Living Journey

A man, a prophet or perhaps Christ Himself? There are some contenders for this role, one of which I read about quite a few years ago called Maitreya the “Christ”. Or, as those who endorse him say, he is the ‘Christ for Christians’, the ‘Messiah for Jew’s’ the last ‘Imam for Muslims’ and well, just a great teacher … so all things to all people.

Oh, but wait… there is another one called José Luis Miranda, a Puerto Rican who calls himself “Jesucristo Hombre” he says he is Jesus too. Hmmmm who to follow? I wonder if the two Messiah’s know about each other?
All this is very dangerous as past history has shown. These false Messiah’s or false prophets are very good at twisting scripture to suit an agenda in anyway they see fit. It is extremely important that we know our scripture so that we can recognise the sheep in wolves clothing.

A while ago I had written a post called ‘A prayer - an email of concern, replied to by a stranger…then a comment from a stranger.‘ - I know … a ridiculous long title, but it seemed good at the time - and in that post I had mentioned Rick Warren’s very clever scripture twisting.

He was speaking about the 40 years of wandering in the desert and how a generation of Israelites could not make it to the promised land because they died. He compares those who didn’t see the promise land to those who dis-like his current new reformation that he is pushing and how they may not be part of it so they may have to either leave the church or the church will just have to wait for them to die.

“I’m saying some people are going to have to die or leave. Moses had to wander around the desert for 40 years while God killed off a million people before he let them go into the Promised Land. That may be brutally blunt, but it’s true. There may be people in your church who love God sincerely, but who will never, ever change” (Rick Warren’s “Ministry Toolbox,” No. 263, 6/14/06).

Now that is some scripture twisting!!!

Let’s read the actual scripture:

1Co 10:5-10 Yet God was not pleased with most of them, “for they were scattered in the deserted place.” But these things became examples for us, so that we may not be lusters after evil, even as those indeed lusted. Neither be idolaters, even as some of them, as it has been written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play.” Nor should we commit fornication, as some of them fornicated, and twenty three thousand fell in one day. 1Co 10:9 Neither test Christ, as some of them tried Him, and perished by serpents. Neither should you murmur, as also some of them murmured, and perished by the destroyer.

Does the above scripture give a good description of you?

If you don’t like the way your church has become an ear tickling, wishy washy, seeker friendly, luke warm church that makes God sick kind of place. Then according to Rick Warren you are like those who God punished in the wilderness; you are an idolater a fornicator and someone who lusts after evil, and you should all drop dead!

I raise this point because Neil Botham who has led a coutnter-cult group for the last 20 years is very aware of the dangers behind such scripture twisting. He has this to say about Rick Warren’s rather pompous statement (found here in a post called ‘Die or get out Rick Warren says!!!‘):

This latest quote from Warren should sound a warning to Christians worldwide, especially those pastors who have been taken in by his anti-christian poison. I have been the director of a counter-cult -movement for the last 20 years, i.e teaching christians how to respond to the cults. The similarities between warren and Jim jones of jonestown and david koresh leave me cold. Warren is a classic example of how power corrupts. Christian, see the writing on the wall and dump this poison before it’s to late.

What writing on the wall does he see?

Anyway, I recently watched a DVD about the Waco tragedy called ‘The Rules of Engagement‘, and I wrote this poem after viewing the DVD. I have also read the transcript between Koresh and the FBI, which was rather moving and chilling.

If you are interested in any other poems I have written I have one called ‘The Imitation of Christ‘ about the founder of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, Ellen G White. I have also read the newspapers regarding the charges against Israel Dammon. Which inspired that particular poem.

Dalet is the 4th letter in the Hebrew alpha-bet and it means impoverished, possessing nothing of ones own. The pictograph for the dalet is a door to a tent.

The word for religion is dat () which means the ‘door of the cross’. In sequence we have the Father (Aleph) sent His Son (Bet) and by means of the Holy Spirit (Gimmel) who makes appeal to the poor and needy to receive the grace of the LORD God of Israel. As Yeshua said, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).

Here is how you write the dalet -

I quickly did this with my Wacom pen. I am probably going to re-do it. But I just wanted to see what it looks like on my blog.

Do you like it?

Lord Jesus, give me a deeper repentance, a horror of sin, a dread of its approach. Help me chastely to flee it and jealously to resolve that my heart shall be Thine alone.

Give me a deeper trust, that I may lose myself to find myself in Thee, the ground of my rest, the spring of my being. Give me a deeper knowledge of Thyself as saviour, master, lord, and king. Give me deeper power in private prayer, more sweetness in Thy Word, more steadfast grip on its truth. Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action, and let me not seek moral virtue apart from Thee.

Plough deep in me, great Lord, heavenly husbandman, that my being may be a tilled field, the roots of grace spreading far and wide, until Thou alone art seen in me, Thy beauty golden like summer harvest, Thy fruitfulness as autumn plenty.

