Seven Lean Years:
The End of Transactional Economies
Chapter Four D
An Instruction Manual?
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Anathema
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Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Rom 12:13–21)
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I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. (Rom 16:17–18)
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I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people—not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. "Purge the evil person from among you." (1 Cor 5:9–13)
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In the English Standard Version of the Bible, the noun ’aνάθεμα (anathema) as it occurs in Paul’s epistles—1 Cor 12:3; 16:22; Gal 1:8, 9; Rom 9:3—is translated as “accursed,” which seems to miss the concept of “something dedicated,” with the noun used in the Septuagint for something dedicated to evil. The noun reflects back to the Hebraic concept of a thing to be sacrificed and thus dedicated to being destroyed. So when Paul writes that whoever preaches a gospel other than the one Paul preached should be “a curse” [anathema], a problem exists; for this one who preaches a contrary gospel, according to Paul, is a person dedicated to death, and to double death in the manner of Jeremiah writing, “But first I [the Lord] will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations” (Jer 16:18) … if the wages for sin is death (Rom 6:23), then to doubly repay Israelites for their iniquity and their sin will be to deliver Israel to double death, the death of the fleshly body as well as the death of the non-physical inner self [the soul].
The concept of being dedicated to death and to a second death—double death—is conspicuously absent from greater Christendom’s dogmas; for “death” is the absence of life, not separation from God … humanity is already separated from God through being consigned to disobedience so that God can have mercy on all (Rom 11:32). Therefore, the fleshly body that lives physically is not physically dead until the dark fire of cellular oxidation within the person is extinguished. The inner self of the person not born of spirit is without life except for the life of the fleshly body. No person is humanly born with indwelling eternal or spiritual life. If this were not true, would Matthew’s Jesus have said to the man wanting to bury his father, Follow me, and permit the dead to bury the dead of themselves (Matt 8:22).
The person not born of spirit is inwardly dead—is as a human ovum is prior to fertilization—even though the person lives physically, again with Matthew’s Jesus saying to His disciples, “Do not fear those who kill the body [to soma] but cannot kill the soul [psuche]. Rather fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell [gehenna]” (Matt 10:28). … To kill the body is for one death to have overtaken the person. To kill the soul is for a second death to have overtaken the person.
In the physical, an ovum sloughed off during the female menstrual cycle is analogous to the inner self of a person not born of spirit, with the period during which the ovum could be fertilized equating to the physical life of a human person and to the period between human death and judgment of the person. Only when a living or dead person receives a negative judgment does, in type, menstrual blood flow.
And again, the spiritual things of God are revealed by and preceded by the physical things of this world (cf. Rom 1:20; 1 Cor 15:46), with human reproduction forming a shadow and copy of divine procreation.
In John’s vision, we learn more about this second death:
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it. From His presence earth and sky fled away [the location of this great White Throne Judgment is, therefore, outside of the physical creation], and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Rev 20:11–15 emphasis added)
Anyone whose name is not written in the Book of Life shall experience the Second Death, meaning that no person experiences the Second Death—the death of the soul—until the inner self is thrown into the lake of fire, represented physically by gehenna, the valley of the son of Hinnom where ancient Jerusalem burned the city’s garbage, these fires burning continuously as they were daily fueled by the city’s refuse. And this means that the inner self [soul] of no person is today in hell for the lake of fire doesn’t appear until the judgment of firstfruits occurs upon Christ Jesus’ return as the Messiah:
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems, and He has a name written that no one knows but Himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which He is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, "Come, gather for the great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great." And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against Him who was sitting on the horse and against His army. And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of Him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh. (Rev 19:11–21 emphasis added)
Thus, for Paul to use anathema as a descriptive condition of a person dedicated to destruction or death as if the person were to be sacrificed at the dedication of the spiritual temple of God (from 1 Cor 3:16–17) as 22,000 bulls and 120,000 sheep were sacrificed when Solomon’s temple was dedicated (2 Chron 7:5), Paul said in his doubled statement of anathema (Gal 1:8, 9) more than most Christians have realized. Paul said that there would be Christians whose inner selves—souls—are dedicated to destruction when the God dedicates His temple that will have disciples being living stones (1 Pet 2:4–5) forming the foundation as well as the walls of this temple, and with Philadelphia forming the pillars within this temple, with these pillars standing on the foundation Paul laid, this foundation being Christ Jesus (1 Cor 3:10–11).
