is no more after 6 years running.  The CD’s are sold.  The records are close to being sold.  And today…..  Someone made an offer to buy my Mobile Home.  That puts us $2,000 closer to gone, and that pays the way for Kai and I to move my things to Taiwan.  Allied Van lines quoted us $2,700 for shipping 1,000 Lbs to Taiwan, door to door.

Sooooooo…. The CD’s were a prayer matter, they are gone.  The House was a prayer matter, and it may be taken care of soon.  Best Buy is still in the works… I don’t know where things are going to go there…. still praying for severance package, cause it would help.

The Car…. still needs to be sold, and packing packing packing packing packing.  What goes in suitcases to come with us???? What goes into a box to ship????  What do I TRUST to be shipped????   What do I need?  What can I simply rebuy once in Taiwan???

Decisions…. decisions…. decisions.

But over all and through it all, God is Good, and God is Faithful.  And I trust in his unfailing love.

amen.

Christmas Companionship, Conversations & Cheesecakes

So…. time for Kai and I is getting short.  Kai leaves America in 19 days and I leave when the Lord decides I leave.  There’s still things that we need prayer for… the car being the chief thing which could leave me here longer than desired.

Anyway…. time is getting short, and Kai and I spent today sleeping.  No, wait, sorry… that was only just most of the day.  So, This evening Kai and I went to my (our) favorite chinese restraunt carrying forward my favorte Christmas tradition… Chinese dinner.  I’ve been going to the Golden Panda now for about 6 years, maybe longer.  I’ve gotten to know the family very well, seen the girls (there are three, the Talkative one, The Serious one and the Silly one.) grow up.  The Silly one and Serious one are both in College now. 

It’s been a long standing tradition for me as well to make Christmas Cheesecakes during the holidays and deliver them before Christmas.  Each year I make upwards of 20+ cheesecakes and pass them out freely to businesses and families who have been particularly helpful during the year. 

Well…. the girls have grown to love my cheesecakes, and beg me time and again to make them, so this year Kai and I packed up the ingredients and braved the cold weather to TEACH the girls (back home from college and bored to tears) HOW to make cheesecakes.  Silly One was especially tickled and energetically active… and wrote down every step in order to make sure she could make them in the future.  We made two and she danced around the restruant with both of them (my recipe makes 2).  At which time I told her she could only keep one.

The other one…..

We visited a family from church.  Before we talk about the Leon’s, let me talk a bit about my church.

My church has been around for 40 years.  For 26 years we had the same pastor… an amazing man who built and guided our church with a focus upon the Sovereignty of God and the all inclusive nature of his love.  In the 26 years that Pastor Tim led our church, we grew to include nearly 9 nations in our membership and missionaries to 5 countries.

Tim taught us all that God’s Love applies to all men: it knows no nationality and it knows no limits.  Our Church has Cambodian members, Laotian members, Atrayian (Sp???) members, Mexican, Malaysian and so many more.  We all grew together as a family… and our once a month Snack nights were not to be missed as all these cultures came together for a most amazing time.

As such it’s not that much of a stretch to find inter-mixed couples…. such as Kai and myself or The Leon’s.

We spent time tonight with the Leon’s.  Catherine is from Malaysia, and speaks fluent Chinese… so Kai and her chatter away every time they get together.  Aaron is of Mexican descent and has a strongly theological leaning which never lacks for topics of conversation with me.  So we delivered the other cheesecake and spent time in the wonderful company of fellow believers…. chatting in different languages about the love of God (and the setting up Catherine’s new Laptop, *grin*). 

It was a glorious Christmas day full of Cheesecakes, Chinese food and conversation, and Commercials. (We all watched Mac Vs PC commercials and laughed our heads off…)

Make sure to watch to the end… the second to last one is my favorite.

 

Movie Review: Slumdog Millionaire

Forget Dark Knight, this years best movie is a foriegn film with limited distribution and far more realistic violence.

