The questions in the title to this article must be asked separately, and then collaborated, for a true answer. Do that, and with time, all of the New Testament will be unveiled.
That’s a bold statement. I know. But perhaps we can make some headway to the above statements with a few simple explanations that need not ever be deep nor hard to understand. We only have to think like the writers who wrote both the New and Old Testaments. And that means going nonliteral. Only then will all the locked doors of contradictions be opened.
First of all, let’s consider some facts: The Jewish and Christian perspective are at odds with each other about who Christ and Jesus are. Oddly enough, the Christian accepts the Jewish Old Testament completely, whereas the Devout Jew does not accept the New Testament as taught by the Christian view. Of course the Messianic Jew may disagree, but that’s natural. Surely there would come a group that would try to reconcile both concepts and try to make sense of it all in a nice, neat little framework. Who can blame them? But doesn’t a literal reading of the scriptures cause a huge conundrum. Consider just one of many blaring problems to the traditional Christian view: the Book of Ezekiel. Is the Christian really to accept that the messiah will return and do future blood sacrifices again in a new temple, after Jesus ascended? If you accept a literal view of scripture, you can’t really get around this Old Testament reading; the Christian first has to believe all the words of the Old Testament if he or she is to remain true to their faith. Many Christians have come up with over-the-top ideas about the Ezekiel Temple that explain the blood sacrifices, but in ways that further divide and explain things with more theories rooted in nothing but man’s resistance to the cold hard facts of the literal word. The truth is conundrums like the Book of Ezekiel aren’t matters of faith, they are written words that the literalists have to face. And the Book of Ezekiel is only one of hundreds of problems a literal rendition causes.
One thing I’ve noticed over my spiritual journey is that anyone who believes in a literal rendition of scripture automatically assumes that a non-literal view is must be negative. Understandably so. But what they may fail to understand is that the Bible is still one of the greatest roadmaps to the soul ever contrived and means so much more spiritually than it ever will literally! Paul plainly tells the Christian this more than a few times throughout his prolific writings, sometimes veiled and other times openly. Let’s take a look at a few of them below, beginning with 1 Corinthians 2:14:
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he KNOW them, because they are SPIRITUALLY discerned.”
Being able to spiritually discern has nothing to do with faith in the blind and then receiving revelations because you have chosen correctly. Being able to spiritually discern means not thinking like the “natural (literal) man,” who always misses the deeper revelations that are buried within the seemingly literal interpretations of a higher spiritual truth. The scriptures are not alive because they really happened (which really wouldn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things), but because they are able to express unconfined (non-literal) concepts about a higher reality than that which we currently experience through the senses. Consider, Paul also said in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3:
“And I, brethren, could not speak to you as spiritual, but unto you as CARNAL (literal), even as babes unto Christ. I fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hirtherto you were not able to bear it. Neither are you able to bear it. For ye are yet carnal…”
The carnal aspect of man is the illusion of physical life and all that it entails. And a literal interpretation of the scriptures is immersed still in the physical aspect of life. We have to climb higher through our interpretation of scripture. The life in the written word that the authors talk about is something spiritual. Therefore spiritual life has nothing to do with life on the physical plane of existence. Paul was simply trying to explain to the Corinthians that he only fed them with milk (a literal story) to serve as a foundation in order to get to the meat (spiritual understanding) when they were ready. The literal story is the milk. The spiritual understanding (which can only come through non-literal interpretation) is the meat. In other words, Paul was essentially saying, get your head out of the literal story, and see a higher spiritual level of interpretation. It should have been time for you, but you are stubborn.
Christ the Mediator
Now let’s shift gears and look at Christ. Who is Christ? As my heading states, Christ is the mediator. Mediator of what? Christ is the mediator between heaven and earth, the physical and the spiritual, the lower man and the higher man. What does that mean? Let’s closely look at Hebrews 4:13-14:
“The blood of Christ…cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. And for this cause he is the mediator of a New Covenant…”
There is a lot to digest here. First off, what is the New Covenant? Perhaps we should look at covenants in the Old Testament. Covenants were established to cause a change of course in heart and action. A covenant between God and man caused a great paradigm shift. Consider Abraham. When God established a covenant with him, it meant that he would change his course of action to please and God and devout himself to serve God’s purpose. Abraham was to become the first Jew. And the underlying theme here is a change in Abraham’s thinking and action: consecration through circumcision. According to the Christian, that is the literal rendition of what happened. But Paul throws a huge wrench in it! He tells us something that should cause a pause of consideration, which will be related to the New Covenant:
“No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the spirit, NOT IN THE LETTER, who’s praise is not of men, but of God.”
