Front note :
The New Covenant is totally divided from the Old Covenant.
(H.S. rightly divides the word of truth).
… their hearts hold off and are far away from Me.
Uselessly do they worship Me,
for they teach as doctrines the commands of men. (M15)
.... they will follow deceptive spirits and teachings that come from demons. (1T4)
... one is bewitched if one says one can receive the Holy Spirit by keeping rules. (G3)
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A sad selection of religious sayings:
"even Paul couldn't get his healing", "god kept him sick to keep him real",
then they quote : 2Cor12 ...........
but
it is not sickness; it is a devil messenger, a thorn, an irritation like an opposition heckler!
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"Does God lose his temper?
Is this the way he acts?
Isn't he on the side of good people?
Doesn't he help those who help themselves?"(Mic2)
(self righteous preachers, trying to justify shady land deals,
just before the Assyrians smashed Israel and later near smashed Judah)
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[This a big one where
the religious spirit rises up to say anyone who sins willingly
has no further chance of forgiveness
because you are guilty of shaming and re-crucifying Jesus ... or words to that affect.]
Read Hebrews from the Mirror Translation (below)
to understand that Christ's sacrifice has perfectly and permanently forgiven one's sins,
(past, present and future).
Sins (big? or small?) are not done by mistake, they are always done willingly!
Christ's sacrifice can not be viewed as just an upgrade of the old testament legalism,
where one needs to, time after time, come to the OT altar,
with repentance and re-sacrifice the Lamb of God
(
this is the thing that is impossible to restore).
Now, if one keeps sinning and knowing His forgiveness,
one is likened to a soil that receives showers but produces only thorns and thistles
which will be burnt rather than a soil that has a life giving crop.
One soil has hardship (reproached by this world or ignores the Comforter's Help),
the other is Blessed in His Pleasure,
but,
both can be saved by holding onto the fact
that they are perfectly forgiven in Christ's single sacrifice.
WOW, WOW, WOW, no wonder it is called the Gospel of Grace.
6:3 So it is with God's prompting that we advance
(into the substance of what God has now spoken to us in his son, 1:1-3).
6:4 Now it may be that someone may clearly see the light
(of the prophetic word)
and participate in the Holy Spirit by already having sampled the heavenly gift,
6:5 and they might even begin to feast on the beauty of the Word, already having experienced the power of the age of the promise that all were waiting for:
6:6
if such a person were to insist on relapsing into the old mindset of legalism,
it becomes impossible for him to be restored again and again to repentance
(as was the case under the shadow system of the law
where sacrifices were repeatedly slain because no permanent cleansing was possible.
See Heb.10:1-4.
The principle of repeated repentance, as practised under the law,
would be impossible in the new dispensation, because it would
absurdly imply that Christ was being re-crucified
and subjected to public shame over and over again.)
[absurdly imply that (Son of God) Christ's single self-sacrifice
did not powerfully and absolutely cleanse permanently forever all sin.]
6:7 For when cultivated soil is soaked by frequent showers and produces the useful,
life-giving crop expected by the farmer, God’s design and pleasure are confirmed.
6:8 What a complete disappointment, though, if the same soil
produces nothing but thorns and thistles; it is a worthless yield,
and fit for burning: a dream that has gone up in smoke.
6:9 Having said all this, my dear friends,
I am fully convinced concerning you of much better things;
things that go hand in hand with salvation.
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"Jesus never spoke to a disease in His Life !!"
This is actually believed by some of the religious leaders with whom i was involved.
It was spoken straight at me in a raised voice to rebuke me :-)
when i was discovering the power of the spoken Word for healing,
i think the rebuke would have extended to "spoke to anything"
(because everyone knows it is silly to speak to things!?),
but they knew that might not stand up because the sea, wind, Lazarus examples
were more well known!
Here are 2 examples of Jesus speaking to diseases :
"But Simon’s wife’s mother was sick with a high fever, and they made request of Him concerning her.
So He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her.
And immediately she arose and served them." (Jesus in Lu4:39)
"Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech,
and they begged Him to put His hand on him.
And He took him aside from the multitude,
and
put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue.
Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed,
and
said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” " (Jesus in Mk7:32)
[i wonder what would have happened that day
if i had insisted that spitting on the tongues of the dumb? :-))
"Jesus never spat on anything in His life"]
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Lev19:27 vs your latest haircut !
yet the following verse was used to condemn someone with a tattoo.
