Victorious Love

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The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men

Just a little history for the day after the Fourth of July in America. Most individuals know I do not beleive in violence or war, or rebellion as a Christian. I do beleive we are to pray for leaders and peace so that we may live out our Christian faith peacefully, tend to our families, feed them and ourselves and clothe and house them and ourselves. However, what shall we do when government becomes so oppresive as that believers cannot enjoy our God given right to peace, and freedom without license.
I dont' believe that God wants us to sit back silently, as I beleive very strongly that we live in the Kingdom of God, as a Preterist, however I also believe it is our duty as Christians to support freedom in ways that are neither violent or zealous beyond Biblical reason and the life of Christ within us.
I found it of interest that the belief system of the days of our forefathers in this country, that people thought very differently other than the Quakers who think more like myself. I make no oath to no one, no institution or nation, but to serve it in Christ, however, even Paul and Peter once it got down to obedience towards God or men, chose God- and thus when commanded to cease from preaching Jesus Christ or proclaiming Ceasar a god, they did rebel against authority and did what they were told not to do anyway. They never lifted a weapon or fought back ,they simply followed their King Jesus in the same manner He did, they suffered and died at the hands of their persecutors. They practiced civil disobedience not for the affairs of men but for God. Even as Paul said, he was compelled to preach Christ.

Though I do not agree with what follows it is a large part of American History and bears repeating as a reminder, to those that always seek to power over others, there will be others who rebel many times it will be the religious and lead by the religious.
Though the following is an outline of just such a man who was both a preacher and a statesman, it is to remind us, that it is easy to be caught up in the moment of resistance against oppression, to often turn to religious justifications as this sermon delivered by John Witherspoon on May 17, 1776 just a month before the Declaration of Independence was signed in July 1776 and finally completed in it's signing in August of 1776. Here is a little background into the Scottish preacher John Witherspoon and then I have presented his sermon as preached in May 1776, that gave great religious fervor to the Revolution in 1776.

John Witherspoon (1723–1794). Born in Scotland and educated at Edinburgh, Witherspoon came to America in 1768 to be president of the College of New Jersey (Princeton), a position he held until 1792, when blindness forced his retirement. He had led the Popular Party among Scottish Presbyterians before his emigration, and he was prominent among ecclesiastical leaders in America. In the pre-Revolutionary years, the college at Princeton prospered under Witherspoon; with the Scotch-Irish influx into America, the Presbyterian church enjoyed great popularity and prosperity in the country, especially in the middle Atlantic colonies and on the frontier, where by 1776 there were many ministers who had been Witherspoon’s students. He closed the schism among the Presbyterians, and he made alliance with Ezra Stiles (president of Yale) to forge strong ties with the Congregationalists of New England as the Revolution bore down on the country. With Stiles he shared a distaste for the New Divinity and revivalism generally. He introduced into American thought the Scottish Common Sense philosophy of Thomas Reid and Dugald Stewart, which dominated the young nation’s thought for a century.

Because Witherspoon had been captured and imprisoned in Scotland during the Highlander uprising in 1745–46, his critics called him a Jacobite. Witherspoon eschewed politics in America until 1774, but after that he steadily participated, directly and indirectly, in the leading events of the day. In 1776 he was elected to the Continental Congress in time to urge adoption of the Declaration of Independence and to be the only clergyman to sign it. To the assertion that America was not ripe for independence he retorted: “In my judgment, sir, we are not only ripe, but rotting.”

Witherspoon served intermittently in Congress until 1782 and was a member of over a hundred legislative committees, including two vital standing committees, the Board of War and the Committee on Foreign Affairs. In the latter role, he took a leading part in drawing up the instructions for the American peace commissioners who concluded the Treaty of Paris, which ended the war in September 1783. He later served in the New Jersey legislature and was a member of that state’s ratifying convention for the Constitution in 1787.

Witherspoon has been called the most influential professor in American history, not only because of his powerful writing and speaking style—and he was carefully attended to on all subjects, both here and abroad—but also because of his long tenure at Princeton. His teaching and the reforms he made there radiated his influence across the country. He trained not only a substantial segment of the leadership among Presbyterians but a number of political leaders as well. Nine of the fifty-five participants in the Federal Convention in 1787 were Princeton graduates, chief among them James Madison (who, among other things, spent an extra year studying Hebrew and philosophy with Witherspoon after his graduation in 1771). Moreover, his pupils included a president and a vice-president of the United States, twenty-one senators, twenty-nine representatives, fifty-six state legislators, and thirty-three judges, three of whom were appointed to the Supreme Court. During the Revolution, his pupils were everywhere in positions of command in the American forces.

