Bull dung...

I just had someone ring my bell on this beautiful Sunday afternoon; as I looked through the peephole, I saw these two young ladies standing there with their bibles in their hands.

"Hi, we are Trishia and mfnshdyutum....finniiii (I obviously didn't get her name), and we are in the neighborhood telling people about the passover, do you know about the passover?"

Sure I do, I know almost everything there is to know about the passover...

.. "well Jesus said...." and they showed me how Jesus sent His disciples to make ready to eat the last supper.

Ok..."do you celebrate the passover?" Of course I do, Jesus is my passover lamb.

Then they showed me the gospel of John, where Jesus talks about being the true bread of life; John 6:51-56 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.

For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.

Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.

"So you see? Jesus said we must eat His flesh and drink His blood to have eternal life"

Of course I cannot deny that, we just read it straight from the bible...

..."..and how are we supposed to do that?....Well let me show you"; so she opened the book of Leviticus:

Lev 23:4 "These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. Lev 23:5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD's Passover".

"This is a different calendar than what we have nowadays, they based it on the number of times the moon goes around the earth...so it doesn't match with today's calendar".

"As you can see the Lord has commanded us to keep the passover".

Me: Ok, may I interrupt you for a second?

"Yeah go ahead"

I have to ask you; you said that you came from the Church of God in Santee; that is about 18 miles from here, why are you doing this?

"Oh we just want to show people that God has commanded us to keep His appointed feasts, and to keep the passover so that we can be saved"

Really? You came down here, all the way from Santee to tell me how I can be saved?

"Yeah, basically".

Okay, so what you are telling me is that is not really enough to believe in Christ to be saved? Now it turns out that Jesus dying on the cross for my sins was not enough, right?

"I didn't say that, I'm just showing you what the bible says"

Okay, let me show you what the bible says, it says in the book of Ephesians that we are saved by grace through faith and that that is not of ourselves so that we can not boast about doing something for our salvation; let me see your bible (I take her bible from her hand); so I opened her bible to the book of Ephesians and showed them chapter 2 verses 8-9.

I actually started reading from verse 4:

Eph 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Lets forget about the passover for a second, do you understand what I just read?

"I think so"

Okay, so tell me.... what does that say?

"That we are saved by grace"

Yeah, by grace through faith, and that is not of ourselves so that no one can boast, what does "not of yourselves" mean?

"Ah...mmmhh..."

It means that the faith which we have to believe the gospel is not of ourselves, it came from the Author and Finisher of it, and of course, neither the grace is from ourselves; now tell me... how do you get this "faith" Paul is talking about?

"Oh...through the scriptures...by studying the scriptures"

Oh yeah? How can that be? So you are telling me that you were just sitting there and one day you suddenly decided to study the bible and then you got saved?

"Yeah there is no other way......well there are many different ways that you can be saved, one of them is keeping the passover".

I'm sorry but that not only makes no sense, but it is also a contradiction to what we just read in Ephesians. I just showed you that there is only one way to get faith, and according to what we just read out of your own bible, God is the one who gives you the faith, it is a gift from Him, and He is the only one who can save you through His grace, the faith is only the means He uses to do it.

"Where was that verse that you read, again?"

Ephesians 2, verses 8 through 9.

See, how can you lose your salvation if God is the one who saved you in the first place? Will He take your faith away if He gave it to you? Is He some kind of child that let's you play with His toy and then takes it back?

"Well, God can take anything He wants away from us"

I agree but He will not take His salvation back from us, He could do it but He will not take it away, it says in Romans that the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.....

"Frowned and Confused look on my face" turns around and looks at her wrist watch, "okay, we really have to go now"

No you don't, you came to knock on my door to tell me how to keep my faith and now you have to take the time to finish this, what if I'm not saved because I didn't keep the passover?

"Well we didn't come here to argue with you, if you would really like to take some time and do a bible study we can do that and come back and do it"

Really? Well, not really, first I'm not arguing, and second, I don't want to do a bible study with you, I don't even know who you are, but I have been studying the bible for 22 years and I know what it is that I believe, and who it is that I believe in...

At this point 'whatever' interrupts and says: "show him James, faith without works is dead"

I agree, good deeds are proof that you have faith, but they are not a condition for salvation, according to what Paul says.....

.....Yeah, I think you should go now, but before you go just let me ask you another question: in John chapter 3, Jesus talking with Nicodemus, said that no one can enter the kingdom of God, which means to have eternal life or to be saved, unless one is born again; so Nicodemus asked Jesus if he needed to come out of his mother's womb again, to which Jesus replied: (I grab her bible and read)....

John 3:5-8 Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'

The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."

Do you understand what He is saying?

"Yeah that you must be born again"

Of course, but do you understand why He is comparing this event, the 'being born again', with the wind?

"Mmmmh...aahhh...I don't know"

Okay, let me explain, Jesus is saying that what happens when someone is being born of the Spirit is like the wind, He means that you cannot see the wind, you cannot see where it came from, or where it is going, so we have no control over the wind, we can't see it or grab it or make it go where we want it to go, so neither can we over being born again; you cannot know when it is going to happen to you, it is completely out of your control.

