IF I ONLY HAD...........

Greetings Home Seekers. How's the search comin' along?

Back in the 60's...you knew Easter....or at least Springtime was appearing when you saw the commercials for the special showing of THE WIZARD OF OZ. Now what The Wizard of Oz has to do with Springtime or Easter is your guess as good as mine...but all I know is...that I got excited.

It is a little known fact that I failed the 6th grade with 13 D's and 4 F's. There were a lot of reasons and excuses...but it was a turning point in my life. My 6th grade teacher...Mrs. Martha Adkerson...took me under her wing...and introduced me to the escape mechanism of reading. I had a lot that I wanted to escape from...including a rocky home life. She told me that with reading...I could go anywhere in the world with my imagination. One book that I read...that captured my imagination was THE WIZARD OF OZ...the story of a girl trying to find a HOME...along with a ragtag group of companions including a Tin Woodman, a Scarecrow, and a Cowardly Lion. The Tin Woodman wanted a HEART...the Scarecrow wanted a BRAIN...and the Cowardly Lion wanted COURAGE.

In the movie each one had a song about their desires...and then they would start singing about being off to see the Wizard...who could help them get what they needed. It turned out that he was a HUMBUG. An example of their SONG OF DESIRE is the Tin Woodman (aka Nick Chopper)...

When a man's an empty kettle
He should be on his mettle
And yet I'm torn apart
Just because I'm presumin'
That I could be kind of human
If I only had a heart

Of course the moral of the story was...that what they were seeking...they already had...they just didn't have a symbolic representation of what they desired.

The Tin Woodman received...a large heart shaped clock...his ticker.
The Scarecrow received...a diploma.
The Cowardly Lion received a medal.
Dorothy already had the ruby slippers...that she had her entire journey...and all she had to do was click them...and recite...there's no place like home.

Once she woke up...from her journey to Oz...or was it a dream...she was surrounded by her family and friends....most of who were personified in her travellers in Oz...she came to the realization that she already had what she was searching for...a home.

I started thinking about all of this...as the Lord was speaking to me that...ONLY GOD CAN CHANGE A PERSON'S HEART. I can manipulate, cajole, nag, debate, reason, beg, a person that I love to change their ways...but if you can talk someone into something...someone can talk them out of it.

I started RUMINATIN'...about how God's heartbeat for us is all the stuff that we are constantly searching for...but for some reason we think that we have to go here and there and fill ourselves with stuff that never satisfies.

"For all the these things the Gentiles eagerly seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But SEEK FIRST His Kingdom and His righteousness...and all these things shall be added to you." We don't have to go to OZ...we have a ROAD TO ZION that leads through our hearts...with the King...NOT A HUMBUG waiting to give us the DESIRES OF OUR HEARTS as we DELIGHT OURSELVES IN HIM. (Psalm 37:4)

HEART:
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." (Matthew 5:8)

"For where your treasure is...there will your heart be also." (Matthew 6:21)

"You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. The good man out of his good treasure brings forth what is good; and thee evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth what is evil." (Matthew 12:34,35)

BRAIN (MIND)"

"I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND, that you may prove what the will of God is...that which is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:1,2)

"But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you BE RENEWED IN THE SPIRIT OF YOUR MIND...and put on the new self which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth." (Ephesians 4:20-24)

"Let this MIND (have this attitude) be in you which was also in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 2:5)

COURAGE:

"No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only BE STRONG AND VERY COURAGEOUS; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your prosperous...and then you will have good success." (Joshua 1:5-8)

HOME:

"Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. BUT AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSEHOLD (home) WE WILL SERVE THE LORD." (Joshua 24:14-15)

"For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven; inasmuch as we, having put it on, shall not be found naked. For indeed while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed, but to be clothed, in order that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us FOR THIS VERY PURPOSE is God, who gave to us the Spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at HOME in the body...we are absent from the Lord...FOR WE WALK BY FAITH NOT BY SIGHT...WE ARE OF GOOD COURAGE...we are of GOOD COURAGE, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and TO BE AT HOME WITH THE LORD. Therefore...also we have as our AMBITION, whether AT HOME...or absent...TO BE PLEASING TO HIM." (II Corinthians 5:1-9)

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

Well...the Wizard of Oz is just a book..but our God is real. The things that we desire...heart, brains, courage, and a home...are found in Him. Everything else is a poor comparison. We fill our lives in search for all of these things...and come up with temporary pleasures...but always come up empty. There is no place like HOME...and HOME is not a click away with a pair of ruby slippers...but HOME is just a PRAYER AWAY.

