Tag Archives: spiritual 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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Reconciled by Spiritual Evidence

In our courts we use evidence to help us establish facts. As believers in Christ we understand that every person will one day face judgment concerning their life. Also as ambassadors of God’s Kingdom we try to help people everywhere avoid a judgment that will result in eternal separation from their true love. God’s love for all people is the fact of the evidence that we present.

 Hebrews 9:26-28 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

 There is a common delusion that blinds the hearts and minds of all the people in this material world and it says that God is angry with us, we do not measure up and unless we do something He will not love us. Through this delusion people look at the 6000 years of biblical history and come away with the interpretation that God has played favorites and chose Israel above all others nations to save and today He chooses Christians as the object of His favor.

 The belief in this deception causes more than half of the members of the human population to consider themselves enemies of God of the Jewish and Christian faiths. The delusion is so complete the religious members of these faiths tend to also view the people of the world as enemies of their God. This lack of revealed truth has caused the children of God to act like brothers and sisters living in a deeply contentious family feud.

 Only the light of truth, spiritual truth, from God’s point of view can heal this dysfunctional family. God’s equal love for all His children can also be clearly seen in the 6000 years of biblical history. His desire to be reconciled to all of His children can be clearly seen in the light of spiritual truth. Simply put, God loves us everyone.

 As members of the Kingdom of God learn to present evidence of spiritual truth from God’s point of view, a process of reconciliation will take place. The delusion of darkness in this material world will give way to the light of spiritual truth and the children of God in this world will know and understand the love of their Father in heaven. Reconciliation must be the heart of all that is presented as spiritual evidence in order to make all things new.

 Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy.

 2 Corinthians 5:18-19  Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

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Righteous Relativism

In this post I am going to stray from my normal look at evidence as a metaphor. The goal of this posting will remain the same in that I hope to encourage us to present spiritual evidence of God’s Kingdom. So today I want to discuss Legal Relativism or Righteous Relativism.

1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

 As a person who is spiritually aware I believe in the absolute of right and a wrong and the understanding that there is truth and untruth. But I also know that my understanding of these at any moment is a function of my perception. I also believe there are three basic relationships, one with God, one with others, and the one with our self. For this discussion of relativism I am comparing our relationships to truth.

 John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

 There is a personal momentum that relates to our transformational journey. We all find ourselves  in place that is relative to truth. As we begin to explore the world around us we move toward what we believe is truth and away from dysfunction and untruths. Then we begin to gravitate in our relative orbits around God and truth and we say to ourselves and others I can live here. This is our lifestyle, which is a summation of choices that we have made and this places us in a relative position never static because we continue to make choice throughout our life.

 As we discover a clearer picture of truth we can choose to move toward it and as we discover that the traditions we have embraced are not as pure in truth as we once thought we willingly refine our lifestyle and thereby move our position relative to the truth we discover. So from a material or a spiritual point of view the question remains what is truth and are we willing to change our lifestyle to move forward on our journey of transformation? As Christians we believe Jesus is the Master copy of perfect human lifestyle, is in perfect relationship to God, others and Himself.

 2 Corinthians 10:12 For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

 If our spiritual journey is toward truth and God (children of light seek light) there are several ways to determine if we are making progress in a direction toward truth. One way is by judging our relative position using others as relative markers so we can determine if we making forward momentum. But if we judge our movement using others that moving away from truth our movement is relative to those and not relative truth and God’s Kingdom.

 Some religion’s tend to rely on this form of relativism to justify stagnate growth and a refusal to allow their personal lifestyles to become transformed. So during the weekly meetings instead of seeking truth they tend to point out the faults in other religions, other sexual lifestyles, or the effects of holding different political positions. While these other groups may be wrong in their choices this approach only proves that they are not moving in their direction it does not prove they are moving toward truth. 

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Romans 12:2-3 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

 The best way to determine our relativistic movement is to focus on the source of God and truth and not the movement of others.  In the material world science has determined that as we approach a light source the light will appear blue and as we move away it will appear red. This is called the red and blue shift effect. This is the best way to gage our spiritual journey and this will reduce the false readings we get by observing others.

 Spiritual evidence tends to reinforce our focus on the spiritual source of God’s Kingdom. Transformation into the likeness of Jesus carries with it the purpose and responsibility of revealing God the source of all truth. Jesus was sent and we have become His agents, forgiving sin, healing the sick and waking the dead. All of these are results of spiritual evidence but they are themselves also spiritual evidence.

 It is my hope that we to speak the truth in love in order to encourage others to move towards God and His Kingdom. It is easy to point the finger at the Muslim, the homosexual, and the illegal immigrant. Seeing and judging them may prove that our relative position is closer to God as compared to their position. However, unless we are willing to love, forgive and establish an atmosphere of reconciliation for them, our relative position to God will also be moving in a direction that is anti to Christ and His purpose. God so loved this world that He sent Christ who has given us His authority to carry out the purpose of the one who sent Him. So let us walk in the light of God’s truth and enjoy our position of right standing with God our heavenly Father.

 Mark 6:4 But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.”

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