Archive for the ‘Shiloh’ Tag
Dreams from the LORD 2011-2014
19 April 2014
Last night I had a dream where I was walking down this highway. There were mountains in the background—it looked like Jackson, Wyoming. Then I noticed this big sign near the highway on the side of this hill. The sign read: “New Jerusalem and New Shiloh Tim Shey”.
New Jerusalem
Revelation 21: 1-3: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I hear a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”
Revelation 21: 22-24: “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine it it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof [New Jerusalem is a spiritual city where purified believers live].”
New Shiloh
Genesis 49: 8-12: “Judah [Judaeo-Christianity], thou art he whom they brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion’s welp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh [the Messiah] come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine [Lamb of God; Matthew 21: 1-11]; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes [the shedding of blood at Calvary–death and resurrection of Jesus Christ]: His eyes shall be red with wine [holy anger against the wicked], and his teeth white with milk [Lion of the Tribe of Judah, New Shiloh; Wrath of God; Second Coming–a personal experience for purified believers].”
Ezekiel 21:27: “I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.”
Shiloh
[this added 27 May]
I have read this scripture (Genesis 49: 1) many times over the years, but the phrase “last days” hit me like a ton of bricks. I believe the last days began when Jesus died and rose from the dead.
Genesis 49: 1: “And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.”
Daniel 12: 4: “But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.”
Daniel 12: 9: “And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.”
After the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have this scripture in the New Testament:
Revelation 1: 1-3: “The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.”
Psalm 151–A Prayer for the New Jerusalem
Apostle: A Possible Postulate
Breaking off the Greek mindset
My Art/Grace and Truth
PROPHETIC WORD FROM 50 YEARS AGO – A. W. TOZER
“Let me go out on a limb a little bit and prophesy. I see the time coming
when all the holy men whose eyes have been opened by the Holy Spirit will
desert worldly Evangelicalism, one by one. The house will be left desolate
and there will not be a man of God, a man in whom the Holy Spirit dwells,
left among them.
“I hear Jesus saying . . . Matt 23: 37-38: ‘O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one killing
the prophets and stoning those who are sent to her, how often would I have
gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her
wings, and you would not! Behold, your house is left to you desolate.’
“As the Church now stands, the man who sees this condition of worldly
evangelicalism is written off as somewhat fanatical. But the day is coming
when the house will be left desolate and there will not be a man of God
among them. I would like to live long enough to watch this develop and see
how things turn out. I would like to live to see the time when the men and
woman of God—holy, separated and spiritually enlightened—walk out of the
evangelical church and form a group of their own; when they get off the
sinking ship and let her go down in the brackish and worldliness and form a
new ark to ride out the storm.”
The above quote was from A Call To The Remnant
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem
Scribes and Prophets
Bankruptcy of the inner man
_____
Shiloh
By Tim Shey
Brutal deathdance;
My eyes weep blood.
Pharisees smile like vipers,
They laugh and mock their venom:
Blind snakes leading
The deaf and dumb multitude.
Where are my friends?
The landscape is dry and desolate.
They have stretched my shredded body
On this humiliating tree.
The hands that healed
And the feet that brought good news
They have pierced
With their fierce hatred.
The man-made whip
That opened up my back
Preaches from a proper pulpit.
They sit in comfort:
That vacant-eyed congregation.
The respected, demon-possessed reverend
Forks his tongue
Scratching itchy ears
While Cain bludgeons
Abel into silence.
My flesh in tattered pieces
Clots red and cold and sticks
To the rough-hewn timber
That props up my limp, vertical carcase
Between heaven and earth.
My life drips and puddles
Below my feet,
As I gaze down dizzily
On merciless eyes and dagger teeth.
The chapter-and-versed wolves
Jeer and taunt me.
Their sheepwool clothing
Is stained black with the furious violence
Of their heart of stone.
They worship me in lip service,
But I confess,
I never knew them
(Though they are my creation).
My tongue tastes like ashes:
It sticks to the roof of my mouth.
I am so thirsty.
This famine is too much for me.
The bulls of Bashan have bled me white.
Papa, into your hands
I commend my Spirit.
Ethos
February/March 1997
Iowa State University
Genesis 49: 10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”
Shiloh
A Prophet’s Eyes
Locusts and Wild Honey
England and Wales
This is from the website The Missing Cross to Purity:
The Vision of the Lord of Hosts, faithfully declared in his own time; and the Decree of the Lord God also Recorded. – by Mary Howgill
In the year 1660, in the second month thereof, I was at the town of Colchester at my friend’s house; and in the evening season, I went to my bed to take my rest in God, where refreshment from him I received to my soul, and also to my naturals, having at that time but little strength as to my natural life. So according to God’s will, and the mind of the Lord, I gave up my self, and lay down upon my bed, in God’s will and Word, in which Word I was kept and preserved.
After a little season, sweet sleep came upon me, and I was some hours in a deep and a calm sleep, which refreshed my naturals, and I was in the word of the living God, which did keep me and refresh my soul, and after a season did awake me.
The living God appeared unto me by vision, and showed me the dark, horrible, and miserable state that would come on this land of England, and on the people in it. He showed me a great cloud that spread over all the nation, and that there were many violent and bloody men in the cloud. As he showed me that the cloud would come upon the nation, so he showed me that it would break upon the nation; and the men of blood should fall in great fury and rage upon many, and do great violence to many.
Further, the Lord appeared to me in a vision, and he showed me a great and dark wood in these southward parts, and in the woods were many pits. In the pits were many beasts, which had many horns and sharp, and great jaws, and great paws also. There was among them one great beast, in bigness and fury above them all. These beasts had been long chained and fettered in the pits and woods of darkness, and they roared to be at liberty. It was shown to me that they would be greedy of their prey, even to the shedding of innocent blood, for which they had long thirsted.