"Well, we really have to go now..."

Okay, you girls just remember that whoever is teaching you all these things about keeping the passover, is not teaching you correctly, he has to teach the whole counsel of God, not just a few isolated scriptures, that is how cults are born....

"Okay, thanks for your time"

You girls have a nice day.

And so the saga continues; and I think I am really getting better at this, I hope. During her diatribe about doing good works and keeping the passover to keep my salvation, I was actually praying for help, should I consider that a good work? I'm being facetious.

God was faithful and I didn't get too excited nor did I start screaming and calling them false teachers, like the last time this happened, where I actually kicked them out of the neighborhood and prevented them from knocking on my neighbor's door; or maybe I just decided to try a little harder this time....

Is it not peculiar that this has happened three times in the last three years? It seems like every year, God just sends me these poor souls, not only to test my patience, but also to encourage me to, as Calvin says "to shake off the sloth" and study a little more. But to tell you the truth, I don't want to talk to these people; I flesh out very easily when I hear how they try to rob God of His glory and power, and how they try to minimize the cross of Jesus; I'm sick of these people's dilution of the real, true, historical faith; and also of the perversion of the true gospel.

What is amazing, as Eutichus and I discussed just last night, is that this kind of thing goes on in almost every church in town; whether it's the keeping of the feasts, or the keeping of "good works" to maintain acceptance before God. It's irritating.

How long shall I bear with this?

As long as it takes I guess; I think I'm getting better though, did I say that already? Yeah I'm getting better at passing the test without screaming and without getting frustrated with these people. This event keeps on happening.

It happens every year around the same time of the year; I don't know if this is the time of the year when these people make an extra effort to make a commitment to try a little harder not to fall off the tripod; or if this is just the time of the year when my patience gets to be tested; whatever it is, it keeps on happening.

What about the thief on the cross right next to Jesus? That is my question. What happened to the thief? Was Jesus just kidding when He said "today you will be with Me in paradise"? I don't think so, I know you don't think so either.

Was Jesus just making it up to make the thief feel better and distract him from the pain? Maybe the paradise He was talking about has nothing to do with living forever? Is that 'paradise' a distinct place from heaven? Where did the thief go with Jesus? Is the thief alive and well in heaven, or is he not? Did Jesus save him or not? Don't talk back when I'm talking to you, answer me.

"Save me and I shall be saved, heal me and I shall be healed" said the prophet Jeremiah; what do you think that means? Does he mean that he is powerless? Or maybe he means that he wants to make a commitment? Maybe that is his way of saying that he is going to try a little harder? Maybe he doesn't have enough faith and he needs to think outside the box, hu?

Really, tell me what does Jeremiah mean when he says that? "Save me and I shall be saved" That is his way of saying "cause me to be born again and I shall be born again"; "give me eternal life and I shall have eternal life"; "you reign oh Lord; you are sovereign over all creation and you do whatever you please, I am powerless to save myself, I am doomed without you and I can't perform to your holy standards, so save me and I shall be saved".

"But you have to keep the feasts" Or the Sabbath, or the law, or the list of good deeds, or keep the list of goals, or try hard, or make a commitment, or have a little faith; it's all rubbish; better yet, as Paul said, it is all dung; bull-dung.

I'm done, pheeew, I got that one off my chest, didn't I?

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A valid question...

Steven Tyler Skypes a dying fan; was this in the news at all? I don't have cable so I have no idea, this came from guitar squid dot com; check it out:



What would you desire to see right before you died? Would you like to hear someone's voice over the internet before you are confronted with eternity? Think about it, really, take a minute and think hard; would it really be your last wish to hear Aerosmith's lead singer say that he loves you? Really?

I wouldn't. I'm not even interested in talking with Mr Tyler. When Aerosmith began their career I bought Toys in the Attic, and Rocks; I think they were the third and fourth albums of their repertoire but I might be wrong, I'm not a Smith expert. Up to this day I don't know anybody who doesn't like "Sweet Emotion", or "Walk this way"; or even "Back in the saddle"; Joe Perry's guitar work is actually pretty awesome; but at this point in my very short life I wouldn't spend the fifteen or so bucks they charge for the CD, maybe I'll do it for the vinyl and only if it was pressed by RTI, maybe.

According to some, I might be a judgmental and impatient person; I really don't believe it since my grand son says I am cool; those were his actual words: "granpa you're cool"; so I refuse to take the flak from those who think they are holier than thou, and thee, and me-outh; and I could not help to notice the advertisement from the lady in charge: "this is what we do, we bring dreams into reality". As if I was going to call her right before I die to hire her services; I'll tell you what, if you are present when I'm dying, don't let me go into that kind of place, thank you; at the point of death the dream of my life will just about come true: to see Jesus' face, so please don't revive me either, thank you again.

I'll tell you what I would like to hear right before I die; it's not Aerosmith that's for sure; I would love to hear the voice of my wife, if I had one, my daughters, and that of my grand kids; then I would love to hear my mother's voice and that of my brothers and the friends I love. I really don't think I would be interested in anything else; would you?