What is the letter? The letter of the law is the literal written word! In other words, literal circumcision meant nothing. It had nothing to do with a Jew, but rather it is a change in thought and action through spiritual consecration that makes the Jew. This is the deeper spiritual significance here. It is one of the heart. As you can see, Paul is forcefully guiding us into a non-literal understanding.
So who is Christ ultimately? Christ is symbolic of the energy which has the potential to unite the divine with the human. Ask yourself: how can literal blood cleanse anything? Does God really need literal blood to cleanse the conscience? It seems a little barbaric, doesn’t it? That literal blood has some magical power to actually erase the conscience of mistakes or a wrong course of action? The Bible itself speaks against this: we reap what we sow. In the East it is known as karma. One only renews the mind when one changes their way of thinking. It wasn’t the shedding of literal blood that did or does this. Any man today can better himself through a course correction of action and thinking, which is where the cleansing of the conscience truly happens. It does not take a man dying on a literal cross to make one see this truth. Any significant event in one’s life can do this.
So who is Jesus?
Whereas Christ is the symbolic energy of the Holy Spirit which is the mediator between the divine and the human, Jesus is symbolic of the advocate who mediates for us in the physical life. Consider the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus didn’t want to go to the cross. He was so stressed about it that he sweat drops of blood! This is a completely human thing to do. Jesus the man represents the one who is on the path to perfection, but it is not until the cross is accomplished that that perfection is realized. Then the Christ is born within the individual! Jesus becomes the Christ. And the words of Paul can truly be realized through his statement in Galatians 4:19:
“My little children, whom I travail I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you…”
Notice how Paul is not stating that some quick belief and accepting Jesus into your heart is the be all end all. Rather, Paul compares this process to a pregnancy. Why? Because it is not about believing in a death on a cross that is meant to cause the paradigm shift: it is the birth that happens after months of pregnancy. It is the process of both joy and hardship that is true to the human experience. Jesus is our symbolic advocate because he learned obedience to the process through the things that he suffered, just as we do. Hebrews 5:8 states:
“Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience through the things which he suffered.”
Think on the statement by Paul above which is so true to our own life experience…Even God’s son, his prized possession, had to learn obedience to the spirit through SUFFERING. In other words, the suffering, or trials of our lives, force us to begin considering what the meaning of life really is. The person who begins the spiritual path will suffer, just as everybody. However, unlike the carnal man, the spiritual one will begin to put two and two together and think…there is more to life than the physical aspect of it. And isn’t that where anyone begins to meet God? Suddenly an awakening happens where the soul begins to cry out for something other than life through the senses. And Jesus’ advocacy for us begins here. When the journey of the cross is finished, Christ is born within us.
This is a long process that is not the subject of this article. But hopefully you can see that this collaboration of spiritual ideas between Jesus and the Christ is the beginning of understanding the New Testament. I hope you were able to glean something from it.
Blessings!
For a better historical and spiritual explanation of the above scriptures about Paul and what he really believes, clink on the following link to the following 5-part in-depth series:
A Working Timeline for How Modern Christianity Strayed From Its Origins: Part 1
Great article Josh….Right on
Thank you for commenting, James!
Hi Josh,
A great surprise and joy to see another article from you again, although as always I look at some things somewhat differently.
Of course you already know my answer to your question in the title. It is very short:
Christ is the (level of) consciousness of which we all have a spark within us that has to be activated and brought to life by us. Jesus is the person who has done that already and as such has become known as the Christ. But the fact that also the term Christ Jesus is used leaves open the option of a Christ Paul or Peter or Mary, to name just a few.
I have some remarks.
You write: “First of all, let’s consider some facts: The Jewish and Christian perspective are at odds with each other about who Christ and Jesus are. Oddly enough, the Christian accepts the Jewish Old Testament completely, whereas the Devout Jew does not accept the New Testament as taught by the Christian view.”
I would not consider those assumptions to be facts.
You say that the devout Jew does not accept the New Testament as taught by the Christian view.