After the Lord had shown me these things in the vision of the cloud, and that it should spread over the nation, and should break on the nation, and that the bloody men within would fall upon many with cruelty; then sorrow seized on my heart, and great grief upon my soul, and a great weight upon my body, which caused my lips to quiver, and my belly to tremble, and a cry ran through me, O Lord, what will you do with this land, or with your people therein, unto whom you have so largely manifested your name? O Lord, will you hide your face from us, or take the light of your countenance from us, that has in so large a measure shined on us? Or will you allow these men of violence to bruise and destroy the bodies of them that bear your elect seed? Will you allow the beasts to come out of their pits, their chains to be broken, and their fetters to be unloosed, they being so greedy of prey? Then the cry was in me, O Lord, slay not the righteous with the wicked. And a great trembling was upon me, and I was in great travail in spirit, soul, and body, for the whole Land of England, and I had little or no comfort, until I heard the Lord’s voice, who spoke unto me, and said: Fear not you, my Daughter, none of these things which I have shown unto you; but believe in my Name, made known unto you. Then I said: O Lord, who shall stand for you; or, who shall declare your name, or speak of your wonderful works, or of your great salvation by which you have worked, and brought wonderful and great things to pass, as in the years past? If you allow the cloud to come upon all, who then shall declare of it? Or, if you allow the night of darkness to spread over all, who then shall be able to work; or, who shall speak of your mighty Truth? Therefore, since I had upon my spirit a deep sense of the cruelty of those beasts, which where to be unchained and to come out of the pits of Darkness, I said: Arise, O Lord, and avenge your own cause, suffer not your name to be trodden down, or rooted out of this land of England, in which even above and beyond all other lands, you have so largely made your self manifest; do not allow it to be rooted out by the dragon and his followers. These were my Cries unto the Lord in the hour of deep suffering.
The Lord, who had shown me these things, also heard my cries; and he said, to my great satisfaction: Keep these things in your own breast, and seal these words in your own heart and wait upon me, said the living God, until I show you further, and until my appointed time, that I tell you to publish them abroad.
And further, the Lord said to my great satisfaction:
I will allow this violence to come, and the chains of the wild-beasts to be broken, that they may bow down a stiff-necked and a gain-saying [opposing] people, against me, and against my name. I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that I may show my power upon every man and woman; and I will suffer the violent to go on in their violence, for the trying of the faith of my own people, unto whom I have made known my Kingdom, and entrusted them with my secrets, upon whom in the Light of my countenance will I shine, and they shall see the glory of my throne, and they shall magnify my name. And after the night of Apostasy, and after the dragon’s rage, my people shall bear a further testimony of my great and glorious name, and they shall leave a more clear and heavenly declaration upon record, than my servants heretofore have done, and it shall stand to ages, and in generations to come, that they may see how God manifested himself unto his people in a day of great suffering.
Blessed, Blessed are all who wait upon the living God, and hear what he says to them, either by revelation, by vision, or by prophecy; and blessed are they that in the Lord’s time either speak or write by revelation, by prophecy, or vision. And the time has already come, in which many prophecies, visions and revelations are already fulfilled, and are sealed up in him, who has revealed and made known himself by vision, as I have before-mentioned. The eternal God alone has sealed up many unto himself in his own seed, in which all the before mentioned ends. Blessed are all they that are in that state, for the blessed inheritance and crown of the Lord is assured unto them.
And now is the time of the Lord, in which he has required me to write what he showed me by vision, much of which has already come on this Land, and been fulfilled upon it, and that which is behind is near to be fulfilled. The cloud has spread over all, and violent men have done great violence, even unto God’s worshippers. Many have risen out of the pits, their chains having been broken, and their fetters loosed, which have held them many years. As many beasts as have gained their liberty, have been greedy of their prey, having long thirsted for the blood of the Saints; and many are yet to arise, whose chains shall be broken. He, whom the Lord showed me, the biggest among them all and greatest in fury, he shall arise the last out of the pit, and will be allowed to give one great push, and no more, which will be terrible; but the Lord will smite him, and the beasts that were loosed before him, and God will turn them together into the pit of darkness from where they arose, out of which they shall never arise again against the Lord or his heritage.
Now all dear Friends everywhere, dwell in God, the Father of Light, that you may all witness his dominion, so will he nourish you all, even as the true woman in the wilderness, for a time, times, and half a time. The Lord nourish you all, and feed you all with his own living Word, that you may all see the smoke of the pit vanish away, and the power thereof, (which has for many years arisen against the Lord and his People), trodden down by the living God. Wait all until the Lord’s time and hour be accomplished, in which you shall see violence put to an end, and also see the blessed state that I have before-mentioned. So in the blessed Truth I say to you farewell.
And now to you who have put out the candle of the Lord in yourselves, and have become altogether darkness, and have given your power wholly to the beast and his followers, you therefore shall feel the stroke of God’s hand, which will be dreadful to you; and under which you shall confess that the holy Prophets of the Lord did in years past deal faithfully with you, when they prophesied unto you what would come upon you. Oh hearken you people, for to you I write, through whom the nation has become miserable, and you yourselves have become slaves, and your name has become a stench in the nation, with him whom God has cut off before you. Has not your form of worship and the glory of it withered? Yes, even as the flower withers before the sun in the summer season, so has it withered away, and your gallant glory is now trampled upon by the dragon, unto whom you gave your power, and the memorial of it shall die and rot, even those whose name and memorial has already rotted. Listen, you, who put out the candle of the Lord in yourselves, with which you were once enlightened; mark what God has done to Oliver Cromwell, even for this cause, that he put out the candle of the Lord in himself.
And all you magistrates of this land who are now in authority. Oh! You have grieved the Lord, and highly provoked him to anger, by afflicting his children; and you have grieved our souls from time to time, and afflicted our bodies also, and have the blood of many as a guilt upon you. Oh this, I tell you, will bring the Lord’s judgment upon you by surprise, even as a thief in the night, will it break upon you when you are not aware. For you will not receive another warning from the Lord’s People, and you must know the stroke of God’s hand with them that proved rebellious before you, and when you feel the weight of that, you will then remember this warning.
From a lover of Truth and righteousness.
Mary Howgill
[England in the 17th Century looks like the United States in 2013]
Quaker Prophecies
thelostkerryman
Apostasy—Isaac Penington
Veronica West: March a Month of Divine Demarcation
_____
Shiloh
By Tim Shey
Brutal deathdance;
My eyes weep blood.
Pharisees smile like vipers,
They laugh and mock their venom:
Blind snakes leading
The deaf and dumb multitude.
Where are my friends?
The landscape is dry and desolate.
They have stretched my shredded body
On this humiliating tree.
The hands that healed
And the feet that brought good news
They have pierced
With their fierce hatred.
The man-made whip
That opened up my back
Preaches from a proper pulpit.
They sit in comfort:
That vacant-eyed congregation.
