A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS By Teresa Beem

I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.

If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love....This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 

You are my friends if you do what I command you. ...I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. (Excerpts from John 15)

Christ abiding in us and we abiding in Christ. Wow. That is almost beyond comprehension. Jesus tells the Apostles that He desires a profound and perfect unity with them. Many people search for this divine friendship and find it in various forms. Catholics and Protestants prefer different ways of describing this unity with God. 

Jesus is My BFF

Evangelicals describe this connection as “a personal relationship with Jesus.” That is a very sweet phrase. In fact, “that phrase is the number one metaphor that modern Evangelicals use to describe their faith.  They use it to draw a contrast between a living faith (personal relationship) and a dead one (going through religious motions).”1

On the surface, Catholics would not disagree with it. In fact, I can say that I, as a Catholic, have a personal relationship with Christ. However, the current usage of this phrase can be theologically suspect in certain cases. 

First, the phrase is nowhere found in scripture. Though scriptures imply that Christ wants an intimate connection with us, it is puzzling that Protestants who insist that everything have a prooftext from scripture would use this extra-biblical phrase to describe their theology. 

It is not even a historical Christian term. The first usage is from the Victorian age in Caroline M. Hallett’s book, Rest By the Way (p. 34) in 1881. Not well known, the phrase  made a brief comeback in Christian literature during WWI and WWII (note that the men were away at war) but did not become popular until the late 1960’s. And the term has skyrocketed in the Christian culture since then. The phrase is equivalent to saying, “I am born-again” or “I have been justified through faith alone.” It means, “Hey, I know Jesus, I’m in.” 


When I was a Protestant I knew people who claimed their personal relationship with Christ was so close they would talk to Jesus all day long and even ask Him everything about what to do down to which socks to wear. And they were serious. 

This theology of a "relationship" with Jesus often does not draw the Christian up to Christ, but attempts (in our democratically-correct worldview) to bring God down to our level. Often this relationship becomes secular and mundane.

We see the secularization of God in T-shirts and bumper stickers.

The problem is not with having a relationship with Christ, but what kind of relationship do you have with Him? 

Is Jesus your friend? Indeed, Christ called His Apostles His friends. 

“I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father." John 15: 15

But what does that mean to be the friend of Christ? I am afraid it has devolved into the profaning of Christ as nothing more than a buddy and pal.

As you can see from this video, our trivialization of our relationship with Christ began before most of us were born. But today...

Is Jesus your homeboy, your "top dawg"? 
The very word “relationship” implies a certain equality that can cause men to revere and fear God less. But notice in the above text that Jesus still calls Himself the Master, even in that friend relationship.  

Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. Matt. 24: 46 (See also John 13: 6, Luke 5:5) 

Jesus as Father
Is the relationship between you and God one of a child to a father? Again, this is biblical:

Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Matt. 6:9.

Jesus is to be our Lord, yet even calling Him Lord doesn’t mean we will enter the Kingdom. (Matt. 7:21) Too often the theology of a personal relationship with Jesus leads to a relationship based upon an experience of feelings and sentimentality that leads to a passivity among Christians. 

A relationship based on experiencing warm fuzzies
Very often people who do not have this type of experience feel they are not saved and become so discouraged as to turn from Christianity. This warm feely gospel message alienates those who, from an act of will, believe in Christ and live in obedience to His commandments but do not hear His voice or feel His presence in their hearts. 

I have comforted people who have broken down in sobs because they have prayed for so many years to have this dramatic "feeling" of Christ in their hearts and they simply do not have such an experience and they believe God doesn't love them. They hear all these stories of people hearing God's voice and feeling His presence and they feel abandoned.  

I know of teenagers who are so pressed by their Evangelical parents to have this spiritual "experience" with Christ that the kids end up faking it so they can feel saved and please their parents. Later some of them end up tossing out God altogether because they never have an authenticating spiritual moment that they came to expect to prove God to them.

What a shame! Blessed are you who do not see and yet believe, Jesus said. Perhaps those who follow Christ and never have these warm fuzzies are also blessed because they must walk in faith alone, without the reward of comforting spiritual experiences. We should not think ourselves better or closer to God just because we feel His presence in our lives. We actually have an easier road than those who must faithfully journey on in the dark without feeling God's presence with them.