I have no master but Thee, no law but Thy will, no delight but Thyself, no wealth but that Thou givest, no good but that Thou blessest, no peace but that Thou bestowest. I am nothing but that Thou makest me. I have nothing but that I receive from Thee. I can be nothing but that grace adorns me. Quarry me deep, dear Lord, and then fill me to overflowing with living water.

Neh 8:8-10 So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading. And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

I find this interesting, it says that the book of the law made sense and then the Israelites understood its meaning. Once they understood the reading the Israelites wept and mourned.

You see, the law does condemn, sin is brought out into the light when one reads the law. It shows us that no-one is worthy and everyone is a sinner. So, of course when understood completely you will feel condemned and will want to weep in repentance.

Yet, after this national repentance they were told to eat the fat and drink the sweet drink because this day was to be a joyous day.

First weeping and repentance because they truly understood, then joy.

Neh 8:12 And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth,
because they had understood the words that were declared unto them.

In context this is before the feast of tabernacles was discovered to be a feast that they should all be celebrating.

Neh 8:14-17 And they found written in the law which the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month: And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written. So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the street of the gate of Ephraim. And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and sat under the booths: for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness.

The booths are symbolic of the Israelites salvation because of their coming out of Egypt. This celebration had been forgotten for quite some time. It is celebrated now by the Jews in a celebration called the ‘Feast of Tabernacles/Booths‘.

It will have its ultimate fulfillment when we tabernacle with Christ. What we see now is just a shadow of things that are promised to come.

I did find it interesting, that the book must be understood first which naturally leads one to weep and mourn because the book condemns, but there is a hope and a promise of a feast after this weeping and crying. That hope can only be our salvation through a sin offering which gives us our salvation - just as the lamb had to be sacrificed for the Israelites to be spared judgment - we know that sin offering to be our lamb of God called Jesus Christ. As Christians we understand the feast to be the marriage supper. Jesus said that He has gone to prepare a place for us … and He will come back for His bride.

The feast of tabernacles is a seven day feast. Is this our marriage feast?

Gimmel is the third letter in the hebrew alpha-bet, it is given the gematria of 3. If I look at it I can kind of see the english letter g. It is pronounced as ‘g’ for girl.

The pictgraph for this letter is architecture and the letter is constructed from a Vav and a Yod … apparently there is a significance that the letter looks like a man walking and the yod indicates he is walking to the left.  The man is chasing the next letter in the Hebrew alpha-bet which I haven’t got to yet.

The gematria being 3 means it is stable like a stool and is said to mean that the world stands on three things, those being:

1. Torah
2. Worship
3. Acts of loving kindness

Also it represents the 3 patriachs of the Old Testament. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

It has been said that it can represent the Holy-Spirit because Aleph = 1(is the father of the alpha-bet) and Bet = 2(Son/bara see this post) and then comes Gimmel =3(Holy Spirit).

This is my new letter that I will have to practice in writing and in recognising. Below are the correct step taken to write Gimmel.
If you are interested in learning Hebrew you can go to Hebrew 4 Christians, this is where I am going on a regular basis, and have found a wealth of information to help understand this ancient language. I have enjoyed it so far.

My book arrived yesterday, and I have just taken a cursory reading of the book that I ordered. It looks like it will be quite interesting.

From what I have read he sees that his book is a massive attack on hypocrisy, sanctimonious news, and self-righteousness which he says is a big lie. He sees that the West has replaced one objective - that being a collective Moral goal - with individual self satisfaction. With no collective objectivity in plain sight then ‘self‘ becomes amplified over, above and beyond the common man and the common good. The common good has been lost in a sea of capitalism.

The author witnessed this in Germany, when Hitler promised employment and individual economic security, which he then went on and delivered. The individual was satisfied first of all, which in turn led people not to see further or beyond their immediate needs.

This sounds all to familiar doesn’t it!! I can see this now in the West, and I can see this happening in the Church with the prosperity gospel being trumpeted as the new moral message and that message being … ‘God rewards His kingdom kids’! Of course the reward is only for the purpose of helping those who have not been rewarded with prosperity or are unfortunate enough not to be within the kingdom of God. The moral message has been watered down to — yes, you guessed it — to money! Now let’s get back to the book.

He says that this mind-set creates a ‘moral neutrality’ which tempts us to look for our own desires on a path of least resistance. One word for this, and that word — Opportunism.

He calls this a ‘basic evil’ that overrides everything else including the bigger purpose outside of ourselves and it overrides national objectives, in fact it fools the person into thinking that it is the national objective.

He then talks about how countries and their governments want to be legitimised and uses Hitler as an example. Hitler did this with the help of the Olympic Games in 1936 - Hitler managed to integrate his nation symbolically and also built up the people living in Germany at the time, the medals were secondary to the points he wanted to make. He impressed the Germans - including the opposition at the time - and demonstrated his power as the world looked on.

Another example is George Bush Sr. who had the same foggy idea when it came to Saddam Hussein, Bill Clinton too, had the same idea in regards to North Korea, he wanted that country to become more co-operative so he extended concessions.