• No, he does not. Why should he. It is not his religion and he does not believe that Jesus is the Messiah. And, equally important, what is the Christian view? There are thousands of Christian denominations with widely different views on anything whatever, also who and what Jesus means to us. I did not accept the view of many other different churches either when I still belonged to a church and the vision of the fundamentalist churches was and is totally alien to me.
However, when you write that the Christians accept the Old Testament completely, you do not add the equivalent of what you wrote for the devout Jew, namely as taught by the Jewish interpretation, because they don’t.
• Christian theology, of whatever kind, interprets the Old Testament completely different than the Jews do. They look at it through Christian glasses as it were. Many texts and prophecies are interpreted as pointing to Jesus whereas the Jews deny that these texts have anything to do with Jesus.
• A large part of the Tora is completely disregarded as all those commandments and prohibitions are not valid anymore according to the Christian doctrine.
• And most of all, many Christians often do not consider the Old Testament to be as important as the New Testament. It is more or less only an introduction to the really important part, the New Testament (missionary organisations often provide people with a New Testament only). It is not read in its own right but superseded since the birth of Jesus.
Then you write: “One thing I’ve noticed over my spiritual journey is that anyone who believes in a literal rendition of scripture automatically assumes that a non-literal view is must be negative.”
I am sure that may true for a lot of people but not for everyone. You know that I myself interpret some things both literally and esoterically but even before that my literal was not all that literal. And of course I am not the only one.
Josh, in general I love this article and its message is clear but I do not like it so much when you use the method of denying something that other people hold dear. There may be truth in it but often you do not know the concerning issue from the inside so to speak. Like this matter of circumcision. Yes, this is a literal commandment that is executed literally but it involves so much more. And it has a great spiritual significance as well for many Jews. It is a symbol in itself. It entails an obligation for moral behaviour. It is surrounded and penetrated by love when done correctly. Denying other people’s truth somehow creates separation again and we should move into the direction of unification. Unity in diversity and Love.
Unconditional Love always is the beginning and the end of everything for me. When unconditional love is the focus of a person, it does not matter what his belief is. He or she will be drawn into the right direction and articles of faith, whatever faith, will become less important automatically. And people can communicate in the language of love without looking for things that might divide them but instead rejoicing about all the things they have in common.
Love,
Anny
Anny,
I appreciate your gratitude and shout out to the religious groups who I mention. From all the conversations we have had, you know better than anyone on this blog the great appreciation that I have towards the esoteric Jewish and Christian perspective. Even some of their modern perspectives move me, and I know that through all the different experiences of life we still meet in the middle. Sometimes my writings can sound a little judgmental, but as you know I was once there in the literal and see the beauty and love and gratitude that every literalists contributes here. I was once there, and although I have moved on from those beliefs, I recognize as Paul hints at that we all need a foundation point from which to begin. My only message is that we must not stay stagnant, but continue to grow, and that only comes through the non-literal perspective eventually. However, I will also state that as I believe matter and spirit are two sides of the same coin, so in many ways are the literalists and non-literal perspective. If it weren’t for the literalists being so careful in copying down these great scriptures for us with much devotion and care, they would have been lost to history. That, is enough, to commend history itself through the literalists view. I would also like to add that I spent much time in a Messianic church when I went through my spiritual journey, and I found their beliefs electrifying and a stepping stone to further understanding many complicated esoteric truths. Without their perspective, I would not consider myself spiritually mature in my understanding, so I bless their endevours. We all need those types of teachings. At least from a knowledge perspective like I took, whereas others are more intuitive. Remember, I am speaking from a general perspective and a life experience in the states when I relate esoteric interpretation, and that always has an affect. Thanks for your heart-felt comment. Much appreciated.
you are not anointed in the spirit dear to know the truth ,please surrender and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior and the truth shall be revealed and set you free- For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12
Dear Rose, If your motive in correcting Josh here is a deep unconditional love for his heart, then bless you. I would just say this about His words flowing from this blog. I find the wisdom flowing from Josh to be pure gold tried in fire. From a place of deep wrestling with our Father flows a new name, a new anointing of divine wisdom. He has paid a deep price that only He and his Father know and understand in receiving this knowledge. I know it is not important for him to be found correct in the eyes of others. He eats a hidden manna which is fresh and made available to him in each moment. If he were to respond to you, my guess it would be…”I bear in my body the marks of the dying of the Lord Jesus Christ” . Rose, may you eat this same manna which is within you…
Steven,
Well said. I believe her motive is pure. And from that no judgement is necessary. As you believe, we can only present what we have come to experience and learn.
