The law

 

THE TWO ACCOUNTS

 

Most of us have, to some degree,
done wrong to others.
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
Most of us have also got angry
at wrongs done to us & to others.

God rarely gets involved in human affairs.
But he has opinions on all of them.
And his standards are high, indeed perfect.
Perhaps see the two Bible texts later section:
BUT, INSTEAD, FIRST OF ALL, JESUS SEEMED TO MAGNIFY JEWISH LAWS.,,,,,


Hence all our wrongs against each other
also offend our designer & maker.
All our wrongs against each other
are also sins.

 

Hence, technically speaking, we each have two accounts:

      1.   Our horizontal account, with the world:
            a debt of – social/cultural/civil/civil/legal wrongs.

      2.   Our vertical account, with God:
            a debt of – sins.

Our  social/cultural/civil/legal wrongs  are against people.

Our  sins  are against God.

 

But, two-thousand years ago,
God settled all our with-him accounts
using his Son’s willing self-sacrifice in our place.

So, now, our sins do not exist.
So, now, God cannot see them.

      So   our  social/cultural/civil/civil/legal wrongs   still exist,
      but   our  sins   do not exist.

      But do you believe it
      and do you believe it applies to you?
      Or do you insist on keeping your own righteousness?

 

,         Hence, technically speaking, the sinner’s prayer is wrong:
,         ,         It should not be:
,         ,         ,         God, please Forgive me for my sins.
,         ,         It should be:
,         ,         ,         God, thank you for having already Forgiven all of us, all of our sins, via the Cross.
,         ,         ,         I am one of those who believes it.

 

You might say:
      “Sins no longer exist in God’s eyes.
      But surely they still exist in our eyes.”

I say:
      “Sin is a word for God’s purposes only.
,         Perhaps see later section: SINS ARE DIGITAL, NOT ANALOGUE, AND ARE GOD’S MEASURE.


      What we call   sins
      are usually   social/cultural/civil/legal wrongs.
      But I’ll still often use the word   sin
      as indeed the New Testament often does.”

 

Sins are:
            always wrong, never right,
            usually bad, rarely good.

Wrongs are, likewise:
            always wrong, never right,
            usually bad, rarely good.

Perhaps see earlier section:
GOOD & BAD, RIGHT & WRONG. , , , , ,

 

.

 

 

Every one of our horizontal, with-the-world, accounts
is made of four sets of accounts:
 
      1)  Family & friends:
                 social law . . . .  money/work/favour . . owed to/by you.

      2)  Rest of society:
                 cultural law . .  money/work/favour . . owed to/by you.

      3)  Business:      
                 civil law . . . . .  money/work/favour . . owed to/by you.

      4)  Government:
                 criminal law . . imprisonment/money . . owed to/by you.

 

 

.

 

 

Human punishments for doing wrong
and God’s punishment for sinning
differ:

            Jesus’ Punishment in our place
            was due to our  sins.

            Jesus Punishment in our place
            was not due to our  social/cultural/civil/legal wrongs.

The differences show that:
            our  social/cultural/civil/legal wrongs
            and
            our  sins
            are parts of two, different, separate, accounts.

            Hence the criminal on the other cross,
            despite being the first Christian into Heaven,
            remained on his cross.    Luke c23 v39-43

            Hence also, ‘sin’ is not a legal word
            or a human-cultural word.
            You won’t find it in a western court of law
            or in secular conversation.

 

 

            The gospel is the good news
            that Jesus was Punished in place of all of us:

            His Punishment made all our sins (before God) vanish
            even though all our wrongs (before each other) remain.
,         ,         Perhaps see earlier section: WHY WAS JESUS EXECUTED? , , .

 

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You become a Christian:
            not when you only know the gospel, in your mind,
            but when you also believe the gospel, in your heart/spirit.

,         ,         ,         ,         ,         ,         ,         ,         ,         ,         ,         ,         ,         ,         ,         Rom c10 v10  


            On believing – your heart/spirit becomes grateful
            and so renews your mind:
                 1)  Duplicates its belief into your mind
                       so that even your mind believes.
                 2)  Establishes:
                             the pattern of that belief,
                             the pattern of the gospel, agape love,
                             throughout your mind.

            then:
                       your heart/spirit
                       & your mind
                       & God’s Spirit inside you
            will be alike,

            then all three can live & work together
            instead of getting in each other’s way.

,         ,         Blue text copied from earlier section:
,         ,         WHAT IS A RENEWED MIND? , , .

 

 

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Our account with the Father is a debt now settled,
a debt now paid.

But demons lie:

            In the past demons could truthfully accuse us of sins
            and tell God
            and rightly expect him to act.

                       Rev c12 v10:
                       ctd …  for the accuser of our brethren is cast down,
                       which accused them
                       before our God
                       day and night.   KJV

            But now, now that Jesus has suffered in our place,
            demons can, if they are truthful, tell us
            of only our wrongs,
            not our sins.

            Our sins no longer exist.

            So they lie.
            They encourage us to be simple & sloppy
            and to think that we each have only one account:
            a combination of:
                       our with-God account
                       and our with-each-other account.

            Hence they are keen on justice.

 

            Hence, for example, to prevent/reduce/undo
            healing &/or deliverance,
            they’ll remind you of some wrong you’ve done
            so as to trick you into being defensive:
                       making you think, even say,
                       that you did not do
                       that wrong.    1 John c1 v8-10

                       Hence, for that crucial moment:
                             You forget, in your mind,
                              that God has put all of us right with himself.
                             Hence belief remains active in your heart/spirit
                             but becomes inactive in your mind.
,         ,         ,         ,                  Perhaps also see later section: UNBELIEF and its subsections
,         ,         ,         ,                  and
,         ,         ,         ,                  later section: SIN CONSCIOUSNESS.