Witherspoon’s The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men caused a great stir when it was first preached in Princeton and published in Philadelphia in 1776, about a month before he was elected to the Continental Congress on June 22. He reminds his auditors that the sermon is his first address on political matters from the pulpit: ministers of the Gospel have more important business to attend to than secular crises, but, of course, liberty is more than a merely secular matter.

Surely the Wrath of Man shall praise thee; the remainder of Wrath shalt thou restrain.

(How the final statement of his can fit into what both Jesus and Paul taught is beyond me, but religious men believed it and fought the war under it's religious justifications to formulate this country which we live in now) - Dr. J.
Here is the sermon as he preached it back then in May 1776

The Dominion of Providence Over the Passions of Men

John Witherspoon
May 17, 1775
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In the first place, I would take the opportunity on this occasion, and from this subject, to press every hearer to a sincere concern for his own soul’s salvation. There are times when the mind may be expected to be more awake to divine truth, and the conscience more open to the arrows of conviction than at others. A season of public judgment is of this kind. Can you have a clearer view of the sinfulness of your nature, than when the rod of the oppressor is lifted up, and when you see men putting on the habit of the warrior, and collecting on every hand the weapons of hostility and instruments of death? I do not blame your ardour in preparing for the resolute defense of your temporal rights; but consider, I beseech you, the truly infinite importance of the salvation of your souls. Is it of much moment whether you and your children shall be rich or poor, at liberty or in bonds? Is it of much moment whether this beautiful country shall increase in fruitfulness from year to year, being cultivated by active industry, and possessed by independent freemen, or the scanty produce of the neglected fields shall be eaten up by hungry publicans, while the timid owner trembles at the tax-gatherer’s approach? And is it of less moment, my brethren, whether you shall be the heirs of glory, or the heirs of hell? Is your state on earth for a few fleeting years, of so much moment? And is it of less moment what shall be your state through endless ages? Have you assembled together willingly to hear what shall be said on public affairs, and to join in imploring the blessing of God on the counsels and arms of the United Colonies, and can you be unconcerned what shall become of you for ever, when all the monuments of human greatness shall be laid in ashes, for "the earth itself, and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up."

Wherefore, my beloved hearers, as the ministry of reconciliation is committed to me, I beseech you in the most earnest manner, to attend to "the things that belong to your peace, before they are hid from your eyes". How soon, and in what manner a seal shall be set upon the character and state of every person here present, it is impossible to know. But you may rest assured, that there is no time more suitable, and there is none so safe as that which is present, since it is wholy uncertain whether any other shall be yours. Those who shall first fall in battle, have not many more warnings to receive. There are some few daring and hardened sinners, who despise eternity itself, and set their Maker at defiance; but the far greater number, by staving off their convictions to a more convenient season, have been taken unprepared, and thus eternally lost. I would therefore earnestly press the apostle’s exhortation, 2 Cor 6: 1-2... "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."

Suffer me to beseech you, or rather to give you warning, not to rest satisfied with a form of godliness, denying the power thereof. There can be no true religion, till there be a discovery of your lost state by nature and practice, and an unfeigned acceptance of Christ Jesus, as he is offered in the gospel. Unhappy are they who either despise his mercy, or are ashamed of his cross. Believe it, "There is no salvation in any other." "There is no other name under heaven given amongst men by which we must be saved." Unless you are united to him by a lively faith, not the resentment of a haughty monarch, the sword of divine justice hangs over you, and the fulness of divine vengeance shall speedily overtake you. I do not speak this only to the heaven-daring profligate or grovelling sensualist, but to every insensible, secure sinner; to all those, however decent and orderly in their civil deportment, who live to themselves, and have their part and portion in this life; in fine, to all who are yet in a state of nature, for "except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God". The fear of man may make you hide your profanity; prudence and experience may make you abhor intemperance and riot; as you advance in life one vice may supplant another and hold its place; but nothing less than the sovereign grace of God can produce a saving change of heart and temper, or fit you for his immediate presence.