Because we as disciples can cause ourselves to be dedicated to destruction but cannot truly dedicate our souls to death and destruction—not that anyone would really want to be dedicated to destruction—since such dedication comes with judgment of the soul, made while the person lived physically through the last conscious moment of life, we cannot declare with certainty that any person will perish in the lake of fire. Rather, what can be said with certainty is that the person truly born of spirit has passed from death to life without having come under judgment (John 5:24) because of the faith of the person, with “faith” being belief of God that produces voluntary obedience, this person keeping the Commandments because this is what the person wants to do through having heard the word of Jesus and believing the One who sent Jesus into this world and receiving the mind of Christ Jesus (1 Cor 2:16), thereby beginning to grow in grace and knowledge as a human infant, having the mind of man, begins a physical growth process that will have the person knowing the adult things of “man”; such as how human procreation occurs … infants and small children do not comprehend human procreation. Likewise, infant sons of God do not comprehend divine procreation.
And biblical scholars are, almost without exception, not born of spirit and are thus unable to understand spiritual things regardless of how well they read Holy Writ in its original languages … what’s almost amusing is the neglect of biblical scholarship seen within greater Christendom: this neglect would be amusing if it were not for the harm this neglect causes in producing biblically illiterate Christians.
At least it can be said that most Christians have read one Second Sophist Greek novel in their literary travels: the Book of Acts. If biblical literacy were more widely held, most Christians would not have read any ancient Greek novel.
So yes, the English translation of anathema as “accursed” misses the mark; for a sacrifice isn’t accursed even when the sacrifice is dedicated to death.
A sacrifice has worth to the person making the sacrifice, but what worth did a lamb or did a bull have to the Lord? What worth has a physical human body to the Lord? A person’s body has considerable worth to the person, but the blunt question has to be asked, what is a person’s body worth to God? It isn’t the person’s physical body that will enter heaven or will be glorified: “I [Paul] tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable” (1 Cor 15:50 emphasis added). … A person’s fleshly body is perishable; so it won’t be the fleshly body that inherits imperishability. Rather, the person’s inner self—inner man or soul—will receive a glorified body that will be akin to Christ Jesus’ glorified body as seen in Revelation chapter one; for John says, “Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He [Christ] appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2).
However, even now, when the Elect, born of spirit through the indwelling of the spirit of Christ [pneuma Christou], look at themselves in the mirror of Scripture, the Elect should see Christ Jesus looking back at them. They should not see a spiritual Gentile when they look at themselves in the mirror of Scripture.
But the fleshly body of the person—Elect or otherwise—is to be something dedicated to destruction … if a Hebrew during the era of Solomon’s temple dedicated an animal to the Lord as a sin offering, what worth was the animal to the Lord? The animal had worth to the person making the sacrifice, but the animal had no worth to the Lord. What had worth to the Lord was the repentance of the person making the sacrifice; therefore, since repentance represents a cessation of stubbornness (the putting away of stubbornness and becoming submissive to good conduct), the sacrificed animal hopefully produced in the person making the sacrifice a state of compliance to Moses that had worth to the Lord through the Israelite believing Moses and by extension, the Lord.
The person making the animal sacrifice should have, when the person looked into the figurative mirror of obedience to God, saw Moses looking back at the person, with this concept expressed at a spiritual level by the Apostle Paul:
If the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord [pneuma kuriou or pneuma Christou] is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord [doxan kuriou (the glory of Christ) katoppixomenoi (seeing reflected in a mirror) tέn auten eikona (the same image)], are being transformed from glory to glory. For this comes from the Lord’s spirit [kuriou pneumatos]. (2 Cor 3:7–18)
Translators haven’t understood the point Paul was making: whereas when an outwardly circumcised Israelite read Moses, the Israelite should have seen himself [or herself] in the mirror of Scripture as the image of Moses, but this couldn’t happen because of the veil Moses placed over his face to conceal the glory of the Lord that shone from his, Moses’, face—
When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. (Ex 34:29–33)
Paul’s claim is that this veil was never removed so that Israel could see the glory of Moses’ ministry; thus, when Moses was read a millennium and a half later, the hearts of natural Israelites were unable to “see” the glory of Moses; that only in Christ Jesus could Israel see the glory of the Lord that had shone from Moses’ face.