The respected, demon-possessed reverend
Forks his tongue
Scratching itchy ears
While Cain bludgeons
Abel into silence.
My flesh in tattered pieces
Clots red and cold and sticks
To the rough-hewn timber
That props up my limp, vertical carcase
Between heaven and earth.
My life drips and puddles
Below my feet,
As I gaze down dizzily
On merciless eyes and dagger teeth.
The chapter-and-versed wolves
Jeer and taunt me.
Their sheepwool clothing
Is stained black with the furious violence
Of their heart of stone.
They worship me in lip service,
But I confess,
I never knew them
(Though they are my creation).
My tongue tastes like ashes:
It sticks to the roof of my mouth.
I am so thirsty.
This famine is too much for me.
The bulls of Bashan have bled me white.
Papa, into your hands
I commend my Spirit.
Ethos
February/March 1997
Iowa State University
Genesis 49: 10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”
Intercessors are Great Warriors
There was this man who was a great warrior. He had been in many battles over the years. His body had many scars from bullet wounds, bayonet thrusts and artillery barrages. He was a sergeant in the army and he was 45 years old.
There was a platoon of soldiers dug in on some high ground—they were of the same army as the sergeant. The average age of the soldiers in the platoon was 19 years old; they were led by a 24-year-old 2nd lieutenant.
Ten miles away was an enemy force of three thousand soldiers. The sergeant placed himself between the platoon and the enemy. Whenever the enemy sent their soldiers to attack the platoon, the sergeant killed them with his rifle. This pattern continued for many weeks: the enemy would send their soldiers to attack the platoon and the sergeant would kill them all. The platoon was never touched, it was never in danger. The sergeant was their hedge of protection against the enemy.
One day the sergeant walked to the platoon to see how they were doing. The sergeant walked up to the 2nd lieutenant and told him about the many skirmishes he had fought with the enemy, so as to protect the platoon.
The 2nd lieutenant looked at the sergeant in stunned disbelief. He didn’t believe a word the sergeant said and began mocking him and ridiculing him. The 2nd lieutenant told the rest of the platoon what the sergeant had said and the whole platoon began laughing at the sergeant in derision.
The sergeant didn’t say another word. He shouldered his pack, his rifle and ammo and walked away from the platoon. Fifty yards from where the platoon was dug in, he took off his boots and shook the dirt from his boots in plain sight of the platoon. He put his boots back on and walked away. The platoon never saw him again.
A week later, the enemy launched an attack on the platoon’s position and killed all of the soldiers.
_____
I Samuel 25: 14-17: “But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute our master; and he railed on them. But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields: They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. Now therefore know and consider what thou wilt do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his household: for he is such a son of Belial, that a man cannot speak to him.”
I Samuel 25: “Now David had said, Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow hath in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good. So and more also do God unto the enemies of David, if I leave of all that pertain to him by the morning light any that pisseth against the wall.”
Intercession
Battlefield Commission
Overcome With Great Sorrow
A.W. Tozer Quote
Shiloh
Beat plowshares in swords
The Decline of the Oral Roberts Dynasty
Snipers in the Kingdom
Hog Pen Christianity
Alexander the Great: “An army of sheep”
_____
Shiloh
By Tim Shey
Brutal deathdance;
My eyes weep blood.
Pharisees smile like vipers,
They laugh and mock their venom:
Blind snakes leading
The deaf and dumb multitude.
Where are my friends?
The landscape is dry and desolate.
They have stretched my shredded body
On this humiliating tree.
The hands that healed
And the feet that brought good news
They have pierced
With their fierce hatred.
The man-made whip
That opened up my back
Preaches from a proper pulpit.
They sit in comfort:
That vacant-eyed congregation.
The respected, demon-possessed reverend
Forks his tongue
Scratching itchy ears
While Cain bludgeons
Abel into silence.
My flesh in tattered pieces
Clots red and cold and sticks
To the rough-hewn timber
That props up my limp, vertical carcase
Between heaven and earth.
My life drips and puddles
Below my feet,
As I gaze down dizzily
On merciless eyes and dagger teeth.
The chapter-and-versed wolves
Jeer and taunt me.
Their sheepwool clothing
Is stained black with the furious violence
Of their heart of stone.
They worship me in lip service,
But I confess,
I never knew them
(Though they are my creation).
My tongue tastes like ashes:
It sticks to the roof of my mouth.
I am so thirsty.
This famine is too much for me.
The bulls of Bashan have bled me white.
Papa, into your hands
I commend my Spirit.
Ethos
February/March 1997
Iowa State University
Genesis 49: 10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”
A number of years ago, I was hitchhiking in Kansas. I was walking on U.S. 54 somewhere west of Pratt. This guy pulled over to give me a ride.
The first thing he said was, “I am a pastor. How may I help you?”
At first, I thought, sounds like a canned speech. Then I replied, “I’m just heading west. Thanks for picking me up.”
As we talked, he mentioned that he used to be a farmer, but he wasn’t making a very good living as a farmer, so he thought he would become a pastor. He told me that he was going to play some golf with some other pastors that afternoon.
So this guy is a pastor, not because he was called of the Lord, but so he could make more money. And I thought I had heard of everything.
He told me that it would be better if he had a congregation of one thousand where everyone gave 20 dollars per week rather than a congregation of one hundred where everyone gave 100 dollars per week. I have never thought of it quite like that before. A guy can get all kinds of sound financial advice hitchhiking the country.
I told him something like the Lord had delivered me of a lot of demons and I was very grateful for what the Lord had done in my life. All of sudden, this frown formed on his face and he started yelling at me. He then dropped me off at this gas station. Looks like I was casting pearls before swine.
I hope his golf game is much better than his preaching.
I Should Go To Dairy Queen More Often
Crying Wolf
Casting Pearls Before Swine
_____
Shiloh
By Tim Shey
Brutal deathdance;
My eyes weep blood.
Pharisees smile like vipers,
They laugh and mock their venom:
Blind snakes leading
The deaf and dumb multitude.
Where are my friends?
The landscape is dry and desolate.
They have stretched my shredded body
On this humiliating tree.
The hands that healed
And the feet that brought good news
They have pierced
With their fierce hatred.
The man-made whip
That opened up my back
Preaches from a proper pulpit.
They sit in comfort:
That vacant-eyed congregation.