            Likewise, to prevent/reduce/undo healing,
            demons will remind you of a wrong done to you.
            Though they’ll not also remind you
            that, collectively, it’s our fault:
                       We isolated ourselves from God. 
                       Hence nature does bad things as well as good.
,         ,         ,         ,         See earlier section: WHY IS THE UNIVERSE SECOND CLASS? .

            Nor will they also remind you
            that you’re dead to the world,
            remind you to forgive all who hurt you,
            remind you to be constructive.

                       You’ll conclude that God could have stopped
                       people hurting you, but didn’t.

                       Hence, for that crucial moment,
                       you don’t want anything to do with God.
,         ,         ,         ,         Perhaps see earlier section:
,         ,         ,         ,         THE PROBLEM WITH BELIEVING THAT GOD STILL DOES BAD.


                       Hence, again, belief remains active in your heart/spirit
                       but becomes inactive in your mind.

 

 

.

 

            All this is intuitive for demons:

                       They don’t personally know God’s Forgiveness.

                       But they do see more than we do
                       so they know about God’s Forgiveness.

                       They do know that they have to prevent us
                       believing God’s Forgiveness
                       if they are to continue ‘living’.

,         ,         ,         ,         See earlier sections: WE ARE PLAYGROUNDS 
,         ,         ,         ,         and 
,         ,         ,         ,         SATAN LIKES IT HERE
,         ,         ,         ,         and first four cells of
,         ,         ,         ,         later section: THE BASIC MECHANICES
,         ,         ,         ,         and
,         ,         ,         ,         later section: ANOTHER EXAMPLE: TEMPTATIONS.

 

 

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CONCLUSION TO
THE TWO ACCOUNTS

 

Technically speaking sins no longer exist.

Whatever you are guilty of before people
you are no longer guilty of before God.

            The Cross enabled God to give us his Holy Spirit.
            You believing that the Cross was for you
            enables you to receive God’s Holy Spirit.

            You renewing your mind enables God’s Spirit
            to live in you without you ever disagreeing with him.

            And that enables you to command miracles, in Jesus’ name,
            despite you having committed
            social/cultural/civil/legal wrongs.

,         ,         Perhaps earlier webpage: Christian healing leaflet. , , ,

 

Hence you can become covered with God’s glory  (vertical)
while still being covered with human shame  (horizontal).

            Even though Paul had killed Christians …
            Acts c6 v1 – c9 v2     Acts c22 v4, 
            Acts c22 v19-20        1 Cor c15 v9, 

            … he now believed the gospel, had renewed his mind,
            and so did miracles.
            Acts c14 v3     Acts c16 v16-40     Acts c19 v11-12, 
            Acts c20 v7-12     Acts c28 v1-6     Acts c28 v7-9, 

,         ,         Perhaps also see first cell
,         ,         of earlier section: THE GUILT WE FEEL
,         ,         and see
,         ,         later section: GOD’S GLORIOUS SPIRIT IS IN YOU. , , ,

 

 

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JESUS’ PUNISHMENT
WAS A LEGAL MATTER

 

The Bible often says that:

            Jesus was Punished for our sins.    actions/verbs/processes
,,                 1 Cor c15 v3    Gal c1 v4    Heb c1 v3    1 Pet c2 v24    1 John c1 v7    etc


And this communicates the gospel perfectly
to the common man:
            actions are indeed a fair measure
            of the structure that produced them.

 

But, technically speaking:

            it was our bad points      objects/nouns/structures
            that produce our sins      actions/verbs/processes
            that Jesus was Punished for.

            Jesus was Punished in our place.    Matt c20 v28, , .

 

            Just as:
                       Jesus did not take our sicknesses,
                       he took our place

            so also:
                       Jesus did not take our sins,
                       he took our place.

,,        ,,        Second & third lines, of this cell, copied from earlier section:
,,        ,,        THE COMPONENTS OF JESUS’ PUNISHMENT.,,,,,

 

 

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THE LAMB OR THE SCAPEGOAT

 

In Old Testament & New Testament
there are, in each of them,
two descriptions of Jesus:

      S)  Sacrifice actions/verbs/processes  for sins actions/verbs/processes.

      R)  Receptacle objects/nouns/structures  for sins objects/nouns/structures.

 

In the Old Testament:

      S)  Flawless sacrificial lamb.    Exo c12   &   c29 v38-41   Isa c53 v7 

      R)  Scapegoat: symbolically given sins, then sent away.    Lev c16 

In the New Testament:

      S)  Jesus: Sinless sacrifice.    John c1 v29-36   1 Pet c1 v18-19 

      R)  Jesus: taker of our sins & sickness.    Matt c8 v16-17   1 Pet c2 v24 .

 

.

 

Objectively: S) and R) are both true
even though they are mutually exclusive.

Subjectively: S) and R) are both true,
are what it feels like, are what it seems like, to us.

 

 

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TESTAMENTS AND COVENANTS

 

The Bible is divided into Old Testament & New Testament.

            In the Old Testament:

                       the Old Covenant 
                       is a deal from God.

            In the New Testament:

                       the New Covenant
                       is a gift from God.

 

A covenant is an unconditional promise
but where the other side has no say.

A biblical covenant
is an unconditional promise
made by God
where the other side has no say.

The Old Covenant, to Israel, has ended.
The New Covenant, to everyone, is now running.

            The Old Covenant was:
                       A set of conditional promises
                       from me, to you Jews,
                       that I will reward, or punish,
                       individuals, or the whole nation,
                       depending on whether you obey my laws.