While we give praise to God, the supreme Disposer of all events, for his interposition in our behalf, let us guard against the dangerous error of trusting in, or boasting of an arm of flesh. I could earnestly wish, that while our arms are crowned with success, we might content ourselves with a modest ascription of it to the power of the Highest. It has given me great uneasiness to read some ostentatious, vaunting expressions in our newspapers, though happily, I think, much restrained of late. Let us not return to them again. If I am not mistaken, not only the Holy Scriptures in general, and the truths of the glorious gospel in particular, but the whole course of providence, seem intended to abase the pride of man, and lay the vain-glorious in the dust.

From what has been said you may learn what encouragement you have to put your trust in God, and hope for his assistance in the present important conflict. He is the Lord of hosts, great in might, and strong in battle. Whoever hath his countenance and approbation, shall have the best at last. I do not mean to speak prophetically, but agreeably to the analogy of faith, and the principles of God’s moral government. I leave this as a matter rather of conjecture than certainty, but observe, that if your conduct is prudent, you need not fear the multitude of opposing hosts.

If your cause is just, you may look with confidence to the Lord, and intreat him to plead it as his own. You are all my witnesses, that this is the first time of my introducing any political subject into the pulpit. At this season, however, it is not only lawful but necessary, and I willingly embrace the opportunity of declaring my opinion without any hesitation, that the cause in which America is now in arms, is the cause of justice, of liberty, and of human nature. So far as we have hitherto proceeded, I am satisfied that the confederacy of the colonies has not been the effect of pride, resentment, or sedition, but of a deep and general conviction that our civil and religious liberties, and consequently in a great measure the temporal and eternal happiness of us and our posterity, depended on the issue. The knowledge of God and his truths have from the beginning of the world been chiefly, if not entirely confined to those parts of the earth where some degree of liberty and political justice were to be seen, and great were the difficulties with which they had to struggle, from the imperfection of human society, and the unjust decisions of unsurped authority. There is not a single instance in history, in which civil liberty was lost, and religious liberty preserved entire. If therefore we yield up our temporal property, we at the same time deliver the conscience into bondage.

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Comment: I can only say when men take scripture and things that are meant clearly to be spiritual in context then revert them to the carnal affairs of men, it is easy to see how in the religious mind, all kinds of justifications are found for all kinds of acts that any man can find solace in his action, though totally unscriptural and anti-biblical just as those who turn our Lord Jesus into G.I. Jesus, or like the anti-abortionist who seek to kill those who perform abortions. They have left the context of scripture, which Jesus reminds us, that life can't be found in it, neither is it a book of rules whereby we live our carnal lives, they are that which speak of Him, Jesus Christ who is KING OVER ALL THE AFFAIRS OF MEN, for it was He who said, "All Authority has been given unto me, in heaven and on earth". The affairs of government, and others lives, are not our affair but His, and His alone, and it is He who is judge, and will judge others, not we ourselves. How we forget so easily that Christ didnt come to establish an earthly kingdom of government among all people but an inward one in the hearts of His people who are here on earth being prepared for heaven, where there is no war, no death, no sin or men and their governments which will rise and fall always. Rome fell, and yes, sad to say as an American we are seeing the last vestiges of freedom in our country coming to a close as well. Is a revolution in store, probably and perhaps but should Christians lead it, my answer and I having the Spirit of Christ believe the answer for us is still, "No". Leave the affairs of men to men, there will be governments arise that are for individual freedom as history reveals, and there will be governments fall of despotism, like Rome and now America. Yes, we have a heritage but it is not our heritage of Americans that we need recall, it is our heritage and first most of being subjects, and not just subjects of the King but brothers to Christ, and Son's of the Father which must always guard our hearts against the idea's of any sort of justified violence against any of the kingdoms of this world. They will always be there, and they will always oppose God and the freedoms of Christ people, as they did Him, but our answer should remain...."Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord", and not ours, even at cost of our own individual lives under the oppression and hands of the persecutor, whoever that may be, another government or our own. We are to remain at peace with the Prince of peace..

Dr. J.