In 1976...there was a guy name Pat Terry...in a group called the Pat Terry Group...who wrote a song called HOME WHERE I BELONG. Pat recorded...and then B.J. Thomas recorded it on his HOME WHERE I BELONG Christian album. It says it all...so here it is;

They say that heaven's pretty...and livin' here is too...but if they said that I would have...to choose between the two..I'd go home...goin home...where I belong.

Sometimes when I'm dreamin'...it comes as no surprise...that if you'll look and see the homesick feelin' in my eyes...I'm goin' home...goin' home...where I belong

While I'm here I'll serve Him gladly...and sing Him all these snogs...I'm here...but not for long.

When I feelin' lonely...and when I'm feelin' blue...it's such a joy to know that I am only passin' through...I'm headed home...I'm goin' home... Where I belong

One day I'll be sleepin' when death knocks on my door...and I'll awake to find that I'm not homesick anymore...cause I'll be home...I'll be home...where I belong.

2ND FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

Enjoy the journey.

Love and Fulfilled Kisses
Rodney "Don't Need No Wizard" Boyd

THE ANATOMY OF A CULT

Greetings Pro-Christ people. Take a look at the first collage. Take a good look. These people all have one thing in common...well maybe two things in common. (1) They are all religious (2) They all deny that Jesus is God in the flesh. They all attack the Deity of Jesus. Of course there is nothing new under the sun. L.Ron Hubbard (Scientology/Dianetics), Oprah/Eckart Tolle (new age mumbo-jumbo)...Victor Paul Weirwille (The Way International), Sun Myung Moon (Unification Church), Marshall Applewhite (Heavens Gate), Jim Jones (The People's Church), Charles Taze Russell (Jehovah's Witness), Joseph Smith (Mormonism), David Koresh (Branch Davidians), David Moses Berg (Children of God/The Family), The Nation of Islam/Black Muslims (W.D. Ward/Louis Farrakhan)...are but a few of the people who deny that Jesus was the Christ...and that He was God in the flesh. Many started off believing the truth... but then deviated from the truth...and began to thing they were the direct mouthpiece from God...and were above the rules of morality. They become like the Pharisee....who was PRAYING TO HIMSELF...and thanking himself that he was not like other people.



"That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So...there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one might say, see this, it is new? Already it has existed for ages which were before us." (Ecclesiastes 1:9,10)

"In the beginning was the Word...and the Word was with God...and the Word WAS God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him; and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness; and the darkness did not comprehend it...But as many as received Him to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man...but of God. The Word BECAME FLESH...and DWELT AMONG US...and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:1-5; John 1:12-14)

NOTE: God back and read the John passage and put in the name Jesus where it says the Word. ie. In the beginning was Jesus...and Jesus was with God...and Jesus WAS God.

The ANATOMY OF A CULT is centered around the Deity of Jesus. They always have to take Jesus down a notch and deny who He was...and who He is...GOD IN THE FLESH. Jesus is always less than who His followers say He is. He is either a great teacher...a miracle worker...a lunatic...delusional...merely a human who may have had the christ-spirit...BUT NEVER GOD IN THE FLESH. Even Islam acknowledges that Jesus was a good teacher...but He was a bastard. Some would even include Jesus in the ways to God...but that He is only one of the many roads that leads to the Father. If you want to believe in that resurrection stuff...then that's O.K....but if someone wants to believe in humanism...that we are intrinsically God and can make our own roads to the Father. Jesus is LOWERED TO THE LEVEL of other religious leaders...or even worse...He is an angel...or He was merely human...who elevated Himself to godship...just like you can elevate yourself to godship by what you DO. And if you don't make it the first time...don't worry...you can always try something different the next time you come around in reincarnation.

