Getting To Know God Better 45

 I want to speak to those people whose god is science.

You really think you are onto something when a TV personality comes out with some new science fact. A doctor or scientist says something and you drool like a wolf looking at a fresh rabbit. Because it is preached under the guise of science you take it in like a home cooked meal. I say preached because that is what it is. We as a people need to be more careful.

Of course there is good science and the scientist as a community are valid and useful. Once so-called scientific fact has been vetted and goes through the process of vetting by multiple professionals, the general public and the scientific community as a whole, that science is produced in an understandable format and distributed to the non-scientific community and we assimilate the information into our daily lives and expect the results to be measurable and useful in our everyday experience. 

That's not what's happening today 2020. Scientific are joining with political parties to advance certain causes that will best serve the party and steer economic decisions. Two items in point:

1.    Global warming - All of a sudden after so-called millions/billions of years the earth is now warming at such a rapid rate that if we don't do something like (spend money, build a political platform that benefits one party, plant the deliberate seed of deception in the minds of jejune journalists) then the earth will fail to provide is protection and sustenance that it has provided for (God knows how long). 

If you are on of those who believe the global warming chicane, so be it, but don't try to convince any intuitive or spiritually minded person that your acceptance of this hoax equals some kind of scientific proof. Blindly accepting this kind of deception without carefully scrutinizing the claims personally and through the non-political scientific community gives way for one of the biggest scams of all times. Huge corporations rake in trillions from unaware citizens through corrupt government exploitation. The average citizen bears the expense in higher taxes and subsidy programs that will drain their savings and ruin any chance for financial freedom. No good can come of this kind of trickery.  God thinking is about using sound judgement when making up our mind about this or that. Passing on false information to others under the pretense that you have been proved the validity of Global warming is in itself a kind of deceit. It make sense to pause before coming to a conclusion about such an alarming and significant threat.   

2. Racism is a pandemic - This is all over the news. If you believe that racism is a pandemic, you live in a very narrow, politically driven sphere. Are there racists out there? Absolutely. Is racism a pandemic? No. But if you are like many other politically motivated, socialist or communist, fear mongering, anti-American activist, then, if you try real hard, for an extended period of time, and support and motivate enough hate groups, you might be able to cause a racism pandemic. But there is not one going on now. This new movement to make America racist again is another blip in history where someone wants to take something from someone else that they do not even know to give it to themselves.  They are bent on tearing down and taking from others to build themselves up. They do this in the hopes of; 

• Changing history
• Denying those who have gone before them their own personal story
  
• Judging the dignity of someone living in a different time with different standards, laws, morays by the standards, laws and moray's of today's free American.
• Removing statues and other reminders of who we once were as a nation. These reminders offend them as if they had any idea of what those people went through in their time to reach whatever station in life they obtained. 

It is disgraceful to perpetuate such ignorance. 

What does God have to say about it?

2Ti 3:1  This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 
2Ti 3:2  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 
2Ti 3:3  Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 
2Ti 3:4  Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;
2Ti_3:13  But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived. 
Jud 1:12  These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 
Jud 1:13  Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. 
Jud 1:16  These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. 

Getting To Know God Better 44

"Keep your eyes on the prize."

You know this has been one of the main mantras of the Christian community for Millennia. I'm thinking we can do better for ourselves and service to God. Keeping your eye on the prize does work well as a self-serving preservation of sorts to strive toward the end goal of being with the LORD. But there is so much more that can be accomplished, not only toward the end goal, but along the way.

I am practicing "Keeping my eyes on the day, along the way." I'm saying that the daily toil of finding your way through the mire of a depreciating society" is the prize. That's right. Today, the modern Christian that "keeps their eyes on the prize" sees the prize as a distant thing and that along the way, the daily routine, commitments, responsibilities are more of a bane than something worth overcoming. I see everyday Christians involved in all kinds of daily behavior that is in no way indicative of a love for the ways of Christ nor do these poor behaviors benefit the community.

I'll give you an example. There are those who call themselves Christians that are protesting, rioting, causing havoc, violating laws, bringing their message of hate to those who do not ask for it, abusing others in the name of a cause for this or that. They have their eyes on the prize, but give no place to the day to day events that reveal that the nature of God, through Christ, has invaded them. In their minds "Today" is not part of the end goal. It is sort of in-between times that are not to be considered or measured in the race to the "prize."

