So this is a personal issue as all my post have been. it’s the issue of the selfish Christian mentality. I say personal because this is who I use to be. To get to the point, it seems believers today have this mentality that they are given the privileged to only think about themselves with the way they handle God. I’ve seen the popular sermon and sayings, “Keep people in your life who inspire, if they don’t remove them” or “Surround yourself only with people who are going to take you higher.” Believers….. BELIEVERS, this is NOT from God… it’s from Oprah. This is not Jesus’s teachings and never was meant to be. We were never told to only be surrounded by people we can only be inspired by… we were told to be the light. Our focus should not always be on ourselves, in fact it rarely should be.
Proverbs 4:18 The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day.
It seems we have been conformed to think that this Christian walk is only about ourselves. That God can be conformed to be a God that only cares about our personal goals and dreams. Again this is contrary to the teachings of Christ. He actually requested that his followers leave their goals and dreams to follow him. It’s because our dreams and goals are most likely not going to be his for us. Paul was also very wealthy and in politics, he gave it up to follow Christ. I’m not saying you shouldn’t praise God for what he has done for you but again learn to make the focus toward others.
Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it. Luke 17:33
“If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple … So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” (Luke 14:26-27, 33)
“But seek His kingdom, and these things will be added to you. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Luke 12:31-34)
Most believe they can simply fill the baskets in church services and that is the only thing they should do for others, then back to ME ME ME. The statuses I see on Facebook and the tweets I see from some Christians are so bothersome because it shows this is exactly the mindset of many believers today. I think it’s why we think pastors are so much higher than ourselves. Because many of them are preaching things that give us more confidence in focusing on self.
Believers please learn to go back to putting others first. This is my request. This does not mean a weekly homeless feeding but let it be the way you live your life, the way your relationship with God is. I remember posting a status on Facebook asking the 3000 plus friends on my list why they Love God. All of the responses were “because of what he has done for me” type responses. Out of many comments maybe 1 or 2 people actually said because he’s God. Let us be proud of what he has done for us but more proud of what he will do for others through us.
Something that a Christian can always look forward to is being judged by non-believers and even other believers. We all experienced it I’m sure; you know, when someone points out a flaw in you that you may or may not have known about yourself. Sometimes the accusations are accurate and sometimes they are very invalid. I want to first speak to the non-believer that loves to find this faults to make their non-belief have more validity to them. Then I will reference those believers that have experienced this because we are handling it wrong as well.
I’m not going to come at you with any disrespect whatsoever. What I want you to understand is that “Christians” are not meant to be on this earth to show perfection. If you read the word of God you have many scriptures where the believers made it very obvious that they struggle with things that would appear to by hypocritical to what they want so much to achieve. When Paul talked about dealing with sin in his life, people for the most part weren’t running around saying, “YOU HYPOCRITE”. Instead a better understanding about how Christians are to handle sin was understood.
(Romans 7 21 So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? 25 Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!)
Unfortunately after the early believers passed away, Christianity became more of a judgment type of religion instead of LOVE but I want you to understand that the same contradictions and evil thoughts that go through anyone’s head is not exempted from believers… as much as some Christians would want you to believe.
Mark 7:21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
These things are things each human being has to deal with so you absolutely will see things you could call hypocritical in believers. In myself and even in yourself. The issue you have is that Christians today tend to act like they are perfect and don’t deal with these things. For that I apologize that we as a whole make you feel that way. Now there are situations where someone just feels a sense of self condemnation based on how someone else is living, (e.i. “He thinks he’s better than us because he doesn’t curse), but I know that is not always the case. Many of you just want to point out something that makes sense to you. I know you can’t believe I, A believer would dare to announce that Christians show hypocritical characteristics. This does not mean believers should but for that matter it doesn’t mean that anyone should but because of the sin we all deal with… we will have these issues. (1 Peter 4:18a “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved…) And even if you meet a Christian proud of their hypocrisy, understand that the human nature is not easy to fight… because they can’t meet the standard of which they claim to live doesn’t add validity to the sin in oneself.