Remember The Poor

"I have been poor and I have been rich, but I have always found someone poorer than I"
Many years ago, when I was a young man in college, I went with our Baptist Student Union on a missionary trip to Matamoros, Mexico. We stayed in a large open area and slept on cots, took cold showers at a church in Brownsville, Texas. Each morning a bus load of us would drive to an area where we were constructing an orphanage for some children there. This became my first exposure to poor of the world outside my own.
We traveled into the poorest parts of Matamoros and it was then and there I realized how rich I was.
When I was a college student, my wife worked in the day as a maid, I worked at the same place in the evening doing laundry. There were many times in those days, that after paying our rent for an efficiency apartment we would barely have $5.00 - $10.00 left to eat on, but we had friends.
Those friends though not Christians were often our lifeline. They would feed us and buy us things now and then. They were great friends. The one thing that set them apart is they understood poverty. Most people have no clue unless they have been there. One has to experience poverty or Christ has to show them the need to have a desire to help. It takes compassion to help the poor, not judgement.
I remember well the impression it made in my mind when I saw how the people in Mexico lived. Many of the families lived on the streets in large cardboard boxes cut and shaped to form a small shelter. Often the only heat they had was a small coffee can with something burning in it. I came face to face with real poverty.
All the time thinking I was poor previous to that trip there. I found that in truth I was rich. I had a comfortable but small dwelling place to live in, some food, and I had a heater to warm me. I have since that day been both rich and poor. I have had lots of money, I didn't want and very little that I needed more of it.
These days, I am kind of back in the situation past, poor but never so poor to forget that there are plenty of others in this world that live in true poverty.
To help remind me as a Christian one of the most important truths taught in scripture, I often refer myself to some verses in the Bible. These are verses that all of us as Christians need to hold fast to.
We as a nation and a people have been so mesmerized by our wealth and our materialism we forget. Forgetting the poor is the very worst thing we can do.

All the money taken in and given to organizations, if only a small portion of it is not going to help the poor, then it useless money. It can be your church, your volunteer organization or whatever - if the largest amount is going to the organization itself and not flowing out to those in need, the purpose of your organization is already defeated. There are church denominations, that own billions of dollars in property, two of which I can name are the Baptist and Catholics. Not to pick on just these two but they own the largest amount worldwide. What would all that money have done, if instead of more buildings and property being purchased it would have been given to feed and clothe the poor? It would have helped change the world. So the next time you see someone poorer than yourself, remember these verses.
Remember what Jesus said, what does it profit you to hear the word but not to do the word?

Remember The Poor

No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money." -Matthew 6:24

"He who mocks the poor shows contempt for their Maker; whoever gloats over disaster will not go unpunished." -Proverbs 17:5

"If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered."-Proverbs 21:13

"He who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and he who gives gifts to the rich--both come to poverty." -Proverbs 22:16

"Jesus answered, 'If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.'"
-Matthew 19:21

"Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.'"
-Matthew 19:23-24

"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?' He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least among you, you did not do for me.'"
-Matthew 25:41-45

"He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses." -Proverbs 28:27

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy."
-Proverbs 31:8-9

"People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." -1 Timothy 6:9-10

"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life." -1 Timothy 6:17-19

"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy." -Ezekiel 16:49

"Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death."
-Proverbs 11:4

"A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold." -Proverbs 22:1

"Rich and poor have this in common: The LORD is the Maker of them all."
-Proverbs 22:2

"A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor."
-Proverbs 22:9

"Do not exploit the poor because they are poor and do not crush the needy in court, for the LORD will take up their case and will plunder those who plunder them."
-Proverbs 22:22-23

"Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle." -Proverbs 23:4-5

"Better a poor man whose walk is blameless than a rich man whose ways are perverse."
-Proverbs 28:6

"A faithful man will be richly blessed, but one eager to get rich will not go unpunished." -Proverbs 28:20

"The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern."
-Proverbs 29:7

"Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless." -Ecclesiastes 5:10

"There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land."
-Deuteronomy 15:11

"He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God." -Proverbs 14:31

"A fortune made by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a deadly snare."
-Proverbs 21:6

"You evildoers frustrate the plans of the poor, but the Lord is their refuge."
-Psalm 14:6

"He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and He will reward him for what he has done." -Proverbs 19:17

"A rich man may be wise in his own eyes, but a poor man who has discernment sees through him." -Proverbs 28:11

"The wealth of the rich is their fortified city; they imagine it an unscalable wall."
-Proverbs 18:11

I thank God for friends and family that have been there to give me a hand when I needed it. Perhaps, you know someone today that you have been overlooking that needs help. Perhaps, there is someone you know who has a need. Perhaps, there is someone you have judged when it wasn't your right to judge but it was your call to help.
I say it again - remember the poor.