"Truly, truly, I say to you...he who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but CLIMBS UP SOME OTHER WAY...he is a thief and a robber. But he who enters BY THE DOOR is a shepherd of the sheep. To him the DOORKEEPER opens, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out....Jesus therefore said to them again...truly, truly, I say to you I AM THE DOOR OF THE SHEEP...I AM THE DOOR...IF ANYONE ENTERS THROUGH ME...HE SHALL BE SAVED...AND SHALL GO IN AND OUT, AND FIND PASTURE." (John 10:1-9)

"Thomas said to Him...Lord, we do not know where you are going...HOW DO WE KNOW THE WAY? Jesus said to him...I AM THE WAY...and THE TRUTH...and THE LIFE..NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER...BUT THROUGH ME. If you had known Me...you would have known My Father also...from now on you know Him and have seen Him." (John 14:5-7)

C.S. Lewis writes in MERE CHRISTIANITY..."yet (and this is strange, significant thing) even His enemies when they read the Gospels, do not usually get the impression of silliness and conceit. Still less do unprejudiced readers. Christ says that He is "humble and meek" and we believe Him; not noticing that, if He were MERELY A MAN...humility and meekness are the very last characteristics we could attribute to some of His sayings. I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I'm ready to accept that Jesus as a GREAT MORAL TEACHER...but I don't accept HIS CLAIM TO BE GOD. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was MERELY A MAN and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a GREAT MORAL TEACHER. he would either be a LUNATIC--on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the devil of hell. You must MAKE YOUR CHOICE. Either this man WAS and IS...THE SON OF GOD...or else...A MADMAN...or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool... you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon...or YOU CAN FALL AT HIS FEET AND CALL HIM LORD AND GOD. But let us not come with any PATRONISING NONSENSE about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."
(C.S. Lewis Mere Christianity Book II: What Christians Believe (The Shocking Alternative)


Another aspect of CULTS...is that they always, always, always...deviate from the D.B.R...NOTHING MORE...NOTHING LESS. That's right....the Death, the Burial, the Resurrection...with nothing added. Cults always...like religion...always...is reaching up to God with their own ways to get to God... while Christianity is God reaching down to man.

Jesus...the Word...God in the flesh...came down in the form of man...lived for 30 years...then for three years ministered the will of God on earth as it is in heaven...became the propitiation/substitute for our sins...to give us access back to the Father...died, was buried, rose again...and went back to the Father.

Cults claimed that Jesus failed in His mission...and that he either did not raise from the dead...merely swooned and did not die...or His followers perpetrated a hoax by stealing the body to look like He did raise from the dead...and then... just so people would not get wise to the hoax...became martyrs for a lie.



"Children...it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen...from this we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they WERE NOT REALLY OF US...for if they had been of us...they would have remained with us; but they went out...in order that it might be shown that they all are not of us. But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the LIAR but the one who DENIES THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also." (I John 2:18-23)

"Beloved, DO NOT BELIEVE EVERY SPIRIT...but test the spirits to see whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By THIS you KNOW the Spirit of God: every spirit that CONFESSES THAT JESUS CHRIST HAS COME IN THE FLESH IS FROM GOD; and every spirit that DOES NOT CONFESS JESUS IS NOT FROM GOD; and this is the spirit of the antichrist...of which you have heard that it is coming, and NOW it is already in the world.." (I John 4:1-3)

Jesus is God in the flesh. Deny it...join the antichrists.

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

"God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways; in these last days has spoken to us in HIS SON whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom He MADE THE WORLD. And He (Jesus) is the radiance of His glory and the EXACT REPRESENTATION of His nature, and upholds all things by the WORD OF HIS POWER. When He had made purification of sins (D.B.R.) He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; having become MUCH BETTER THAN THE ANGELS, as He has inherited a MORE EXCELLENT NAME than they. For to which of the angels did He ever say...Thou art my Son...today I have begotten Thee? And again I will be a Father to Him and He shall be a Son to Me? And when He again brings the first-born into the world, He says...And let all the angels of God WORSHIP HIM." (Hebrews 1:1-6)

NOTE: You can worship yourself...you can worship religions and cults and cult leaders...you can follow Oprah into hell...you can trust your ability to be good...you can stick your head in the cultural sand and ignore the need for salvation...you can follow any road that you want to follow...BUT...in the words of Bob Dylan...you got to serve somebody...it may be the devil...it may be the Lord...but you got to serve somebody.

