The Aramaic Bible Web Log is a forum for discussing the origins of the Bible and the value of translating the Scriptures from the Ancient Aramaic Texts of the Ancient Church of the East directly into English. I believe that the Ancient Aramaic language is the true scribal language of Scriptures. My translations are posted at http://www.v-a.com/bible/. If you send me appropriate questions or comments, I will post them on this Web Log and attempt to answer or respond to them as best as I can. I will only post what I consider proper. I will not include e-mail addresses, but only your name as you wish it to appear on this blog. Click here to submit your questions or comments via e-mail. Or you may use the FORM MAIL at the bottom of this blog.
Under Pressure!
19. "Do not set your treasures on earth,
where rust and pestilence destroy,
and where thieves dig and steal.
20. "Except, set your treasures in heaven,
where neither rust nor pestilence destroy,
And where thieves do not dig or steal.
21. "For where your treasure is,
There your heart will also be.
About 24 years ago, as part of my questing for truth and understanding and the fulfillment of my life’s purpose, I began to attend a Word of Faith fellowship. It was vibrant, buzzing with life vitality. We felt that we had the message – we had the goods – we had just what this country needed!
How wrong we were, we simply saw some facets of The Truth but in our collective arrogance and pride were nurtured the seeds of our own self-destruction. All sorts of nonsense happened until eventually all that was left was the ‘pastor’, his wife and a congregation of two. About 4 years ago I was urged by the Holy Spirit to go and catch up with them, and to take a word of exhortation. It was simply to read 1 Corinthians 13. After I had done so, the ‘pastor’ rose to speak and proceeded to give one of the most amazing talks on the Water and the Blood that I have ever heard – profound revelation – but then began to get rueful over his situation and why it was that while he had such a grasp on things, that only a few were there to hear it. In attempting to resolve or reconcile himself he said that he just had to accept that it must be something about him that he could not put his finger on but that if he was to accept that his own doctrine of personal accountability and of our lives being according to our own believing, that it must be his fault.
I though to myself, “Good, you got it” and sensed that my mission there was accomplished – yet I had a nagging doubt that he really believed what he was saying and that the underlying root cause of his failure was so deeply entrenched that while his own preaching insisted that he must be the problem his pride was not broken so that Christ could come through in his circumstances and be the solution – his pride was still trying to fathom the problem and fashion the solution.
Such is the conundrum and quandary of those who seek knowledge over being known – ever searching but never coming to a knowledge of The Truth – Jesus Christ and Him crucified. As I said, this man had an incredible wealth of knowledge, yet at the outset I did not realise how much I was being leavened until it came time for leaving. My wilderness wanderings of self-analysis and searching have led me to where I now find myself – at the foot of the same old mountain – Mount Sinai – whereby I must say to the mountain “remove!” Mount Sinai represents the Law, and the Law and unbelief are synonymous, or should that be sin ominous? The unbeliever is contained, imprisoned by the Law because of transgressions – and all transgression is sin – and all sin is simply the abrogation of the commandment to Love.
We are told a lot about our freedom of choice, our free will, but really there are just two choices – our way or His Way – our will or His Will – our unbelief or His Faith. Faith comes by hearing, and the hearing is by the Manifestation – God grants us this grace according to His will and purpose – you come as you are drawn and as God grants you repentance to the acknowledging of The Truth. There is no other foundation laid other than the Christ – He is the very bedrock of creation. When God told Abraham that his seed would be as the sand beneath and the stars above, it was a promise that was unto seed – singular – not seeds plural. Jesus Christ is as the land beneath us and as the stars above – He descended in to the depths and ascended to the heights so as to fill all in all. He is the Seed to whom the promise was made, and if you belong to Christ, then are you Abraham’s seed, and heirs of the promise – Christ in you, your hope of glory – Hallelujah!