Dr. J.

Little Will - Safe in the Arms of Jesus

Today, Friday the 13th, was a sad day for me. I attended little Will Steven's funeral.
Little Will who had smiled and laughed at his dad and his mom, is no longer here on this earth to share his joy with his parents anymore. His little life snuffed out by the hands of his mother. We will never understand completely God's Sovereign will in these things but we can understand, that He - God is a good God, pure and holy. We can understand that for whatever reasons he allows evil to continue until Jesus comes, there is coming a day when this world, and it's fallen creatures will be restored to the glory and image of the intentions God as always had for man and His creation.
We ask why? I asked why? I asked this question a thousand times over after my wife's own tragic death. Why God?
God doesn't grow angry at our grief, he wants to share in it as much as he does our joy.
I think the message for all of us, is that we must remember and look beyond the darkness of this world to the day of resurrection. As the disciples mourned, and their fears overwhelmed them at the imprisonment of their king, as never before, Peter had to come to grips with his own flesh, his own self protectionism and fears. The disciples saw the evil of kingdoms and their men while they watched the one they loved so dearly, be beaten and scourged, tantalized and scoffed at, a cruel crown of thorns put upon his head. This done, by mere men who claimed to be leaders, political rulers and yet even religious leaders, who had stood in the synagogues on the Sabbath each week proclaiming Jehovah. Yet, here at their very own hands they were crucifying the one they claimed they loved.
The awful truth about all this though is where they stood in their hatred and their disdain for the Son of God, we stood, we were right there driving the nails through His flesh, His hands, His feet.
There we stood as His enemies.
Yet, in that moment before the cruel and senseless death he died, He, Jesus, cried out "Father forgive them for they know not what they do".
On that day when Mary Magdalene came to tell the other disciples not to despair for He had risen. I am sure much like us in our grief they must have been angry. They must have thought Mary, don't toy with our emotions. How can he be alive? We saw him, die, we saw him bleed, we heard that last agonizal breath he took, we saw the sword thrust into His side and the blood and water rush forth as his heart sack was ruptured open. We saw Him laid into the grave,we saw Him wrapped in cloth and the spices put on his body. Why, Mary do you play with our emotions? Yet, when they saw Jesus standing there, showing his nail scarred hands and feet and the scar in His side- Resurrection burst forth in their deepest emotions. They knew then, that death was not the final resting place for mankind, that Jesus had overcome both sin and death. It was Resurrection Day. It was no longer a feeling of hopelessness, but one of joy and anticipation for such a day to come for them as well.

Little Will, if he were to speak to us today, though a two year old child, he would remind us, that He forgives his Mommy, he loved her anyway.
He laughed when she held him, he cooed in her arms at one time, he played with his mommy, until that one fateful day.

Little Will is with Jesus now and he has to no longer fear this world we live in of fallen creation and it's fallen creatures. For you see, just as the disciples had lost hope and as we read the news around us, and we too often lose hope, the resurrection is just on the other side of that "curtain of death".
The darkness breaks forth into glorious light and the sense of absolute love untarnished by flesh and sin surrounds little Will now. It will someday surround us as well, if we have hope, hope for the Resurrection.
For time has no effect on our Creator, He is beyond time, He is the author of time, and for little Will Stevens, there will be no time- just eternity in the presence of the Lord.
He will no longer cry for food when hungry, for he will have the food and drink that satisfies for eternity - Jesus Christ at his side.
This is our only hope, for if Jesus was not raised from the dead, then our faith is useless are lives hold no meaning at all. There is no ground for hope, without the Resurrection. The hope we have is now the reality for little Will Stevens as he rest now, "Safe in the Arms of Jesus".
A young lady at the funeral today sang that song, a variation of it at least, and it reminded me too, that my Patti that I lost to a freak accident, to a wandering horse that had escaped it's fencing, that ended up in the middle of an Interstate in the early morning hours that we struck with our car just before daybreak, she too is there now, "Safe in the Arms of Jesus".
If the Resurrection to life eternal in the presence of Love unending and never failing, is not our desire above all things, then we have lost touch with God.
For in this world, we must recall the words of Jesus who said, "in this world you will have much tribulation but be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world.' This is our call, this is our mission, that in this life we live that we always be looking forward to that day, when the light will break forth dispelling the darkness and we too will be surrounded completely in God's love. For God is love.
I would like to quote those words so well written by a physically blind hymn writer Fanny Crosby, who lived her life never seeing the light of of day, yet in her spirit she saw more light than most of us could ever imagine with our own eyes that do see.