The respected, demon-possessed reverend
Forks his tongue
Scratching itchy ears
While Cain bludgeons
Abel into silence.
My flesh in tattered pieces
Clots red and cold and sticks
To the rough-hewn timber
That props up my limp, vertical carcase
Between heaven and earth.
My life drips and puddles
Below my feet,
As I gaze down dizzily
On merciless eyes and dagger teeth.
The chapter-and-versed wolves
Jeer and taunt me.
Their sheepwool clothing
Is stained black with the furious violence
Of their heart of stone.
They worship me in lip service,
But I confess,
I never knew them
(Though they are my creation).
My tongue tastes like ashes:
It sticks to the roof of my mouth.
I am so thirsty.
This famine is too much for me.
The bulls of Bashan have bled me white.
Papa, into your hands
I commend my Spirit.
Ethos
February/March 1997
Iowa State University
Genesis 49: 10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”
Here is an article about pro-abortionist Reverend Mary Erickson of the St. John’s Episcopal Church in Jackson, Wyoming. Mary Erickson is one of the more prominent Baal Worshipers in Jackson.
Planet Jackson Hole
NEWSMAKER OF THE YEAR 2012
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
By Jake Nichols
St. John’s Episcopal Church, Jackson, Wyoming
Hail Mary! Reverend Mary Erickson
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Faced with a perceived threat, Reverend Mary Erickson was compelled to act. As a mother of two kids, she felt immediate maternal instincts to protect impressionable children from the graphic imagery used by anti-abortionists which included militant members of Operation Save America. Her day job as an assistant priest at St. John’s Episcopal Church had given her the experience she needed to rally others, to organize the fears and aspirations of a group and direct them for good. Her vocation taught her hate is always fought best with love.
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Jackson Hole United was formed in the face of the second coming of right-to-life protesters, including Pastor Mark Holick and his church along with OSA volunteers. Intimidated by a recent State Supreme Court ruling in the pro-lifers’ favor, Town of Jackson officials allowed their special events permit with some restrictions. It was obvious someone needed to step in and step up. It was Erickson, and others, who answered the call and provided Jacksonites with a quiet leadership that brought cohesiveness to a fractured community.
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When OSA brought its repugnant revival to the town square during Elk Fest, its shock-and-awe campaign was met with civility, compassion, and love. Red-shirted proponents of fire and brimstone were calmed by the soothing ‘blue’ band of tight-knit locals who refused to let their town be hijacked. It was inconceivable that any one person or group could unite such a disparate clutch of citizens, yet here were 2,297 believers dedicated to a movement bigger than Facebook, each ready to pledge an allegiance to their kids and their community.
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And the good reverend tended her flock with grace.
.
“I don’t think I anticipated it having as big an impact as it did. I think it was one of those perfect storm kind of things. The situation met the need,” Erickson says. “I like the fact that we allowed it to be what it needed to be, we agreed that it had to happen and grow organically.”
.
Still, Erickson acknowledged any inclusive group was going to have its own internal strife. There would be divisiveness. There had to be. JHU is made up of pro-lifers, pro-choicers, political lefts and rights, religious followers and the secular-minded. Each JHU member brought his or her own beliefs and baggage, and that was OK as long as members remembered the golden rule. When their emotions ran raw, when fear and hatred provoked rash rhetoric, they needed to be coaxed back on the path.
.
“We did have a lot of that on the Facebook side of things. [JH Weekly] was a target of that,” Erickson says. “My sense is to step in when things get ugly and remind people what we are about. It’s OK to disagree but not to get ugly. We may come from different places and backgrounds, but we should all be coming from a place of compassion and understanding. We respect our right for free speech and JH United is an open site intentionally. But we have a mission and goal. We don’t want to shut people up, we just want them to express themselves in a respectful way.”
.
Erickson admitted she continues to be somewhat surprised by how quickly the group came together and how it has now grown bigger than the issue it was born of. During the wildfire that threatened Jackson, anger occasionally surfaced again, nearly unraveling the threads of community. Some JHU members took up refuge in their safe place. The recent school shooting at Sandy Hook was another example of how horrid the world can be and once again a pacificator was needed to pilot our disquiet into calmer waters. Erickson, a gifted writer, penned an eloquent piece on the JHU Facebook page.
.
“I’ve had a lot of people tell me that [JHU] has continued to be a reminder for them to try to get back to that place of understanding and compassion for one another,” Erickson says. “The fact that this group has continued to grow shows the need in this world today for all of us to find a way to move back to a civil place when we are hurt or our emotions run high. If we can do that as a community then maybe we can have an effect globally.
.
“I don’t think it is over, I just don’t know where it’s going. There’s too much need for it in today’s world.”
.
.
_____
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Shiloh
By Tim Shey
Brutal deathdance;
My eyes weep blood.
Pharisees smile like vipers,
They laugh and mock their venom:
Blind snakes leading
The deaf and dumb multitude.
Where are my friends?
The landscape is dry and desolate.
They have stretched my shredded body
On this humiliating tree.
The hands that healed
And the feet that brought good news
They have pierced
With their fierce hatred.
The man-made whip
That opened up my back
Preaches from a proper pulpit.
They sit in comfort:
That vacant-eyed congregation.
The respected, demon-possessed reverend
Forks his tongue
Scratching itchy ears
While Cain bludgeons
Abel into silence.
My flesh in tattered pieces
Clots red and cold and sticks
To the rough-hewn timber
That props up my limp, vertical carcase
Between heaven and earth.
My life drips and puddles
Below my feet,
As I gaze down dizzily
On merciless eyes and dagger teeth.
The chapter-and-versed wolves
Jeer and taunt me.
Their sheepwool clothing
Is stained black with the furious violence
Of their heart of stone.
They worship me in lip service,
But I confess,
I never knew them
(Though they are my creation).
My tongue tastes like ashes:
It sticks to the roof of my mouth.
I am so thirsty.
This famine is too much for me.
The bulls of Bashan have bled me white.
Papa, into your hands
I commend my Spirit.
Ethos
February/March 1997
Iowa State University
Genesis 49: 10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”
.
.
A.W. Tozer
[4 November 2011]
This is my reply to a comment that was recently made on “A Dream About Egypt” [from my High Plains Drifter blog]:
The spiritual man judges all things. This is not judgmental and arrogant. We are called to judge righteous or spiritual judgment. A Christian that is not spiritual cannot judge spiritual things.