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I was condemned because i was operating in something they wanted to label as "hyper-faith",
whatever that is ! ; consider the hyper in "That they can have life more abundantly".
The chief labeler was commending his 3 point formula for healing to the people.
Firstly, God has given us natural healing ("it would be absurd to pray a splinter out" would be said; to lower expectation) so when that doesn't work ; God has given us people who have a medical understanding of the body (after all, Luke was a doctor) then if that doesn't work, get an elder to pray for your problem. He was usually given to these sort of words : "O Lord, 'So n So' has been your faithful follower (or servant), please heal 'So n So' in the name of Jesus."
Consequently supernatural healing was very much a rare affair, and many were carrying long term healing problems.
[Note well : i recommend all and any avenues of healing, depending on ones' believing heart.
Keep in mind, natural and medical healing does not always get it right.
My joy is fullest when my healing (big or small) is Holy Spirit given ... yay!!!]
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"Well don’t go lifting anyone’s hope now, will you."
Vs what ?
Saying they will just have to get used to the fact that this is their burden to bear !
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What if you pray and nothing happens, you’ll look silly.
Vs
what?
Not praying and missing a Jesus healing because of my vanity !
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"Jesus couldn't heal in His hometown, so why should we expect any better?"
He actually did heal everyone who came to Him.
He just didn't heal the big numbers that came to Him in other cities.
The big numbers didn't come because they were familiar with Him as a boy growing up in their town.
Also there was a big vigilante group who wanted to kill him because He dared to fulfill a Messianic prophecy !
That will get a small number of healings, every time ! hahe
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An old friend just reminded me that my old organisation used to say;
"if you're feeling down, just go and witness to someone,
that will make you happy again ! "
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and this at communion time.
"anyone not going on with the Lord,
[with some performance factor identified],
please let the cup pass."
"if you are not in our organisation,
(or in some problem (identified by the pastor ))
please refrain from operating the spiritual gifts."
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and these as being helpful :
===
"we don't want young people, who haven't received the spirit,
to go to these activities until they can show that they are praying in tongues."
"if you have problems,
we can show you what success looks like,
so go and pray about it"
(the more helpful might give you encouragement on how to achieve success).
... nearly all easily identifiable sin was accompanied
with the "right to fellowship" restrictions,
where the sinner was sent into "the world"
for a period of time (the bigger the sin the longer the time),
until they had "learned their lesson".
(of course when the restrictions for sin were compared
between offenders, it was usually the offenders from
the most "useful" families, that did the least "time").
The sinner was not to associate with friends
inside the organisation
while in their de-fellowship period,
(sometimes, certain "trusted" people had access).
The hardline "pastors" were against any counselling,
or "spiritual" input (e.g. recorded talks) during this period.
Upon return further restrictions could be applied,
depending upon the offender's responses to the "pastor".
===
hahahe - pretty helpful hey !!!
... usually the offender became more like a religious robot,
or ... left the organisation under self-condemnation
or problems from more sin.
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"We (your oversight) want to protect you from wolves.
Watch out for those that "heap to themselves teachers having itching ears",
otherwise you will be "carried by every wind of doctrine",
we can only move as fast as the slowest sheep,
so stay within our safe doctrinal bounds, they say".
Actually, Holy Spirit looks out for us there, as our "Guide into All Truth".
"You will know the Truth and The Truth will make you free."
"I am the Way, the Truth, the Life, ."
"Pilate saith unto him, What is
truth?" He should have recognised Who is Truth.
Truth is the Person of Jesus.
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..."The elders decided that men and women simply were not capable of being free;
so the church ascribed to itself the protection of souls entrusted to it,
only to dispense it when absolutely necessary.
Ordinary people could not endure the burden of freedom,
so the church took it away from them for their own good.
They would only abuse and misuse it anyway.
Delivered from the anxiety and torment of personal decision and responsibility,
people would feel safe and happy in obedience to authority ...................
The question has become not "What does Jesus say?" but "What does the church say?"
Sad but true: Some Christians want to be slaves [to others].
[They think] it is easier to let others make decisions and to rely upon the letter of the law"...
[This excerpt from The Ragamuffin Gospel.]
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CONSIDER:
The seed (word) always needs to be planted with a true understanding of His Grace in us.
The Grace of Christ is the only good ground for life. (H13:9)
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+ [to be continued ... i will enter into the body of this post
more religious beliefs as i remember those from my past,
and those that are presently troubling the ecclessia]
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