            The New Covenant is:
                       A conditional gift, from me, to all humans,
                       of my Son’s righteousness (so discard your own)
                       & of everything good thing in this life
                       & of eternal life in the next.
                       All thanks to Jesus
                       taking the Punishment for our sins.

 

                       The condition being
                       that you must believe that the New Covenant:
                       is true,
                       and
                       that you must want
                       the righteousness that the Cross gave us
                       and never again your own righteousness.

 

.

 

Demons, of all creatures, believe that Forgiveness is true.
But they know that it was not given to them.  Jam c2 v14-20  

            Jesus is human yet God,
            the Son of a woman and God.

            He is not the Son of God & an angel or fallen angel or demon.
            Hence Forgiveness was not given to any of them.

 

 

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THE OLD COVENANT
(THE JEWS’ ACCOUNT WITH GOD)

 

In the Bible:

      The phrase  new covenant  is in the New Testament.
      But, perhaps surprisingly, the phrase  old covenant  is not.

      Old covenant  is, instead, called   the law.

To clarify that I’m talking about this law, and not, say, secular law,
I’ll often call it  Jewish law  or  Jewish laws.

 

The era of Jewish laws lasted
      from:
      1,500bc approx  (when God gave Jewish laws to the Jews)
      to:
      33ad  (when Jesus died & rose, and God’s Spirit came here).
 
      To begin with, in 1900bc approx, God made the Jews.
,         Perhaps see third cell (starting: Then God made the Jews)
,         of earlier section  THE PRE-CHURCH AGE (OLD TESTAMENT TIMES).


      Then, from 1500bc approx to 33ad,
      God gave the Jews laws, Jewish laws.
      Or, to be precise,
      began imposing Jewish laws on the Jews.
,         Perhaps see: Exodus, Leviticus, & Deuteronomy.


      On the face of it:
            God gave Jewish laws to the Jews because:
            having rescued them from slavery in Egypt,
            & while taking them to the good land he’d promised them,
            some of them were complaining, mistrustful, rebellious,
            even after each miracle God did for them.
,         ,         Perhaps see:  Exo c1 – c19   and   Exo c32.


      But a second reason God gave the Jews laws
      was that some of the laws were predictive signs
      that foreshadowed the New Covenant to come.
,         Perhaps see later section:
,         SOME OLD COVENANT LAWS SERVE AS SIGNS, SHADOWS,
,,        OF THE NEW COVENANT., , .

 

.

 

It was virtually impossible to keep all Jewish laws
(hence there was also a system of sacrifices).

And the consequences of breaking just one law
were as bad as if you had broken all the laws
(it’s all to do with holiness,
being perfect in the face of a perfect God).

      James writes:
            Jam c2 v10:
            For whosoever shall keep the whole law,
            and yet offend in one point,
            he is guilty of all.   KJV

      And Paul’s statement:
            Gal c3 v10   (Gal c5 v3):
            ctd … for it is written, Cursed is every one
            that continueth not
            in all things which are written in the book of the law
            to do them.   KJV
      refers back to:
            Deut c27 v26 c27 v26:
            Cursed be he that confirmeth not
            all the words of this law
            to do them … ctd   KJV

 

.

 

      Interestingly, the verse:
            Deut c28 v15:
            But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto
            the voice of the LORD thy God,
            to observe to do all his commandments
            and his statutes which I command thee this day;
            that all these curses shall come upon thee,
            and overtake thee:   KJV,
      plus:
            the list of punishments in:  Deut c28 v16-68 c28 v16-68
      would have proven Paul’s point for him better.
,         ,         Paul’s point being:  Forgiveness is better than Jewish laws.
,         ,         Perhaps glance back at earlier webpages:
,         ,         The four reasons Paul preached only Forgiveness
,         ,         and:
,         ,         God, through Paul, changed the meaning of the word ‘righteousness’.


      But Paul did not choose Deut c28 c28. 
      Instead he chose Deut c27 c27.,,,

 

      I reckon he chose Deut c27 c28
      rather than Deut c28 c28
      because:
 
            Deut c27 v26 c27 v26
            is about God gives punishments to individuals.
            So it’s in keeping with the individual nature of Forgiveness.
,,        ,,        (As it happens, it’s also in keeping with the individual nature of Judgment too.)


            However, the Jewish laws, in Deut c28 c28, were not only:
                  God gives individual punishments to individuals,
            but also:
                 God gives general punishments to all Jews  
                 for disobeying him,  Deut c28 v15-68 c28 v15-68  
            and:
                 God gives general rewards to all Jews
                 for obeying him,  Deut c28 v1-14 c28 v1-14.,,,

 

            Paul wanted to avoid the last scripture (red text)
            because it supports Judgment.

            Hence Paul avoided:
                 God gives general punishments to all Jews  
                 for disobeying him,  Deut c28 v15-68 c28 v15-68  
            because it’s immediately after:
                 God gives general rewards to all Jews
                 for obeying him,  Deut c28 v1-14 c28 v1-14.,,,

 

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In the Old Testament
the Jews treated their lawbreakers in two ways:
            punishment – of the human,
            animal sacrifice – the human provides a sacrificial animal.

Regarding animal sacrifices:
            The priest inspected the animal, but not the owner:
            did not ask the owner about the sin they’d committed.
            It was the animal that had to be perfect, flawless.

            The animal sacrifice then made the owner blameless.
            (Though not sinless.  It merely covered the sin.   Heb c10 v1-21), , , ,

 

            The Old Covenant flawlessness of the animal
            foreshadowed the New Covenant principle
            that Jesus must never have broken any Jewish law.
            (Indeed, must never have sinned, however small the sin.)