Blessings.
Hi Rose, it sounds like you are kind and truly care, even though your present beliefs would naturally lead you to believe there is a deficiency in Josh’s. Maybe this will help. We are all called to be the bride of Christ and to prepare ourselves for that glorious day when we are finally united with the groom. Now we all know from experience that people can show up at the altar and say the right things when they exchange vows, and be dressed appropriatley, but it takes a lot more than fulfillng formalities to make that marriage last. Spouses who are able to be honest with themseves and transparent to each other do a lot better than those who just follow rules that people say they should follow. I believe that is what people who are active on this website are trying to do in practicing their spirituality. I can attest that there is an anointing working through them each in their own way that makes each of them more like Christ.
The mystical truths hidden within the tabernacle made without hands parallel what you are saying Josh. Christ means “anointing”. Within the tabernacle the anointing oil was poured on each of the seven pieces of furniture and over the forehead of the Priest. Its the oil anointing mystery is revealed when it says this anointing poured oozed down from His forehead over his beard and over the golden breast plate, with its twelve stones, down over his garment to His feet. The mystery then is shown as it say’s the anointing oil is like the UNION of the saints.
This mystery of ONENESS of all that is becomes the Christ. Our identity as God in this oneness is shown in meditation as we enter the Holy of Holies. The four in one, revealed in the four living creatures within the throne, the mercy seat of the holy of holies. Jesus, son of man joined with Jesus the Christ, joined with the Father, joined with the Holy Spirit. Lion (Jesus the Christ), Man (Jesus of Nazareth), Eagle (Jesus son of man), Oxen (Father bearer of the seed of God). As we meditate deep within we see our identity as a part of this foursome. We are Son of God in the Christ. We are son’s of men. We are eternally spirit’s, and we are the female egg bearers of the seed bearing Universe (Father). In this union of oneness we see it is the Christ, the anointing oil which reveals that the four are indeed one. In this union and marriage of the lamb within our brain/mind is born the Lamb of God which opens the seven seals as we mediate through the seven pieces of furniture in the tabernacle within. We then sit in the heavenly places in Christ and as Christ. Four in one….not the counterfeit three in one.
Steven,
Your comment on mediation as it relates to entering the Holy of Holies is so spot on. Thanks for commenting, my friend.
Josh, do the escape from Egypt in the OT and the baptism of Jesus in the NT denote the same thing, namely this great paradigm shift that you mentioned in the article?
Laurens,
Yes! Esoterically speaking, that is true. I have an article on baptism after leaving Egypt that relates to this. Try the search engine on the site. If you have trouble finding it, let me know. Thanks for the question.
The anicents called The Sun Savior of the World. It provide Salvation(Wholeness, Completion) of removing us out of Winter(Sin, Death, Grave) into Spring(Life). This was important because the Sun provided food, warmth, and light for man to see. Without the Sun/Son the earth will freeze and we’re dead. Thru God’s Son/Sun, we see his love. This love unleashes the potential of creation to flourish and multiply. Heaven(Mind) and Earth(Body) are united in Love because Christ is Love. Love is Energy.
David,
Good relation to the ancient spiritual understanding of seasons (and some astrology) to the scripture. Thanks for the comment,
JESUS=27
CHRIST=32
32×27=864(Gemetria)
The Sun is 864,400 miles in diameter. This name is attributed to the Sun/Son. The Sun is anionted with Gases(Hydrogen-Helium) for a continuous burn for illumination. The Light in lamps can’t burn continuously without oil or gases…(Psalms 84:11, Psalms 119:105)
Isn’t it interesting how the scriptures can align with modern physics and science?
8+6+4=18(Gemetria)
1+8=9
9 is the number of consciousness(Awareness). 9 months to child birth, 9 months to build the tabernacle, 9 fruits of the Spirit.
First, Joshua, Thank you for this thought provoking dialogue and for the opportunity to share my “direct experience” perspective to this conversation.