As our minds are renewed to the truth, we draw deep draughts from this hidden treasure of Christ in us. The foundation becomes established in us as our headship also is given over to Him. He grows up in us and grows us up from the seed which was ever in us, as the faith of Christ comes by hearing and hearing by the Manifestation of Christ in us. We are being changed both from the foundation and the head at the same time – and this is what creates the tension, the pressuring in us whereby those hidden issues of the heart, our pride and vainglory, are brought to the light. If we resist the light because we prefer the darkness and its UNFRUITFUL WORKS we will continue to try and package and present ourselves as being acceptable to God while retaining lordship over our own hearts.
We cannot have our cake and eat it to this pressuring insists that we be true to our calling, so it is inevitable that conflict will come if repentance is not willingly embraced. We stumble into situations which seem on the surface to be right or good but it is the Spirit moving us for the sake of its own fulfillment, and so it is with every human being who is born of the Spirit. This is why confession is so vital – the pressuring brings forth the wine of God’s ferment, of His wrath and our mouth is the spout where it comes out.
Between our hearts yearning for fulfillment and our head’s grasping for understanding – UNDER STANDING – foundation – assurance – confidence – FAITH; an inevitable flow issues from our mouth – what is in our heart in abundance comes out of our mouths. It will come out as cursing or as confession – it will come out as an expression of unbelief or of faith, and God reinforces our choosing by the kingdom within – He answers us according to the idols of our hearts. If Jesus is pre-eminent, if our hearts are given over to the Manifestation of His Great Love whereby He first loved us, then when these pressurings occur we will welcome them for the sake of the Body – we will willingly submit and repent, confessing our sins one to another. This is why it is so vital to forgive, to confess sin quickly and deal with – the confrontation with our own antichrist of pride is inevitable – but it is the pressuring of the victory of Christ in us which brings this to pass.
There is a great lie being perpetrated in certain quarters, in that because we are forgiven and reconciled in Christ that we do not have to confess our sin, just cover it with Christ – but this the New patch on the old garment – trying to dress up our self-righteousness with Christ to make it acceptable to God whereas me must put off the old to put on the New.
I have found that Christians tend to understand much of this when it is about someone else, but when it is about us many tend to slip seamlessly back into their own deception of pride. Someone may challenge us to look at what we say or do, to weigh our words and actions, to consider our ways, but to actually make that quantum leap out of the rut, to dare to speak to the mountain of our own law, of our own pride based unbelief and command it removed is the challenge that so few accept – it is the narrow way. It means forsaking all we have known for all our lives. To accept that the adversities and contradictions of our current experience are largely the result of our own “unbelieving heart’ – our own treasury of evil – is not easy. We may well splutter and squawk about “no condemnation” and how dare you confront me; I’m a child of Abraham, of God even – as we refuse to welcome and accept the light that so painfully sears our eyes and reveals the hidden treasures of darkness.
Faith has a voice as too does unbelief – the more you are attuned to God the more you recognise the difference.
God did not give us His Spirit to blanket our sin so we can cosy up with it and reconcile our old nature to Christ, but in covering it to blind the eyes of the accusers so that under cover of the Light of His Manifestation He converts us and renews us to the knowledge of who we truly are.
When we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us, but if we retain our sin and that of others, then He will reinforce it by His kingdom and it will be our cage, and no matter how much we rage and imagine a vain thing we will not come out until every penny be paid. Whatever we bind is bound, whatever we loose is loosed. We will either talk the problem, or He will manifest the solution.
5. And this is the hope that we heard from him, and we give you the hope that God is that Light, and there is absolutely no darkness in him.
6. And if we say that we have fellowship with him and [yet] we walk in darkness, we are liars even though we have accepted the Truth.
7. But if we walk in the light, as he is the Light, we shall have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, shall cleanse us of all our sins.
8. And if we say that we have no sin, we have lost our soul and the Truth is not in us.
9. But if we confess our sins, [he is] Faithful and Holy, that he forgives us our sins, and we are cleansed of all abomination.
10. And if we say that we did not sin, we called him a liar, and his manifestation is not in us.
Shalom, Ian.
Although Christianity is under attack in the world, we need to stay objective in discussing the origins of the Scriptures. The Internet provides an opportunity for free discussions. Thank you for participating and expressing your opinions, as I have.