Love and Non-Cultic Kisses
Rodney "Jesus Came In The Flesh" Boyd

NATURE VERSUS NURTURE

Hello all of you Human Beans...that's right...beans. There are many types of beans and many ways to cook those beans...but the bottom line...they are beans.
According to the World Population Clock...as of 04/06/09...the world population of human beans is...6,771,519,545...give or take a bean or two.

"For God so loved the 6,771,519,545...that He gave His only begotten Son...that whosoever of those 6,771,519,545 believes in Him...should NOT PERISH but have everlasting/eternal life." (John 3:16 RSV...Ruminator Standard Version) How 'bout dem odds.....................6,771,519,545 to ONE.

I've been thinking about how everyone in the world...has their own personal lives and experiences....but they all have something in common.

"The rich and the poor have this in common...the Lord is the maker of them all." (Proverbs 22:2)

Another thing that we have in common is the fact that we are spirit, soul, and body. "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your (1) spirit (2) soul (3) body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." (I Thessalonians 5:23)

In human bean development...there is much continued debate about HOW we develop as humans....in the areas of (1) personality (2) socially (3) emotional behaviour (4) intelligence (5) language. The great debate is:

NATURE versus NURTURE.

Nature (innate, nativism, innatism) is the expression of genetics...the basis for development. NATURE proponents declare that we are born with everything we need for our entire life. The DNA (Deoxyribonucleicacid) is the blueprint...code...for life. This includes how we look to how we speak. If you were born and then placed on an island...the naturist state that your language will develop naturally.

Nurture (personal experience, empiricism, behaviorism) is the expression of everything you experience...the good, the bad and the ugly. John Locke calls this tabula rasa (Latin) for BLANK SLATE. NURTURE proponents states that everyone is born with a CLEAN/BLANK SLATE and our sensory/environmental experiences is where we develop our (1) personality (2) social lifestyle (3) emotional behavior (3) intelligence (4) language (5) and everything else

The nature versus nurture joke is....two ducks talking to each other. One duck says...well...you walk like a duck, you quack like a duck...may I ask who brought you up. The Saturday Evening Post picture is one of a scrawny young boy...trying to break free from the slate that he was given at birth...with hopes of developing into a muscle man. NOTE: This picture...literally looks like me as a young boy facial features and all.


Man (male) and Wo-man (female)...were made in the IMAGE of God. He gave them BOTH authority...blessed them BOTH...He provided for BOTH...and He saw that BOTH were VERY GOOD. (Genesis 1:26-31) Most likely...neither Adam or Eve had belly buttons...since they were NOT born in the traditional sense...but were created out of nothing and developed out of a rib.

We are born as individuals. Each one of the 6,771,519,545 individual human beans have another thing in common....FINGERPRINTS. Each one as individual as a snowflake falling softly to the ground...but collectively as a snowflake becomes combined with snow on the earth...the individual collectively become the WORLD.

I personally believe that just like we have DNA that is the blueprint for everything we need....BUT...our individual experiences shapes who we are.

Remember that we have a body/soma (flesh, blood, bones, etc.). We have a soul/psyche (mind, volition/free will/choices, and emotions). We are a spirit/pneuma (the core of who we are...the lamp of the Lord).

When Adam/Eve choose to disobey God...aka original sin...this sin affected all of our spiritual genetic makeup. "Therefore, just as through one man sin (Adam) sin entered into the world, and death through sin...and so death spread to all men/women (you and me)...because ALL SINNED." (Romans 5:12)

"For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this...that ONE (Jesus) died for ALL (you and me)...therefore ALL died; and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf." (II Corinthians 5:14,15)

"For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, in order that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit." (I Peter 3:18)

The phrase "soul"..."soul man"..."soul food"..."soul music"... etc...has roots in the African American community...that extends from Africa...to the cotton fields...through racist America...through the 60's into this new millennium. It speaks of the personal and collective experience (good, bad, and ugly)...and how these experiences shapes what and how we think...the choices that we make... and the expression of our emotions.