            Conversely, backwards engineering:

                 The Father knew that, in the future,
                 his Son would take our place.
                 So, in the past, the Father deliberately demanded
                 that only flawless animals be sacrificed.

 

 

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JEWISH LAWS
ARE NOT FOR GENTILES

 

You may say:
            “Surely, we’re supposed to obey Jewish laws
            because it was God who gave them to us.

I say:
            “God gave Jewish laws (& punishments & sacrifices)
            to only the Jews, not to gentiles.

            God intends gentiles to
            read Jewish laws, read the Old Covenant.
                       For the New Covenant
                       needs the Old Covenant
                       in order to make sense.
                       (Indeed, the New Testament
                       needs the Old Testament
                       in order to make sense.)
                
            But God intends gentiles to
            only read Jewish laws, the Old Covenant.
            Not enter into the Old Covenant,
            in any way, to any degree.”
,         ,         A gentile is anyone who is not a Jew.

,         ,         N.B. The Creator’s Son is a Jew.
,         ,         Nearly all of the Bible was written by Jews.

 

 

.

 

The Bible is divided into Old Testament & New Testament.

            In the Old Testament:

                       the Old Covenant 
                       is a deal from God.

            In the New Testament:

                       the New Covenant
                       is a gift from God.

We gentile Christians, despite being gentiles,
should nevertheless read the Old Testament
because:

            the New Testament . . was built on . . the Old Testament
            &
            the New Covenant . . . replaced . . . . . the Old Covenant.

            Heb c8 v13:
            In that he saith,
                  A new covenant,
            he hath made the first old.
            Now that which decayeth and waxeth old
            is ready to vanish away.

            The Old Covenant was:
                       A set of conditional promises
                       from me, to you Jews,
                       that I will reward, or punish,
                       individuals, or the whole nation,
                       depending on whether you obey my laws.

            The New Covenant is:
                       A conditional gift, from me, to all humans,
                       of my Son’s righteousness (so discard your own)
                       & of everything good thing in this life
                       & of eternal life in the next.
                       All thanks to Jesus
                       taking the Punishment for our sins.

 

We gentile Christians (unlike Old Testament Jews)
don’t have any laws:

            Acts c15 v28-29:
            For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us,
            to lay upon you no greater burden
            than these necessary things;
                 That ye abstain from meats offered to idols,
                 and from blood,
                 and from things strangled,
                 and from fornication:
            from which if ye keep yourselves,
            ye shall do well. Fare ye well.   KJV

            The last line shows that the five lines before it
            are not laws but good advice:
                 advice to changed people:
                 people who now want to do right & not wrong.

 

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            Jesus seemed to give Christians
            a law/commandment:

                       John c13 v34-35:
                        A new commandment
                       I [Jesus] give unto you,
                             That ye love one another;
                             as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
                       By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
                       if ye have love one to another.   KJV

            But, actually, this new commandment
            is not a law/commandment
            but self-expression.

                       Keeping it is not a cause of us being right with God
                       (as it is with the Old Covenant),
                       it is an effect.

                       An effect of Jesus having
                       put all of us right with God
                       and of you believing it.

 

 

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YOU MAY COMPLAIN

 

You may complain:
      “But the epistles contain instructions & rebukes.”

I say:
      “Paul (& the other apostles) did not express their hearts
      in instructions & rebukes.

      They expressed their hearts in such texts as:
                 1 Cor c13 NIV:
                 Above all else, have love.   my abbreviation

 

      However, reports, from distant churches, of ‘believers’:
            o    Working proudly to be right with God.
            o    Accepting sexual immorality as normal.
            o    Etc.
      prompted the apostles to write epistles
      that contained instructions & rebukes.
,         ‘Believers’ are people who don’t believe all that Jesus said:
,         are not (yet) believers, but who think they are.


      They were exasperated.  What else could they do?

      Paul for example, had to meet those people
      on the level they were at.
                 1 Cor c3 v1:
                 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you
                 as unto spiritual,
                  but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.   KJV

                 Paul gave them the stick
                 because they hadn’t (yet)
                 accepted the carrot.   1 Cor c4 v14-21, ,

 

                 I reckon Paul could have added:

                  You don’t yet believe.  Not in your hearts.
                  So don’t even call yourselves believers yet.

                  Believers want to do what’s right.
                  They also know what’s right
                 because they hear God.
                  But I had to send you instructions.”

 

 

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JESUS DID NOT ABOLISH JEWISH LAWS …

 

Jesus did not abolish Jewish laws.

            Matt c5 v18:
            For verily I say unto you,
                  Till heaven and earth pass,
                  one jot or one tittle
                 shall in no wise pass from the law … ctd   KJV

 

 

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… BUT, INSTEAD, FIRST OF ALL,   
JESUS SEEMED TO MAGNIFY JEWISH LAWS …

 

Jesus seemed to magnify Jewish laws:
            seemed to show changes
            that God would like to make.

            Matt c5 v21-22:
            Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time,
                  Thou shalt not kill;
                  and whosoever shall kill
                 shall be in danger of the judgment:
            But I say unto you,
                  That whosoever is angry with his brother
                 without a cause
                  shall be in danger of the judgment:
                  and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca,
                  shall be in danger of the council:
                  but whosoever shall say, Thou fool,
                  shall be in danger of hell fire.   KJV

            Matt c5 v27-28:
            Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time,
                  Thou shalt not commit adultery:
            But I say unto you,
                  That whosoever looketh on a woman
                 to lust after her
                  hath committed adultery with her already
                 in his heart.   KJV

 

However, Jesus only seemed to magnify Jewish laws.
Jewish laws were, in fact, already strong.

