Obey or die! ... or befriend?

There is an apprehensive, fear-instilling and condemning message that most church-goers get to hear on a weekly basis - "Obey or die!" And they pay for it!

Yes, sadly the institutional church assumes the role of our local-law-enforcement-and-kangaroo-court-agency. And it derives its right to do so from a long history of traditions and like things that it do. [Mark 7:13] 

In the opening chapter of their book Pagan Christianity: Exploring the Roots of our Church Practices, Frank Viola and George Barna ponder the question about doing church by the Book. They ask a very valid question that the institutional church subscribes to, but is rather unwilling to comment on: “We do everything by the Word of God! The New Testament is our guide for faith and practice! We live … and we die … by this Book!”

And so, we have been told and also not to question what we are told.

The Standard

We all have a certain standard.

And it has a lot to do with our upbringing and how we are influenced.

So, I looked up what the word standard means, fundamentally.

Isn’t a dictionary a great tool? It shows us what the words we are using really mean, even though we use them randomly, daily and sometimes carelessly.

The Tree-of-Life

Not long ago I was woken by the Spirit of Truth early one morning and taken on a journey, my journey …

It was a strange dream. Although, it was not a dream and I was wide awake. My vision was clear and distinct and I had no uncertainty as to what I was shown or who the Narrator speaking into my soul was.

The journey was a belief-journey, one I walked from being a child to where I found myself today ... an apocalypse ...

The revelation of commands and rewards

The religious world has an unhealthy obsession with performance (and behaviour-modification).

And performance has everything to do with following rules (commands), doing things just right and being compensated (getting rewards). It is the execution and discharge of obligations to accomplish some benefit (blessing).

Yip, the so-called church service is performance driven. Even the Christian worship must be performance based, the preacher, the choir, the music, the prayer, the annual report - all must be a dramatic execution-overdrive of prescripts, done exactly right.

To get good with God.

It is a ritual. And religion has a doctrine name for its prescriptive ritual.

The word that the institutional church uses is liturgy.

What is the deal?

Here is how it ends

Most people refrain from reading the last book of the Bible, Revelation.

The name of this book in Greek is apokalypsis. It derived its name from the first sentence in the book. And it has been severely battered and butchered to fit the case of many end-time prophets. 

Mystical. Supernatural. Inexplicable. Other-worldly.

Fear-inducing and trepidating.

Except - it is not!

The only prophecy ever!

Back in 2014 I posted the Single Shortest Prophecy ever! 

I was talking about Jonah!

Today I am remastering that post and renaming it The only prophecy ever!

Why?

Because lately I have been looking into some archaeological videos, finds and documentation discovered in one of the greatest Assyrian empire cities of all times, Nineveh.

And …

And the prophecy I shared is one of the greatest revelations of who God is and the best up-front statement of the truth you can hope to hear, ever.

It was so monumental that it moved the wicket hordes of the capital empire city of Assyria to agree and accept the only good news there can ever be.

The endeavour itself was epic!

What is the story?

Who was the prophet?

Why was there a prophecy?

What makes it so significant?

Let me answer some of these questions to myself and you can decide whether you agree or not.

Called

There is a truthful expression going around that I have quoted before.

It goes like this:

GOD DOESN'T HAVE A CALLING ON YOUR LIFE ... YOUR LIFE IS HIS CALLING

I like expressions, especially when they are true.

And when they counter some of my religious persuasions, I like them even more!

To be called or not to be called. That is the question! 

Calling - wanted dead or alive?

Peter the stone and epiginōskō

The Transformation of the Rock-Man

This morning, I found myself drawn back to the epistle of Peter, the letter of the rock-man himself. Steady, hard, and unshaken, his words resonate with a rugged authenticity.

It's astounding how this tough fisherman, whose name means "rock," could be so profoundly transformed by the kindness, love, and grace of Jesus. In the Bible, we encounter Peter as a man of strong convictions, a quick thinker, and a passionate defender of his beliefs.

Beyond Love - Abba Ahabah!

During an anthropology research trip undertaken in 2015 I had a divine revelation experience that I will never forget … ever!

I remember that our research trip took us into the most remote areas of the Northern Cape Richtersveld desert, looking for Nama communities who still practiced the rite-of-passage custom of initiation.

… and Father, speaking to me ever so clearly, shared His inner-being.

It was His 'ahăḇâ-revelation.

Superlatives and antithesis

This morning I made a self-discovery.

In my efforts to better understand certain phenomena, facts, theories, notions and suppositions in life, I rely heavily on applying superlatives and antithesis.

Yip!

I tend to reason in extremes.

You may say that something is not as it should be … and you may be right … or you may be wrong.