Thus, when a “Christian” looked at him or herself in the mirror of Scripture, the Christian should see Christ Jesus looking back at the Christian. When the Christian looks at him or herself, the Christian should see the glory of the Lord that was hidden from natural Israel because of that nation’s unbelief. It is the Christian convert that, as a living sacrifice (Rom 12:1), has worth to the Lord, with this convert being dedicated to obedience to the Law, with this obedience leading to righteousness and by extension, to eternal life.
The logic represented here is easily misconstrued. Paul wrote,
We know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. (Rom 7:14–20)
Because sin dwells in the flesh of the Christian, even one such as Paul, the flesh is anathema, a thing dedicated to death and destruction. The fleshly body of a person isn’t something to be saved and glorified. But this is not a concept usually encountered within greater Christendom, despite Matthew’s Jesus having said (a repeated citation),
A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. … And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matt 10:24–25, 28)
Christians, as living sacrifices, are represented by their fleshly/physical bodies that are dedicated to death, with the fleshly body of the Christian having worth to the person but of no particular worth to the Lord, not a concept Christians want to admit and certainly not something Christians want to explore more fully … the fleshly body of a person is of this world (this creation) and will never leave this world; for Paul, in his own words, says,
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
"Death is swallowed up in victory."
"Where of you Death the victory?
Where of you Death the sting?"
The sting of death, sin; and the power of sin, the Law. (1 Cor 15:51–56)
But Paul said, that the perishable doesn’t inherit the imperishable (1 Cor 15:50); so which is it? Does the perishable put on the imperishable? Or does the perishable not inherit the imperishable? And a problem exists that requires the mind of Christ to resolve: the inner self of a person—the soul—can be killed by God through non-fertilization; through the spirit of the person [to pneuma tou ’anthropou] that is in the soul [psuche] of the person not being penetrated by the spirit of Christ [pneuma Christou] in which resides the spirit of God [pneuma Theou], the Holy Spirit [pneuma ’agion] that Jesus delivered to ten of His first disciples when He “breathed” on them (John 20:22). Thus, without being “fertilized” by the spirit of Christ, the soul of a person is perishable and is as a human ovum sloughed away during a menstrual cycle.
It is this perishable but non-physical soul that puts on a new imperishable and also non-physical outer self when sons of God become like the glorified Christ Jesus when He comes again. … For the Elect, the “fertilization” of the soul occurs while the person lives physically. For those Christians who will be glorified in the resurrection of firstfruits, this fertilization occurs the day of the Wedding Supper when the Bride marries the Bridegroom. For the remainder of the dead, this fertilization will or won’t occur when judgments are revealed in the great White Throne Judgment.
The physical body, despite how attached the inner self is to it, is in this era dedicated to death and destruction because of indwelling sin, with “sin” being analogous to the sting of scorpions—
How is it that what hasn’t been understood within greater Christendom for nearly two millennia can now be understood?
Again, I turn to Paul who also wrote,
Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us [competent] ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of spirit. For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. (2 Cor 3:5–6)
How does the letter of the Law kill and the spirit give life? Other than through receipt of the glory of the Lord that shone from Moses’ face—glory that natural Israel could not see because of the veil Moses placed over his face—how does the ministry of the Letter differ from the ministry of Spirit?
The inner self of the person truly born of spirit has indwelling eternal life that should cause the person to look like Christ Jesus in a manner similar to what Jesus told Philip about seeing the Father:
Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."
Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does His works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.” (John 14:5–11)
Is my face the same as the man Jesus’ face? No, it is not. But when a person “looks” at me, a person should see not my face, which looks more like my Uncle Floyd than my father, but should see what I do in this world—not yesterday or forty years ago, but today. And if the person doesn’t see Christ Jesus in what I do, then it is because of the sin that still dwells in my fleshly body as sin dwelt in Paul’s fleshly body.