It’s just that, over the centuries,
people had verbally weakened
the application of written Jewish laws.

            See the first line of each of the above two Bible texts.
            Then see: CARM’s Does the Old Testament
,         ,         ,         ,         ,      teach to hate your enemies?. ,,,,,

 

 

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… THEN     
JESUS FULFILLED JEWISH LAWS …

 

Jesus told his fellow Jews to keep the Jewish laws:

            Matt c5 v17-19:
            Think not that I am come to destroy
            the law, or the prophets:
            I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
            For verily I say unto you,
                  Till heaven and earth pass,
                  one jot or one tittle
                 shall in no wise pass from the law,
                  till all be fulfilled.
                  Whosoever therefore
                       shall break one of these least commandments,
                        and shall teach men so,
                  he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven:
                  but whosoever
                       shall do
                       and teach them,
                  the same shall be called
                 great in the kingdom of heaven.   KJV

            It’s clear that Jesus was addressing only Jews
            by the verses that follow.  Matt c5 v20-24,,, 

,         ,         Also see fourth cell
,         ,         (starting Jesus told his disciples to pray the Lord’s prayer)
,         ,         of earlier section: THE LORD’S PRAYER.

 

Then, just like:
            breaking Jewish laws led to punishment
            or required a perfect animal, to be a sacrifice,
 so also:
            Jesus allowed himself
            to be both punished and be a sacrifice
            for all the sins that the Jews
            had committed, were committing, and will commit.

 

            Hence it was vital that Jesus had kept all Jewish laws,
            had not broken any:
                       Otherwise he would not have been
                       the perfect sacrifice he needed to be:

                       Gal c4 v4-5:
                       But when the fullness of the time came,
                        God sent forth his Son,
                        made of a woman, made under the law,
                        to redeem them that were under the law,
                        that we might receive the adoption as sons.  KJV

,         ,         ,         ,         The above word ‘might’ is there because it’s up to us
,         ,         ,         ,         as well as up to God.
,         ,         ,         ,         Perhaps see later webpage:
,         ,         ,         ,         WE CHOOSE WHERE WE GO – BY FORGIVENESS. , , ,

 

.

 

Mind you, Jesus did break wrong application of Jewish laws,
wrong application – produced by wrong motivation.

            Matt c12 v1-7    (Mark c2 v23-28)   my abbreviation:
            Jesus & his disciples were hungry.
            So they picked corn, on the sabbath, to eat.
            Some Pharisees accused them of working on the sabbath.
            But Jesus said that king David once did a similar thing
,         ,         [and the Pharisees didn’t criticise him].
            Then Jesus added:
                  “God wants mercy, not sacrifice” [quoted from Hos c6 v6]
            in order to show that
            the Pharisees’ application was wrong.   my abbn

,         ,         Their application was wrong because Hos c6 v6 contradicts earlier sacrificial laws.
,         ,         God’s relationship with the Jews had started to change even by Hosea’s time.
,         ,         See later section:
,         ,         GOD DOES NOT CHANGE
,         ,         BUT HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH US CHANGES.


And Jesus completely rejects
any added, so-called, laws:

            Matt c15 v1-20    Mark c7 v1-23:
            Jesus angrily points out
            that wicked or misled religious leaders
            fool the people
            by replacing the right laws of God
            with shallow, even wrong, merely human, laws.
            Probably only to make themselves look good.   my abbn

 

 

.

 

… THEN, JESUS SUFFERED & DIED
FOR EVERYONE.

 

Jesus’ self-sacrifice was a fulfilment of Jewish law:

            Yet it was not a Jewish sacrifice.
,         ,         It was not the way a lamb would be sacrificed under Jewish law.   Lev c3 v7-11 

 

            Nor was it a Jewish punishment.
,         ,         It was not a Jewish stoning then hanging the body on a tree.  Deut c21 v22 

 

            It was a punishment of the Roman Empire.
            In effect – an international punishment.

 

To the above, add:

            Acts c10   my abbreviation:
            An angel, in a vision,
            told Cornelius, a God-fearing Roman centurion,
            to send some men to get Peter.
            Meanwhile God showed Peter, in a trance,
            a stretched out sheet of religiously unclean animals
            and told him to kill & eat (Peter was hungry).
            Peter refused.
            God said: “Don’t call anything unclean
            that I have made clean”.
            This whole argument repeated two more times.
            Then Peter came out of the trance
            and God’s Spirit said to him
            “You have visitors.  Go with them.”
            They all went to Cornelius’ house
            where Cornelius then spoke of his vision of an angel.
            Then Peter finally understood his trance:
                 that Jesus’ crucifixion
                 and God’s Spirit
                 were for, not only Jews,
                 but for everyone.   my abbreviation

and we see that Jesus was Punished for,
and was a sacrifice for, everyone.

 

            John c3 v14-18:
            And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
            even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
            that whosoever believeth in him
            should not perish, but have eternal life.
            For God so loved the world,
            that he gave his only begotten Son,
            that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
            but have everlasting life.
            For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world;
            but that the world through him might be saved.
            He that believeth on him is not condemned:
            but he that believeth not is condemned already,
            because he hath not believed in
            the name of the only begotten Son of God.   KJV

,         ,         Believed, that is, after the gospel (this text is one form of the gospel)
,         ,         has been presented.  Ideally presented convincingly: with miracles.

 

 

.

 

CONCLUSION:
HOW IT ALL WORKS

 

Some Old Covenant laws are of the culture of their day
so they don’t even make sense any more.