In regards to Nazi Germany, the western nations were not interested in conquering Germany for democracy, but just wanted to be left alone so they appeased him. Which again the self attitude of - I won’t bother you if you don’t bother me and we will all live happily ever after - is assumed, perhaps in ignorance by the majority who live in a nation that has no collective objectives but only that of wanting to live for the self and to live for the moment.

Now my understanding of this assumption is this … if it is extended outward to nations who do not hold to the same self interests and values it can be a dangerous one and can perhaps lead to the downfall of a nation that has little cohesive glue holding it together. The foundations of a narcistic nation are not strong ones that pull people together, the foundations are in fact built on shifting sands called individual subjectivity with little or no regard to any real outward national objective. I am guessing that is why the title of this book is called Moral Meltdown!

Interestingly, I see that we are living in a world that is not to unlike pre-war Germany and perhaps today our western world is amplified even more with narcistic ideologies, and the problem I see is that we are unable to think or see how the other half live, think and see. Countries with individual self interests only help to allow countries with strong national interests — no matter if they are good or not, that is not my point — become the stronger ones because those countries operate as one collective.

Now, all that is just the tip of the ice-berg and what I have gleaned from the preface and the first chapter, and I have not got into the nitty gritty of the book just as yet. I think I can see where the author wants to take me, but I may be wrong, time will tell. But the above is what I have learnt from it thus far and I have added my own understanding of a bigger picture which is of my own observation.

Just as a side note … I have also ordered another book called ‘Why I left Jihad’ by Walid Shoebat. The author of Moral Meltdown, Hilmar von Campe is travelling with Shoebat on speaking engagements around the United States.

Recently North Korea tested a Nuclear explosion and the country now sits and waits for the international community to decide what action should be taken because of its very clear defiance. While this is happening do you think that Iran might share a little interest in the ramifications of this act by North Korea? Daveed Gartenstein-Ross has this to say from Counterterrorism blog:

Iran is watching how the international community is going to react to North Korea. . . . So the international community must be prepared for the possibility that North Korea is going to carry out a test and we must tailor our response and we must be ready with a basket of sanctions against North Korea. And the moment that it carries out that test those sanctions must be imposed so the message goes to North Korea as well as Iran. And once we take that first step what are the other options that are available for the international community we can discuss later. But if we defer and if we do not do anything immediately and if we go on discussing more and more with various groups and all, ultimately North Korea, Iran and Pakistan also — the jihadi elements there — they are going to get the wrong message, thinking the international community is weak, the international community will not act against them. (Spoken by Indian intelligence chief B. Raman during a podcast at Global Crisis Watch)

International investigators, who found that Chinese nuclear designs that were probably supplied to Pakistan in the 1980s were later sold to Libya by Pakistani-led smugglers. Former UN arms inspector David Albright has been quoted as saying, “You have to almost conclude [that the Chinese design] went to Iran and . . . North Korea.” Iran thus has blueprints for nuclear weapons technology that has been successful tested by two other countries, Pakistan and North Korea.

The ties have been noted in another report written by Daveed Gartensein-Ross in early 2006, to find out more on the connection between North Korea and Iran see this report called Iran bought Missiles from North Korea.

The plot thickens doesn’t it.

Bet, the next letter in the Hebrew alpha=bet.

This letter is given the value of 2 and it sounds like mate. The pictogram for this letter is; house, tent or dwelling and it has an opening like a window at the left side of the dwelling. It also has a prefixive to it that means ‘in’ and some understand that it is God’s intention to dwell here on earth.

I find that interesting because God did have a tent that He tabernacled in when the Jews were in the wilderness and then later the temples were built - God’s house. Later still the Word tabernacled with us in the flesh of Jesus. This is mentioned in John 1:14.

The Old Testament tent and subsequent temples were a shadow of things to come that Christ fulfilled partially and there is still more to be fulfilled - we look forward to this again when He restores His place on His Holy mountain and comes again just as He left.

Joh 1:14 And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory, glory as of an only begotten from the Father, full of grace and of truth.

Bet is a picture of the Son of God
The word for “create” in Hebrew is (bara), and the word for son is (bar). If we separate the letters within the word for bara, we will have: (bar Aleph), which points to the Son of the Father (Aleph). Thus we have:

“In the beginning the Son of Aleph…”

Ok … I am very slowly wrapping my head around this.

I have to make sure that I write this letter down over and over to get it in my head before I proceed to the next letter. And may I just point out that Bet has the dot inside and Vet does not have the dot. This dot is called the dagish mark or the dageshim and basically from my understanding is that Bet without the dageshim is pronounced in the softer way of Vet (all sounding like mate = bait - vait). The Bet and Vet are not different letters like our english ones but rather a harder or softer sound of the same letter.

I hope I have this right.

Anyway, I will post more on this as I learn.

It is drawn in a precise manner which is illustrated here:

I must remember when I practice I have to start from the right hand of the page and work to the left. I keep forgetting that. Oh well, I will get there!