The glory shining from the reflection of every person truly born of spirit who looks into the mirror of the Law is the glory of Christ Jesus staring back at the person, meaning that the person will walk in this world as Christ Jesus walked (1 John 2:3–6), with the person imitating the Apostle Paul as Paul imitated Jesus (1 Cor 11:1) … Paul is so bold as to say, “I urge you, then, be imitators of me” (1 Cor 4:16), and to the Thessalonians, “And you became imitators of us and of the Lord [Christ]” (1 Thess 1:6).
But in speaking to Thessalonians, Paul doesn’t stop his talk of imitation with himself and Christ:
For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and displease God and oppose all mankind by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they might be saved—so as always to fill up the measure of their sins. (1 Thess 2:14–16)
Who is the Christian today that has suffered from their own countrymen what the churches of God in Judea suffered at the hands of zealous Pharisees? Perhaps a Syrian Christian who refuses to surrender his or her stubbornness against God, refusing to look into the mirror of Scripture and see Christ Jesus—an observant Jew—looking back at the Christian? How is God to bring this Syrian Christian into submission to Him other than to use sons of Ishmael, sons of Esau, Persians, even sons of the Lost Tribes to dedicate the Christian to destruction because of the Christian’s unbelief of God?
The preceding can pass by too quickly: the Lord doesn’t change His M.O. over time, but is the same today as He was yesterday and as He will be tomorrow. This means that for Him, what worked in the past will work again. And God will use latter-day sons of Ishmael as the Lord used King Nebuchadnezzar as His servant (Jer 25:9–11) to bring destruction upon the cities of Judah and Jerusalem. And this being true, then God will not stop with the beheading and murder of Syrian Christians … God shows no partiality (Rom 2:11): He doesn’t hold Syrian Christians to a differing standard than He holds North American Christians. So who is the North American Christian that when looking into the mirror of Scripture sees Christ Jesus looking back at the Christian? Certainly not anyone who attempts to enter into the presence of the Lord on the morrow after the weekly Sabbath. Certainly not anyone who lacks love for neighbor and brother; who complains about feeding the hungry, giving shelter to the homeless, clothing the naked, visiting the infirm or the imprisoned. And if North American Christians don’t see the glory of Christ in their mirror images, what do they see?
Do North American Christians see themselves as dedicated sons of disobedience (Eph 2:2–3), consigned to disobedience (Rom 11:32)? Is this what they see? In most cases, this is exactly what they see: sons of disobedience attempting to take the kingdom of the heavens by force. And how successful will they be?
It cannot be overly stressed: the indwelling of the spirit of Christ [pneuma Christou] in the spirit of the person [to pneuma tou ’anthropou] gives to the person a second birth—and with this second birth comes possessing the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16) and the glory of Christ. Therefore, whenever the person born of spirit looks at his or her image, the person should see Christ Jesus looking back at the person. The Christian is to be a fractal of Christ Jesus.
But Christians within greater Christendom are not fractals of Christ although all should be. Truthfully, Christians of all flavors do not know when to speak and when to remain silent. They have love that will pass in this world as love for one another, but they don’t have enough love to, as an example, remain silent at a funeral. They don’t have enough love to not bear tales; to not gossip; to not complain about how so-&-so does whatever. If these “Christians” are not theological Gentiles [people of nations other than Israel], then they have grown so little in grace and knowledge that they remain blinded by their carnality. As such, they attempt to take the kingdom of the heavens by force: “‘From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force’” (Matt 11:12). The phrase <until now> disclosing that these are not words the man Jesus the Nazarene spoke during His earthly ministry, but words of the indwelling spirit of Christ [pneuma Christou] in the author of Matthew’s Gospel, making these words germane to the present era.