This shaping of our SOULS...as individual human beans is not necessarily exclusive to the African American community. The things that we experience (the good, bad, and ugly) as individuals in the sea of 6,771,519,545 people...touch and affect who and what we are and do.

JESUS THE CHRIST (Anointed One...anointed with yoke destroying, burden lifting, oppression removing, healing power of the Holy Ghost)...came to RESTORE our lost spiritual DNA. The spiritual DNA helix was split...and there was separation between us and God...Jesus came to restore our relationship with the Father.

Now...what got me to ruminating about this Rambling...is how I view individuals. If...the LOVE OF CHRIST controls me...and I have concluded that ONE DIED FOR ALL...and that if I truly believe that....He died and rose again on the behalf of those who He died for...then that should affect the way I view individual people. (II Corinthians 5:15). The next verse starts of with THEREFORE. This means that what follows next is connected by what we just read.

"Therefore...FROM NOW ON (from this point until He returns)...we recognize NO MAN...according to the FLESH...even though we have known Christ according to the flesh...yet now we know Him thus no longer." (II Corinthians 5:16) If I am ever going to truly be a minister of reconciliation and ambassador for Christ (II Corinthians 5:18-20)...I have to break from how I VIEW people...individuals...the world... the 6,771,519,545 people in the world.

This does not mean that you overlook sins...but you do not...COUNT THEIR TRESPASSES AGAINST THEM. (II Corinthians 5:19) This is how we can become ambassadors for Christ...as though God were entreating THROUGH US...and we BEG THEM on behalf of Christ to BE RECONCILED TO GOD. (II Corinthians 5:20). NOTE: It is hard to love someone....when you hate them...or as we Christianize it... "Oh I love the sinner...but hate the sin."

When you read..."As it is written...THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS...NO NOT ONE." (Romans 3:10)...and then read Paul's view..."The RIGHTEOUS shall live by faith." (Romans 1:17)...there must be something that happened between those two points. What happened is JESUS. "He (the Father)...made Him (Jesus)...who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf (propitiation, substitute, satisfaction for the Father)...that we MIGHT BECOME...the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IN HIM."

This is a spiritual fact...that we are to present to a lost and dying world...so they can make a choice of their free will to accept what He did. This will change the very nature of their NATURE versus their NURTURE. A relationship with Jesus will change the core of who they are...to what they have become in this worldly environment that shapes who we are and what we do.

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY.

"I urge you therefore brethren by the mercies of God...to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable/well-pleasing to God...which is your reasonable/spiritual service of worship. And do not be CONFORMED (shaped to the environmental things) to this world...BUT be TRANSFORMED (metamorphosed like a butterfly)...by the renewing of your mind (what you think shaped by what God thinks)...that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:1,2)

Love and Transformed Kisses
Rodney "A Renewed Soul Man" Boyd

THE STUMBLING BLOCK

Hello believers. Everyone believes in something...even if it is nothing. An atheist believes in the great nothingness...the intellectual believes he has got it all figured out. The agnostic would like to believe but can't quite get there from here. Humanism believes...well...in humans. Liberals believe we owe it to everyone... while conservatives believe we owe it to ourselves. Religious people believe we must work our way to God by convincing Him that we are worthy. Hedonist believe in self-gratification is the ultimate belief. Inclusionist believes that all roads lead to heaven...Jesus believes that He is THE way...THE truth...and THE life...and that NO ONE comes to the Father but by/through HIM. The Welfare state believes that their hand is out...and you need to fill it. The non-Welfare state believes that you need to get off your good intentions and help yourself. Politico's believe that the politician has the solution...the non-politician believes that politics means poly=many...ticks=blood suckers. Many people believe Christianity is like a buffet table... and we pick what we want to believe and add to the table what we want on the menu.

In the words of Wayne Gregg..."You guys are making it too hard."