The movie was released to a limited run before Thanksgiving, and I had already heard about it then… and was curious.  The Trailer……

…Teased me with visuals unexpected & unexplained, and every meager review caused my curiousity to pique further.  I told Kai that this was a MUST SEE movie.  Yesterday we finally got the chance to go.  WOW!

MINOR SPOILER:  The movie is set in India, in the city that was formally known as Bombay.  A Slumdog is a child of poverty, and the movie is told in a series of flashbacks to a childhood life lived among the poorest of the poor.  The movie is told about finding love, losing love, and surrendering everything to regain it.  While one would expect a story told of orphaned children and extreme poverty to be one of heartache and extreme pathos, this, though, is hardly that.

MAJOR SPOILER (skip past the indented part)

Danny Boyle’s story tells of how brothers Jamal & Salim grow up orphaned in the streets of Bombay.  How they were orphaned and survived is graphically told in a series of flashbacks which hold clues to how Jamal amazingly knows impossible answers to questions even a genius would have struggled with.  As seen in the trailer above, Jamal is on India’s version of “Who wants to be a Millionaire” and is one question away from riches or rags.

Yet, while most of us would shun an opportunity to make a national spectacle of ourselves…. the public humiliation of becoming “the one who missed millions by one wrongly answered question”… Jamal has other motivations entirely which embody his only reason for being on the show.  You see, Jamal lost the girl of his dreams and he intends to win her back.   Not with the money, not with the fame from having won, but by using the show itself to reach out to her… let her see he still is there, still wants her, still misses her, still loves her.  Jamal is using the show as his message-board… knowing that she will see… and she will come back to him.  It is destiny.

To be fully honest, it was the love story that drew me into the characters and gave some meaning to Jamal’s overall story. Without the love story underpining everything, why would he have sought to be on the show at all? What would have been the point? Jamal wasn’t driven by the money, he didn’t crave fame… you see this in the flashbacks of his life as a slumdog.  His personality wasn’t the type craving these things…  unlike his violence-inclined brother Salim who wanted to carve out a name for himself in the India version of the Mafia.

No, it was the overall love story which really gives the movie a deeper purpose and meaning. Why did his brother die? To allow Jamal the chance to regain his Love. Why did his brother turn to violence in the first place? To rescue Jamal’s Love… which he then craved for himself. Why did Jamal & Salim leave a lucrative stay as “tour-guides” for the Taj Mahal?  Again, to find out what happened to Jamal’s lost love. Every turning point in the movie for Jamal, comes back to him not surrendering his passionate love for Latika.

As for the violent path of his brother, which is graphically portrayed in the movie… Salim was shown to be a survivor and a loner early on. In one childhood scene which shows Latika standing in the rain as the boys try to sleep in a small “shelter”… Salim pushes her away, even at that point he shows contempt for others. A Life time of violence breeds a life guided by violence. Salim paints this portrait clearly. Only Jamal’s humble spirit saves him from his brother’s path.

The flash backs propel the ongoing story of Jamal,  on “Who Wants to be A Millionaire”, as he desperately seeks to reach out to Latika, his love.  They give definition to his life and show how every step of the way has prepared him for this moment.  Rather than being another “Oh look in pity upon the plight of the slumdog children” documentary, this movie manages to infuse a joyous celebration of life into it’s heart, showing how each child, Jamal, Salim & Latika survived and grew beyond their slumdog origins.  It’s not a pretty story, it’s a realistic story… which follows a different path not generally found in hollywood movies.

Overall, this was one of the finest movies I have seen in my 30 years of watching movies. It was the gritty realism of the story, the violent life of poverty and the passionate quest for love… which drew the characters out of the commonplace and into the extra-ordinary, giving them significance beyond the movie. Making them become inspirational and motivational. Were I not already on my way towards missionary work in Taiwan —- I would greatly consider work among the slums of India from the force of this movie.  It is honestly that powerful.

 

 

Rebuked – sharply

When I first started on Ebay, I used to give things to Pastors & Missionaries at my cost rather than charge them what they Bid.  Realizing I couldn’t keep that up for long and still pay my bills, I stopped doing so.  Instead, I went to giving them free shipping.