To repeat a point made earlier in this work: a human infant has, at birth, the mind of a man, but this infant thinks like an infant, not like a teenager let alone an adult. This infant thinks about him or herself and his or her own needs; hence, the infant cries when wet or hungry, and won’t stop crying until its needs are addressed. And so it is with infant sons of God, possessing the mind of Christ but not thinking the thoughts of Christ, but rather, thinking about this son of God’s own needs, not really knowing what the son of God’s needs are but self-absorbed in this son’s wants, such as to do a ministry for God when the son of God has not been called to do a ministry in this present era … the Christian truly called to “ministry” in this era isn’t called to teach small or great, but is called to comfort the grieving through the simple act of listening without speaking to the grieving crying at a funeral, or giving shelter to the homeless without demanding that the homeless move on after three days or any other length of time. The person called to ministry is never called to teach; for God teaches all of His sons. Rather the person called to ministry is always called to comfort others, burying the dead not with a message about the person who has died having gone to a better place, but with the words of the prophet Isaiah:
The righteous man perishes,
And no one lays it to heart;
Devout men are taken away,
While no one understands.
For the righteous man is taken away from calamity;
He enters into peace;
They rest in their beds
Who walk in their uprightness. (Isa 57:1–2)
Nothing more needs said. Funerals are not the time or place to attempt to correct errant understanding about the nature of humankind, or to impart wisdom about the fate of the dead. Rather, funerals are for mourning the loss of loved ones—and mourners are not to be as Job’s friends were, correcting Job when they didn’t know their right hands from their left.
The Christian who enters an assembly of mourners and stands silently without speaking comforts those who are grieving by the mere presence of the Christian—and in silence is wisdom that others will perceive, even if the wisdom really isn’t there. But the Christian called to ministry will understand that his or her silence at a funeral will better comfort those grieving than all the words the Christian can speak. And without this understanding, it can conclusively be declared that the Christian hasn’t been called to ministry; that the Christian acts presumptuously, taking upon the Christian an aura of importance that isn’t of Christ Jesus; for Jesus, in Matthew’s Gospel, said, Permit the dead to bury the dead of themselves (Matt 8:22). And where and when do the spiritual dead of this world bury the physically dead of themselves? At funerals. So the son of God [the Christian truly born of spirit] has no business attending funerals of the spiritually dead, but if the attendance of the son of God is expected, then the son should attend but should remain silent—as silent as if he [or she] were not there. For to be a fractal of Christ, the Christian will know when to speak and when to remain silent, understanding the concept of the Christian being a living sacrifice dedicated to the death of the flesh in the service of Christ Jesus.
The importance of being a fractal of Christ—the collective Son of Man, Head [the glorified Jesus] and Body [the glorified Bride]—lies in the fleshly body of a Christian being dedicated to being a thing to be destroyed; hence, a sacrifice dedicated to God by the living inner self that is a son of God, this sacrifice not at all being a form of suicide as seen by Islamists in their application of jihad, but a form of subjugating the person’s physical desires for the things of this world; for the pleasures of this world to doing the things of God, keeping the Commandments out of love for God, Father and Son, and applying the Commandments in manifesting love for neighbor and brother.
A conflict will initially arise between what the living inner self of the Christian truly born of spirit wants to do—such as preach Christ to the world—and what God the Father wants His son to do, and it is here where we go with Jeremiah to the potter’s house:
The word that came to Jeremiah from [YHWH]: "Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words." So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. And the vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. Then the word of [YHWH] came to me: "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? … Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: 'Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, everyone from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.' But they say, 'That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.' Therefore … Ask among the nations, Who has heard the like of this? The virgin Israel has done a very horrible thing. Does the snow of Lebanon leave the crags of Sirion? Do the mountain waters run dry, the cold flowing streams? But my people have forgotten me; they make offerings to false gods; they made them stumble in their ways, in the ancient roads, and to walk into side roads, not the highway, making their land a horror, a thing to be hissed at forever. Everyone who passes by it is horrified and shakes his head. Like the east wind I will scatter them before the enemy. I will show them my back, not my face, in the day of their calamity." (Jer 18:17 emphasis added)
Has not God declared good things for His sons, but has not greater Christendom—like the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem—followed its own plan and its own ways and acted out of stubbornness, refusing to hear the word of Christ Jesus that He left with His first disciples? Indeed, this is the case.