"Safe in the arms of Jesus,
Safe on his gentle breast
There by his love o'ershaded
Sweetly my soul shall rest.
Hark! tis the voice of angels,
Borne in a song to me.
Over the fields of glory
Over the jasper sea.

Safe in the arms of Jesus
Safe on His gentle breast
There by His love o'ershaded
Sweetly my soul shall rest.

Safe in the arms of Jesus,
Safe from corroding care
Safe from the world's temptaions
Sin cannot harm me there.
Free from the blight of sorrow
Free from my doubts and fears
Only a few more trials
Only a few more tears

Jesus my heart's dear refuge
Jesus has died for me
Firm on the Rock of Ages
Ever my trust shall be
Here let me wait with patience
Wait till the night is o'er.
Wait till I see the morning
Break on the golden shore.

One last scripture before I close.
"For we know that if the earthly tent we live is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" 2 Corinthians 5:1

Little Will, my friend Mickey's little boy, Patti Black, my former wife of just near 27 years and many more that we have loved and that have passed on beyond these unsafe shores are now "Safe in the Arms of Jesus"

Dr. J.

Jesus the Revolutionary

I recently completed a book, that I have known about sometime, and also I have known of the author because of my activity in house "church" for sometime. The book is entitled "Pagan Christianity" by Frank Viola. Frank is a fine Christian man who has an online and offline ministry called "Present Testimony Ministry". He is a high school Psychology teacher and Philosophy teacher part-time. He is known as a "church planter" or what may have been called in times past, an Apostle. Though he would never accept any title. He loves Jesus above all things. His books are very well written with a tremendous bibliography of his resources of material he quotes. In his above mentioned book he lays out the history of our modern church practices. Much of that which I have already become familiar with in my personal research and study as well. His book becomes the second witness testimony for many of us that have so been enlightened by the Lord to see and understand the "traditions of men" over God's commandments (his Word). His book is a refreshing reminder to us who see what man has done to the Ekklesia and what Jesus intended to rid us from so that man may have a relationship with God and others.
I would like to quote from a portion of his last chapter in the book. Then I will expound some on it.
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If Christianity is to receive a rejuvenation it must be by other means than any now being used. If the church in the second half of this century is to recover from the injuries she suffered in the first half, there must appear a new type of preacher. The proper, ruler-of-the-synagogue type will never do. Neither will the priestly type of man who carries out his duties, takes his pay and asks no questions, nor the smooth-talking pastoral type who knows how to make the Christian religion acceptable to everyone. All these have been tried and found wanting. Another kind of religious leader must arise among us. He must be of the old prophet type, a man who has seen visions of God and has heard a voice from the Throne. When he comes (and I pray God there will not be one but many) he will stand in flat contradiction to everything our smirking, smooth civilization holds dear. He will contradict, denounce and protest in the name of God and will earn the hatred and opposition of a large segment of Christendom.
A.W. Tozer

Frank writes:

"Jesus Christ is not only the Savior, the Messiah, the Prophet, the Priest, and the King. He is also the Revolutionary. Yet, few Christians know Him as such; unfortunately, I know this from experience. For several years now I’ve been working with house churches, writing, and speaking about radical church deconstruction and renewal. In many places I go, people ask me: "Why do you have to be so negative about the modern church, Frank!? Jesus is not a critical person. It is so unlike our Lord to talk about what is wrong with the church. Let us focus on the positive and ignore the negative!"

Such high volume sentiments express complete unfamiliarity with Christ as revolutionary teacher; radical prophet; provocative preacher; controversialist; iconoclast; and the implacable opponent of the religious establishment.

Granted, our Lord is not critical or harsh with His own. He is full of mercy and kindness, and He loves His people passionately. However, this is precisely why He is jealous over His Bride. And it is why He will not compromise with the unbreakable traditions to which His people have been held captive. Nor will He ignore our fanatical devotion to them.

Consider our Lord’s conduct while on earth.

Jesus was never a rabble-rouser nor a ranting rebel, yet He constantly defied the traditions of the scribes and Pharisees. He did not do so by accident, but with great deliberation. The Pharisees were those who, for the sake of the "truth" they saw, tried to extinguish the truth they could not see. This explains why there was always a blizzard of controversy between the "tradition of the elders" and the acts of Jesus.

