New Blog Site

I have started up a new blog site, that is devoted to Christian discourse.
The purposes to which is explained in the first article there written.
I have sent out some invitations to some of my readers. If you feel that you would like to be not just a reader but a commentator and would like to add articles to the blog, but weren't invited in the first send out of invitations, then just send me an email and I will add you. The only restriction to being a member is you must be a Christian already. The site is for the purpose of discussion on Christianity, it's practices and more. This site, doesn't exclude anyone because of their denomination, it does exclude those that may be Atheistic, Agnostic or just want to disparage individual believers in Christ. It however will contain many writings, questions and polls, that may not fall in line with mainstream Western ideological teachings and practices as interpreted by Organized religion in America or elsewhere for that matter. I can promise you it will be orthodox in the sense it will be based on scripture, but not necessarily the mess of scripture that many men and the institution of "church" has made it become in a lot of areas for 1900 years. It will be based on the one true foundation of Christ and His Apostles.

It isn't for those who are sold on the idea that we already know it all or have the answers, because it is clear that no of us do. There are some truths that are apparent when we remove our rose colored glasses and quit having tunnel vision.

The purpose of the site is for those who hunger more for God and less of "religion" and it's practices. It's purpose is for those that still have questions and need answers to things they find difficult to understand either in Scripture or "church practices". It's purpose is so that we may disciple one another, and for those that feel God has endowed them with the gift of teaching by discourse as well. Discourse or discussion is whereby we all learn, not by just listening and being silent on a bench somewhere. Christ intended and practiced discourse, the Apostles did and many labelled Christian groups that formulated in Christian history did as well. Most of which have been stifled by the Clergy/Laity power hungry institution of organized religion, who feel they only hold a corner of the truth.

Truth is arrived at by believers when they turn to being instructed by the Holy Spirit and Scripture first and foremost and then by discussion and relationship with other believers.
Let us look at one specific scripture that gave me the momentum in my own Christian life after spending years of hearing various doctrines, denominations and practices proclaimed by mere man who told me what to beleive or practice because of either position, title or education. They thought they were to be the interpreter of Christian truth for me.

I have spent 48 years of my life in the pursuit of truth to that which is already mine in Christ, but it wasn't until I fell on my knees before the Father in my bedroom in 1977, that God put me on a course, of His teaching me, that I have never regretted. It wasn't until that moment that I cried out to the Lord and said, "Teach Me, O Lord that I might not sin against you".
It has been a joy ride since with the Lord at the wheel of my life. There have been ups and downs and fiery trials as well as blessings, but God is teaching me and I am still learning. I haven't arrived yet but I press on to the goal. Our ultimate purpose in this life is to glorify Him and to be conformed to His image and His image alone.

Let's look at 1 John 2:27

7 And as for you, the anointing which ye received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any one teach you; but as his anointing teacheth you; concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, ye abide in him.

The problem doesnt lie in us being taught by the Holy Spirit, and to fear that we will somehow get off base and become cultic is a false proposition so often used by the power in the institution of the church to keep "Christians" ignorant and under thier thumbs.
The problem lies in that we are lazy and it's easier for us to rely on others to tell us what truth is, when all along we have the "Spirit of Truth" living within us, if we are His.
I John surely gives us the guidelines in which to determine if we are His or not. Not many, if they read this book which in my opinion holds some of the strongest doctrinal guidelines who and what a Christian is, that most people ignore it, because they would find themselves outside of it's defining Apostolic doctrines.
They would find their lives examined by the Holy Spirit as coming short of being nothing more than religious and still fooled into thinking they might save themselves through works righteousness, church membership, tithing and a million other qualifiers added by the traditions of men.

The admonition for us to practice discourse for us as a believer, allows us to test everything, but it doesnt mean just because someone else comes along and tries to tell you that you are wrong or has another argument, that you just accept what they have to say. What you believe in your heart, that God the Father has taught you through the indwelling person of Jesus Christ and given to you by his Holy Spirit, no man will ever get you to depart from it.
There are no arguments that men can present to tear you away from truth that you actually know in your heart versus what you may have been taught in your head.