To the believers’, I want you guys to handle it better. Most of us get defensive when someone points out hypocritical traits in ourselves and try to either point out their issues or just completely dismiss the person. Depending on how the person approaches you about, you should first evaluate to see if what they are saying is valid and even if it’s not, explain to them with love why it isn’t true or apologize for that perception they got of you. We are to have a similar attitude Paul had when speaking to non-believers and believers. Which is to see yourself as the lowest compared to others. That humility will cause you to respect that opinion with love.
1 Tim 1:15 This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”–and I am the worst of them all.
I use to be so guilty of this myself… I would fly off the handle when someone accused me of being hypocritical but over the years the Holy Spirit taught me how to deal with it with love. There have been times when the non-believer was valid and many times when they were just looking for something to validate their sin but 9/10 times we leave from the conversation with a better understanding of one another. Love is patient, Yes? So be patient with your accusers, be loving with your accusers, and continue with the fight.
Whenever I encounter believers that find their comfort in the church systems we all are familiar to, an idea that seems so normal to us all; that is the idea of calling what we consider religious leaders by their “Titles”. Many believers feel it is a sign of respect to call their preachers by names such as “pastor”, “elder”, “bishop”, etc. I and most of the believers I know do NOT use these titles before our names and when ever I encounter people that do, they either attempt to correct me (YOU MUST CALL HIM PASTOR) and/or they get highly offended with the impression that I do NOT respect “leadership”. I’m going to show you guys something from God’s word that contradict this idea. I could go into history and let you guys know how and when this started but for now lets just keep it simple.
My first example is going to be from our brothers who were used to develop the examples God wants us to have on this earth (from the bible) Lets think about Paul and Peter, these two were considered pastors, elders and just leaders for the lack of a better term. How did these two refer to each other. Many of us would think they would say PASTOR Peter or ELDER Paul, but we don’t see this example in the bible do we.
2 Peter 3:15 Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.
Galatians 2:7On the contrary, they recognized that I had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been to the circumcised.
Now these scriptures are not being used by the content but I want you to notice how they refer to one another. In our days’ teaching wee are taught that we MUST put a prefix like pastor or bishop in front of their name is the respect. How come the early Christians did not get this memo? We have Peter, when referring to Paul, refers to him by his name or even better A BROTHER. Then we have Paul who refers to Peter as just Peter. I also want you to acknowledge that you most likely have never heard anyone refer to Paul, Peter, John as Pastor or Elders. Yet when we lose a highly esteemed preacher today, they always carry that prefix. (ex. If Pastor Tom who is a famous preacher around the world dies today. The rest of his life he will be remembered as Pastor Tom. Did we not think Paul or Peter was as valuable?)
I want you guys to understand why that is. These Christians understood the unity in the body of Christ. That even though some are pastors, and such, they were still equal. In fact in some cases Paul referred to himself as even less than equal than the other believers.
Ephesians 3:8a Although I am less than the least of all God’s people, this grace was given me: to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ..
1 Cor 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God
1 Tim 1:15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners–of whom I am the worst.
This is the attitude that over the centuries the majority of the body has left. We have adopted the respect of the WORLD by doing it the way the world does it. You have to identify the President, Kings, Queens, Dr. and other highly esteemed characters in this fashion but this was NOT suppose to be the way of God.
The early Christians understood what Jesus meant when he said, Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matt 20:25-28 and But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. Luke 22:26
Matt 23 8 “But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher, and you are all brothers. 9 And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one Instructor, the Messiah. 11 The greatest among you will be your servant. 12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
This is how the Kingdom of God is guys, even though we created a new norm for the body of Christ of 2011, it will never change the order of God’s family.
Finally, the best example I can give is that of God, Jesus Christ. The fact that we can go to God and call him by His NAMES is quite remarkable. We don’t have to say, MOST GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL GOD (although it’s not a bad thing) but we can simple say Elohim, Jesus, El Elyon, El Olam, Yahweh, etc. We gave us His names to be able to relate to him and does NOT require us to put a prefix before His names. Now we do that not out of respect sometimes but because of how much WE adore and love Him, but most of us will not (should not) feel less of a lover with God by going to Him with just His name.