Someone once said that "a rebel attempts to change the past; a revolutionary attempts to change the future." Jesus Christ brought drastic change to the world. Change to humanity’s view of God. Change to God’s view of humankind. Change to men’s view of women. Our Lord came to bring radical change to the old order of things, replacing it with a new order. He came to bring forth a new covenant—a new kingdom—a new birth—a new race—a new species—a new culture—and a new civilization.

As you read through the Gospels, behold your Lord, the Revolutionary. Watch Him throw the Pharisees into a panic by intentionally flaunting their conventions. Numerous times Jesus healed on the Sabbath day, flatly breaking their cherished tradition. If the Lord wanted to placate His enemies, He could have waited until Sunday or Monday to heal some of these people. Instead, He deliberately healed on the Sabbath, knowing full well it would make His opponents livid.

This pattern runs pretty deep. In one instance, Jesus healed a blind man by mixing clay with spittle and putting it in the man’s eyes. Such an act was in direct defiance to the Jewish ordinance that prohibited healing on the Sabbath by mixing mud with spittle! Yet your Lord intentionally shattered this tradition publicly and with absolute resolve. Watch Him eat food with unwashed hands under the judgmental gaze of the Pharisees, again intentionally defying their fossilized tradition.

In Jesus, we have a Man who refused to bow to the pressures of religious conformity. A Man who preached a revolution. A Man who would not tolerate hypocrisy. A Man who was not afraid to provoke those who suppressed the liberating gospel He brought to set men free. A Man who did not mind evoking anger in His enemies, causing them to gird their thighs for battle.

What is my point? It is this: Jesus Christ came not only as Messiah, the Anointed One of God to deliver His people from the bondage of the fall…

He came not only as Savior, paying a debt He did not owe to wash away humanity’s war, hatred, and ingrained sin…

He came not only as Prophet, comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable…

He came not only as Priest, representing man before God and representing God before man…

He came not only as King, triumphant over all authorities, principalities, and powers...

He also came as Revolutionary, tearing apart the old wineskin with a view to bringing in the new.

Behold your Lord, the Revolutionary!

For many Christians, this is a new look at Jesus Christ. Therefore, to reveal the weaknesses of the church in modernity so that Christ’s Body can fulfill God’s ultimate intention is simply an expression of our Lord’s revolutionary nature. The dominating aim of that nature is to put you and me at the center of the beating heart of God. To put you and me in the core of His eternal purpose—a purpose for which everything was created.

What is needed, then, is a revolution within the Christian faith. Renewal movements will not do it. Revivals will not cut it. Both have been plentiful for the past 50 years. (I might add that they are repackaged every five years.) Renewal movements and revivals have never been potent enough to break the immense inertia of religious tradition.

Renewing and inventing new forms for church is like changing clothes on a mannequin. Doing so will never give it life no matter how avant-garde the garb is. No, the axe must be laid to the root of the problem and a revolution ignited!

What is needed is a complete upheaval of our current Christian practices. All traditions that find no soil in Scripture must be forever abandoned. We must begin anew . . . from ground zero. Anything less will prove defective.

If you are a disciple of the Revolutionary from Nazareth . . .the Radical Messiah who lays His axe to the root . . .you will eventually evoke a specific question. It is the same question that was asked our Lord’s disciples while He walked this earth. That question is: "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?"

>>END<<

A true radical must be a man of roots. In words that I have used elsewhere, "The revolutionary can be an ‘outsider’ to the structure he would see collapse: indeed, he must set himself outside of it. But the radical goes to the roots of his own tradition. He must love it: he must weep over Jerusalem, even if he has to pronounce its doom."

John A.T. Robinson

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Frank Viola [ http://ptmin.org ] is the author of a series of books on radical church renewal and reform. His passion is to see the centrality of Jesus Christ and the life of the early church restored. Frank is part of the house church movement, and he lives in Florida. Among his books are Rethinking the Wineskin, Who is Your Covering?, Pagan Christianity, So You Want to Start a House Church?, Knowing Christ Together, and The Untold Story of the New Testament Church. You can reach him online at http://ptmin.org or email him at ptmin@aol.com This article is based on his book Pagan Christianity: The Origins of Our Modern Church Practices [URL: www.ptmin.org/pagan.htm ]
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My added comments.