 A "personal relationship" also alienates men who are not comfortable with a description of how they relate to God as a “relationship.” Men are born for combat. Men are turned off at a sentimental faith whose connection is based on subjective experiences.

In America’s golden years of church attendance (1950's-60's), when men were in the pews and in leadership, the gospel message was more about obedience and mission. The idea of a “relationship” with Christ, grew with the sixties flower child movement and the feminization of our culture that seeped into the church. Men do not understand or are attracted to a touchy, feely gospel of relationship.2 

So, now women dominate in church leadership and attendance.

We need to get our men back in church, so we need to change our verbiage to something more like Christ Himself taught--a masculine gospel about sacrifice and service. The personal relationship we need to have with Christ is that He is our king. (Luke 19:27; 23:2, John 1: 49; 12: 13) Men can relate to that image.

Israel's Household gods

While we need to be connected to God as individuals, the pop theology of a "personal relationship" has separated us into being our own little spiritual authorities and has substituted our personal desire for submission to God's will. We can fall prey to the idea that God is that little voice in our head telling us to follow our own preferences. We confuse our own ideas with our conscience. 

Israel fell prey to the local household gods of surrounding nations. The idols could be small enough to place in your pocket and the women would ask them for help in mundane favors as well as predictions of the future. (Gen. 31:19, 35; Judges 17: 5; 18:14,17; Hos. 3:4) The abuse of the idea of a personal relationship with Christ can lead to the creation of a small, controllable, keep-in-your pocket Jesus, doing for us just what the household gods did for the Israelite. They did nothing but mirror what the worshipper wanted. They became their own god through projecting themselves and their desires into the idol. So their own spiritual echo sounded like god to them.

This spiritual me-ism is deadly. Christians need a greater emphasis on the unity of the entire Body of Christ to keep us from centering God in us rather than we centering ourself in God. 

What is a true personal relationship with God?

Is He your Great Pal that you knuckle bump in your mental communications, because, "Dude, my God is so cool?" Is that what scripture describes as our relationship to God? A drinking buddy god?

We learned in the first text exactly what the "personal relationship with Jesus" must look like: 

Obedience.

They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them." John 14: 21 

You are my friends if you do what I command you. John 15: 14 

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. John 14: 15

Despair not if you fear you cannot be obedient to Him. He freely gives His grace and power to those who want to live in obedience. Get on your knees and pray without ceasing for it.

Obedience: The True Relationship

Christ told His Apostles that friendship came after being an obedient servant. It was because they had been there from the beginning and had served him as a disciple that then they could afterwards be called friends. 

Does your personal relationship with Christ include a surrender of will and desires to Him? Do you keep His commandments or do you hear a small little voice telling you that since you are sincere and loving that you can decide on your own what is good and bad? Does that personal relationship include your own personal morality?

Do not be self-deceived and let some pseudo- “personal relationship with Christ” substitute for real obedience to God. 

For it is the Only Begotten, the Holy One who speaks and the cosmos obeys. It is He who judges with an iron fist, to whom the entire world will one day fall upon their faces in humble worship. Let our relationship be one of obedience to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 

________________
¹ Murrow, David, A Few Grown Men Blog at Patheos (www.patheos.com) June 10, 2013
2 Ibid.

Also thanks to Father Dwight Longnecker at:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/standingonmyhead/http://dwightlongenecker.com

PUT ON THE WHOLE ARMOR OF GOD by Teresa Beem

It got to him. It got to him while he was laughing at some little vulgarity or wickedness. He did not know that his laughter benumbed him to the hideous shadow slipping into his thoughts.

It infected him…

Then he then became his own nightmare, in that he was willing to destroy himself that he may wound his enemy.

Be afraid. Be very afraid. This dark, suicidal presence that cannot yet be conceived of, is standing so close its breath is upon your neck. 

"Yes, laugh, mock. It feels good."

"It has no power. You have power."