As we enter into the final days of this Lenten season...preparing for the grand entrance of Palm Sunday...that will quickly turn deadly as they mock, torture, flog to a bloody pulp, pull out his beard by their hands, grind long and sharp thorns into His brow, drive a spear into His side, and then wait as the agonizing death comes... and as He dies...and is buried...and is RAISED FROM THE DEAD...let's consider what the GOSPEL is...and what the GOSPEL is not.

Gospel simply means...the GOOD NEWS. It was something that Paul was not ashamed of...because it was the POWER OF GOD...for SALVATION...to the Jew first...and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)

This good news...was good news about a KINGDOM...a place where there is a king...and kingdom principles rules. When Jesus went about...He (1) Taught in their synagogues (2) Proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom (3) Healed all manner of sickness and disease. (Matthew 4:23; 9:25; 11:5)...based on the anointing of the Holy Ghost and power...where He went about (1) Doing good (2) Healing all who were oppressed by the devil (little d)...for God was with Him. (Acts 10:38)



The gnostics...anti-Christ/Anointing...the religious people of the day...all had their spin on this thing called the GOSPEL. The gnostic's believed: (1) Knowledge is superior to virtue (2)the non literal sense of Scripture is correct and can be understood ONLY by a select few (which you probably not) (3) evil in the world precludes God's being the only Creator (4) the INCARNATION (Jesus/God coming down in flesh form) is incredible because DEITY cannot unite itself with anything material such as a body (5) there is NO RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH. The ethical standards of many Gnostics were low. (Thanx and a Tip O' Da Hat to Ryrie Study Bible Notes to Ist John)

There ain't nothin' new under the sun...unless it is under THE SON. Gnosticism with deep roots in the spirit of anti-Christ...run deep in this world as they DENY THAT JESUS CAME IN THE FLESH. (Read Ist John to see how you can KNOW that you have eternal life.)

This thing called the CROSS stumbles up many an intellectual. "For the WORD OF THE CROSS...is to those who are PERISHING foolishness...but to us who are being SAVED it is the POWER OF GOD. (I Corinthians 1:18).
(Read I Corinthians 1:17-30 for full details of thes thing called THE SCANDILON...THE STUMBLING BLOCK.)

The gospel ain't WORKS...or DEEDS done in righteousness (See Titus 3:5 and Ephesians 2:8-10 and Galatians 3:1-5)...but that does not mean that you get to sit back on your best intentions...(Ephesians 2:10; James 1:19-27; James 2:14-26). Works don't save you...but you do get saved unto works. The GOSPEL ain't what you do or don't do. It ain't about how good you are or what you gave up or how much you gave to the poor.

Back to my friend Wayne Gregg...who told the Mormon council..."You guys are making it too hard."

"For God so love the world that He gave His only begotten Son...that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."

WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?

"Now I make known to you...brethren...the GOSPEL which I preached to you...which also you RECEIVED...in which also you STAND...by which also you are SAVED...IF...you HOLD FAST the word which I preached to you, unless you BELIEVED in vain. For I delivered to you as of FIRST IMPORTANCE...what I also received that...(1) Christ DIED for our sins (2) He was BURIED (3) He was RAISED on the 3rd day. (I Corinthians 1-4) This was witnessed by Cephas/Peter, the twelve, to more than 500 brethren, to James, to all the apostles...and last of all to Paul.

All of this was based on GRACE. Grace is: (1) favor (2) unmerited favor (3) free gift (4) the divine influence in the heart manifested in the life of the believer. Grace is always and inside out working that changes you...never you changing hoping it will change the inside. It is like religion that is always reaching up to God...while Christianity is God reaching down to man.

"FOR CHRIST ALSO DIED FOR SINS ONCE FOR ALL, THE JUST FOR THE UNJUST, IN ORDER THAT HE MIGHT BRING US TO GOD, HAVING BEEN PUT TO DEATH IN THE FLESH, BUT MADE ALIVE IN THE SPIRIT." (I Peter 3:18)

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY

CALL: He is Risen
RESPONSE: He is Risen...INDEED!!!!

Love and non-ashamed kisses
Rodney "Don't Stumble Over The Stone" Boyd