Many Christians today are not mindful of the things of God, but proclaim the "prize." I've said it before and it is worth mentioning again, "if you don't like the way God operates here on earth, you are not going to like the way God operates in heaven.."

You are responsible for you. Make up your mind about what you believe and how to live out your life with faith and understanding. Quit studying the same material year after year expecting different results. Ask God for Light. Approach God in your humanity, revealing all and let God fill you with Himself. Not so you can enter into heaven, but for each day to pass where you have lived with excellence and honesty and love, kindness and generosity, forgiveness and empathy.

Don't be fooled by the humanist plea to "follow the scientist." Have you noticed that nowadays science follows trends and political ideals, not the other way around? Keep your eye on today's prize and master the day with excellence. Over time the day's prize will become just as important as the end prize.

Getting To Know God Better 43

Strong opinions is not good science.

I hear many people spouting off their strong opinions about this or that and many say they are basing their opinion on scientific fact, but I have discovered that most of that steamy and sometimes nocuous din is no more than a lemming-like adherence to someones else's non-scientific fact.

What's more, most non-believers (at least those with no spiritual proclivities), when making up their mind about something, do not consider any spiritual or theological input. They are working in a godless vacuum where they worship so-called fact makers, and the highest ranking being scientist.

I'm not saying that any scientist adhere to this tommyrot. Those who blatantly disregard the personal experience of others, (especially those who have faith in God), give their (those who have faith) opinions no value; they are not following science, they are following supposition, because they will not consider all the facts before making a conclusion, only their facts; only the narrow strand of facts presented by the scientific community, or many times hearsay from someone or some political group.

All of us have opinions and beliefs, but the wise among us are careful not to disregard the full spectrum of available information before making permanent memes. You don't have to be a believer to have your facts straight. Many times those who rest on their religious affiliation don't have their facts straight either. But all of us were endowed with certain internal guidelines for achieving wisdom and how to ingest information and formulate opinions and beliefs without falling prey to ignorance, (by rejecting valuable information provided by those not in their circle), and indifference, (by not giving heed to adverse or differing information sources).

The bottom line; most differences today are politically based, not scientifically based and that is not good science.

So what does this have to do with knowing God better. God is infinite and unchangeable and God has set forth parameters for all of us to work in so that we can have reliable science. Made up scientific facts to sturdy up one's beliefs is not scientific, nor is it godly or even sensible. Being wrong about something is not heresy, but passing on bad information under the auspices of scientific fact is definitely wrong in every way. Only truth will prevail in the end.

Getting To Know God Better 42

I know that many people want to go from  the start line to the finish line without running the race. In other words {just tell me what I need to know so I can jump to the end}. That is not the God way and I am glad of it. In-between the start line and the finish line is where we get to know God and come to terms with the vast difference between God and man and understand the economy of God so that we can incorporate it into our daily lives so we can finish the race with understanding and dignity.

Today is one of those in-between times. I'm not at the starting line and I have not finished the race. My inner man is seeking some gem of truth that will activate my inspiration modules. In a way I want to be further along in the race and yet in an another way I really don't want to be further along. As with all knowledge comes responsibility and with responsibility comes accountability and accountability seems to reveal a little more of ourselves to others than we might be comfortable with.

I do want a gem of of truth, but I'm not sure if I want it in an instant delivery form or slow release. I've learned enough about God to understand that no matter what others know about God or about me, I know about God and about me. I have learned to monitor my progress with God so that I don't know so much that I am responsible to others to provide what I know with the accountability factor, because then what I know can be measured by what I practice. Ouch. Am I known by what I know or what I practice? What if what I know is not in alignment with what I practice? I think I have built a system to manage God so that even when I don't practice what I know, only God knows and therefore I can blame God for my current condition of being out of sync with what I know and what I practice.