Those calming whispers do not come from rational men, but from the very ghoul itself. It wants you to believe it is playing, teasing you. It wants you to believe it will have mercy upon the nice people. That it is forgiving and ….. likes you. That somehow you will be the exception when it begins to rule. You will be a favorite in its kingdom. Do not be that stupid.

This dark unstoppable force is very much like the zombies in the clip above. 

It is sin. 

If sin doesn't scare the hell out of you, then you do not know sin. Sin is your most frightening enemy. It doesn't just want you, it wants your siblings, your spouse, your children. 

Sin's obsession with you has nothing to do with hate, for it has no feelings towards humans--you mean nothing to it for it has no heart, no understanding. It is not rational and cannot be persuaded by the greatest human genius. It gives no thought to the innocent or the elderly or the kind-hearted or most sincere. It's goal is utter annihilation. And you cannot join its side and live through it.

Sin has declared war on you and your family whether or not you wish to fight. And it is unstoppable until you and the entire world is destroyed. 

You cannot become a conscientious objector in this battle against sin. You have no hiding place. Do you believe that if you are quiet and still, this evil will not see you?… It has eyes all around and while you cower in a dark corner an axe is poised above your head. It will win. Destruction will win at any cost and it is not playing.

While Christians are right in that Christ won the cosmic war with Satan, those of us on earth are still left vulnerable to sin's madness if we have not put on the whole armor of God. 

Look at what sin did to the Creator and He who is love itself. (Ephesians 6)

  

That day of evil is here. Will you be able to stand?

PETER'S FAITH OR PETER?

Seriously, I could do nothing here but link to the Shameless Popery website and be done with it. What a place to find brilliant sparkling theological gems! So, I am just going to repost parts of Joe Heschmeyer's answer to the Protestant's claim that Matthew 16:18 is about Peter's faith, rather than Peter himself. And to make things even more amazing, is that this guy is just a kid! A seminarian! I can't wait to read his wisdom when he gets a few years under his belt. 

___________________________________

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 8, 2013

Is "The Rock" of Matthew 16:18 St. Peter? Or His Confession of Faith?

One of the most hotly-contested passages in Catholic-Protestant dialogues is the “Upon This Rock” passage in Matthew 16:18. After the Apostle Simon confesses faith in Jesus as the Messiah (the Christ), Jesus says to him:

“And I tell you, you are Peter, [Petros] and on this rock [petra] I will build my church, and the powers of death [Hades] shall not prevail against it.” 

So is Jesus founding His Church upon Peter, the first pope, as Catholics say? Or is He just saying that the Church will be built off of those who confess faith in Jesus as the Christ, as many Protestants claim?

I’ve previously presented the case for the Catholic interpretation before, but that’s not what I’m going to do today. In this post, I want to show why the popular Protestant interpretation doesn't work.

First, let's examine the Scriptural passage in context (Matthew 16:13-19):

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesare′a Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do men say that the Son of man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Eli′jah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jona! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

In the span of just three of those verses, Jesus addresses Peter personally ten times. Yet under the Protestant interpretation, we’re supposed to believe that this passage wasn’t meant to apply to Peter personally. It’s allegedly addressed to any Christian making such a profession like the one that Peter makes: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 

There are a couple glaring problems with this theory. First, we hear Martha making this exact declaration in John 11:27, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, he who is coming into the world.” And you know what Christ doesn’t do? Change her name to Petra, and promise to build the Church upon her. Nor do we see any of the other Christians in the New Testament renamed Peter. The only person in Scripture ever referred to as “Peter” is the Apostle Simon. This looks a lot like Jesus meant to build the Church upon Peter, and not just anyone willing to declare Him the Messiah.

But okay, we don’t know whether Martha or Peter’s confession of faith came first. So maybe Jesus addresses Matthew 16:18 to Peter because Peter got there first?

