Please forgive the limited amount of scripture cited in the last few post. The messages are all for those who honor, respect, fear, love, and praise a Creator who we accept created an original man and woman who are parent of all humanity. These God-fearing messages are written from the perspective of the Protestant Christian canon. The author has participated within a few different Protestant Christian congregations over course of thirty-five or more years with a short, sorrowful hiatus of about one decade during his late teens and early twenties.
As Solomon compiled the Proverbs with teachings of wisdom and as his father, King David, scripted the Psalms with the same tenor of thought, the author has had a few thoughts which he would like sharing with future generations which come along.
First, as Proverbs states a wise son follows his father's teachings and calls wisdom his kinswoman. This is a teaching taught and accept by three of the major faith groups on God's green earth. With that said, if you come from another faith group, your parent's instruction is a great starting place. And, based upon a few of scriptures in the Christian canon, might very well be an acceptable ending place. And, always remember, the Creator of the Heaven and Earth is a Father for all, if you are looking for parental instruction.
As Christ taught in the last few recorded words of the greatest sermon in history, the Sermon on The Mount:
[Mat 7:21-29 KJV]
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:
25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.
26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:
27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.
28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
29 For he taught them as [one] having authority, and not as the scribes.
With that said, Matthew also records Christ as teaching this :
[Mat 25:31-46 KJV]
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth [his] sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed [thee]? or thirsty, and gave [thee] drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took [thee] in? or naked, and clothed [thee]?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done [it] unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done [it] unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did [it] not to one of the least of these, ye did [it] not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
He accepts those who are righteous. Not those who have performed all of the compulsory procedures and pomp of a cultural protocol and tradition without experiencing true conversion.
With that said, by Christ's standards, this author who has worked as a servant in His Father's House performing tasks which are much less glamorous than being a doorkeeper might very well be rejected by his Lord while a person who has lived as devout follower of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, or etc. will be accepted , if as taught by Saul who became Paul,
[Rom 2:27-29 KJV]
27 And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?
28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither [is that] circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
29 But he [is] a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision [is that] of the heart, in the spirit, [and] not in the letter; whose praise [is] not of men, but of God.
The author is well aware that these are not commonly accepted Christian teachings. They would likely be labeled as overly "liberal" and "accepting". Yet, Christ blessed a foreigner who had true faith in Mark:
[Mar 7:25-29 KJV]
25 For a [certain] woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet:
26 The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter.
27 But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast [it] unto the dogs.
28 And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs.
29 And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter.
It is also recorded in other Gospels that Christ said of this woman that her faith was greater than any faith he had seen among Israel for he called her a "dog", a highly detestable animal among Hebrews or His time.
And, in all honesty, many within the borders of the decadent, developed country of which the author is part could testify that many of the non-Christians in this world live a life more adherent with Christian scriptures than us. That is simply honesty. This testimony might be the only words which would bond us from an eternity of torment seeing that our mitigating factors would be the same as the non-Christians in this world. Those being, "this is the environment in which we were born, this is how we were taught by the authority figures in our respective communities, and we basically played the cards which we were dealt." All most of us could do is throw ourselves on the Mercy of the Court if the our judgment came in the morning.
With all of this said, do not let labels and personal pretenses preclude one from accepting another who might truly become a brother beloved as time passes.
In all honesty, the author is much like many physicians and attorneys; he is practicing Christianity. he has gotten it right on a few occasions in his life. Most of those were after his late twenties when he finally put profanity away from his lips and drove it out of his thoughts. It was after he drove the pornography out of his life which crept in during his early teens as a natural result of living in a neighborhood were amateur pornography was made by a professional photographer in some neighboring townhomes. But, truth be told, those vices returned after a decade or so.
And, it has been a struggle re-entering His Kingdom. He is much like many of the spiritual lepers in this modern era; we are outside the Walls of His Great City, but we believe that we are living in the finest palace in the city based upon our perspective of this physical world. The Father has set exceedingly high standards for us. Yes, He is Merciful. Yet, He is Just.