This post and this conversation is entirely about spiritual discernment. There is a tendency in all of us humans to focus on the letter of the law. The Power here is dropping any preconceived ideas we have about God, and allowing the Great Mystery itself to reveal what each individual needs for their unique requirements for spiritual growth at this precise point in time.
There is grand synchronicity between our hearts and the mystery of God, if we allow our eyes to see it – and when the truth comes along – it makes perfect sense to us without having to overthink any of it. This is the case here for me. The things Joshua has shared are very relevant to my current state, my meditation practice, what I’m reading, and the things that cross my path each day. It seems though my “heart” draws the truth to me.
The milk sustained me sweetly in carnal life, but growing older brings with it a richer appreciation of the unseen and the unknowable. No doubt, we all tread the path to Calvary in one way or another…
We are penetrating the “language barrier” when we open our hearts to the symbolic energy of the mystical Christ as well as considering the cross as an allegory. It is interesting that I have had some level of “fear” in allowing myself to consider Jesus in these terms, but I find it liberating. What Joshua has shared rings true – to me.
I must be ready for the meat.
Carly
Carly,
Thanks for sharing. I remember the day that I awoke to this line of thinking. At first it was overwhelming, then so liberating!
Great comment! And an another entire worthy blog post on the subject!
Josh wrote…. “So, who is Christ ultimately? Christ is symbolic of the energy which has the potential to unite the divine with the human.” The ancients had knowledge of this energy and wrote about it a mystical way… Perhaps we need to ask… not who is Christ but what is the Christ? Early Christians and the Essenes understood and taught that the Christ was not a person but a substance, an oil contained in the spinal cord.
Perhaps the Greeks gave us specific clues to help understand the Christ or the Christos….
χρίω chríō, khree’-o; probably akin to G5530 through the idea of contact; to smear or rub with oil, i.e. (by implication) to consecrate to an office or religious service:—anoint.
5547 Xristós (from 5548 /xríō, “anoint with olive oil”) – properly, “the Anointed One,” the Christ (Hebrew, “Messiah”).
The Greeks and others in antiquity used “oil” to define Christ. Is it possible that the Greeks were not talking about the oil that you rub on the outside of your physical body but on the oil that is smeared on the inside or the oil secreted by the brain within the human body? This is explained in greater detail in the book, God-Man : The Word Made Flesh by Carey, George W. 1845-1924 Perry, Inez Eudora, b. 1871. Also available is a short video from his book… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kbj5ZX1xlw. He wrote “The fluid, oil, or marrow which flows down the spinal cord, comes from the upper brain, the Creator or Father, the Most High, and is known in physiology as ovum, or generative seed—that life essence which creates the human form of corruptible flesh. In the Greek, from which the New Testament was translated, this marrow is called Christ, which is the Greek word for oil. When this oil is refined, transmuted, lifted up, raised, it becomes so highly vitalized that it regenerates the body and overcomes the last enemy, death.”
This sacred oil is created in the brain and travels down the “narrow gate” of the spinal column, is crucified, and returns the Father. I know this may sound strange, crazy, or even ridiculous but there are numerous occasions in the bible that refer to the human brain. It raises the questions… Why did Leonardo Da Vinci paint in precise detail the human brain in the Sistine Chapel and why is there a huge sculpture of a pine cone in the Vatican courtyard? Throughout history the pine cone symbolized the pineal gland or single eye.
Here are a few references to link familiar bible terms to the human brain
Pineal Gland… Genesis 32:30 So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, “It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.”
Land of milk and honey… these are white and yellow fluids produced by the pineal gland and pituitary
Joseph… the pineal gland is the male spiritual organ in the body
Mary… the pituitary gland is the female spiritual organ
Veil… Arachnoid -The delicate membrane that encloses the spinal cord and brain and lies between the pia mater- Latin for tender mother and the dura mater.
Twelve tribes… twelve stones…twelve apostles…twelve cranium nerves
Tree of Life…The arbor vitae /ˌɑrbɔr ˈvaɪtiː/ (Latin for ” Tree of Life “) is the cerebellar white matter, so called for its branched, tree-like appearance.
Golgotha…place of the skull where the spinal cord enters the head and forms a cross with the pneumograstric nerves… the adi and pingala
Olive … In neuroanatomy, a rounded oval prominence on the surface of the medulla oblongata in the brain. There are two olives, corresponding to the two olivary bodies, one on each side of the medulla oblongata. Nerve fibers in the olivopontocerebellar pathway connect the olives to the pons and cerebellum.