In my Christian walk, many sins have died out in my life. These sins do not beset me anymore—it is an overcoming life that we have in Christ. If people are not overcoming sin in their lives and they say that they have been saved for ten or more years, then I have a real problem with their salvation. It has been a long time since the Lord has convicted me of sin. This is the overcoming power of God in my life. Glory to God in the Highest!
Salvation is just one of many ministries in the Body of Christ. Salvation is not my ministry—unless you take into account that I am trying to save Christians from their milk bottles.
The Lord called me out of the church (church on Sunday) back in 1991. My life has to stand for something. My life would not glorify God if I continued to fellowship with lukewarm Christians when the Lord told me to separate myself from them.
“Come out from among them and be ye separate.”
There is a reason why John the Baptist camped out on the other side of the Jordan River. There is a reason why the Lord has had me hitchhike the highways of America these past 15 years. I meet all kinds of believers and unbelievers every day. Either people will feed off of my life in Christ or else they won’t. My life of obedience to the Lord IS the sermon.
If the Lord shows me judgment on America, then this is what I speak. “My Father works and I work.” I only do what I see my Father do.
“The fact is that, we are not producing saints. We are making converts to an effete type of Christianity, that bears little resemblance to that of the New Testament. The average so-called Bible Christian of our times is but a shallow display of true sainthood. Yet, we put millions of dollars behind ‘movements’ to perpetuate this lower form of religion and attack the man who dares to challenge the wisdom of it.”
–A.W. Tozer
Effete: “having lost character, courage, strength, stamina, or vitality.”
—Webster’s Third New International Dictionary
A Dream About Egypt
Shiloh
A.W. Tozer: Sacrifice is No Substitute for Obedience
Obeying God When It Makes No Sense
The Loneliness of the Christian
50 year old prophecy from Tozer
The Pursuit of God
_____
Shiloh
By Tim Shey
Brutal deathdance;
My eyes weep blood.
Pharisees smile like vipers,
They laugh and mock their venom:
Blind snakes leading
The deaf and dumb multitude.
Where are my friends?
The landscape is dry and desolate.
They have stretched my shredded body
On this humiliating tree.
The hands that healed
And the feet that brought good news
They have pierced
With their fierce hatred.
The man-made whip
That opened up my back
Preaches from a proper pulpit.
They sit in comfort:
That vacant-eyed congregation.
The respected, demon-possessed reverend
Forks his tongue
Scratching itchy ears
While Cain bludgeons
Abel into silence.
My flesh in tattered pieces
Clots red and cold and sticks
To the rough-hewn timber
That props up my limp, vertical carcase
Between heaven and earth.
My life drips and puddles
Below my feet,
As I gaze down dizzily
On merciless eyes and dagger teeth.
The chapter-and-versed wolves
Jeer and taunt me.
Their sheepwool clothing
Is stained black with the furious violence
Of their heart of stone.
They worship me in lip service,
But I confess,
I never knew them
(Though they are my creation).
My tongue tastes like ashes:
It sticks to the roof of my mouth.
I am so thirsty.
This famine is too much for me.
The bulls of Bashan have bled me white.
Papa, into your hands
I commend my Spirit.
Ethos
February/March 1997
Iowa State University
Genesis 49: 10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”
This is from The Mission blog (Randy Sheets):
Please read the following, doctrinally correct, words by former Moody Memorial Church Pastor Harry A. Ironside (1876-1951). . .
“The Gospel is not a call to repentance, or to amendment of our ways, to make restitution for past sins, or to promise to do better in the future. These things are proper in their place, but they do not constitute the Gospel; for the Gospel is not good advice to be obeyed, it is good news to be believed. Do not make the mistake then of thinking that the Gospel is a call to duty or a call to reformation, a call to better your condition, to behave yourself in a more perfect way than you have been doing in the past. . .
“Nor is the Gospel a demand that you give up the world, that you give up your sins, that you break off bad habits, and try to cultivate good ones. You may do all these things, and yet never believe the Gospel and consequently never be saved at all.”
SOURCE: Dr. Harry A. Ironside, from the sermon: “What Is The Gospel?”
Clearly, Ironside taught a Free Grace view of the Gospel, which is Biblical.
A changed life is the FRUIT of genuine repentance; and not a part of the ROOT of saving-faith.
Lordship Salvation
–Traveller
vietrandy@gmail-dot-com (Randy Sheets)
_____
COMMENTS:
Amen.
Being raised in an idolatrous Irish Catholic family, I had sacraments running out of my ears. These sacraments are only man-made, outward shows of religion. The carnal, unsaved mind loves sacraments because it feeds their pride of self-salvation (work yourself for salvation).
We are saved from the inside out, not the outside in (by using sacraments). If someone is constantly concerned about external rituals and ordinances and liturgies, they can’t possibly be abiding in Christ. Abiding in Christ is an internal relationship. External things like sacraments are only window dressing and are absolutely worthless.
It is only faith in the Blood of Jesus that cleanses us from sin–not external, religious calisthenics (sacraments).
–Tim Shey
This happened just a few days ago. I hitchhiked from North Bend to the west side of Eugene, Oregon. I had to walk with my backpack in 90 degree heat through Eugene and through Springfield (which is a number of miles). By the time I got to the east side of Springfield, my feet were aching and I was very tired.
I saw this evangelical church. They had a sign that said they were going to have a concert and free hot dogs. All I needed was to fill up my water bottle, because it was so hot. There were chairs set up outside the church and some people were setting up musical equipment. I put my backpack down next to the building and grabbed my water bottle.
I walked up to the people and asked if I could fill up my water bottle. The leader looked at me and hesitated (he probably saw my backpack) and then he said okay. I walked inside the church building and filled up my water bottle. I thanked them and tried to start a little conversation by mentioning that I was into intercessory prayer; there was no response.
I walked back to my backpack. Nobody invited me to their concert, nobody asked me if I needed a hot dog, nobody suggested that I sit down for a while and rest my tired feet (I was hobbling a little because I had been walking for miles in the heat with a 55 pound backpack). I walked away from that church building knowing that the spirit of Christ was not there–but I am sure they thought they were Christians because they went to a church building on Sunday to socialize (idolatry).