If we feel that we can commit any and every type of sin that intrigues and thrills us, reek havoc in our families and communities, and make a mockery of His Teachings by simply saying His Name while making a weak and ineffectual apology for our willful sin, we are misguided. We are nothing more than His spoiled children. Rotten and untoward reprobates who are claiming an inheritance which they have not met the minimal standard for receiving. Some might read this and giggle, having been misled by those who spew forth convenient scriptures snippets for fun and profit. Read the Christian cannon for yourself. Does not it say,
[1Jo 2:27-29 KJV]
27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
28 And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
29 If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.
This might hurt the tender feeling of an immature Christian who is still sipping spiritual milk at a point when this society says that they are at full-age.
But scripture states,
[Rom 8:7 KJV]
7 Because the carnal mind [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
[Mat 5:17-20 KJV]
17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach [them], the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed [the righteousness] of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
[Rev 3:5 KJV]
5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
[Implicit in the last statement is the fact that those who do not overcome this world will have their name removed from the list of those who enter His Rest.]
So, how does one make such claims when it has long been taught the we have eternal salvation once we have prayed a single prayer and accepted our Savior's free gift:
[Jhn 3:15-18 KJV]
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
But, Let us read on:
[Jhn 3:19-21 KJV]
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
So, the second lesson is that one should be cautious of those who teach a "that Shock G Dowhatchalike gospel". Please, forgive the irreverence and antiquated rap reference.
Third and final advice for the young. Be very careful with what you become comfortable. Over my years, the author has seen many a wonderful and beautiful soul harmed by life's experiences. First, it might have been a few cigarettes. They initially caused coughing, but the young person persisted. They soon calmed they nerves and eased anxiousness. Then that person simply accepted that they were a "smoker". It was "who they were". They "were comfortable with what they did" and "could handle it". Nicotine became blasé and they tried something different. And, another monkey name Mr. Jones II jumped on their back. And, the pattern continued. Some say this is life. Someone else said that the "road which ends in destruction is wide and traveled by many" and "the road which ends in life is narrow and traveled by few". Choose this day.
Most likely, a first smoke starts with a desire for acceptance. It is not easy living in an environment where one feel alone and unwanted. Humans are social by nature. But, each unhealthy behavior with which we become comfortable is simply another locked door which we might burst through as we escape the eternal dungeon which is the final destination of a life of such comforts.
In the author's own life's experiences, profanity and pornography re-entered his life when he found himself in a living situation were foul language was used by a member of the household and closed-circuit television was available. Being that he had accumulated a number of burdensome medical bills, was only partially employed at the time, and was in transition, he did not simply pick up and leave when he noticed that he might enter a backslidden state. When he assertively asked for change, he was told that he could hit the bricks if he could not deal with the behavior in that house. And, in all honesty, such a move would have shown a much greater faith. Staying resulted in a weakened spiritual walk. Sadly, most modern Christians cannot resist "urges" and likely would not resist "until death" protecting the the integrity of their faith.
So, in short, be careful with what, with whom, and how you become comfortable. Reading scripture is an excellent relaxation tool. It can calm your fears, ease a troubled heart, bring mirth and merriment, plus give hope in hopeless situations. The best day of the author's life was a Saturday afternoon and evening of scripture reading. Something he had promised himself and the Lord that he would do in his teens instead of watch cartoons and sports all day. Sadly, he did not fulfill this promise until his early thirties. Without being full of regret, he often wonders how life would have been different had been more disciplined in his faith walk at an early age. Surely, he would have attracted a different set of associates, if he had any.
With all this said in an seemingly endless, extemporaneous exposition which rambled at points, the author has lived a wonderful life full of more blessings than any one person deserves. The curses were minor and insignificant in his eyes. Some who know him and his life's circumstance would say that is pitiable; Truth be told the author pities them above most others, because they have not seen a day in His Courts. They know a joy that ceases when the accolades end, their income decreases, and the luxuries lessen. But, a Joy exists which this world does not give and the world cannot take away. It is my sincere hope that you find such a Joy. Family, friends, and church folk will leave and deceive you. They will hate and harm you. They will abhor and abuse you. Some will even toss you out in the street while you are near death so you can die in a gutter like a stray mongrel. But, the Lord will never leave or forsake you. So, be comforted.
Stay Blessed, May His Mercy and Peace Rest Upon You Eternally.
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