Well, this raises the other, even more-glaring problem: Peter didn’t get there first. John 1:32-49 eliminates any room for the Protestant interpretation of the “Upon This Rock” passage. Here it is:

And John bore witness, “I saw the Spirit descend as a dove from heaven, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him; but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples; and he looked at Jesus as he walked, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned, and saw them following, and said to them, “What do you seek?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw where he was staying; and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his brother Simon, and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, “So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter) 

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. And he found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Beth-sa′ida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathan′a-el, and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathan′a-el said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathan′a-el coming to him, and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!” Nathan′a-el said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathan′a-el answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

This passage is fantastic. We hear a series of proclamations of the faith:

1. John the Baptist proclaims Jesus as the Son of God (John 1:34) and the Lamb of God (John 1:36). 
2. The Apostle Andrew, Simon’s brother, proclaims Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ (John 1:41). 

1. The Apostle Philip proclaims Jesus as “him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote,” which is to say, the Messiah (John 1:45). 

1. The Apostle Nathaniel proclaims Jesus as “the Son of God” and “the King of Israel” (John 1:49).

In fact, the only person named in this passage who doesn’t profess faith in Christ is Simon Peter. He’s not recorded as saying anything. And yet right in the midst of this flurry of Messianic proclamations, Jesus does something astounding. He turns to Simon, and as if He has been waiting for him, says “So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas.” It’s remarkable that Jesus should do this: He calls Simon by name, including his family name (so to speak). He does the exact same thing in Matthew 16:18. This is as personal as it gets. And as St. John notes, Cephas is the Aramaic word for rock, and is translated into Greek as Petros, and into English as “Peter.”

So John 1 basically shows us that: (1) everyone but Simon proclaimed that Jesus is the Messiah; (2) Jesus then announced that Simon, Son of John, was the one He would choose as the Rock; and (3) Protestants are left spending five hundred years trying to explain why this passage doesn't mean that Simon is really the Rock, or is personally the Rock, etc.

Bear in mind, this event happens at the very start of Jesus’ public ministry, long before the events of Matthew 16. This eliminates any chance that Simon is named Peter because he’s the first to declare Jesus the Christ. Jesus was being declared as Messiah before Peter had even met Him. Instead, Jesus has made it abundantly clear that He, the Sovereign God, specifically chose Peter as the Rock.

Peter is hand-picked from among the crowd, even when he is surrounded by men who seem like they would be better candidates. It is another reminder that “the LORD sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). And Peter alone is renamed. We may all be rocks (Peter calls us “living stones” in 1 Peter 2:5) but Jesus (the “Living Stone” in the fullest sense, 1 Peter 2:4) chose one from among of us, the Apostle Peter, to be the Rock upon which He built the Church.

Update: Two additional points, worth mentioning, were raised in the comments:

1. Many Protestants base their rejection of the Catholic view off of the supposed difference in meaning between Petros and Petra. That difference in meaning doesn’t really exist in the Greek spoken at the time of Christ. But in any case, as John 1:43 shows, Jesus named Peter “Cephas” in Aramaic, which is the exact same word as “Rock.” In Aramaic it’s Cephas and cephas; literally translating that to Greek would give you Petra and petra, which is a problem, since Petra is feminine, and can’t be used as a man’s name. So St. Matthew renders it as the male Petros instead.
2. Even if Protestants were right about the proper interpretation of “the Rock” in Matthew 16, the broader passage still supports the papacy, since it shows the foundation of an institutional Church, and the giving of specific powers (the Keys, and the powers of binding/loosening) to Peter individually. For this reason, you can have Fathers like St. Augustine, who aren’t sure on the proper interpretation of “the Rock,” but are steadfast in their belief in the papacy, based upon Petrine authority.
   
   In fact, even if Matthew 16 didn’t exist, there would still be abundant support for the papacy throughout the rest of Scripture and in the testimony of the early Christians.

Faith Alone?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1vTqpZCIlc

Did You Receive John's Baptism or Jesus'?

   

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.…and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Mark 1: 4, 5, Matt. 3: 6, Luke 3:3 

Israel was expecting the long awaited Messiah. 

John, son of a the renown priest Zechariah threw off the royal priestly robes, rejected the choicest meats and first fruits set aside for his family, put on rugged clothing and fled to Jordan's wilderness to survive on what he could find to eat. 

