Tag Archives: evidence

Are You An Embassy Without Walls?

2013-07-07_1098911_67628863Crime Scene Investigators primarily use their powers of observation to provide context for the evidence they collect. First responders are trained to preserve the state of the crime scene evidence by setting up a perimeter until investigators can collect the evidence. In some cases for prolonged investigations crime scene tape and police seals stand guard to protect the evidence for longer periods of time.

 

Likewise walls and fences around an embassy stand guard to protect the valuable evidence of the sovereign territory contained within the walls. To the persons on the outside the evidence may hold a value of life or death, granting them due process under a different set of laws, which may give them safety from harm. All that stands between them is the wall, fence and guards.

 

The US Embassies around the world use specially trained Marines and a corps of diplomats who understand these articles of evidence. These articles include passports, flag orders, diplomatic documents, vehicle license plates, classified documents and the like.  Anyone on the outside of the wall in possession of one of the articles may use it to gain access to the full measure of sovereignty represented by that country inside embassy wall.

 

Mark 1:14-15 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

 

Matthew 10:7-8 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.

 

Daughters and Sons of God are embassies of God’s Kingdom. They are representatives of mankind who are consciously aware of what we carry on the inside and they have removed the walls so that any human they encounter may freely access the sovereignty of the Kingdom they carry on the inside.  Unlike man-made kingdoms any person can run up to an embassy of God’s kingdom and claim asylum and a true citizen will grant immunity, safety, justice in the form of reconciliation, adoption and forgiveness.

 

Matthew 7:5-7 Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. 6 “Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. 7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

In my opinion one of the big mistakes some religious systems make when they try to get people to recognize the value of what they carry by placing a wall around it. Provoking people through jealously is a tactic that God used but He never made it harder to acquire the His Kingdom and His sovereignty.

 I believe the orthodox interpretation of the scripture that says do not “cast your pearls before swine” has been wrongly applied and taken out of its context, not that I have the full understanding. But when you look at the two scriptures that surround verse 6 of Matthew 7 the goal of a Kingdom diplomat remains to give away what is Holy to those outside of the Kingdom freely making them members of our Father’s Kingdom of which we all were once strangers and in some ways still remain estranged.

 

Like police tape, the bible has preserved the scene of Jesus ministry and reveals the context in which He dispensed reconciliation, adoption and forgiveness from our Father in heaven. As disciples of Jesus we are commanded to likewise make disciples of all that we meet. Because all that we have to give is what is on the inside and if we put walls and fences around that then how effective will we be. We are called to freely give away what we have freely received.

 

But wrongly many believe they paid a price for their relationship with God’s Presence and so they feel the need to exact a price instead of giving away what they consider valuable.  However this leads to bad valuations of what God paid as a price. From a human perspective that value could vary with as many people who received the gift of His Presence. But we must remember that Jesus died because no human on earth at the time of His death could truly understand the value of our Father’s Gift to humanity. Even today some would limit the value of God’s Presence for themselves and their friends.  So the question still remains, did Jesus truly die for every human?

 

One of the reasons we fence in the US Embassy is to keep citizens of a foreign country from just running up and requesting asylum. If this were not the case our country would grow, we would have to extend benefits to these new citizens and the host country could become destabilized. What human would not want be a citizen of the most powerful nation on the planet. However if we wall in the sovereignty, freedom, power and blessing of God’s Kingdom then we miss the point of our citizenship.  Jesus was not only just sent to make the kingdom known, He was also sent to make the Kingdom available.

 

The truth of spiritual reality is that there is death outside the walls of God’s Kingdom. And unfortunately there are people and organizations that would have you and the rest of the human population to remain outside of God’s Kingdom. But God’s plan continues to send out Sons and Daughters who are conscious of who they are so they can offer His Kingdom and increase the number of Daughters and Sons who in turn are also willing to go out.  So I encourage us all too freely give away that which we have been freely given.

 

Matthew 21:33-40 “Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.34 Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit.35 And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another.36 Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them.37 Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’38 But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’39 So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him.

 

40 “Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?”