So let’s get this straight, God doesn’t require us to put this “respectable” prefix in front of his name but we MUST do it with our “pastors”, “bishops? Paul and neither Peter felt they had the need to put this “respectable” prefix before one another’s name in their letters but we still feel we must do it with our “pastors” “bishops”. What does that say guys, Does it mean we have more respect for our earthly “leaders” than we have for God? Do we respect them more than we respect God? Something went amiss guys, over the years we have developed these traditions, traditions that seem justifiable but are actually doing more harm than good.
I pray that the body of Christ really understands this message from God to be able to see their “leaders” as a brother, a sister instead of just someone ruling over them. Let us learn to see the examples from God on how to treat one another. I know a brother and sister that taught their children to call him Brother and Sister (along with Father and Mother) but I really received what was going on here. Although they are their parents, the children are able to understand that in the body of Christ, they are brothers and sisters, that they are equal. That is a lesson that really touched me and my best friend.
Stay encouraged guys, and respect everyone in the body equally.
Lately a young lady from high school has been coming to my mind, a girl whom everyone including myself tortured with our bullying and terrible mocking. I too was picked on and often times when you join the enemies cause you can relieve the bullying toward yourself for a short time. It’s a cycle that is created within itself. Well, one of the things I’ve been able to do in the last few years as the Holy Spirit has shaped love in my heart has been to apologize and make peace with people I’ve hurt in any way. This was one of the last people I could think of from high school days but had no idea if I would ever come to see her again. I wanted to know how she was… how that type of treatment affected her to whom she has become. I only hoped one day I would get that chance.
Yesterday, I was going to the grocery store to get stuff for supper and saw a woman in the car driving the opposite direction. It was her… it was the young lady that has been haunting me for the last few months. I screamed her name and she looked at me saying, “I’m sorry but do I know you”. I said yes, it’s me Omar from high school”. I wasn’t sure what memories this would bring back for her but she actually seemed pleasantly surprised it appeared. We stopped our cars in the middle of traffic which I would normally never do but this was my chance. I was afraid she was going to have to go while all the people were beeping her but I pulled over and left my car running and ran to her car. I gave her my number and she called me right away interestingly enough. She couldn’t talk long because she was driving, so she then texted me minutes after. She couldn’t text long neither because of course she was driving … I was at the supermarket. She mentioned that she really does not like running into people from high school because it was the worse memories for her ever. I responded how was exactly what I wanted to talk to her about. I said, “I wanted to apologize for the part I played in the terrible treatment you received during high school.” I received no response back and got a little nervous. As I pulled into my driveway I received a call from this woman. She said, “Omar I just wanted to respond to your text with my voice and would rather have done it in person”. My heart began to beat fast because when you put yourself out there like this you have to take the response you get no matter what it is. The woman said, “Omar I FORGIVE YOU with the fullness of my heart”. She said, “I really thank you for your words and it really helps in my healing from that terrible past.” I began to smile and felt so wonderful, not for myself but because she said this would help her heal. We talked for a little while and had a wonderful conversation. It’s amazing because she was picked on for the same exact thing I was picked on for. For acting too white for the people of our culture. She mentioned that she always remembered I was a Christian back then, I corrected her saying PLEASE do not call me a Christian back then. If I could treat a person that way then I was far from a Christian. I was false. Finally I was free of this haunting feeling and hopefully she will be set free from that pain more and more each day. It has been almost 10 years now and it still is an open wound for her.
1 Cor 13 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
I discuss this with you guys because this is how sin works guys. It much more terrible than we think … most of us only see the pleasures from it, such as sex, and other self gratifications, but we are blind to the circumstances that really come from it. The circumstances that could cause someone to be in pain for over 10 years, the circumstances that could cause someone to want to take their life.
The good part of it is that when you become a believer in Christ, and allow the Holy Spirit to mold your heart you are able to compare who you were with who you are now. If your heart conflicts with your old self, you know your on the right track.
I spoke about judging yourself instead of other people and some past post and this is how you are to do it.