John baptized with water those who confessed their sins. And this baptism for the forgiveness of sins was, in fact, itself declaring that the great and dreadful day of the Lord had come!

As wonderful as the Baptism of John was for Israel, this baptism was not required, nor could it bestow grace or confer the Holy Spirit upon the baptized. It was a symbol of the forgiveness that was to come. John's baptism did not give the Jew entrance into the New Covenant Kingdom of Heaven. This baptism was making straight the way of the Lord. It was a baptism of preparation. 

Then, one day, it happened. John cried out, "Behold! The Lamb of God!" The Anointed One came to him for baptism. John's baptism was coming to an end, as the Kingdom of God had arrived. Here was the King!

And a new baptism began. It was the baptism of Christ. 

Though Jesus' baptism was similar to John's in that, after repentance and confession, the water baptism gives us forgiveness of our sins. The Christian is require to be baptized with the Trinitarian formula, "In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit" and it is much much more than a symbol. As circumcision was the rite to enter the Hebraic covenant, baptism is the rite that brings one into the Kingdom of Heaven and the New Covenant. (Acts 1: 37-38, Col. 2:9-14)

This new one baptism unites us all in the one Spirit and one Body. In fact, it give us each the fire of the Holy Spirit. (Eph. 4: 5, I Cor. 12: 13, Acts 2:38, Matt. 3:11)

When we are baptized into Christ, we are born again in newness of life, our sins are washed away, it gives  us a clear conscience and disarms the dark powers and principalities who have enslaved us in sin.  (Acts 22: 16, Col. 2: 15, Rom. 6: 6-12) 

With this baptism we die and are raised with Christ! 

[All] baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Rom. 6: 3-5 

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands….you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. Col. 2: 11-13

With baptism, we put on Christ and enter His Kingdom, for it is through baptism we are saved! Peter tells us this in his first letter. Paul tells us this in his letter to the Galatians. But most importantly Christ tells us this through the gospels:

 Baptism...now saves you. I Peter 3: 21 

For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Galatians 3: 27

He who believes and is baptized will be saved. Mark 16: 16. 

John's baptism for the washing away of sins was a symbolic cleansing. If Christian baptism is also a symbol then John's baptism should have been sufficient. If one's sins were symbolically cleansed by John what would be the point of a second symbolic cleansing of sins? Yet, those who had been baptized in John had to be rebaptized as Christians. (Acts 11:16; 18:3-6) This is because we are truly reborn, transformed, regenerated when we are baptized into Christ, for it is much more than a  cleansing of sin.

Many Christian denominations today claim a person is saved, born-again, when he believes and asks Jesus to come into his heart. Some teach that baptism is an unnecessary, symbolic rite that does not give the transforming power of God. Yet this man-made tradition does not come from scripture. 

When these denominations claim that baptism only symbolically washes away our sins, they are, in effect, speaking of John's baptism, not Christ's. For it is only through the baptism that Christ required, that we are truly given grace and the Holy Spirit. It is not a symbol, scriptures record, but a rite of initiation that literally saves us and bring us into His kingdom. 

A miraculous experience of Christ coming into our hearts and believing in Him is a wonderful life-changing event, but it does not wash away our sins. An experience does not bury and raise us with Christ. Scripture confirms that only when we die with Christ, are buried and are raised with Him through the rite of baptism, that our sins are literally washed away and we walk in newness of life. It is through baptism that we are born-again.

Grace Helps Us Confront Pain, Not Ignore It

A couple of decades ago when I was attending a Christian Women's

Conference, a Jewish holocaust survivor spoke about facing life's pains. During WWII, the Nazis had kept her alive to entertain them because she was a great dancer. She watched her sister walk into the gas chambers. Both of her parents were gassed. Then she explained that it was only after the holocaust that the momentous task of facing what had happened to her began. It was then, a different and more arduous hell lay ahead. Dealing with it. She told us that no matter what you have been through it is harder to face your life than live it. 

Because of her experience, she warned us of the dangers of what she was witnessing in America. She said she was amazed at what we will do to  avoid the painful task of self-examination. Americans take legal (anti-depressants) and illegal drugs, alcohol, glut themselves with entertainment or distraction, all in an effort to keep from thinking seriously about our lives. 