After time… I stopped again.  I couldn’t “afford” to continue.

So lately I have been hard-pressed about paying off the Credit Card debt.  It’s all that’s been on my mind.    Everything I have been working and focused on and towards, has been getting it paid down so I can leave in 5 weeks for Taiwan.

Yes, 5 weeks.

In September, when my Credit Card debt was $19,800, I could not believe that it would happen.

5 years ago I met Anna.  At the time, I had been divorced for 5 years and did not believe I could ever love again.  Anna taught me differently…. and raised in my heart a love I did not believe even possible.  When she left 2 years later, it was like someone ripped a hole in my heart, like someone tore me completely in half.  I wish GG was still around, she could confirm this… we met during that period.

When I asked Anna to Marry me, I made her the promise that I wouldn’t walk the aisle with the credit card debt I had…… $23,000 at the time.  Sound familiar?  I struggled and struggled… and Anna used to joke that at the rate the debt was being paid off, we’d be married in 2020.  9 months after I proposed, she left me.  I was at 19,000.

I kept trying after that to pay off my debt, but my stupid car and other things kept getting in the way.   Thus…. $19,000 seemed like an impossibility to pay off in only 5 months.  I didn’t believe it could happen.

Tonight I responded to a customer who’d asked for a discount with measured sarcasm and told him NO.  Here’s his request, my response, and his response.

Dear juliemillerfan,

Hello, if you would be able to reduce the shipping charge to $2.50 (total cost of $5.00) I will purchase this item using BIN and paying via Paypal. Thanks and have a Merry CHRISTmas.

Simple request… and at a time when I’m trying hard to pay debt.

Dear juliemillerfan,

Hi, why didnt you respond to my question? thanks.

Two days later… cause i hadn’t responded.  So I answered….

Dear yuk****01,

Ummmmm, because my answer was no… I’m trying to sell this stuff so I can go to the Mission field… not trying to clean out my closet by losing money. Sorry, not interested.

Mildly sarcastic… but up front.

Dear juliemillerfan,

Thank you for replying. Some advice from a Pastor…..To be entrusted with the bigger things of GOD, you need to be faithful in the small things..even just answering a question. You never know a persons motive, or financial ability in a transaction format such as Ebay. That record would have blessed others, and you could have been a part of that. And what I could pay, is What I could pay. I also see sarcasm in your ads and even in your reply. You should really question yourself as to wether you have the calling and temperment to do missionary work. I suggest you read Proverbs Chap 8:13. It is not necessary to reply, as I am sure it would be in a tone consistent with your “mannerisms”, and it will be deleted unread. May the LORD be your guide and teacher, in whatever you do.

Tonight I learned a lesson.  I’ve been focusing on the wrong things.  I’ve been focusing on the debt, on paying it off.   I should have been focusing on God, and allowing HIM to pay it off… and letting him bless others through me. 

Tonite I got taken back to my roots.  I got taken back to why I started on Ebay in the first place.  To minister.

My Xanga has always been a place of complete transparency, tonight I show that I am not above being….. rebuked.

I feel that if I leave this post with one of my customary prayers, it would come of cheap, lame, and fake.  Forgive me, but tonight, my prayers remain silent.

Pray — Pray really, really hard

wow, I can’t believe I am following up my last update post with an update on the update.

Nevertheless, the word broke this morning and I am uber-excited and super hopeful that it will apply to me.

This was the portion of Prayer request this update pertains to

BEST BUY: I am praying…. hard, very very hard…. that they offer a severance package.  Last time they did (4 years ago) it was 1 weeks pay per year worked with the company.  That would amount to nearly $6,000…. if they do it.  I want this so badly, you have no idea how greatly it would benefit Kai and myself, allowing us to live off her income for nearly a year or more if they do it. 

As of this morning, news broke that Best Buy is indeed offering Voluntary Seperation packages for CORPORATE employees.  As I am a District employee, tied to Corporate, I am praying with all earnestness, that they will find some way to apply it to me.  The timing is perfect… as the deadline date for doing so falls exactly at the point when I told Kai I wanted to leave Best Buy.