I walked on down the street and noticed a Dairy Queen sign. I had a few dollars on me, so I walked into the Dairy Queen. I bought my first cherry milkshake in years. After I finished my milkshake, I walked outside to my backpack. There was this family sitting at a table outside near my backpack. As I grabbed my backpack, they asked me what I was doing.
I told them about my life on the road and that I was obeying the Lord. We had the most wonderful fellowship. They wished me good travels as I walked on down the street. It was SO redeeming. That fellowship was so spontaneous and full of the Holy Ghost; they were genuinely interested in my life of hitchhiking and obeying the Lord.
That family at that Dairy Queen were so alive in Christ. That evangelical church was absolutely dead.
I should go to Dairy Queen more often.
–Tim Shey
Quote, “I should go to Dairy Queen more often.” Tim, this speaks volumes and volumes beyond what we both realize my brother. I read your thoughts and it really touched me, I could visualize you standing there in the midst of a “church social club” and them not even recognizing some of the most basic tenants taught by Christ. They are unaware of Hebrews 13:2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares; and Matthew 25:35 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: or Romans 12:13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. NOPE NONE OF THESE. . . So, where do you find solace and comfort and fellowship? In a Dairy Queen… Very very revealing and telling…
God bless you my brother.
–Randy Sheets
Saving faith is believing-in-God faith, not believing-in-a-man-made-institution faith or believing-in-myself faith. “Abraham believed God and it was imputed to him as righteousness.”
I meet so many people who believe in Christian principles, but they reject Christ with their lives.
–Tim Shey
Years ago I was hitchhiking in West Virginia. I got dropped off in Charleston. I walked past this place where it looked like these people were having a picnic. I walked a couple of blocks away, put down my backpack and started thumbing for a ride.
A few minutes later these two teenage girls walked up to me and asked me if I would like to come to their church picnic. I was pleasantly surprised. So I walked back to their picnic. There I met the pastor and some other people. It started to rain, so we moved everything inside the church building. We had food and good fellowship.
I later learned that that pastor invited another hitchhiker and a homeless person to their picnic. Now how many pastors would do that? The pastor put me up in a motel for the night and I hitchhiked to Washington, D.C. the next day.
It was all so totally unexpected and spontaneous and refreshing. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a little child: unexpected, spontaneous, refreshing, living by faith in God.
–Tim Shey
_____
Shiloh
By Tim Shey
Brutal deathdance;
My eyes weep blood.
Pharisees smile like vipers,
They laugh and mock their venom:
Blind snakes leading
The deaf and dumb multitude.
Where are my friends?
The landscape is dry and desolate.
They have stretched my shredded body
On this humiliating tree.
The hands that healed
And the feet that brought good news
They have pierced
With their fierce hatred.
The man-made whip
That opened up my back
Preaches from a proper pulpit.
They sit in comfort:
That vacant-eyed congregation.
The respected, demon-possessed reverend
Forks his tongue
Scratching itchy ears
While Cain bludgeons
Abel into silence.
My flesh in tattered pieces
Clots red and cold and sticks
To the rough-hewn timber
That props up my limp, vertical carcase
Between heaven and earth.
My life drips and puddles
Below my feet,
As I gaze down dizzily
On merciless eyes and dagger teeth.
The chapter-and-versed wolves
Jeer and taunt me.
Their sheepwool clothing
Is stained black with the furious violence
Of their heart of stone.
They worship me in lip service,
But I confess,
I never knew them
(Though they are my creation).
My tongue tastes like ashes:
It sticks to the roof of my mouth.
I am so thirsty.
This famine is too much for me.
The bulls of Bashan have bled me white.
Papa, into your hands
I commend my Spirit.
Ethos
February/March 1997
Iowa State University
Genesis 49: 10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”
You Can’t Make This Stuff Up
The Last Supper
Luke 22: 19-20: “And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.”
John 2: 18-22: “Then answered the Jews and said unto him, What sign shewest thou unto us, seeing that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said.”
John 6: 48-63: “I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever. These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum. Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”
I Corinthians 10: 14-17: “Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.”
The Roman Catholic Church (and probably most Catholics) think that celebrating the Lord’s Supper in the Mass means something. The Catholic Church says that the bread and wine are literally the body and blood of Jesus Christ. This is absolutely ridiculous and it is idolatry. The Catholic Church will use the term transubstantiation to explain why the bread and wine are the body and blood of Jesus Christ: this is philosophical and theological gobbledeegook.
If you look at the above Scriptures, Jesus says that He is the bread of life; He is very clear. When He broke bread and drank wine with his disciples at the last supper, He was pointing towards His death on the Cross at Calvary. Jesus’ body was broken and His blood shed for those who are called to eternal life. If we abide in Him spiritually, our lives will be living sacrifices—broken bread and poured-out wine—for others. We abide in Him spiritually—in faith—not by eating physical bread and physical wine. Scripture is very clear: Jesus is NOT in the bread and wine; He said “Do this in REMEMBRANCE of Me.”
When Jesus spoke of His temple, He wasn’t talking about a stone and mortar temple in Jerusalem built with human hands. He was speaking figuratively. When He speaks of the bread and wine at the last supper, He is speaking figuratively of His death on the Cross.
The carnal mind does not receive the things of the Spirit, so the carnal mind has to invent religious rituals and liturgies to make the sinful, carnal mind (pride) feel good about itself; look at all the man-made rituals and liturgies in Protestant and Catholic churches. The carnal mind is ridiculous and idolatrous. John 6: 60-63: “This is an hard saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”
In I Corinthians 10: 14-17, the inspired writer is warning Christians to FLEE from idolatry. He probably knew that the carnal mind would turn the last supper into some man-made idolatrous ritual. How do we have communion with bread and wine? We don’t: we eat it and drink it—it is a physical, bodily function. Communion is spiritual; communion with the Father is accessed through faith in the Finished Work of the Cross. “For we being many are one bread, and one body.” Does this mean that we are one big loaf of multigrain bread? No, the writer is talking about a spiritual Body of Christ, bread from Heaven.
If we abide in Christ (die to self), we are broken bread and poured-out wine—a living sacrifice—for others to feed upon. We are spiritual food for a sin-sick world hungry for Jesus, Bread from Heaven.