I'm not knocking the guy down (he probably had nothing to do with it), or the people who put him there, I'm not even knocking his Aerosmith tattoo, or the people who made it happen, nor Aerosmith, nor "dream on"; I think that Steven Tyler taking the time to call was commendable; that shows what kind of man he is; his motives are irrelevant to my point. I think the whole thing was very cool indeed, I dig it, I like Tyler; but my main point is what would I be thinking about right before I die, that is if I have the time, or any brain left, to even think.

Thinking about dying might be morbid for some people, but for me it is actually extremely important, I actually think about death every single day wondering if today would be the one; the bible is clear: it is appointed for a man to die once, then judgment; or mercy, it all depends on who you are. While the end of one's life and the beginning of the next is something over which we have no control; we, or I, must assume that the whole story is true, there is a hell and a heaven; and my reality, this is no assumption on my part, it's the real reality according to the bible.

Life is not fair; no sir, it actually sucks sometimes; the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper; king David complained about that fact many times, just read the book of psalms and you'll see. In all his complaining David constantly went back (or was brought back) to the unseen reality behind the world around him; what was revealed to him is still a fact: the wicked shall perish; they are like the chaff which the wind drives away (Psalm 1).

I'm not trying to offend anybody; but reality indicates that 100 per cent of all people have died, are dying, or will die; I ranted about this many times in this blog, and as you know, if you know me at all, I am anxious, no, willing and ready, to get out of this world; but at the same time I'm willing and ready to stay until Jesus decides it is time for me to go.

Every morning I open my eyes and I thank God I'm alive; what really surprises me about waking up in the morning is the fact that I still believe; no matter how hard life is, and no matter how much pain or confusion I go through, I still have this faith; I think that is a miracle. This should not be strange at all considering who God is; and He says that He is the One keeping me in the faith, I have nothing to do with it. 1Peter 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

That is my reality; God is keeping me, through the faith He gave me, by His power; and according to Paul in his letter to the Ephesians, this power is the same power He exercised in Christ when He raised Him from the dead; and I think that is an amazing thing; so amazing indeed that I have no idea how powerful that power is; if I did it would not amaze me.

This whole thing brings another question to my strange and wicked mind; what if I knew I was going to die tomorrow? What would I think? What would I do? What would I like to do? Would I be concerned about women? Would I be worried about money? Would I be afraid of the future? Would I complain that I am to die tomorrow? Who would I wish to see and hang out for the next 24 hours? Would I go parachuting? Hiking? Racing cars? Play my guitar? Get loaded?

I would definitely call my daughters and ask them to come over, bring the kids; bring my brothers, bring my mom; read me Psalm 103 for the next 20 minutes to start the day, please; read it out loud, get it in your brain; I am forgiven, bless the Lord oh my soul, my sins have been cast as far as the east is from the west, For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them. Read it one more time, thank you very much.

Then what? Then nothing; there is nothing else to do really but pray, search the scriptures, comfort our hearts with the fact that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus; that is the comfort, that is the consolation, no condemnation, no fire, no hell, no darkness; no wrath from God the Almighty; it has all been dealt with on the cross of Jesus; my sins are there, nailed to the cross and I have been raised with Christ and seated with Him in the heavenly places.

One more thing I have thought about, and that really is demonstrated to me in this video, is that for the ones that have no faith in Christ, death must be a scary thing; it really must be terrifying to think that you are about to stop living and you don't know where you are going; I'm not trying to be irreverent but the eyes of that man look like they are filled with fear, at least to me it looks like that.

Everyone's eyes are fixed on that laptop except his eyes; it is heart braking. Of course I can't judge, even if I'm impatient and judgmental; I'm mental too; to me it seems every body is happy for one fleeting moment, even Steven; I'm running out of words...

Ok, I'm not making fun of it, I'm serious. One day I will face death; like I said, I think about it every day, and right now I'm thinking that I hope I hear those words from Christ: 'well done, my good and faithful slave, enter into the joy of My Kingdom'. Yeah, I know, your bible doesn't say 'slave' it says servant; but doulos means slave, not servant.

What does that mean? The two are very different terms for sure; I'm not going to get into a bible study here but that changes everything; I'm a slave not a servant, a slave is also a servant but a servant is not always a slave in our modern americanized minds; in fact we are so opposed to slavery that if I say I'm a slave people will get weird and accuse me of being a racist; the same thing happens when you make mention of owning a gun, instead of thinking of freedom people think of violence, some can't even sleep if you say 'gun'; I think I will rant about that in my next post, but for now I am thinking about death.

So, let me close this by asking a question to myself, you can also ask yourself the same question if you feel like it, don't answer if you don't care: am I ready to die? Do I know for sure what the truth is? Am I really a Christian? What makes me a Christian? And do I like Aerosmith? That is more than one question, I know, but at least one of them is a valid one.

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Muthahood

For all the Moms out there, you are so awesome; you're in tha muthahood. I hope this puts a smile on your face:




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