Going back to the beginning of my post….5547 Xristós (from 5548 /xríō, “anoint with olive oil”) Is it possible that the Greeks “anoint with olive oil” were referring to the medulla oblongata in the brain? Were the Greeks suggesting that the “Christ” was a holy oil secreted within the brain, born in a “cave” which is the solar plexus, raised up in the spinal column, crucified in the skull, and made one with the Father?
Astrotheology presents the same story in the zodiac….
So above … so below.
Frank
Frank, way to take this message to the true deeper spiritual understanding. Many thanks! I couldn’t agree more. And it doesn’t sound strange. I love how the comment section sometimes takes the surface level concepts I speak about and explodes them with such energy. I hope many of the new readers to this blog will run with this comment and explore it. Blessings!
I have just come out of 7 years of being a Christian. Church goer.
This information and these blog posts are blowing my mind. I will admit, the first time i heard of all these ideas, i was skeptical and even fearful. I could not break away from what i’d been taught by the church.
But these topics keep coming up and i am slowing coming to believe in the truth of all these ideas and concepts. They ring true to my mind. I wish i had someone around me that could teach me and help me understand all this stuff more. But for now, all these blogs will do just fine as i break away and into this new way of seeing God and Jesus etc.
I have also started meditating – specifically meditating to cleanse chakras and activate third eye and peniel gland.
But it’s all very new to me. But man, i love this stuff.
Thanks gents.
Hi Josh,
Thank you for this most insightful article. As always I find your heart-extending understanding of spiritual or esoteric scripture to be deeply soul provoking.
With the declining church attendances of most of the major religions, I’m finding that spiritual scripture interpretation — as opposed to literal — is now becoming more the accepted wisdom or truth in guiding people’s consciousness. A major shift in spiritual awareness is taking place globally. People are now finding true meaning and purpose to their life on earth and how to fulfill this purpose in freedom spiritually. This shift in consciousness is making people intuitively aware of our individual responsibility to be love extending souls in the world today, to be all-embracing, cosmically evolving human beings. I find esoteric scripture to be more from the heart and less from the head. In this context, the more cultured or acclimatized in meditational silence we become the more old belief systems lose their subconscious grip through the transformation of consciousness which ensues — we outgrow conditioned dogmas and indoctrinations naturally.
Spirit nature is indeed our true soul nature. And the title of your blog site, Josh, is “spirit of the scripture” not “letter” of the scripture”. In this context, all of your fine articles fulfill this purpose of coming upon our own inner Christ spirit absolutely perfectly.
Blessings,
Raymond
Very true, Raymond. People are waking up to the fact that a more practical way to spiritual liberation must be there.
I love your fine comment, Raymond! The world is most definitely going through a shift in consciousness, and at a super fast pace right now, too.
Good to see you blogging again, Josh. Hope you are doing well.
Christine
Christine,
A blessing to hear from you as always.
It is lovely to see so many comments from so many people and each of them adding so much value to the article. I do not have the time right now to react to each of them in particular but I appreciate them all. They all add information from a different approach and as such the total picture becomes more complete.
Raymond, I love to see you commenting again and this morning I received a notification of another article by your hand as well. I still have to read it but thanks already.
Anny
Hi there, Anny,
Thank you, and lovely reading your own articles too. I was in Africa on the 23rd Dec 2016 when I read your last fantastic post here. I certainly re-read that article especially the part on Gethsemane. I certainly agree with you that there’s no single interpretation of the Bible, no matter the religion, that all cultures and traditions are represented.
