Tuesday 31 January 2017

Eternal Life.


St. Paul called his body "this body of death"  Romans 7:24b (NRSV)

This is because the body dies but the spirit lives on.

And he assumed that all physical pleasures were sinful and brought about death to God.  This is abstract thinking extrapolated from the material.

"For the wages of sin is death."  Romans 6:23a (NRSV)

But eternity, eternal life is now.

My body is alive now.

Death is no place, no state, no kingdom.

I am never separated from God.

And I experience His Life in my body which is Love.


[Scripture quotations ( marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.]

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Monday 30 January 2017

Blessing.


What does it mean to be a pure blessing to humankind?

It means to give unconditional love to everyone.

It means to encourage:
Philanthropy, altruism, generosity, charity.
Forgiveness, compassion, mercy, trust.
Gentleness, non-violence, humility, peace.
Self-esteem, hope, consideration, faith.

But most of all:
Love.


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Sunday 29 January 2017

Sunday Christians.


Why do people sit in church every Sunday and nod piously during the sermon, even espouse hospitality during prayers, but you never see them during the week?

Church people only associate with others during official Church functions.  They never invite you into their homes let alone provide a meal.

We are constantly reminded that Jesus attended and spoke about meals, using this as a metaphor for God's hospitality.

Hospitality is one of the principles of Messy Church but not one of them has ever invited me into their home for a meal.

So they sit there and the sermon goes in one ear and out the other, or over their heads completely.

No wonder the Church is dying.


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Monday 23 January 2017

Church Leaders.


"The shepherds also have no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, to their own gain, one and all."  Isaiah 56:11 (NRSV)

We may wonder why those in positions of authority in the Church teach things which seem so contradictory of Jesus and our intuitive understanding of God.

But in ancient Israel the prophets were often critical of the shepherds - i.e. the religious leaders of Israel.

They were called blind and deaf and Jesus called them hypocrites.

So we should not be surprised when the Church appears to be wrong.
It has been wrong before.

So why doesn't God tell them?

The answer is that He does.

He sends prophets and messengers to tell them.

But as Jesus said, "'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to it!  How often have I desired to gather my children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!'"  Luke 13:34 (NRSV)

This is the meaning of Jesus saying, "'And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord."'"  Luke 13: 35 (NRSV)


{Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division Of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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Sunday 22 January 2017

No Claim.


"And the devil claimed his soul."

Thus ends the story of Faust.

But there is no devil in reality, no hell.

So he cannot claim you.

He cannot claim gay people.

He cannot claim anyone.


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Saturday 21 January 2017

No Devil.


Not only is there no hell but there is no devil either.

After many long and heartfelt prayers I received the answer that the devil is an explanation for questions regarding evil in a world created by a good God.

Why do we suffer?

Why do bad things happen to good people?

One of the explanations is that there is a devil who is constantly working against the good works of God.

But there are other explanations.

I believe that evil in our world can be totally explained by the ignorant actions of people with free will, mostly because of fear.

These ideas challenge our dualistic thinking.

Progressive Christianity puts forward the concept that God is holistic - there is no duality at all.

This is new.

And it may be the next leap forward.


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Friday 20 January 2017

No Hell.


A quick look at the history of religion will tell you that hell is not so much about the nature or the will of God as about earthly power.

Heaven and hell are the carrot ans stick in our earthly religions.

And the carrot and stick approach is typical of institutionalized authority.
It is the weapon of earthly kings and dictators.

Napoleon said that if the Catholic Church had not existed he would have to have invented it.

But my experience of God has taught me that God punishes no one.
Therefore hell cannot exist.

How are we to cope with a religion that has no hell?

This is good news indeed.


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Monday 9 January 2017

Theistic God.


The God that gays reject and atheists refute and Satanists hate is the classical theistic God.

The theistic God is the old man in the sky who rewards good and punishes evil and judges whether we go to heaven or hell.

This angry, violent, child-abusing, torturer is the traditional God of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

But many Christians, Jews, and Muslims no longer believe in this theistic God.

There are reasons why this view of God has prevailed in the past: politics, authority, fear, and cynicism have all contributed to its supremacy.

But there are other views of God in the Bible and the Koran.

The loving Father God of Jesus who forgives sins, includes outsiders, and refuses to judge people has its roots in the Old Testament.

So when you reject God be aware that the traditional religious image of God - the classical theistic God - may not be what God is like at all.

Jesus said that the world did not know God.

Perhaps it still does not know Him.


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Sunday 8 January 2017

One God.


When people say that they don't believe in God they are usually saying that they don't believe in the theistic God of judgement and punishment.

Neither do I.

I believe in a God who is wholly good.
I believe in a God who is wholly benevolent.
I believe in a God who loves us unconditionally.

This is the transcendent God who is beyond our concepts of dualism and natural justice.

This is the Most High God of Abraham.

This is the loving Father of Jesus.

This is the Divinity of Yoga.

This is Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

This is the Beloved of Rumi.

This is the One God of Baha'i.

And He is Love.