            For example:
                 Lev c14 v32-57:
                 Complex instructions for getting rid of mould
                 on the walls in your home.  my abbreviation
,,        ,,        ,,        (They assumed it caused leprosy.)


But, even if the Jews of old
had been allowed to ignore such laws,
keeping the rest of the laws
would still have been virtually impossible.
Perhaps see third cell (starting: It was virtually impossible to keep all Jewish laws)
of earlier section  THE OLD COVENANT (THE JEWS’ ACCOUNT WITH GOD).


Hence, as well as giving the Jews laws,
God gave them:
            punishments for the lawbreaker 
            and
            sacrifices that the lawbreaker needed to make.

 

Two thousand years ago
God let his Son be Punished
in place of the rest of us.

            Hence, now,
            anyone can break any, still right, Old Covenant law,
            yet not be in trouble with God.

            But believers, if they’ve renewed their minds,
            don’t want to break any, still right, Old Covenant law.
,,        ,,        Perhaps see earlier section:
,,        ,,        THIS APPARENT MISUNDERSTANDING IS NO ACCIDENT.


Believers who have renewed their minds
            are grateful:
                       for Heaven to come
                       and God’s Spirit now.

Hence believers are constructive:
            forgive everyone who’s wronged them,
            love everyone,
            keep all, still right, Old Covenant laws – without effort,
            indeed do all natural good – without effort,
            indeed do miracles – without effort.

            It’s all self-expression.

 

 

.

 

THE NEW REPLACES THE OLD

 

The New Covenant replaces the Old Covenant:

            Heb c8 v8-13:
            For finding fault with them, he saith,
                  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
                  when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
                  and with the house of Judah:
                  not according to the covenant that I made
                 with their fathers
                  in the day when I took them by the hand
                  to lead them out of the land of Egypt;
                  because they continued not in my covenant,
                  and I regarded them not,
                  saith the Lord.
                  For this is the covenant
                  that I will make with the house of Israel
                  after those days, saith the Lord;
                       I will put my laws into their mind,
                       and write them in their hearts:
                       and I will be to them a God,
                       and they shall be to me a people:
                       and they shall not teach every man his neighbour,
                       and every man his brother,
                       saying,
                             Know the Lord:
                       for all shall know me,
                       from the least to the greatest.
                       For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness,
                       and their sins and their iniquities
                       will I remember no more.
            In that he saith,
                  A new covenant,
            he hath made the first old.
            Now that which decayeth and waxeth old
            is ready to vanish away.   KJV

,         ,         Perhaps see second cell
,         ,         of earlier section: JEWISH LAWS ARE NOT FOR GENTILES.

 

            I.E. The commandment contained in the new covenant
            replaces
            the commandments contained in the old covenant.

                       John c13 v34-35:
                       A new commandment
                       I [Jesus] give unto you,
                             That ye love one another;
                             as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
                       By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
                       if ye have love one to another.   KJV

 

            Jesus’ new commandment, above, is extreme.
            He commands the same level of love between believers
            as he had for believers,
            strong agape love,
            to the death love.

            Hence Jesus’ new commandment:
            is something you must want to do:
                        with both soul and heart/spirit,
                       completeself-expression,
            not something you merely obey:
                       with only your soul.

 

            Indeed, Jesus taught us to love everyone.
,         ,         Perhaps see earlier section: LOVE YOUR ENEMIES. 


            And loving includes forgiving. 
,         ,         Perhaps see earlier section: FORGIVE US AS WE. 


            And loving & forgiving everyone
            means that Jesus’ new commandment
            includes all Jewish laws:


                        Rom c13 v8-10    Gal c5 v14:
                       Loving everyone
                       means that you are also keeping
                       all Jewish laws.   my abbreviation

 

            So, actually, this new commandment
            is not a law/commandment
            but self-expression:

                       Keeping it is not a cause of us being right with God
                       (as it is with the Old Covenant),
                       it is an effect.

                       An effect of Jesus having
                       put all of us right with God
                       and of you believing it.

 

 

.

 

‘Believers’ are people who don’t believe all that Jesus said,
are not (yet) believers, but who think they are.


Some ‘believers’ try to:

            Add: Jesus’ new commandment
            to the Old Covenant, the Old Testament commandments,

            Then add: the Old Covenant
            to the New Covenant.

            Then say: “That’s what a Christian needs to do”
            (with the emphasis on ‘do’).

 

However:
            the Old Covenant
cannot be added to:
            the New Covenant

for the same reason that:
            Gen c12 v3:
            And I will bless them that bless thee,
            and curse him that curseth thee … ctd   KJV
cannot be added to:
            Eph c1 v3:
            Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
            who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
            in heavenly places in Christ:   KJV

for the same reason that:
            Jews, do this, – and you’ll get a good thing from God,
            Jews, do that, – and you’ll get a bad thing from God,
cannot be added to:
            God has already given all good things to all of us

The cause-&-effect is reversed:

            The Old Covenant is:
                       You Jews
                       do good
                       to humbly earn good things
                       from God.


            The New Covenant is:
                        God
                       gave everything good
                       to everyone
                       so, out of gratitude, do good.

 

.

 

Jesus said: 
      Matt c9 v10-17    Mark c2 v1 – c3 v6    Luke c5 v27 – c6 v11:
      A new unshrunk patch
      cannot be sown onto an old shrunk garment.
      New wine cannot ferment
      in used, stretched, brittle, wineskins.   my abbreviation

      The above text is in only Matthew Mark & Luke.  Not John.
      Yet Jesus’ new commandment is in only John.  John c13 v34-35  

      Hence the Matthew Mark & Luke links that I give
      extend beyond
      the text that I give
      so as to reveal the overall subject.