Most Christians do not understand how far Jesus stuck truth right into the faces of the self righteous and the religious of his day. Most Christians do not understand that Jewish practices and belief of His day and even today, were not even close to the Torah, or the Old Testament, for the Jews in hundreds of years developed their traditions of men as opposed to scripture. These became known as the Talmud, a full transcription of the Mishna and the Gemara. These were simply men's attempt to redefine God's law, by creating fence laws around fence laws and then their own interpretation of these. For example in Jesus time, to understand why he would heal a man's blindness as He did, one must read what their law said. Shabbat 108:20 reads thus : "To heal a blind man on the Sabbath, it his prohibited to inject wine in his eyes. It is also prohibited to make mud with spittle and smear it on his eyes.
Jesus didnt just randomly do this miracle in the way that He did, he did it with purpose in mind, to not just break their laws of tradition, but to show that He is the lawgiver and the judge, the Savouir and the King of all things created. The Jews had no doubt of His Messiahship because of many other things they had written to recognize who the Messiah was when He would come, Jesus did these things as well that proved He alone was who He claimed to be. There is no doubt in my mind or the minds of those that understand Judaism of that time and today, that they (the religious leaders of that day)knew He was the Messiah and crucified Him anyway. Their traditions, their positions of power and recognition, their religion held far greater importance than man's relationship to God. I want to provide one more example of Jesus flaunting their religiousity in their faces, and it may have been one of the many laws He broke which sealed his fate with these law makers of traditions of men. It wasn't long before they conspired to kill Him. Yes, the Bible uses the word conspired. For those of you who don't believe men conspire to commit evil.
Read this, According to the Mishna, " One should be willing to walk four miles to water in order to wash your hands rather than eat with unwashed hands. (Sotah 4b).
When Jesus didn't wash his hands before eating, in the eyes of the Pharisees, this made Him and the disciples equal to being a murderer!
(Challah, J, 58:3) HE WHO NEGLECTS HAND WASHING IS AS HE WHO IS A MURDERER."!That's right Jesus was a lawbreaker, a revolutionary. The revolutionary of all times!
For our Lord, spit right smack into the face of the legalist, the religious and their followers constantly.
Jesus, the essence of the Creator, the living Word, spoke for men for all time. Relationship with God is more important then all the garbage men can devise and all the traditions he can create. For their is one Law Giver, One Lord, One Judge, and One SAVIOUR and KING. Meet Jesus Christ - the greatest revolutionary who ever lived and ever will -forever. For it is no surprise when men trapped in the bondages of religion get free, they proclaim loudly my Lord and my God!
For Jesus came to set us absolutely free from the bonds and ties of religion to have relationship once again with God our Father, and with men and women and children as our brothers, and sisters with Him.
If ever a movie should be made, about Jesus again, it should be entitled. FREEDOM!
For there is no other name, under heaven or earth to which men can find true freedom then that which is in Jesus Christ- Saviour of the World.
The Revolutionary Extradonaire!

Are you a part to His marching army of the redeemed. You can be! YOu can join the revolution. All people are welcomed from every area of life. There is none that he won't accept. Religion may not want you. Jesus does. If he can take a prostitute, a tax collector, fisherman and more and turn them into His own, He can take anyone of any circumstance in this life, and make you a child of the King! A revolutionary.
You can see Jesus for the first time in your life, not common church folk, but one who opposed religion all the way to the cross. He came to set us FREE! Will you join me and hundreds that have come to know Him as such. He is right at the door of your heart knocking, and offering to come inside to eat with you and you with Him. Don't worry about the house being clean, the dishes done, the hands washed. Jesus eats with those with unwashed hands, for His presence makes everything clean. Jesus the Revolutionary is here amongst us. He is alive. He is alive in the hearts of those that know him beyond all the religious trappings and trim. He is drafting knew individuals daily to join him in a meal, with unwashed hands. For his very presence makes anyone and everything clean that comes in contact with Him. Come join the Revolution and see what God can do, and man in all his contrivances od traditions and rudiments and laws could never do. That is to set you free to live a life with Him for eternity. Eternal life begins now, not after you die. Real life, real freedom from this world. You have to first join the "Revolution". I joined, and have never regretted it since. I can ask for no greater leader, no greater mentor, no greater love then Him.

Dr. J.