 

PRAY!!!!!!  Please.  This one issue alone could be the thing that sustains Kai and myself for the time I am in College. (Potentially 2+ years)

Thank you, one and all.

Prayer & Accountability update

So you remember in my last accountability posting, I listed out 6 matters of needed prayer.  Can any one list them off the top of their heads?

In any case…. point number 5 was this:

EBAY…. I need to find a buyer for 4,000 Christian CD’s, 2,000 +/- Christian Records & 1500 – 2,300 +/- Christian 45’s.  These alone will eliminate all Credit Card debt and pave the way for me to move.  I put them up for auction a week ago, with lots of watcher’s and no bidders.  I will re-post these auctions again this weekend.  Bids on these will totally wipe out our credit Card Debt…. so please bear this matter in prayer.

Today I have a commitment to buy the CD’s…. for $3,500

I also have $3300 in checking / Savings pending placement upon the Monster.  It sits at $11,800 right now, meaning after this ill be at 8,000.  nice.  Only 5 weeks left before I potentially leave to move to Taiwan… And God is really working things out.

amen.

Jesus IS Jehovah, Period.

So another Xanga member left comment to my last post in an attempt to parlay my comments into his theological bent.  To him, there is no God, save Jehovah.  His website doesn’t point to Jehovah’s witnesses directly, but the manner of his speech does.  Which leads me to make my statement above, and here below is my original comment to his post… we’ll see how long it remains there. 

Jesus IS Jehovah.  Angels are called to Worship him (Hebrews 1:6).  Men do worship him (Matthew 28:16-17, John 9:37-38). And In the end, He sits on the throne in equal authority with God, the Father. (Mark 16:19)

If your message is that Jesus is NOT Jehovah, then you err strongly in your belief.  Jesus himself took on the name of God by calling himself the “I AM” (John 8:58-59), and likewise stating that in seeing Him, Phillip had seen the Father. (John 14:8-9)

If your Message IS that Jesus is Jehovah, then you need to really focus more upon Christ and his Crucifixion.  Paul stated “God forbid that I should preach anything other than Christ, and him crucified”…. dare we preach anything less?  (1 Cor 2:2)

If you delete this comment… you show your intentions by hiding from the truth.  Jesus Said “I AM the way, the Truth and the Life… NO MAN comes to the Father EXCEPT through me”.   Jesus could have only stated that if he were in fact the God, Jehovah, of which you say you believe.

I thought, then, that since the gauntlet has been raised, I would take the time to expound a bit upon proofs for which Jesus IS God, and how three can be one.  We’ll start with the simplest part first…. the Trinity.

Now you may ask yourself immediately: Wayne, whatever do you mean “the simplest part first?????”  You may think me insane for even believing so… but let us put this to a simple and easy test.  (for the record…. this is something I realized on my own, it is not something I read in any text or book. In the 20+ years since I’ve been using this, never once has it been refuted.)

Genesis 1:26 has God saying “Let us make man in our image”.  We’ll look more later at the duality of the statement… right now let us focus on one thing alone.  We are made in GOD’S image.  How do you suppose that to be?

We could look at it one way and say that Man has a body, a spirit and a soul.  All three work in unison, codependent and yet independent of one another… but to be honest, that’s not entirely true, nor is it quantitative.  You cannot quantify a soul.  It has no measurable means by which to prove it’s existence.  Therefore, let’s put this argument aside and look to something far more basic.

Man is made up of three parts….. bone…. flesh…. and blood.  Take away ANY ONE PART…. and man ceases to be.  You must have all three, independent and yet codependent, in order to have a functioning body.  You can’t have bone and flesh without blood.  You can’t have flesh and blood without bone.  You can’t have bone and blood without flesh.  In either case, you lose the ability to function in human capacity.  Man…. created in God’s image…. Jesus, God, and The Holy Spirit.  Do you see the picture?  Three distinct parts making one distinct whole.