She told us not to run from or ignore pain, regrets and the bad choices of our lives but to look at them and deal with them constructively. Let our life experience bring us wisdom instead of always trying to be happy and having fun. 

Afterward her speech, I was very vocal in protesting what I thought was a very anti-gospel, pagan, Socratic, "an unexamined life is not worth living" talk. I asked those who put the conference together, "Why ask a Jewish woman to speak to us? She obviously didn't understand grace and the importance of keeping our eyes upon Christ--not ourselves in a self-examination. We needed to hear that Christ will wipe away our tears and that we need to be filled with joy because our sins are washed away and cast into the depths of the sea never to be thought of again by us or anyone else!  We don't need to face it, Christ faced it for us. Christ takes away our pain, right?"

As I grew in Christ, I realized I was wrong and the Jewish woman was correct. Scripture doesn't say that God takes away the effects of sin--after all, we still die as punishment for Adam's sin. Although Jesus took away the eternal penalty of our sins, we still suffer for them here, now. And like the holocaust survivor, we not only suffer for our sins, but we suffer for the sins others do to us, the sins we personally were not responsible for.

There is some universal, unspoken understanding among Christians that we are not to think about nor feel our sins or deep wounds. We should always be feeling happy.

I know a lot of Christians who spend an enormous amount of time in religious escapism. They find a church whose main focus is on feeling good, with upbeat, loud and energetic praise songs with a captivating minister, where everyone is staying positive, with nary a word about the tragedy of sin. So, when the worship is over and they have to go home or to work and face a sinful world and a sinful them, the spiritual high leaves. 

We really do need to examine our life. That is not self-centered.  

God's grace pours out upon us not so that we can ignore pain in our life, but to give us the courage and strength to face it. For when we soberly, in the quiet of the morning or evening kneeling to God, mentally walk straight into the scary, dark and painful places in our hearts, we can then begin the healing process--both in repentance to God and forgiveness of ourselves and others. It is in these fires of self-examination that we are purged and healed from our deepest wounds.

Don't think if you have never really sat and looked at your life that it will be easy. You have to get past all the years of white noise.

Then when we finally start looking at our lives, we tend to excuse behavior or ignore it. It takes practice and determination to go through our cluttered mental attic. But most of all, it takes courage because you will desire to flee from pain. Stick with it. Find the source of your pain: cowardice, sexual immorality, covetousness, feeling anger towards some childhood injustice or wrong,  feeling loneliness, abandonment, a distrust of everyone that makes you a control freak. Perhaps you have drifted from God and you feel guilt, not at anything big, but the knowledge that He is no longer first in your life.

Then when you think you have found what has been keeping the volume of white noise so loud in your brain, give it to God through prayer. If you need to: repent. Then ask for the grace to forgive and heal. 

One great way of healing is to stop sinning! So do whatever it takes to stop doing whatever it is that is breaking your relationship with God. Above all else, pray and if you feel you need to, fast and find a good supportive church with faithful Catholics in attendance. Perhaps even start going to daily mass. 

Some of the pain in our lives is because of sin--something we did, are doing or some sin that someone did or is doing to us. We have to face it.

We want the process of healing and holiness to be easy. It is not. But it is the only path to true joy. And joy is there, along with peace. It's worth it. 

Michael Voris Speaks About His Program, "The Vortex"

The Kingdom of Heaven: The Seen and Unseen

In Matthew 13, the mystery of the Kingdom of Heaven was hidden by Christ in parables of daily Hebrew experiences. While His hearers understood what sowing and reaping were, what an expensive pearl or a lost coin or the king of a vineyard was, the deeper meanings He revealed only to His closest companions, the twelve. (Matt. 13:19)

As mundane as they seemed, these were strange parables. These didn't describe the Messianic Kingdom they were awaiting. And for many Christians today, they still don't describe the heaven we are awaiting at the Second Coming. We think of harps and clouds. Jesus describes wheats and tares.