Gal 5 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Hey guys, I know it has been awhile since I last left a post. Well this one is about the recent events of the death of Osama Bin Laden. As with all of my post, it is directed at the believers and how to live with the Love of Christ.
As Everyone knows, reports about Osama Bin Laden’s death has been announced months before 2012’s election race. This is a result of war which is part of this life on this terrible earth as a result of sin. That’s not the focus of this article though. The problem is the response from the believers I have witnessed. I see rejoicing and in some cases the praising of God about this event. Are Christians (LOVE) suppose to rejoice in a mans death who did not come to know the love of Christ? Now I have heard so many excuses as to why this is OK and acceptable. In many cases I have seen people using certain scriptures to convey their feelings. At the same token I have seen people use scriptures in opposition with those to convey their feelings as to why it is not OK. Without clear understanding of God’s word both sides could be bias because we HUMANS always look for scriptures that convey what we already feel. It goes back to the heart … (Jeremiah 17:9 “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?)
First I will talk about the main scripture I see people posting on their facebook. Which is “When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices. When the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.” -Proverb 11:10 There are way to many things I can point out about this scripture being used for this situation context and such but that would take too long. The main thing is… if you use that scripture you are implying that the U.S. is righteous which we should know by now that the WORLD’S powers are far from righteous. So that scripture doesn’t even stand a chance to be accurate for times such as now.
Look, yes God allows who He wishes to live and die but that does not mean we should allow our human nature to direct our actions and words. To be honest if you do your studying you find out that early Christians were not concerned about worldly affairs such as wars and such. They just focused on the love of Christ and continued to live in that love. I mean if Paul was killed before he became a believer would they have rejoiced about his death like many of us rejoice about Bin Laden’s death?
When i first heard about the death of Bin Laden I too was moved to rejoice but then i realized this man didn’t even know Christ… not only that me rejoicing in his death is the same judgement as those who Jesus rebuked about judging… to rejoice in another humans death is saying they deserved death which is a judgement im not willing to entertain. It’s another war inside me as we humans will have many times over . So that being realized I had to look into the word of God to see what God’s heart about the death of the non-believer is.
I could use “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, And do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles; Lest the Lord see it, and it displease Him, And He turn away His wrath from him” (Prov 24:17-18) but many of you then attempt to negate that scripture with another proverb that seems to be opposite. Instead of seeing how they work together … we of course just post scriptures to go against another scripture… we talked about this before and this is not how we are supposed to use the word of God. So let’s go directly to God’s heart. ”Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” says the Lord God, “ and not that he should turn from his ways and live? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,” says the Lord God” (Ezk 18:23 & 32). Look at that right there. That is God talking himself … saying he has NO pleasure when a non-believer dies. Even when he has to do it guys, God does not rejoice in the death of the wicked…. If God’s heart is not to rejoice then neither should ours. We should not be acting as the world when our nations enemies die, we should continue to love and teach the gospel. We must not be OF the world. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2
Understand that im not supporting anyone for mourning for his death… but im not supporting rejoicing in his death as well. I’m saying continue to love and share the gospel… don’t be caught up in these type of things. shoot I don’t even watch the news… I wouldn’t even know if I didn’t come on fb. Please be careful with your words and actions guys because you don’t want to find yourself under the same judgement as those pharisees Jesus rebuked. Although you are not casting those stones, your heart can be guilty of the same thing as theirs. Please continue to pray that God develops our hearts in HIS full love.