 

Romans 8:16-17  The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

 

Gal 3:28-29  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

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Is Your Evidence a Call to All?

13-05-19_120649_4980If there is an example of the perfect human I would say it was Jesus. Buddha Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Father Joe are all great examples of humans that have made a difference, but for me Jesus stands above them all. So much so I have chosen to be His disciple. Therefore from that moment of decision until now or at any time in the future if you were to conduct a forensic examination of my life it should indicate that I am a disciple of Jesus.

1John 4:18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

Jesus speaking to God our Father:

John 17:23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

Luke 6:40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.

It is my belief that every human has a call and it is to attain human perfection. So what is perfection and is it possible? If we understand the components of the human through scripture we see that we are three-part-beings. First and at our core is a spiritual being (the little “I” of our existence).  Secondly is our soul which have capacities of intellect, will and emotions that take a lifetime to develop and understand. Thirdly our spirit and soul are contained in a physical body that allows us to operate and relate to others and the objects of this material realm. 

Together and more importantly, human perfection is about the capacity of our being to carry or host the Spiritual Presence of God (the big “I” of our existence). As we become aware of that aspect of our human make-up, it starts to happen that we develop a soulish-understanding that our spirit is in God and God’s spirit is in us forming human perfection. This is the good news that the divine and the common are once again in unity. Bringing and demonstrating that truth is the ministry of Jesus. His prayer was simply “I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one”.

To me Jesus was perfect because He had this understanding (the mind of Christ). His mission, the reason He was sent, was to make clear to humanity that this state of being is available to all. In my opinion a lot of our religious activity is distracting because it is not reinforcing this main point. Do this in remembrance of me were Jesus words. So what about Jesus should we be remembering?

Matthew 28:19 Go thereforeand make disciples of all the nations…

Matthew 20:21-23 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

When we awake to the fact of our call as humans we become activated to the purpose of our mission. We have been given citizenship into our Father’s Kingdom, and authority to accomplish the mission in this earth realm. The call on our lives and our mission are simple; become perfect and awake others. As disciples we enter a student-master relationship to become like Master Jesus pledging to follow only His example. The Lord is our Shepard and He alone leads us. When we make other disciples we point them to Jesus as well.

The big problem I see with Christian religion of which I take responsibility because I remain a part of organizational leadership is that we got distracted. We started to follow and train ourselves to the traditions of men and lost sight of perfection. I lost sight of Jesus and more importantly I and our institutions have pointed others in a direction that was not developing their student-master relationship. So now I pray, hope and work with the grace of God to restore vision and I repent often for those that I misled, that they find their way toward Jesus again.

I believe our call is worth the effort. More importantly the object of our call, He is worth our attention. Jesus actions was for all of humanity and the reason I say we have been distracted is sometimes the evidence of our call is not aimed at all humans. Sometimes we interpret scripture and feel justified to pre-judge who will answer the call. Our call is to become perfect and become like Jesus and part of fulfilling that call is to go and make disciples of all the nations.

Isaiah 11:3 …And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;

Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 

Our call is to all humans and not political systems, geographical regions, national borders, or cultural groups. Jesus executed His ministry with none of these distinctions in mind. He saw the possibility for all of mankind to be one with our Father. I encourage us to remember that we are sent by our Father to reconcile all humans to God and His Kingdom. We fail our call if we fail to call all. Whatever door we stand at we have the privilege to activate the awareness of God’s Presence that dwells within them. However if we fail to see God with our spiritual eyes on the inside of other people then the evidence of our call is far short of human perfection. The evidence of our call must be to all.

Luke 10:4-6 But whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it; if not, it will return to you. 

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Christianity 3.0 – New Evidence Emerging

2013-04-22_349395_3394What does it mean to be human? In theory the Disciples of Jesus answered that question the moment they choose to become Disciples. At that moment of decision, the journey of personal transformation to become fully human was in process for them. Christianity was established by God as the organization to help people make the free will decision to become disciples of Jesus. In most cases this is the stated goal of every local church group but as we analyze the effort of theses local church groups there appears to be a disconnect from that main mission.