If you follow the words of our Lord carefully through out His earthly ministry, you will begin noticing seemingly mutually exclusive statements about the Kingdom of God. It is now but later. Earthly but heavenly. This Kingdom is a dichotomy so layered as to reveal both the complexity of God and the simplicity of love. Let us take some time to wonder at the thrilling and at the same time perplexing and even confusing contradictions of the Kingdom of Heaven:

• The Kingdom is here, but it is yet to come. Often Jesus told His disciples that the kingdom of Heaven was there at that moment with phrases such as it has “come upon you;" it is “at hand,” “near you” and “in your midst.” Yet Jesus corrected the disciples when they though it was to appear immediately and told them of a story of a king going into a far country to receive a kingdom later. He told us to pray that it comes (future) and even promises that some of his followers, alive at that time, would see it come (soon). The thief asked to be remembered “when you come into your kingdom.” And Jesus responded, “Today” He would be with Him. And Christ promises the Kingdom will finally be delivered into the hands of His Father. The Kingdom is both in our midst now and is still waiting to be revealed. (Matt. 6:10; 10:7; 12:28; 16:28, Luke 10:9; 23:42; 17:21; 19:11-12, I Cor. 15:24)

• It is visible and worldwide and yet it is hidden and you must seek it. Jesus sent out His disciples to preach the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven to the whole world. He likened it to the tiniest of seeds growing to the most massive of trees. It is like leaven, it grows and yet it is hidden as a pearl or great treasure and we must seek it above all else.
  
  (Matt. 6:33; 13:31, 44; 24:14, Mark 15:43, Luke 23:51)

• It was from the beginning and eternal, yet, it was inaugurated at the Cross. (Matt. 25:34, Luke 1:33, Acts. 1:3, 2: 21-28, Rev. 11:15)

• It is an unshakable Kingdom of peace, and yet it is taken by violent force. (Matt. 11: 12, Rom. 14: 17; Heb. 12:28)

• It is brought to us by words, but it is not just words. The gospel of the Kingdom comes to us through hearing. We hear the truth spoken and it is transmitted by words and yet the Kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power. “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Matt. 13:16, 17, Mark 4:15-23, 33; 6:11; 7:14, Luke 6: 27; 8:21; 11:28, John 8: 43, 10:3, Rom. 10: 14, 17; 11: 8, I Cor. 4: 20. Heb. 3:7, 15; 4:7)

• It has authorities, but they are to be servants. They are God's men, yet they can be used by the Devil. God chooses the poor to be rich and the low to be great. The greatest living old covenant preacher, John the Baptist, is below the least in this kingdom. All, in His kingdom, sit on thrones reigning as priests but the leader He put over all the disciples and gave the key to was a poor fisherman. He chooses unworthy men and makes them great, but at the same time, the hierarchy is based on what these men do and teach. So it is God's sovereign choice yet, we too choose by our actions. 

• To everyone’s horror His leaders can be hypocrites and even shut up the kingdom so no other men can get in! Yet, His appointed leaders are commissioned to be humble and He warns them that the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Everything is a bit mixed up compared to our democracy and equal rights, for the Kingdom's wages are unfair, for the people are paid the same daily wage no matter when a person started working!

(Matt. 5:19; 11:11; 16:19; 18:3; 20; 23:13, Luke 22:30, Jam. 2:5, Rev. 1:6, 5:10

• It is God’s Kingdom, yet the Devil can deceive its citizens. (Matt. 13, 2 Tim. 4:18)

• Though it is not earned by works, you must be baptized to enter. (John 3:3, 5; Acts. 8: 12)

• It is a kingdom of mercy that saves sinners, yet it is a Kingdom of Judgment. (Matt. 13:38, 2 Tim 4:1, Rev. 12:10)

• We are saved by simple faith but the Kingdom has exceedingly high standards for entrance: The beloved Son has given us his Kingdom and delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to this kingdom with the Father’s good pleasure! With joy He throws out a net to the world and catches all kinds of good and bad fish in His kingdom. Even children are encouraged to enter before   they understand what they are doing. 