Most of you know I like to discuss LOVE of Christians which appears to be a vast contrast from where Christianity is today. One of the things that enhanced this is the terms and ideologies we have created to judge one another. Some examples are a term like “secular”, going to “church”, Saturday Worshipers vs Sunday Worshipers vs Everyday Worshipers, and there are so many others. Well, the point is we created these things to validate ourselves as Christians to become in a sense better than others. I speak about this as one who use to practice these ways. I was one of those Christians that judged others based on the music they listened to, if they went to a church building and so many other things. I mean it’s what I was taught so one could only predict that those manifestations of the judgmental would happen. Then when I learned about how the church went into a different direction from the word of God I began judging people based on that. Now I want those who are familiar with using the term “Only God can Judge me” to realize I’m not conveying that neither. Anyone who has to say that missed the point as well. What I’m talking about is those who often see judge based on our ideologies and beliefs that Jesus never gave us. Usually we think Jesus is okay with those beliefs because they often touch on something he said, but we all know what happens when we use HUMAN WISDOM to attempt to explain God. 1 Cor 2:13 13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words. When we do try you can bet that we will go outside of the word of God with what we belief. 1 Cor 4:6 Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not take pride in one man over against another. God never said if you listen to this phenomenon called “secular music” you would be in danger of an unfavorable judgement, God never said if you don’t go to a church building you would be in danger of an unfavorable judgement.
Let us get an understanding of how we are judge to judge with the word of God. First lets look at a few scriptures to see what Jesus has to say about this judging matter.
John 8: 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
2 At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women.Now what do you say?”6 They were using this question as a trap,in order to have a basis for accusing him.
But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger.7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stoneat her.”8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”
11 “No one, sir,” she said.
“Then neither do I condemn you,”Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”
Most people know this passage and usually use it to condemn others for judging them. It really is the same thing. Here is another scripture that makes it even more clear what Jesus was trying to say to those people. Romans 2:1 You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. Let me say that again, AT WHATEVER POINT OR SITUATION YOU JUDGE THE OTHER, YOU ARE CONDEMNING YOURSELF…. WHY? BECAUSE yOU WHO PASS JUDGEMENT DO THE SAME THING. That is the point guys, we are guilty of the same thing. See we like to divide certain sins into categories of what is worse and what is excusable to us humans. To God sin is sin, so whether you deal with lying or murder, you are guilty of the SAME THING… SIN. I know our human wisdom does not understand how lying and murder could equate being guilty of the same thing but when you look at it from God’s point it makes sense why it doesn’t make sense to us. 1 Cor 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”… The point that is being made is that we need to judge ourselves when we see sin now. That is what happened to me, I use to judge people on things and years later I find the SAME THING that I judged them for was and is inside of me. Again, I don’t want those who read this to think it is okay to use the phrase “ONLY GOD CAN JUDGE ME” because honestly you should be judging the sin inside yourself even MORE harshly than others. I don’t mean condemning yourself, I mean the realization that you have sin which leads to the realization that you need to be cleanse from sin.
So those who are keen on judging based on the bias models we are being trained to judge, I share this with you. 1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God. Stop judging people because they listen to music you don’t feel comfortable with. I’ve even met people who feel Christian Rock is a reason to judge people because they feel it came from sinful music. This again is a way to make ourselves higher than others. In all honesty the example we were taught was to become least than others. Luke 9:48 Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For he who is least among you all–he is the greatest.” What we did was create a way to become the greatest in the eyes of other men. If I tell someone I go to a church building every Sunday and never listen to anything but gospel music then in their eyes I become what is known as an exemplary Christian. Yes there are things a follower of Christ should not be partaking in and it is absolutely okay to mention it to a brother or sister but make sure your intentions is out of love. Understand that everyone feels what they do is out of love so before you approach a person with something like that, please think about your words and pray about it. Having brothers and sisters in the body that will help you with this walk is one of the most beautiful things about this walk, so please don’t feel that a person shouldn’t even come to you about things. There is just a different in the intentions. Like the pharisees felt they were doing the right thing to judge that women for adultery but Jesus gave them the outlook of looking at themselves. Usually when I find myself in a situation where I need to speak with someone about something like this, I make sure they understand that I am guilty of the same thing.
I hope this will help members of the body who read this develop that love that we need as believers. Let us get rid of these traditions that we have developed over the years that cause us to do the complete opposite of what Jesus asked us to do. Mark 7:13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”
I wanted to share one of the most amazing stories in the Bible. It’s the story of Hosea and his wife Gomer. It’s interesting how many of us never really read about this or even realized what it was about. I just found out a few years ago from a friend of mine. Let me post the story for you guys and then I’ll discuss it so it makes more sense.