Basic, and simple.  I usually use someone elses finger to make this point… a finger ceases to function without any one of your three parts.  The point is quite dramatic.

So God exists in three parts, equal, distinct, and independent.  Just as man does, in God’s image… bone, flesh & blood.

That was simple enough…. now let’s look more at Jesus.

In the Ten Commandments, God laid down this as the primary law:

Exodus 20:1-3 And God spoke all these words:

  “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

  “You shall have no other gods before  me.

Makes perfect sense.  Let’s look at it as a logic statement: IF / THEN.

If God truly is solely God, then worshiping ANYTHING other than Him is an affront to Him, His mercy, His Loving-kindness, His Grace and His Holiness.  If God indeed created EVERYTHING, then only HE is worthy of worship.

Simple enough, and makes perfect sense why this would be the first commandment.

Thus let us look at some situations…. Are we to worship other Men?

Acts 10:25 As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence.  But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”

The situation, in short, was that God was showing Peter that even gentiles were a part of His kingdom.  He was also showing Cornelius that Peter was His chosen messenger…. Cornelius had better listen.  But Cornelius got somehow lost in the moment and fell down to worship Peter…. only to be corrected for having done so.

POINT: We are not to worship men.

Let us consider angels then.  Our modern society places a high value upon Angels… the Catholic church deigns angels as worthy of reverence… but does scripture show this to be so?

Revelation 19:9-10 Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”

  At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.“

Think that one’s not plain enough… Poor John was having a bad day, read further….

Revelation 21:8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me.  But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!“

It stands to reason that if Angels are created beings… they are not here for us to worship.

Let us look further.

So…. Peter refused worship.  Angels refused worship.  Paul rebuked the Corinthians for fracturing and saying:

1 Corinthians 1:12 What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.”

Seems the Corinthians were having a slight problem with who to follow….  so let us make this perfectly clear.

Matthew 26:16-20 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.  When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.  Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Sorry that I gave you so much of the passage when only so little a part would suffice.  I did that to emphasize a point…. nowhere does Jesus rebuke them for their worship!!!!!

Look further….

John 9:35-41 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

  “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

  Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

 Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

  Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

  Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

Again, the length of passage given was merely to show…. Jesus never stopped him.  He accepted the man’s worship.  This is a very interesting point…  consider further…

Hebrews 1: 6 And again, when God brings his firstborn into the world, he says,
   “Let all God’s angels worship him.”

So let me get this straight…. we’re not allowed to worship anything other Than God… and yet the angels are called to worship Christ?  And men worship Christ?

Here’s another:

Revelation 5:11-14 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders.  In a loud voice they sang:
   “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
   to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
   and honor and glory and praise!”

  Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:
   “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
   be praise and honor and glory and power,
         for ever and ever!”  The four living creatures said, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

What’s the conclusion?

Let me take this from yet another angle….

I love this one….

Titus 1: 3-4 and at his appointed season he brought his word to light through the preaching entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,

 To Titus, my true son in our common faith:
      Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Hmmmmm, who is our Savior, Jesus, or God?  the passage seems to mix the two… let’s dig further.

Titus 2: 11-14  For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men.  It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,  while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,  who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

WHOA!!! Is there any confusion now?  But Get this, there’s more….

Titus 3:4-6 But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,  he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,  whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,

Three times in the same book…. God / Jesus, our Savior.  Seems to me that Jesus holds a place equal to God in the Eyes of Paul.

Let me close with Jesus own words…. and I love this one as well.

 John 14:6-9 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.

Conclusion?  Can there be any doubt? 

John 1:1-2 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.

John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Jesus, the Word of God made Flesh…. was, is, and always will be, Jehovah, God.

And to the Jehovah’s Witness creeping around out there thinking you’re getting off easy….

Galatians 1:6-8 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel—  which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.  But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!  As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

You, sir, need to humble yourself before Christ and seek HIS forgiveness for buying into a false gospel, one that will only damn you eternally in the end.

Amen.