Of course every person is a God manager in their own way. That contributes to all the confusion about God. Let's face it God has not confused anyone. We, you and me are the confusers. We are the God managers. We manage God by allowing only a portion of the flow of God, the Light of God to flow through us. We don't mind too much if the Light shines on us, but we have a harder time with the Light flowing through us. The thing to know concerning this is that the way God created the universe to operate, only that which goes through us has any efficacy, is counted, is our portion of faith. God things are not stagnant. God things are only fluid. 

To wrap this up; only the knowledge that goes through you to others is what you know, not what you think you know or what you think you have learned. If it has not passed through you and only stopped at you then you have not received it yet, if it is from God. It is kind of like saying that knowledge is like a shadow and the shadow touches you before the object making the shadow touches you and the shadow is not the object.

What you know is not what makes you know God better, only what you share.

Getting To Know God Better 41

All peoples pursue something that deals with the spiritual element of their composition. There really are four major categories that most people fit into:

1. Atheist, those who do not recognize God as having existence.
2. Agnostic, those who give place to the possibility, but nothing has assuaged them to recognize the existence of God as of yet.
3. Believer in a god, those who have followed their ancestral or religious/political philosophy of the region, believing in and possibly acknowledging allegiance to a god, higher power, or gods in general, but no difinitive understanding of God in the person of Jesus the Christ. This includes all religious groups and or philosophies that have acknowledged the existence of a spiritual component without understanding the creator of that power or having authority to wield that power in the name of the creator of that power. In other words, they believe in a deity, but do not have first hand experience or communication with that deity. All of their experience is handed down from one generation to another without any of the generations having ever met their god.
4. Those who believe in God through the saving grace of Jesus the Christ.

You can have sympathy for group 1, 2 and 3, but in no way should there be any acceptance of or agreement to the belief system, other than to acknowledge that the person does believe it. There is also no need to bash or create the feeling that the person is inferior to you in any way due to the fact that they believe in a different religious philosophy than you. Nor is there any need to defend your position by answering ridiculous questions posed by those who have a great need to compel their will on you.

Why do I bring this up? Because every person I write to in this blog is from one of these categories and their is no way that each group interprets the information in the same way.

God has declared the heavens and earth, the stars and all that is as physical proof of His pre-existence and Sovereignty.
God has declared the written Word as physical proof of His omniscience and Scientific proof by recording the events of ancient history with perfect accuracy and declaration and creating unswerving rules of scientific, measurable and obtainable formulas.
God has declared the spoken Word to all who have listened as proof of His undeniable continuing interfacing and interaction with all of humanity.

God is in charge of dealing with group 1, 2 and 3, not you.

You are responsible only to continue in the faith that brought you to Jesus and follow God's teaching with understanding to the best of your ability, nothing else. Yes, you can be proactive and minister to others and/or provide truth about your personal experience through personal testimony, shared ideals with others and missionary exploits, but none of those within themselves has anything to do with why you were chosen to become a child of God.

You will not know a great many things on this side of heaven. God has chosen to shroud many truths in mysteries and unknowable events, and that to your benefit. God has provided the perfect blend of knowable events and discoveries with unknowable events and actions to give us all we need to live a full and satisfied life. God's intervention in the events of life is the only reason that time is still moving forward with opportunity for every person to come to a knowledge of Jesus the Christ as Savior/God.

This spiritual blessing is provided by the alive and real-time existence of the Holy Spirit within your soul. The Holy Spirit guides you into enlightenment, protects you from your self/ego, and makes known all knowledge necessary to live a full and complete God-ordained life. Being a Christian does not provide you with unnatural or magical powers, nor does being a Christian protect you from the free-will of man or from the natural events that befall everyone. Being a Christian protects you from the fatal flaw of not recognizing God and the permanent solution of that flaw which is separation from God for all eternity.

You will live for all eternity. Quit worrying about what others think or how unfair God is. You should be very thankful that God is not fair. It is in God's unfairness that you have any chance at all.

Note: For those who think, "what about the Muslims, what about the Buddhist and the Shintoist?"  What about the Muslims, Buddhist and Shitoist? Are you thinking that God is predjudiced and un-god-like, that he has turned His back on an entire society of people?  It amazes me what kind of teaching are we receiving today where entire groups of Christians have no understanding of God's economy? 