Broken Bread and Poured-out Wine
Being Fed
The Good Wine & His Hour
_____
George Fox—An Autobiography
By Rufus M. Jones
Chapter XVII
“At the Work of Organizing”
1667-1670
“When we came before Dublin [Ireland], we took boat and went ashore; and the earth and air smelt, methought, of the corruption of the nation, so that it yielded another smell to me than England did; which I imputed to the Popish massacres that had been committed, and the blood that had been spilt in it, from which a foulness ascended.”
“Passing thence about four and twenty miles, we came to another place, where we had a very good, refreshing meeting; but after it some Papists that were there were angry, and raged very much. When I heard of it, I sent for one of them, who was a schoolmaster; but he would not come.
“Thereupon I sent a challenge to him, with all the friars and monks, priests and Jesuits, to come forth, and ‘try their God and their Christ, which they had made of bread and wine,’ but no answer could I get from them. I told them they were worse than the priests of Baal; for Baal’s priests tried their wooden god, but these durst not try their god of bread and wine; and Baal’s priests and people did not eat their god as these did, and then make another.”
Jesus IS the Word of God
The Hidden Streets of Babylon
John Milton: Writer and Revolutionary
The Miraculous Defeat of the Spanish Armada, 1588
A Great Multitude Followed Him
The Second Coming
Mother Teresa of Calcutta: False Christian
You Must Eat My Flesh and Drink My Blood
The Sacraments: Communion (called the Eucharist)
How Christendom Became Babylon
Jesus and the Table of Shewbread
_____
Shiloh
By Tim Shey
Brutal deathdance;
My eyes weep blood.
Pharisees smile like vipers,
They laugh and mock their venom:
Blind snakes leading
The deaf and dumb multitude.
Where are my friends?
The landscape is dry and desolate.
They have stretched my shredded body
On this humiliating tree.
The hands that healed
And the feet that brought good news
They have pierced
With their fierce hatred.
The man-made whip
That opened up my back
Preaches from a proper pulpit.
They sit in comfort:
That vacant-eyed congregation.
The respected, demon-possessed reverend
Forks his tongue
Scratching itchy ears
While Cain bludgeons
Abel into silence.
My flesh in tattered pieces
Clots red and cold and sticks
To the rough-hewn timber
That props up my limp, vertical carcase
Between heaven and earth.
My life drips and puddles
Below my feet,
As I gaze down dizzily
On merciless eyes and dagger teeth.
The chapter-and-versed wolves
Jeer and taunt me.
Their sheepwool clothing
Is stained black with the furious violence
Of their heart of stone.
They worship me in lip service,
But I confess,
I never knew them
(Though they are my creation).
My tongue tastes like ashes:
It sticks to the roof of my mouth.
I am so thirsty.
This famine is too much for me.
The bulls of Bashan have bled me white.
Papa, into your hands
I commend my Spirit.
Ethos
February/March 1997
Iowa State University
Genesis 49: 10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”
Crow disrupts Popes latest “peace initiative”
Pagan Christianity?
Exploring The Roots of our Church Practices
By Frank Viola and George Barna
Page 201: Four Stages of Theological Education
“Throughout church history there have been four stages of theological education. They are: episcopal, monastic, scholastic, and seminarian (pastoral).”
Scholastic
Page 204: “Contemporary theology cut its teeth on the abstraction of Greek philosophy. University academics adopted an Aristotelian model of thinking that centered on rational knowledge and logic. The dominating drive in scholastic theology was the assimilation and communication of knowledge. (For this reason, the Western mind has always been fond of creedal formulations, doctrinal statements, and other bloodless abstractions.)
“One of the most influential professors in the shaping of contemporary theology was Peter Abelard (1079-1142). Abelard is partly responsible for giving us ‘modern’ theology. His teaching set the table and prepared the menu for scholastic philosophers like Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274).
“Distinguished by Abelard, the school of Paris emerged as the model for all universities to follow. Abelard applied Aristotelian logic to revealed truth, though even he understood the tension between the two. . . He also gave the word theology the meaning it has today. (Before him, this word was only used to describe pagan beliefs.)
“Taking his cue from Aristotle, Abelard mastered the pagan philosophical art of dialectic—the logical disputation of truth. He applied this art to the Scriptures. Christian theological education never recovered from Abelard’s influence. Athens is still in its bloodstream. Aristotle, Abelard, and Aquinas all believed that reason was the gateway to divine truth. So from its beginnings, Western university education involved the fusion of pagan and Christian elements.”
Seminarian
Page 205: “Seminary theology grew out of the scholastic theology that was taught in the universities. As we have seen, this theology was based on Aristotle’s philosophical system. Seminary theology was dedicated to the training of professional ministers. Its goal was to produce seminary-trained religious specialists. It taught the theology—not of the early bishop, monk, or professor—but of the professionally ‘qualified’ minister. This is the theology that prevails in the contemporary seminary.”
Page 206: “Concerning the seminary, we might say that Peter Abelard laid the egg and Thomas Aquinas hatched it. Aquinas had the greatest influence on contemporary theological training. In 1879, his work was endorsed by a papal bull as an authentic expression of doctrine to be studied by all students of theology. Aquinas’s main thesis was that God is known through human reason. He ‘preferred the intellect to the heart as the organ for arriving at truth.’ Thus the more highly trained people’s reason and intellect, the better they will know God. Aquinas borrowed this idea from Aristotle. And that is the underlying assumption of many—if not most—contemporary seminaries.
“The teaching of the New Testament is that God is Spirit, and as such, He is known by revelation (spiritual insight) to one’s human spirit. Reason and intellect can cause us to know about God. And they help us to communicate what we know. But they fall short in giving us spiritual revelation. The intellect is not the gateway for knowing the Lord deeply. Neither are the emotions. In the words of A.W. Tozer: ‘Divine truth is of the nature of spirit and for that reason can be received only by spiritual revelation. . . . God’s thoughts belong to the world of spirit, man’s to the world of intellect, and while spirit can embrace intellect, the human intellect can never comprehend spirit. . . . Man by reason cannot know God; he can only know about God. . . . Man’s reason is a fine instrument and useful within its field. It was not given as an organ by which to know God.’”
Page 207: “Today, Protestants and Catholics alike draw upon Aquinas’s work, using his outline for their theological studies. Aquinas’s crowning work, Summa Theologica (The Sum of All Theology), is the model used in virtually all theological classes today—whether Protestant or Catholic.”