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Saturday 7 January 2017

1984.


Do you ever feel as if you are living in 1984?

Double Speak, Black/White, New Speak, The Ministry of Truth.....

All these things come directly from the pages of the classic novel 1984.

It is not Socialism, however, which is doing these things but corporations and media moguls.

And this should not surprise anyone because all these things are about controlling people's thinking.

Even the ever-present video cameras echo the novel.

But because the villain in the novel is EngSoc (English Socialism) the left-wing (their political opponents) get the blame.

I believe that these techniques have been deliberately appropriated by our corporate masters to control public opinion.

They employ people who deal in perceptions and conspire with evil forces in our entertainment.

And look how well it's working!


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Friday 6 January 2017

The Spiritual Dimension.


If we see Aquarius as the central sign of the 4th quadrant of the zodiac we see that it has a spiritual dimension.

The 4th quadrant of an astrological chart relates to the last three houses of the chart.  This corresponds to the signs Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.

The 4th quadrant represents our attempts to contribute to humanity.

If we take Aquarius as the first sign of a chart for the Age of Aquarius we see something interesting.

Capricorn then becomes the 12th house (ruled by Neptune).
Neptune is exalted in Aquarius.
Pisces is ruled by Neptune.

So each of the three signs forming the 4th quadrant has a relationship to Neptune which represents the spiritual dimension.

So all the talk about spirituality and the Age of Aquarius is quite relevant.

And because Neptune is exalted in Aquarius we will see the highest manifestations of spirituality developing as the Age of Aquarius begins.

This aspect also brings the three social signs into harmony.

So pray for social and spiritual harmony as we move into the new age.


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Thursday 5 January 2017

Self-Sufficient.


In our modern industrial world we are expected to be self-sufficient.

We are expected to look after ourselves financially, emotionally, and physically.

We are not supposed to be needy.
This is shameful.

But we all have needs.

We are not, however, good at expressing our needs.

Our egos imprison us.

It takes humility to admit that we have needs.

And this applies to our relationship with God.

We are too proud to admit that we need grace and forgiveness.

We imprison our minds in a contract mentality.

We must earn and deserve and merit.

But we cannot barter with God.

We must humble ourselves before God.

We must admit our needs and our pain and our inadequacy.

God will respond with Grace.

His Love is unconditional.

It is a free gift.

No strings attached.

But we cannot manipulate God.

There may be times when His silence is bewildering.

There may be times when He seems distant, even absent.

But He is always there, always available to us.

We can trust God.

His Love will save us.


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Wednesday 4 January 2017

The End of the Age.


""Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.'"  Matthew 13:40 (NRSV)

There was a general belief in the time of Jesus that the end of the age was approaching.  And at that time God would judge between the good and the evil and the good would be vindicated and the evil would be destroyed.

But this is not what happened.

What happened was that the light - the message of Jesus - was persecuted and killed and the powers of the earth usurped his Church.

"'Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.'"  Matthew 5:11 (NRSV)

"'Truly I tell you there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age - houses, brothers, sisters, mothers and children and fields, with persecutions - and in the age to come eternal life.'"  Mark 10:29,30 (NRSV)

In these passages Jesus predicts the persecution of the light and the reward of those who adhere to it.

But we would be wrong to think that Jesus' mission was a complete failure.  Some of the light survived the persecution and even the take-over of his religion.

So that now we have a Church which, like the Jewish Temple, is a patchwork of light and darkness.

It is our job to collect the fragments of light.

And make no mistake, if we are not diligent, the new revelation which is coming now will meet the same fate.

  
[Scripture quotations (marked NRSV) are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.  All rights reserved.]

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Tuesday 3 January 2017

Buddha/Jesus.


I dreamt that we visited a Buddhist Temple.

I recalled meditating - observing my thoughts - and realizing that I was not my thoughts but the thinker of my thoughts.  I only existed in the present.

Some thoughts were my own deductions.
But other thoughts were projected from other minds across the collective unconscious.

I was free to choose those thoughts which were helpful and reject those which were not.

Then I became aware of my heart.
I felt love and compassion for the sufferings of humanity.

I recalled Jesus' commandment to love God and love your neighbor.

This was essentially the same as the Buddha.

So if we can control our thoughts and feel love and compassion we are honoring both the Buddha and Jesus of Nazareth.


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Monday 2 January 2017

An Equal and Opposite Force.


What is needed to counter the flood of evil emanating from our rock music and entertainment is an equal and opposite force.

Blessings from God must be showered on the community from God's Churches, Synagogues, Mosques, and Temples.

To do this God's agents on earth must purge themselves of all negative practices and doctrines and become a pure blessing to humankind.

We must learn how to love.

Satanists curse us.

God's agents must bless us.


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Sunday 1 January 2017

Crime of the Century.


The Crime of the Century is not the Great Train Robbery, Jack the Ripper, or 9/11.

The Crime of the Century is the betrayal of three generations of youth by rock stars who have sold their souls to the devil and practised covert Satanism in their music and videos for 50 years.

And they're still getting away with it.


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