Matthew 28:19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…

Luke 6:40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.

The question is, that after over 2000 years of Christianity has the average person who calls themselves a Christian been fully trained or transformed and are they any closer to being what it means to be fully human as exemplified by Jesus than humans of Jesus generation?  If that is the goal of Christianity then what needs to change to accomplish this goal?

Prior to Jesus the Christ, Old Testament Judaism created the expectation of a savior for humankind that would bring freedom from the materialistic bondage in this earthly realm. As I continue my oversimplification, Peter soon after the resurrection of Jesus established the Church in Jerusalem putting the first humans on the path of transformation, let’s call this Christianity 1.0.  However in 1517 Martin Luther initiated a protest that was aimed to reform this first version of Christianity to move the church from a system of indulgences to one of faith as the new foundation of Christianity. Let us call this Christianity 2.0.  

Now at the turn of this millennium (2000 AD) there is another protest coming out of this post-modern culture that answers “no” with respect to the question have we been transformed as humans and are we more fully human when compared to our human ancestors of Jesus time.   Therefore what I sense emerging from Christianity’s many sectors and denominations is what I call Christianity 3.0.

From my point of view of what may emerge as the newest tenants of Christianity will include 1) the removal of the religious hierarchical structure thus empowering and elevating all individual believers to a place of equality and 2) there will become a new awareness and focus on the spiritual (mystical, divine) primary, vertical relationship between God and each disciple of Jesus and 3) the development of a practical biblical love based relationship between each disciple and the rest of humankind as sisters and brothers.

Christianity 1.0 and 2.0 will remain vibrant and will naturally undergo transformation as it relates to its newest sibling Christianity 3.0. As this new move of God grows and emerges many invested in the current status quo may allow their hearts to become hard toward God and become resistant to the birth of a new movement and miss the true desire of their heart. Revolutionary transition is never easy but there is already a whole generation of 2.0 Christians that felt alienated for a while are ready to embrace the changes in Christianity.

So if the lack of hierarchy and the development of spiritual and loving relationships become a new trend, how will the transition play out? Already new styles of worship services and new types of gathering styles have been developed and are being tried. Meeting that are more community oriented and less big groups following one person will user in new styles of leadership. In fact many of the 1.0 and 2.0 seminaries have begun offering courses to students as they explore this new movement. There is also a trend of very successful ministry leaders taking sabbatical to hear from God and get a handle on growing movement.

If there is one lessons to be learned from the Christianity 2.0 transition, it is that 500 years from now what will Christianity 4.0 want to reform about this move?  The pioneers and forerunners of this move are reviewing and again experimenting with old traditions of the early and middle age church hoping to uncover some lost jewels that may be relevant to the disciples of the 21st  century.  So what we are carrying forward  are those traditions that are biblically mandated and those that are producing good fruit. Christianity 3.0 must ask itself, if the disciples of this move fail to produce disciples that measure up to the image of Christ what will the next generation change and can those changes be made now?

As we look back over the previous versions we have a lot to be proud of. At least we were given a faith and a hope. However as we develop new styles and practices we must ensure that our communities stay focused to make sure we keep to the mission? Individually as disciples we must take responsibility of our personal transformation and determine if change is happening as efficient as it can go. We must question as to whether we yielding to the Spirit of God and allowing ourselves to be changed. We must ask the hard questions as to whether we personally are more like Christ than humankind was at the time of Jesus or have we retreated to just  keeping our religious traditions.

Some would argue that if we could get back to where the early church was this generation would be doing great. But we all must ask why and how did we lose what they had? Disciples believe they can do what their rabbi does. More important if a rabbi selects a disciple to be a follower, it is because the rabbi believes the disciple can become like the rabbi. No disciple wants a bad rabbi and rabbi chooses a bad disciple.

So I believe God’s faith in us is the driver of this reform in Christianity once again. God has made a way for each of  us to be one with Him and that is the hope and faith we share as humans and Disciples of Jesus.

Romans 8:38-39 For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, 39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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