Blessings,
Raymond
Greetings Josh, I often ask Christians what is the great hidden mystery of the new testament, something every Christian should know from the start. Without that knowledge of who,s Faith and power resides within it is impossible for a person to sit, walk, and stand in the new life of Christ. That mystery in my understanding is the fundamental teaching of Paul and yet in the Churches you will never hear any mention of it much less the need of having the living Christ flowing through ones mind and body to empower physical health and spiritual power for daily living. 2 Peter 1:3 says we have ever thing we need with and through the knowledge of the Christ with in. The new covenant is truly a mystery that is hidden from those who are with out this understanding. Mark 4:11 This is the mystery as revealed in the new testament. Rom. 11.25 & 16:25, 1 Cor. 2:7, & 4;1 & 13:2 Eph. 5:32 & 6:19 Col. 4:3 1 Tim. 3:9 and the mystery revealed Colossians 1:25-29 Christ in you the hope of glory. The only one gospel and only doctrine which is GRACE through FAITH not ours but throuh the CHRIST anointing 1 John 2:27. Josh thank so much for your wisdom, understanding, and Love for the Faith. James
James, your comment is much appreciated. Truly, that is the essence of Paul’s mystery, which is the power of the Christ. When sharing this truth with church goers I often get scoffed, but every now and then I’ll have someone who embraces it and it and begins the search. It’s interesting to see them light up with the same kind of enthusiasm that we both probably went through, isn’t it?
Christ is the power and wisdom of God(Love) within. We all have it but it has to grow like any seed.
The blood obviously is not literal blood that cleanses us, but the blood is the fruit of the spirit. And we know fruit is what comes from one’s own mouth. TONGUE which is also the power of life and death. The tree of life and the knowledge of good and evil comes from MOUTHS.
Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks…love, kind, etc…fruit of the spirit…blood. He’s the vine and we are the branches.
There is only one tree in us in the garden but many trees outside with all kinds of tongues and fruit that isn’t truth.
” New age ” thought, is nothing new. Combining it with traditional Christian belief systems is also nothing new. Unless and until you can understand that this “world” is one BIG LIE, you will never know the truth. And when I say “world” , I’m not referring to this local planet and system of life and living we call earth. I’m referring to the “cosmos”, this “universe” and all multiverses….in short , ALL of what we would call physical “creation”. And YES, even the astral, mental, causal, etc. planes of “existence” are still ALL physical manifestations of physical “reality”. They are just more or less physical, that’s all. So unless and until you can understand that physical “matter” is evil…..NOT GOOD, you will not know the truth (gnosis) that sets us free from it……no matter how you slice and dice it (pun intended).
David…
Agreed.
Jeremiah 7:22 For I spoke not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt-offerings or sacrifices; 23 but this thing I commanded them, saying: ‘Hearken unto My voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be My people; and walk ye in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’ 24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in their own counsels, even in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward,
Psalm 51:18 For Thou delightest not in sacrifice, else would I give it; Thou hast no pleasure in burnt-offering.
19 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.
Isaiah 66:3 He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man;
He that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he broke a dog’s neck;
He that offereth a meal-offering, as if he offered swine’s blood; He that maketh a memorial-offering of frankincense, as if he blessed an idol; According as they have chosen their own ways, And their soul delighteth in their abominations;
4 Even so I will choose their mockings, And will bring their fears upon them; Because when I called, none did answer;
When I spoke, they did not hear, But they did that which was evil in Mine eyes, And chose that in which I delighted not.
Ezekiel 20:24 because they had not executed Mine ordinances, but had rejected My statutes, and had profaned My sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers’ idols.
25 Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and ordinances whereby they should not live;
26 and I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they set apart all that openeth the womb, that I might destroy them, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.
Zechariah 6:12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
13 Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
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Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
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Yeshua, the branch of David, priest of his temple / church !!!
Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
the knowledge of good and evil is law (of Moses, sharia, secular)
Deuteronomy 21:22 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:
23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
“hanging him on a tree” = using law to put him to death
“(for he that is hanged is accursed of God;)” = he who hangs himself on law is accursed of God
Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:
being under the law (of Moses, sharia, secular) is to be hung from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:” !!!
Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
The law is one word, Shalom in hebrew, Peace in english
John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.
Jeremiah 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Galatians 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Shalom / peace
Ezekiel 20:21 Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.
“which if a man do, he shall even live in *peace* ”
the new covenant is the same one Adam and eve had, live in peace and dont hang yourself on a tree !
Psalm 119:44 So shall I keep thy law continually for ever and ever.
45 And I will walk at liberty: for I seek thy precepts.
Walks in peace at liberty from Law, old covenant from the start renewed in the new covenant !
Steve…
Thank you for your comments here. Indeed, these scriptures add another dimension to our understanind, which is pertinent to your comments today. I am posting something within in the next 24 hours which will address all these comments and scriptures as well. Blessings.