All beliefs, that are really settled in us, are both experiential and taught beliefs. We cannot rely on just one or the other. We must have a balance to arrive at the truth of the two. We must not rule out teachings or doctrines over the experential or experential over the teachings and doctrines we have in our lives.
If one goes to one side or the other and only that, error is apt to happen. Thus, there are many that live the Christian life in error, because they have never looked deeper than what they have been taught and most often have disregarded their own experiences. There are others that are in error because of experiences only, that cannot be documented by good scriptural exegesis or proper interpretation, have lived their lives based on them, they wish not to be taught. All that matters is their experiences. Both sides are open weapons for the enemy to use against us.

God is not a liar, he is truth and He expects us to walk in that truth. You must first desire it above all things. You must desire it above your positions, your titles, your education, your previous learning, your occupation it must be above all else, before the Father will allow you to learn what He has been teaching you all along. Come to me as a child.
A child knows nothing on it's own, and is totally dependent upon it's parents. If your life is not abundant in the joy of knowing the Lord and it depends on anything else other than Him, than you are headed down a wrong path, a broad road to destruction. If you were stripped of all that you had today in life, would you still have the joy of knowing Him alone.
I have been close at times, to having nothing but Him and I can't say that I always had that joy that the Apostles knew even in the midst of affliction. I am on that path. I want to love him more than anything in this world including my own physical life. I don't think any of us can say we have arrived there yet. The more I learn of Him the more it grows though. The more He becomes the most important thing to me over all this life could offer. Over riches, success, recognition, power, title or position. I desire Him alone above all else.

Faith is not blind devotion to any one teaching or interpretation, True faith is based on truth which encompasses more then living on the crumbs that you have been fed under a church, denomination or any one teacher. You must study to show yourselves worthy. Study involves discourse, looking at all sides of a question and not settling in until the truth is arrived at. Words, doctrines, denominations, or any of the religious things we can crowd our lives with can ever provide for us what God can do in intimate relationship with Him. Jesus knew that relationship, it wasn't a superficial relationship, it wasn't religious devotion, it wasn't because he had been taught to pray, he was at all times concious of the Father's presence. Thus, he was constantly found praying through the night on the Mount of Olives moved by the Spirit of God to make intercession, thanks, and to recieve encouragement from the only source that is needed, the Father.

I found in my journey those things that weren't truth, the Holy Spirit did eventually remove from me, and replace with teaching from Him. Often some new teachings that come along are at best old misconceptions, errors but for sure aren't new. To give you an example the "Health, Wealth and Prosperity message it isn't new, it wasn't some special revelation from Kenneth Hagin, it is an old spiritual error as old as can be, that became popularized by our present culture of materialism, the desire for wealth and worldly success. Kenneth Hagins teachings are nothing more than plagiarism from teachings, that he had read, that go way back that are a hodgepodge mixture of paganism, metaphysics, christian scientistism,and other cultic teachings.
Their foundations are found in a false teacher named E.W. Kenyon. To understand where E.W. Kenyon got them, you have to study him and his development of the false doctrines he taught. Most people never question what they are taught they just go with the flow and never doubt. I am glad God brought me to a place to doubt in my life at times.
One of the best books I have read that documents all this is a book entitled " A Different Gospel, by D. R. McConnel. His excellent research and scriptural knowledge assited me in finding my way out of this false teaching back in 1986. I like most, was attracted to it's positive thinking and success message, and I actually was a preacher of this false doctrine at one time in my ministerial life, to which I am ashamed to admit to now. God has forgiven me and taught me truth to eliminate that spirit of error, that the enemy had subtely led me into. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, and no one understands our flesh more than the enemy and he is constantly standing in the corridors of our lives awaiting the opportune time to appear as an "angel of light".

The origins of the Health, Wealth and Prosperity message in my opinion are from the depths of Satan's kingdom- this world and are as false a doctrine that can be found today in any cultic circles across the world. It's propagators -preachers and teachers, the Copelands, the Benny Hinns, the TBN'er's, the Robert Tilton's and the new "Golden Boy" out of Houston - Joel Osteen, have either just been decieved as I was or as in many cases I discovered they chose to decieve and be decieved for the profit and power of it. There is tremendous personal financial profit and worldly success available in teaching the people with "itching ears". Make people feel good about the sin their are committing and turn into a "good news" and they will leap on it by the droves and pour their money into it and all they have, because it is founded on lust of the flesh, lust of the eye, and the pride of life.