Now, let us go with Paul to his house:
But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?" Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—even us whom He has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? (Rom 9:20–24)
If to Jeremiah the Lord said He would show Israel His back, not His face, because of this people’s stubbornness that forms the signifier for the absence of circumcised hearts, then how will the Lord respond to greater Christendom that, because of “Christian” stubbornness, refuses to believe the Lord, but instead, willingly believe lies told to establish a 4th-Century Christian orthodoxy that is not of God, Father and Son, and was not of Paul or of the first disciples?
Was not ancient Israel dedicated to destruction because of its unbelief? It is, wasn’t it? And was not the House of Israel—the northern kingdom of Samaria—dedicated to destruction because of the sins of Jeroboam? It was, wasn’t it? And was not Jerusalem and the House of Judah dedicated to destruction because of the sins of King Manasseh:
Before him [Josiah] there was no king like him, who turned to [YHWH] with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him. Still [YHWH] did not turn from the burning of His great wrath, by which His anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked Him. And [YHWH] said, "I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city that I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there." (2 Kings 23:25–27)
Should not greater Christendom also be dedicated to destruction because of its unbelief? Indeed, the Lord’s M.O. is to turn His back to unbelievers, permitting them to go their way; for was not the lament of the Sons of Korah in Psalm 44 that the Lord was not responding to their prayers?
Yet for your sake we are killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.
Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord?
Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever!
Why do you hide your face?
Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?
For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
our belly clings to the ground.
Rise up; come to our help!
Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love! (Ps 44:22–26)
Indented lines are spiritual portions of thought-couplets, which will have the Lord hiding His face from Israel being the physical shadow and type of the Lord ignoring the affliction and oppression of a second Israel, greater Christendom.
The Lord’s steadfast love isn’t a “stupid” love that condones whatever Israel did or does. For the Lord does what Paul understood: the Lord dedicates an entity—unbelieving Israel—to being sacrificed for the redemption of believing Israel, thereby judging “Israel” collectively. And if the Lord removes His protection from a nation or a people because of the stubbornness of the nation or people, the nation or people will have to go it alone in this world.
But—and this is the caveat that condemns—when God tires of bearing the unbelief of Israel and sets about to “recover” Israel from the clutches of Sin and Death, the model of this recovery already exists: the recovery of Israel from physical enslavement by a physical king in a physical land, with Moses and Aaron forming the shadow and copy of the endtime two witnesses that will lead a second Israel away from Sin and Death.
Before the prophesied Second Passover liberation of a second Israel from Sin and Death occurs, however, greater Christendom will see God turning His back to Christians—all Christians, including the Elect, those Christians truly born of spirit through the indwelling of the spirit of Christ—and in turning His back to Christians because of their stubbornness, seen in the simple act of speaking when it isn’t the time or the place to speak, Christians will have to provide for themselves. For Christians are not like the prophet Elijah, who was fed by ravens then by the widow of Zarephath through her flour jar and oil jug not running dry; they are not like the man Jesus who fed the five thousand and the four thousand by multiplying a few loaves of bread. Rather, the stubbornness of greater Christendom as well as of the Elect will require a humbling that perhaps best comes from hunger; thus, establishing in the minds and hearts of all Christians the absolute importance of feeding the hungry, giving shelter to the homeless, clothing the naked prior to when it becomes essential that the firstfruits of God care for one another as they establish an entirely new model for community and society, a model that does not include any transactions.
Islamists and the Islamic State or the Islamic Republic can function as the shadow and copy of the Adversary, whom God has employed for the destruction of the flesh so that the spirit of the saints might be saved when judgments are revealed in a manner featured in Paul’s instructions to the holy ones at Corinth: “when you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord” (1 Cor 5:4–5). Therefore, could or would God not employ other agents to bring humanity and especially lawless Christendom to Him so that the inner selves of human persons might be saved when Christ Jesus returns? Might God not resurrect a Christian heresy of the 3rd through 5th Centuries, that of Arianism, to counter the heresy of Trinitarianism? Indeed, He would and He has in Latter Days Saints.
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This concludes Chapter Four … Chapters Five through Seven address actual preparing for not being able, as a Christian, to buy and sell. These chapters will appear on-line but will not be sent out. Homer