Page 208: “Without a doubt, Aquinas is the father of contemporary theology. His influence spread to the Protestant seminaries through the Protestant scholastics. The tragedy is that Aquinas relied so completely on Aristotle’s method of logic chopping when he expounded on holy writ. . . . Regardless of how much we wish to deny it, contemporary theology is a blending of Christian thought and pagan philosophy.”
_____
As a seventeen-year-old atheist, my bible was Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics. Being an atheist and embracing Aristotle just made sense.
Revelation from God is superior to reason; Christ is superior to Aristotle and Aquinas.
“On this rock [of revelation knowledge—not reason] I will build my church and the gates of @#!*% [the strategies of @#!*% ] shall not prevail against it.”
_____
An excerpt from Pagan Christianity?:
“Another kind of religious leader must arise among us. He must be of the old prophet type, a man who has seen visions of God and has heard a voice from the Throne. When he comes (and I pray God there will not be one but many) he will stand in flat contradiction to everything our smirking, smooth civilization holds dear. He will contradict, denounce and protest in the name of God and will earn the hatred and opposition of a large segment of Christendom.”
–A.W. Tozer
from Chapter 12,
Pagan Christianity
“Those who live Godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.”
More excerpts from Pagan Christianity?:
Page 119: “Will Durant makes a similar point, noting that Christianity ‘grew by the absorption of pagan faith and ritual; it became a triumphant church by inheriting the organizing patterns and genius of Rome. . . . As Judea had given Christianity ethics, and Greece had given it theology, so now Rome gave it organization; all these, with a dozen absorbed and rival faiths, entered into the Christian synthesis.'”
There should be no Christian synthesis. Christ is thesis; Satan is antithesis; there is no synthesis.
If we are truly surrendered to Christ, we are dissolved into Christ-thesis. There is no Satan (antithesis) and there is no mixture (synthesis). If there is synthesis (Christ plus Satan or Christ plus the world system), then we are conformed to the world, we have lost our salt and we are good for nothing.
Page 122: “In the words of Will Durant: ‘While Christianity converted the world; the world converted Christianity, and displayed he natural paganism of mankind.'”
Pages 215-216: “The Greek philosophers Plato and Socrates taught that knowledge is virtue. Good depends on the extent of one’s knowledge. Hence, the teaching of knowledge is the teaching of virtue.
“Herein lies the root and stem of contemporary Christian education. It is built on the Platonic idea that knowledge is the equivalent of moral character. Therein lies the great flaw.
“Plato and Aristotle (both disciples of Socrates) are the fathers of comtemporary Christian education. To use a biblical metaphor, present-day Christian education, whether it be seminarian or Bible college, is serving food from the wrong tree: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil rather than the tree of life.
“Contemporary theological learning is essentially cerebral. It can be called ‘liquid pedagogy.’ We pry open people’s heads, pour in a cup or two of information, and close them up again. They have the information, so we mistakenly conclude the job is complete.
“Contemporary theological teaching is data-transfer education. It moves from notebook to notebook. In the process, our theology rarely gets below the neck. If a student accurately parrots the ideas of his professor, he is awarded a degree. And that means a lot in a day when many Christians obsess over (and sometimes deify) theological degrees in their analysis of who is qualified to minister.
“Theological knowledge, however, does not prepare a person for ministry. This does not mean that the knowledge of the world, church history, theology, philosophy, and the Scriptures is without value. Such knowledge can be very useful. But it is not central. Theological competence and a high-voltage intellect alone do not qualify a person to serve in God’s house.”
Page 244: “Jesus Christ is not only the Savior, the Messiah, the Prophet, the Priest, and the King. He is also the Revolutionary. Yet few Christians know Him as such.”
Pages 245-246: “As you read through the Gospels, behold your Lord, the Revolutionary. Watch Him throw the Pharisees into a panic by intentionally flaunting their conventions. Numerous times Jesus healed on the Sabbath day, flatly breaking their cherished tradition. If the Lord wanted to placate His enemies, He could have waited until Sunday or Monday to heal some of these people. Instead, He deliberately healed on the Sabbath, knowing full well it would make his opponents livid.
“This pattern runs pretty deep. In one instance, Jesus healed a blind man by mixing clay with spittle and putting it in the man’s eyes. Such an act was in direct defiance of the Jewish ordinance that prohibited healing on the Sabbath by mixing mud with spittle!* Yet your Lord intentionally shattered this tradition publicly and with absolute resolve. Watch Him eat food with unwashed hands under the judgmental gaze of the Pharisees, again intentionally defying their fossilized tradition.
“In Jesus, we have a man who refused to bow to the pressures of religious conformity. A man who preached a revolution. A man who would not tolerate hyprocisy. A man who was not afraid to provoke those who suppressed the liberating gospel He brought to set men free. A man who did not mind evoking anger in his enemies, causing them to gird their thighs for battle.”
*”In the Mishnah it is stated: ‘To heal a blind man on the Sabbath it is prohibited to inject wine in his eyes. It is also prohibited to make mud with spittle and smear it on his eyes.’ (Shabbat 108: 20)”
_____
Shiloh
By Tim Shey
Brutal deathdance;
My eyes weep blood.
Pharisees smile like vipers,
They laugh and mock their venom:
Blind snakes leading
The deaf and dumb multitude.
Where are my friends?
The landscape is dry and desolate.
They have stretched my shredded body
On this humiliating tree.
The hands that healed
And the feet that brought good news
They have pierced
With their fierce hatred.
The man-made whip
That opened up my back
Preaches from a proper pulpit.
They sit in comfort:
That vacant-eyed congregation.
The respected, demon-possessed reverend
Forks his tongue
Scratching itchy ears
While Cain bludgeons
Abel into silence.
My flesh in tattered pieces
Clots red and cold and sticks
To the rough-hewn timber
That props up my limp, vertical carcase
Between heaven and earth.
My life drips and puddles
Below my feet,
As I gaze down dizzily
On merciless eyes and dagger teeth.
The chapter-and-versed wolves
Jeer and taunt me.
Their sheepwool clothing
Is stained black with the furious violence
Of their heart of stone.
They worship me in lip service,
But I confess,
I never knew them
(Though they are my creation).
My tongue tastes like ashes:
It sticks to the roof of my mouth.
I am so thirsty.
This famine is too much for me.
The bulls of Bashan have bled me white.
Papa, into your hands
I commend my Spirit.
Ethos
February/March 1997
Iowa State University
Genesis 49: 10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”
The Road 