They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand. Isa. 44:18

Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.  Mat. 13:13
Mat. 13:14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 

Joh. 8:43 Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 
Joh_12:40  He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. 
Act_28:26  Saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and not perceive: 

Rom_15:21  But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand. 

God is in charge. I believe that most people don't like the way God does things and that is the primary contributing factor to the apathy and lack of knowledge of the Church. Truly most people find their pastor's way more tolerable and understandable. The watered-down Word of God, spoken form the pulpit, is the elixir of the modern Church. God wants His people to "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Mat. 11:28, but priests and pastors say "only after you do this and give that are you to follow Christ." 

Priests and pastors, get out of the way. Don't stop teaching and preaching and giving of yourself for the kingdom.  Don't stop providing great services and programs that bring people together and advance the quality of life for those in your ministry. Don't stop administering the sacraments. But quit trying to mediate for Jesus. Jesus needs you to step aside as the authority of the Church and allow the Holy Spirit to communicate with God's parishioners. 

Priests and pastors: You are hired servants, act like it.

Getting To Know God Better 40

Where would you say you are on the path to understanding your place in God's economy?

You are right where you put yourself. That's right. Whether you like where you are or feel like someone else put you where you are, or don't like where you are at all; you are where you are because of the simple fact that you were created in a world where free-will is the active modus operandi.

Whether you feel like you got a great deal or a raw deal, you are where you should be today. I know it is a difficult concept that you feel like you should be somewhere/someone else, but the fact remains you are you where you are now.

There is much confusion among believers concerning why things are the way they are and what to do about it. Like most conundrums, it will take some serious focus time to get the answers you need. Mostly though, there is one thread running through the entire concept of understanding God's economy and that is faithfulness. I know what your thinking, you have faith and that is the answer. Of course you are mostly right, however there is a difference between faith and faithfulness.

Most of us have some degree of faith that we rely on that connects us to God through Jesus Christ and it is this faith that brings about salvation and sanctification, the forgiveness of sins and adoption into the kingdom of God. All of that is good for us and works all the time. Faithfulness is a little different, in that faith can be applied from a static position, but faithfulness requires forward and constant movement. You can have faith that either grows or wanes or changes based on the circumstances, but faithfulness isn't measured by the same standards as faith. Faithfulness requires fluid action, listening to and reacting to and responding to the voice of God, not relying on yesterdays knowledge but open to today's events/direction/gifting/understanding.

Faith, even as small as a mustard seed can move mountains, but faithfulness cannot be measured by results. Faithfulness is operating on the assumption that when you step forward God will put a step for you to stand on again and again to move forward. Faithfulness does not measure the results, but simply responds to the direction. It is not necessary that the faithful be reminded of how much they have done or how much they have given or what great deeds they have accomplished. Faithfulness is operating with eyes wide open but only to see forward, not having the ability to look back to measure the results. The faithful need not know the day to day results of their labor. Satisfaction comes from responding, not in reaping or accumulating. 

Understanding God's economy is relative to operating in faith. The more faith you apply to any given situation, the more understanding you retrieve. Static faith; in other words, relying on the same level of faith you had ten or twenty years ago will bring you the same results as ten or twenty years ago. Each day the bar is re-set to 0 and in order to grow in faith, you must find new or re-evaluate old information concerning the economy of God. The finding is easy, since God leaves a trail as wide as the universe and as long as time. With your spiritual eyes open to the Word of God and the things of God, you can reach out/down and pick up an unlimited supply of the information you need to operate in the will of God in your life.

There is no hidden agenda or some erroneous expectation that God has concerning you that is hidden or that is not obtainable. There are no missing ingredients. There is no lack of vital information to process. The entire accumulation of the things/knowledge of God is in the operation of your free will. If you freely seek the things of God, you will receive in equal proportion to your faith. The secret to this knowledge is to understand that the bar is set to 0 every day and you can only move forward by re-vitalizing your existing relationship with God or gathering new information that enlightens you to pursue and obtain the newness of your relationship with God.

A static relationship with God, where you rest on your past experience only, for valuing your relationship with God, compared to a revitalized daily relationship, is like being a statue of yourself in a museum compared to being a patron, walking through and seeing all the beauty and magnificence and being inspired to do some great thing.

Many Christians today are like a statue in a museum.