All Right Tom!!! You've provided an inspired message title below! And thanks Nick for so often mentioning the name above all names which belongs to King of all Kings, who was indeed the perfect man, and who remains the Lord of All, who indeed brother, would be quite different than religious traditions often make him out to be, if he walked among us today, and also quite different than the traditions of men make him out to be! Amen. "The Doomed Path of Tradition... that Leads to Apostacy!" The scriptural text: "Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men, is abomination in the sight of God." --Luke 16:15. I was just preaching this "today" Tom as I thought again about the many idol God's that have been embraced in "God's Nation," (yes, the USA), just as in the ancient days when God oftentimes used enemy Nations to chastise his wayward children. Remember the Babylonian invasion which the Prophet Jeremiah warned of for years to deaf ears, who lived to hear the thunder of chariots that drove Judah to the ground and destroyed the Temple of God, and led God's people into exile and their King into prison, and "see" the same idolatry flourishing in the Nation under God today that decorated the hearts and minds and walls of that city of people who were set apart unto the One True God... Today we have the esteemed traditions of scientific naturalism on one hand that revere human achievement in the realm of natural law so that the supernatural alters of God are being forsaken for a naturalism that threatens to eliminate the supernatural from daily life and thought (from Merril Unger, 1971), and on the other hand... We have the multitude of heathen gods whose mystic spiritism is publicly embraced by both much of the church world and also the many who attempt to use and manipulate the powers that be in effort to draw earthly wealth and prosperity to the passions of the flesh/the earthly man, who in his pride and rebellion, either blatantly denies the Cross of Christ or accepts this Jesus as a mere man/a good teacher who to him is but one of many he embraces as a spiritual guide, as if the Lord God of Heaven will share his glory with all the heathen gods... And as people everywhere today gather together to praise each other and justify the faith we have in ourselves, in the human mind, the power of the human spirit, in man, in angels, in Mother Earth, in the diversity of spirits of abundance and earthly wealth and prosperity, in every source mentionable "except" the crucified Lord of Glory, with Motives that have nothing to do with the death and ressurection of the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Moses, Elija, and John the Revelator, But have everything to do with the will of man, the self seeking passions of the flesh, of the pride of this life, of the love of self and wealth, so that Loving the Lord your God first above all has been changed to mean...Loving me first and not who God is, but who "I" am, and not what God can make of a man who surrenders his life to him, but what "I" can make of myself and my life, and Loving our neighbor as ourself has come to mean, being "agreeable" to accept and embrace any and all gods you serve in the name of love and peace, just as King Solomon exchanged the wisdom God gave him for the idolatrous gods that brought him earthly treasures and wisdoms that come from the earth and not from above... So we also display a form of godliness but deny the power of the One True God, whose power is not the mind or soul of man, and is not Mother Earth, and is not even his angels who serve only his will, and who "only" praise him alone... So that just as this Jesus, the Christ, the True Shepherd, the man of sorrow, who never took great wealth and earthly prosperity on his journeys, and never even preached that a man should seek the treasures of earthly wealth and abundance, but treasures eternal and imperishable, treasures of a pure spirit and clean heart to be laid up in heaven, was Not highly esteemed, or highly accepted by man in general, who was Not a popluar political figure, or religious figure in the eyes of the esteemed Religious of that day, who was rather by his own word, despised and hated by this world, who said, "as the world has hated me so will it hate you," who walk after me and after my Father, in spirit and in truth.... Just as he said the way was strait that leads to life and few find it, and wide is the gate that leads to destruction and many there be that go therin, so it is today that the "Traditions" of mortal man, whether he be "religious" man or the man of self will and pride, which lead to wide acceptance and approval from man, which speak of and seek the "will of mortal, earthly man," and all that mortal man desires and seeks after from this earth, lead away from the God of Heaven who said, "My Kingdom is Not of this World," and lead to diverse manners of blindness and ultimately to Apostacy. Not a popular message? The Gospel we are told to contend for was not really popular then. If it had been the larger majority would not have crucified the Lord of Glory; the masses would not have vehimently yelled for Barabus, the theif, to be freed while they yelled for Jesus, the Son of God who came to this earth, not to lead us to the earth but to a Kingdom whose builder and maker is God, to be condemned and crucified! Who do you and I serve today? Do we serve the will of man, the pride of life, the passions of the flesh, the gods of baal, the mystic idol spirits, the gods of earth and the sun and moon and stars as the ancient Egyptians who bent God's children to the ground in bitter toil and slavery, or do we serve the God of Heaven whose servants and Prophets have always been denied, hated, and persecuted by this world? Do we serve the acceptance and approval of man or the acceptance and approval of God? God says, How shall we escape if we neglect so great a Salvation? His Gospel is the message of Salvation! The death and ressurection of Christ. Is this the God we serve? "I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God," than to possess for a lifetime all the wealth of Egypt and I'd rather be a poor man than to be highly esteemed by many great men and walk with the great and never know the Lord of Glory and never "recognize" my souls grreat need for him.

 

A big sigh of relief was felt throughout the world's powers when they read on Jesus's website, that he has no political aspirations, and no intentions to convert the world to Judaism. He's just about the love...God's love. In fact, he pointed to G-d, not to himself. He understood the human mind though, and allowed people who needed to, to treat him as an avatar of G-d. He respected their beliefs.

...but the world's political leaders found his prophecies a bit disturbing.

 

 

The reign of love will never end.

But where there are prophesies, they will end;

Mere there are tongues of ecstasy, they will end;

Where there is knowledge, it will end.

For our knowledge is only of a part, and our prophesies tell of but a part.

And that which is a part vanishes with the arrival of the whole.

 Saint Paul, (A.D. ?3-64), mystic, Christianity
I Corinthians 13:1-13 

 

 

Matt 23:1-5 "Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do. For they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers. But all their works they do to be seen by men."

 

Matt 15:14 "They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch."

 

 

Matt 23:13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in."

 

 

Mark 7:5-7 He answered and said to them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: 'This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

Hi Nick,

Thank you for your post.  I would like to add this:

Hi Nick,

OMG!  This is a fabulous and profound piece of writing indeed.

It reminds me of what would happen if everyone were asked the question following  each paragraph, "What would LOVE do?"

There are some tables turned here that go straight to the heart.....!!!   I will say no more, but I love this quote:

A big sigh of relief was felt throughout the world's powers when they read on Jesus's website, that he has no political aspirations, and no intentions to convert the world to Judaism. He's just about the love...God's love.

LOVE IS THE ANSWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You are the BEST!


Hugs,   Jill

Yes Love is the Answer, and God says, It's not human love, such as that we loved God, but it's that he loved us, and gave himself for us. Human Love comes with whatever motives underlie it, which means it's very often conditional such as, I Love you because you benefit me in some way, or I Love you because you have loved me... Human love will hardly lay it's life down for a good man, so that, What manner of Love is this, but God's Love, that a man would lay his life down for even his enemies? Love will ultimately win in the end and it will not be by the Love of man, that has had it's day and has left us with the results we have today, But it's God's love that has already overcome evil, and will reveal that triumph when Love Himself puts his foot upon this earth again and puts all evil under it, by the righteous judgement of perfect love, who will then establish his Everlasting Kingdom upon this Earth, so that for 1000 years the peace of Perfect Love will reign...