Paul warned of them in scripture "who peddle the Word of God for profit". What sounds good doesn't always make for holiness and scriptural truth. The HW&P message is so far off base scripturally and orthodox Christianity if anyone spends anytime in the Bible it won't be long before you doubt it's message and are converted from this spirit of error. The Word of God does correct but sometimes we need the assistance of hearing the other side of the argument to arrive at the Word really has to say.
The sad part of it is most of the American churches have bought into at least a portion of the HW&P message, if not all of it.

One will usually find God will correct you on these things if you have a teachable spirit and if you are His. Matter of fact, He will correct you anyway even when you are not very teachable, because of His love for you as "His child".
I don't know it all, I surely don't have His wisdom, but the things He has taught me, I am as sure of as the letters on this page. No one but Him could tell me any different. The Christian life and learning is made up of many variables. Scripture, mysticism,(not in the New Age sense of the word) but in the sense that God speaks to us outside of the norm of the real world of just our 5 senses at times, he speaks to us in the quiet of our room and our heart, our interaction with other believers, our personal experiences as a believer, as we are individually His, and our search for truth is propelled by His Spirit within us to become founded in Him.
It was Jesus who said "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and all these other things will be added unto you". How often do we really take the time from our materialistic lives to actually seek Him first. We live life backwards. We come looking for the things rather than God most of the time, and thus it is easy to be swayed by the false teachers to offer you the things of this life, rather than a relationship with Christ.
My awakening over the years as a believer has never come outside of intense study of scripture first and reading it without coming to it with pre-conceived ideas of what it says before I read it. You must empty your prejudices, suppositions and all that you have been taught if you wish to be taught by God the Father, by the Holy Spirit.
This is the purpose of Dialegomai (the greek word for "discourse", that has been so often mis-translated as preaching). Discourse is two sided conversation not one sided speaking or teaching. Isaiah 1:18 - "Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool".
Note: to even come to salvation, God uses our reasoning with him, to bring us into salvation. God calls us, we begin to reason and then He teaches us in that discourse with Him on what our problem is ( sin) and His solution for it. Grace and mercy through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Once we are born again, God never discontinues that discourse, for the one thing that we have which is in the image of God is the ability to reason. No other animal of God's creation can reason, they act on instinct or taught behavior alone. God gave us not an individual will so much as he gave us the ability to reason. That reasoning is our gift from God and to shut it down and be silent reduces us to nothing more than any other animal on earth that can be taught by it's master, it's environment or it's biological needs to behave in a certain manner. Thus the clergy -laity system propagates lazy Christians. Why should they study for themselves, why should they read the Bible themselves, why should they attempt to find the real meaning by certain passages, all these things have been interpreted for them, and it's easier that way, to just rely on them, rather than to reason, to seek God first, to dig into matters, and get after the meat. The flesh is happy with a superficial Christian or a "carnal Christian". The flesh relishes having someone else reason for you rather than exercise the one gift God gave mankind that no other animal on earth has regardless of what the evolutionist try to tell us.
I still have never seen a monkey sit down at a piano write and compose some of the most beautiful music your ears will ever hear. I have never seen a monkey paint a picture that revealed the beauty of a scene that God has created. I have never seen a monkey speak words to inspire or write to inspire others. It is our power to reason that sets us above all of creation as a creature it's basis comes from God and Him alone. So, I invite you to become a part of this continued reasoning that we will be on a journey of until He calls us home and all our questions will be answered standing in the presence of His love for eternity. Our new blog is called
Dialegomai and can be found as an invited member at http://christian-discourse.blogspot.com/
Once again if you want to be an important part of this blog, and would like to actually take part in discourse and reasoning and learn from others as well as the motivation to look further into God's Word and history and more and want to join and have not recieved an email of invitation, send email to me at jwblack49@aol.com

Dr. J.