Hosea 1
2 When the LORD began to speak through Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the LORD.” 3 So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 Then the LORD said to Hosea, “Call him Jezreel, because I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of Israel. 5 In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.”
6 Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the LORD said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means “not loved”), for I will no longer show love to Israel, that I should at all forgive them. 7 Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the LORD their God, will save them.”
8 After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. 9 Then the LORD said, “Call him Lo-Ammi (which means “not my people”), for you are not my people, and I am not your God.
10 “Yet the Israelites will be like the sand on the seashore, which cannot be measured or counted. In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ 11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel will come together; they will appoint one leader and will come up out of the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.
Hosea 3
1 The LORD said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”
2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. 3 Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.”
4 For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods. 5 Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days.
I hope you guys are seeing what this real life story is symbolic for. God told Hosea to marry a prostitute… that’s right, a prostitute, knowing that she would continue to run back to other men. Well that’s exactly what happened. She did and guess what you see ended up happening. She went back to prostitution and ended up being sold into slavery. Hosea went to find her and PAID for her freedom again, simply asking her to not go back to that life again. Now there is a huge part that people miss here. To understand this one MUST understand some of the Mosaic laws. Some of the laws declared that if a woman cheats on her husband he has the right to put her to death. That is NOT what Hosea did though… he PAID for her freedom and that is what blew her mind. That is what caused her to not go back to prostitution. She most likely was thinking when she saw Hosea that it’s over for her… “he is about to have me killed”… but to her surprise he freed her and asked her not to go back to the other men. That’s Insane!
I hope you guys are getting the reference here. It’s amazing how God worked out these events to happen to keep Israel aware of what God was going to do. It is just as amazing how God worked out those events to show US believers what he did and is doing for us now. This story is not about Gomer guys, IT IS ABOUT YOU. As harsh as it sounds, YOU ARE THE PROSTITUTE, WE ARE THE PROSTITUTE. We are the ones that continue to run back to our old lovers (sin). Although we deserve death, God did exactly what Hosea did. He got us out of slavery to sin through Christ (Himself). What did Jesus say to the woman? (Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more. John 8:11) Now Jesus saying that is a whole other story I’ll explain another time being that he knows we deal with this sinful nature but I wanted to share this story with you guys.
I wanted you to understand what Jesus did for us and how to use stories of Israel. See many of us don’t understand how the OLD TESTAMENT works with the New Testament. Some of us are so confused that we try to fit in what we can into our lives with the old testament. The rest that doesn’t make sense to us or works for us we leave it alone. This post is not about living Mosaic Law as many of us think we still need to do (with some of them like tithing). No need to wonder why God would allow women to be killed if they cheated on their men, no need to wonder if God wants us to live the mosaic law from this story, no need to wonder any of the things the sinful nature wants us to get into… the things that confuse us.
So my friend sent this song to me and said it was dedicated to me. This song is song powerful … it is called “Instead of a Show”. It’s about today’s version of “Church” and how they HATE it. Not only do they talk about why they hate it but then they give an answer to how the Church should be. It’s actually according to scripture. This is a fantastic find… Praise God the body is waking up.
Keep in mind that my website is barely about the hypocrisy of today’s version of “church”. Thats our nature as humans … I don’t focus on it and neither should you but the fact that it has been created into a show is a great point here. Today’s version of church is meant to be a show versus the early church. It’s really a definition change. How could we allow the term CHURCH to be redefined as it has been?
Brooke Fraser, one of my favorite musicians of ever. This is a woman who gave her life to Christ but is able to captivate the ears of a diverse audience. See that’s the kind of Christian musicians I like… the ones that don’t have to have a red stamp on them (Christian label) yet be able to reach and inspire thousands/millions with their messages from Christ. This is why Paramore will be one of my top bands.
This album Flags is one of Brooke’s best music clusters to date. I mean I love pretty much every song and in fact it is one of the first albums I have heard to date that the titled track is my favorite. (that song brings tears to my eyes each time) THE LAST SHALL BE FIRST!!!! I hope you guys understand just how powerful and real that is. (Matt 20:16)
Being that I am a photographer, there is another thing that makes me respect her that much more. That is the young lady she used to do her photos for this album; Nirrimi Hakanson. That young lady is AMAZING and such an inspiration to photographers, young and old.