• In fact, you are required to be like a child for entrance. Yet, a great mystery is that flesh and blood cannot inherit it. And all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved, but not all who cry, “Lord” will enter, for only the obedient can get in. And those who look back at their former lives will end up like Lot’s wife. And if you are rich? It’s going to be tougher for you.
  
  If you assume you will go in because of some heritage or covenant and are not obedient, the harlots and tax collectors will get in before you. There is quite a list of those  who will not be in the Kingdom of Heaven: the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, envious, the drunk, one who carouses, the fornicator, impure, idolator, the unrighteous, the immoral. And adulterers, sexual perverts, male prostitutes, those who are effeminate, those with unnatural sexual affections, the greedy, thieves, revilers, murderers, those who take potions to keep from having children (pharmekia), the liars, perjurers, slave traders and robbers! And even as a corporate group the kingdom will be given to the nations who produce the fruits of righteousness. We, His people are sinners and yet we cannot enter the kingdom unless we are perfect. (Matt. 5:20; 7:21;13:47;18:3; 19:14, 23; 21:31, 43; Luke 9:62; 12:32; Acts 2: 21, Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5; Col. 1:13; I Cor. 6: 9-10; 15:50, Rev. 21: 8)

• We must sacrifice much to enter, but we are made worthy by His righteousness. Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom. We must patiently endure sufferings and persecution for our testimony of Jesus. Some even castrate themselves or live in celibacy or pluck out part of the body (metaphorically, corporately); some leave homes or family to become a citizen. We must be faithful with his gifts for He will ask for an account of our talents. But, it is still Christ and His merits that make us worthy. And He promises we will be made worthy and will shine out like the sun. (Matt. 13:43; 18:23; 19:12, Mark 9:47, Luke 18:29; 19: 15, Acts 14:22, I Thess. 2:12, 2 Thess. 1:5)

• Don’t look for signs and yet when you see these things happen...
  
  "The kingdom comes not with signs to be observed,"  He tells the Pharisees then a few chapters later warns His listeners that there will be signs in the sun, moon and stars, fearful times when the powers of heaven will be shaken and when you see these things take place, you know that the Kingdom of God is near. (Luke 17:20; 21:25-32)

We have been taught God's kingdom will be perfect with no sin, so how is it possible that it is also filled with wheats and tares, good and bad fish? It's leaders are holy and sacred but some are corrupt? It is here now and yet to come? If  God is coming so all people see, how can it also be hidden? Visible and invisible,  spiritual and physical, seen and unseen, simple and complex, plain and mysterious?

There is only one entity that can be all these things at once. And that is God's Bride--His ekklesia, His Church. (Matt. 22:2 and chap. 25, John 3:29) 

The Kingdom of God is the Church, Christ's Bride. He was betrothed to her when He was among us, when He instituted the ekklesia (Matt. 16). He is going to prepare a place for her and will come again and receive her unto Himself. The Church is being made holy and pure, being washed by baptism and His word. (Eph. 5: 26, 2 Cor. 11: 2, Rev. 19: 7). She is both on earth (The Church Militant) and in heaven (Church Triumphant) and so when He comes for the Wedding Feast, He is bringing the holy, shining, adorned capital city of His heavenly Kingdom to His Kingdom on earth. (Rev. 21:2) 

She is the great mystery and enigma with her rites and sacraments, with her struggling to be holy and with her 2000-year-old faith in her Betrothed. She is the seen in the outstretched arms of St. Peter's Square, her cathedrals and popes and charities and schools, yet, she is the unseen in her humble, quiet cloistered prayers and in the daily spiritual wars going on in her people's hearts. 

The Church, who the world loves to hate is Christ's beloved Bride, the wife of the Lamb who is presently imperfect, yet covered with His perfection as she is being made in her husband's image. (Rev. 21:9) 

The Groom and His Bride finish out the story of God's love for mankind together, united forever in eternal love as they both, arm in arm, invite you to the wedding feast, "Come" they say, "Come. Let him who is thirsty come, let him who desires, take the water of life without price." (Rev. 22: 17)

That is how the mysterious story ends… how  the seeming contradictions are fulfilled. "It is finished" …. Christ and His bride live happily ever after.

• 
  
• 
  

•