      The overall subject being:

                 Jesus’ new commandment
                 is infinitely better than
                 the old commandments.

                 Indeed, the entire New Covenant
                 is infinitely better than
                 the entire Old Covenant.
                 Forgiveness, God’s Spirit, & a renewed mind,
                 are infinitely better
                 than fasting, Jewish laws, sacrifices, & punishments.

                 (Though the Old Covenant is vital
                 for understanding the New Covenant.
                 Also that’s the order things happened in.)

 

 

.

 

GOD DOES NOT CHANGE
BUT HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH US CHANGES

 

God himself never changes.
Num c23 v19     1 Sam c15 v29     Mal c3 v6     Jam c1 v17
            He always thinks & does what’s right:
            what’s most constructive in the long run.
,         ,         Perhaps see earlier section:
,         ,         GOOD & BAD, RIGHT & WRONG, , .


But his relationship with us changes.

,         ,         Perhaps see first four sections
,         ,         of earlier webpage: The Church Age  , ,
,         ,         and perhaps see
,         ,         earlier section: IN JESUS, THE FATHER REVEALS HIS HEART TO US, , .

 

.

 

1)  The first part of the Pre-Church Age (Old Testament times) 
      started when God made us.

                 A relationship of love
                 towards everything & everyone.

 

2)  The second part of the Pre-Church Age (Old Testament times)
      started when we humans, Adam & Eve, started to do wrong.

                 Hence God kept us away from the tree of life.
,         ,         ,         We were already eternal.
,         ,         ,         But the fruit of the tree of life would have made us
,         ,         ,         eternal and substantial (i.e. not like a ghost: Gen c3 v22). . 


                 It was a time when:
                       God destroyed the earth with a flood
                       because of its wickedness.
                       But then blessed righteous Noah & his sons.
                       Etc.
,         ,         ,         ,         Perhaps see earlier webpage: The good & bad that God does:

 

                 A relationship of both love and justice
                 towards all humans.

 

3)  The third part of the Pre-Church Age (Old Testament times)
      started when God made the Jews.
,         Perhaps see third cell (starting: Then God made the Jews)
,         of earlier section THE PRE-CHURCH AGE (OLD TESTAMENT TIMES).

 

                 A relationship of both love and justice
                 towards all Jews.

 

.

 

4)  The first part of the Church Age
      started when God changed his relationship with the Jews
      from:
            a relationship of both love and justice
           towards all Jews
      to:
            a relationship of love
           towards all Jews.

      The first part of the Church Age
      splits into two time periods:
                 3 years: start of Jesus’ ministry to Pentecost.
                 9 years approx: Pentecost to Peter’s vision.  Acts c10,

      It splits because:
                 Jesus was the first to preach Forgiveness
                 hence the gospels are New Testament.
                 But the gospels lack Pentecost
                 hence the gospels are Old Covenant.

,        ,         ,         Perhaps see earlier section:
,        ,         ,         JESUS PREACHED BOTH JUDGMENT & FORGIVENESS 
,        ,         ,         and earlier section:
,        ,         ,         REWARDS & PUNISHMENTS.


      To conclude: the first part of the Church Age was:
                 a relationship of love
                 towards all Jews.

 

5)  The second part of the Church Age
      started when God said:
                 that Forgiveness, the New Covenant,
                 included gentiles (non-Jews) as well as Jews:
                 that everyone has been Forgiven.

,         Perhaps again see earlier section.
,         THEN, JESUS SUFFERED & DIED FOR EVERYONE:

 

                 A relationship of love
                 towards all humans.

 

.

 

6)  On Judgment Day
,         ,         ,         I call it Judgment and Forgiveness day.
,         ,         ,         Perhaps again see earlier section:
,         ,         ,         JESUS PREACHED BOTH JUDGMENT & FORGIVENESS.

      God will change his relationship with us, for the last time,
      to make it:

                 A relationship of both love and justice
                 towards all humans.

 

 

.

 

,         Perhaps again see
,         first four sections
,         of earlier webpage: The Church Age, , , ,

 

 

.

 

SOME OLD COVENANT LAWS
SERVE AS SIGNS, SHADOWS,
OF THE NEW COVENANT

 

When God gave the Old Covenant laws to the Jews
he made some of the laws to be predictive signs
that foreshadowed the New Covenant to come.

            Heb c10 v1-3:
            For the law
                  having a shadow of good things to come,
                  and not the very image of the things,
            can never with those sacrifices
                  which they offered year by year
                  continually
            make the comers thereunto perfect.
            For then
            would they not have ceased to be offered?
                  because that the worshippers
                  once purged
                  should have had no more conscience of sins.
            But in those sacrifices
                  there is a remembrance again made of sins
                  every year.   KJV

            Col c2 v16-17:
            Let no man therefore judge you
                  in meat, or in drink,
                  or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon,
                  or of the sabbath days:
            which are a shadow of things to come; … ctd   KJV

 

 

.

 

The Old Covenant sabbath law
foreshadowed, gave significance to,
drew attention to, helped explain,
the New Covenant to come:

                 Deut c5 v12-15:
                 Do not work, indeed do virtually nothing,
                  on Saturday, the actual sabbath day . . .   my abbreviation
                 Deut c28 (v1) (v15):
                 . . . in order to be blessed by God, not cursed . . .   my abbn
                  Exo c31 v14:
                 . . . and in order to not be put to death.   my abbreviation

                 The sabbath law, above,
                 (which we are not supposed to obey)
                 foreshadowed, gave significance to,
                 drew attention to, helped explain,
                 the sabbath rest, below,
                 (which we should accept).