If you really like meaningful music with such an incredible voice… you need to get this album… no get all her albums if she is new to you. YOU WILL ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT.
Flags
You who mourn will be comforted
You who hunger will hunger no more
All the last shall be first
Of this I am sure
You who weep now will laugh again
All you lonely be lonely no more
Yes, the last will be first
Of this I’m sure
I don’t know why the innocents fall
While the monsters stand
I don’t know why the little ones thirst
But I know the last shall be first
I know the last shall be first
I know the last shall be first
Today most Christians have been conditioned to judge one another based on what “church” fellowship they attend. So often when someone finds out I am a Christian, the first question asked after that is “WHAT CHURCH DO YOU ATTEND”. My response is that I am part of the SAME church as them as the BODY OF CHRIST. (Really the only thing that divided the early church as the church was the cities they were in) This fact amazes me because somehow we have convinced ourselves that the early Church had the same standard. That they didn’t value the love that each other had but focused on who was sitting in a pew every week. One who reads the New Testament would find out they are extremely mistaken.
Let’s go to scripture and find out how to know if someone is a believer (Christian) or not.
1 John 3:17 If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion–how can God’s love be in that person?
Here we have a simple one that simply tells us that LOVE will show us who is a Christian or not. We are given an example of what a Christian would do in a situation. I remember the days when I went to a weekly service and passed by the needy because I felt I had to use that money to pay my “tithes”. Sometimes I would tell them I wish I could help you but I only have enough money to pay my “tithes”. Did that mean I did not have God’s love in me? ABSOLUTELY!!!
The next scripture i’ll use is probably the most important way for us to know who has the Spirit of God (who is a Christian).
Gal 5 19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Here we have very detailed understandings as to who is of God and who is not. What characteristics both sides of the spectrum would have. Notice one of those characteristics of those who follow the sinful nature does NOT say does not attend weekly Sunday or Saturday service. Also notice none of those characteristics of those who live by the Spirit does NOT say attends weekly service.
Another example of what will make a Believer is when Jesus tell’s his disciples what will happen when we go before judgement.
Matt 25 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Again noticed we are not being judged base on attending weekly services. By now I hope you guys are getting that it’s about LOVE. LOVE…. LOVE!! Every aspect of being a believer of Christ is LOVE. See going to a church building is SO much easier than loving other people… even those who aren’t loving toward us. We Christians over the years have created so many standards that make it mentally easier for us to consider ourselves Christians. How many times have we heard someone define their Christianity by… I PAY ALL MY TITHES, I GO TO CHURCH EVERY SUNDAY, ETC. Not often do we hear… I LOVE EVERYONE WHO PASSES BY, I GAVE ALL MY PRECESSION TO TAKE CARE OF THE NEEDY, in fact, most of us can safely say we have NEVER heard that. (I have a few times now)
Then we have those who use the “DO NOT FORSAKE THE ASSEMBLY OF GOD” (Hebrews 10:25) as a scripture to condemn and rebuke those who do not attend those weekly services. It’s funny that a scripture is being used this way even though early Christians DID NOT meet the way we do today. This is what happens when MAN’s heart tries to use scripture for their own means. It is usually does with good intentions BUT is not used with the intent it was written. That chapter in Hebrew is NOT about going to a church building what so ever. It’s much deeper than that on a historical aspect.
How easy it is for us to take scriptures like Acts 20 7 (On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight.) and use it to support what we already do. Just because you use it that way doesn’t make it correct.
Now those who do go to weekly services, I don’t want you to feel like this article is against you. It is about those who feel they are superior because they go to those weekly services vs. those who go out and feed the needy, those who have home fellowships, and those who LOVE as Christ teaches.
Let us learn to grow as loving people who no longer judge one another based on silly human arguments. (1 Cor 2:13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words) We are going to have to learn how to let go of some of the things we have been conditioned to believe in order to do this.
Omar's Refining Process 