                 Heb c4 v9-11:
                 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
                  For he that is entered into his rest,
                  he also hath ceased from his own works,
                  as God did from his.
                  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest … ctd.   KJV

                 Matt c11 v28-30:
                  Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
                  and I will give you rest.
                  Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;
                  for I am meek and lowly in heart:
                  and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
                  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.   KJV
 ,       ,         ,         A yoke is the collar on a beast of burden (horse, ox)
,         ,         ,         which is connected to the burden (cart, plough).

 

The Old Covenant tithing law
foreshadowed, gave significance to,
drew attention to, helped explain,
the New Covenant to come:

                  Lev c27 v30-33:
                 And all the tithe of the land,
                       whether of the seed of the land,
                       or of the fruit of the tree,
                       is the LORD'S: it is holy unto the LORD.
                       And if a man will at all redeem ought of his tithes,
                       he shall add thereto the fifth part thereof.
                 And concerning the tithe of the herd, or of the flock,
                       even of whatsoever passeth under the rod,
                       the tenth shall be holy unto the LORD.
                       He shall not search whether it be good or bad,
                       neither shall he change it: and if he change it at all,
                       then both it and the change thereof
                       shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.   KJV

,         ,         ,                  For more details of the Old Covenant tithing law
,         ,         ,                  see: Num c18  and:  Mal c3 v10-12   


                 The tithing law, above,
                 (which we are not supposed to obey)
                 foreshadowed, gave significance to,
                 drew attention to, helped explain,
                 Jesus’ promises, below,
                 (which we should accept).

                  Matt c6 v33   (Luke c12 v31):
                  But seek ye first the kingdom of God,
                 and his righteousness;
                  and all these things [i.e. all material necessities]
                 shall be added unto you.   KJV

                  Mark c10 v29-30    (Luke c18 v29-30):
                  And Jesus answered and said,
                        Verily I say unto you,
                        There is no man that hath left house, or brethren,
                       or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children,
                        or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,
                        but he shall receive an hundredfold
                       now in this time,
                        houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers,
                        and children, and lands, … ctd   KJV

                  Luke c6 v38:
                 Give, and it shall be given unto you;
                       good measure, pressed down,
                       and shaken together, and running over,
                       shall men give into your bosom.
                 For with the same measure that ye mete withal
                 it shall be measured to you again.   KJV

 

.

 

Jewish laws (i.e. those in Leviticus) dealt with:
not only obvious crimes (murder, theft, etc),
but also merely yukky items & events.

            When God gave the Jews the yukky Levitical laws
            he was going along with
            mere human observations:
                       If it’s looks yukky to us
                       then it’s spiritually unclean to God.
                       So the priest &/or God must act.

            Yukky = animals that crawl, animals that ruminate,
            mouldy walls, leprosy, skin diseases, bodily discharges,
            women’s periods, men’s semen.

            In Old Testament times:
                 the Jews, naturally,
                 and God, supernaturally,   Lev c9 v24   Lev c10 v1-2  
            acted on Levitical laws.
            Now, however, God, at least,
            does not act on them.

            So, for gentiles, for now,
            the yukky laws are not only impotent
            but also silly (e.g. Jesus’ words in Mark c7 v1-23).  

 

            The anti-yukky, holy, Levitical laws:
                  Life is in the blood (so you can’t eat un-bled meat).
                 Use an (innocent, helpless,) lamb to sacrifice to me.
            were a symbolic foreshadowing
            of Jesus’ self-sacrifice to come.

            Hence God’s anti-yukky, holy, Levitical laws
            had a prophetic purpose for everyone.

            But none of his Levitical laws
            ever had a practical purpose for gentiles.

 

 

.

 

SIGNS/SHADOWS,
OR THE REAL THING?

 

So, don’t do the Old Covenant, don’t do the signs/shadows,
do the real thing, believe Jesus.
Perhaps see earlier section:
CONTINUING THE SON’S WORK.,,,,, 


            John c6 v28-29:
            Then said they unto him,
                 What shall we do,
                 that we might work
                 the works of God?
            Jesus answered and said unto them,
                 This is the work of God,
                       that ye believe
                       on him whom he hath sent.   KJV

            This was Jesus’ entire answer.
            Believe is all we need to do
            (if you can call believing doing).

 

Of course, you will do things.
You won’t just believe.

Just make sure that the things you do
are an effect
not a cause:
 
            An effect of God having put all of us right with him.
            Not you trying to put yourself right with him.

 

 

.

 

SO, BEWARE OF THE OLD COVENANT

 

Perhaps see earlier section: WHY BIBLICAL TEACHER-HEALERS DO IT ,,,,,
and the remainder of that webpage.


In the province of Galatia
Paul had found people who weren’t believers
but who thought they were believers.
(I call them ‘believers’)

They had accepted the preaching that,
to be right with God, you had to both:
            believe in Jesus’ Punishment in our place
            and:
            keep Jewish laws (i.e. become a Jew).

Hence Paul wrote:

            Gal c3 v3-5:
            Are ye so foolish?
            having begun in the Spirit,
            are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
            Have ye suffered so many things in vain?
            if it be yet in vain.
            He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit,
            and worketh miracles among you,
            doeth he it by the works of the law,
            or by the hearing of faith?   KJV

            Gal c3 – c5:
            God’s Law is bondage. 
            God’s Spirit is freedom.   my abbreviation

            Rom c3 v20:
            Therefore by the deeds of the law
            there shall no flesh be justified in his sight:
            for by the law is the knowledge of sin.   KJV

            2 Cor c3:
            The law, including the Ten Commandments,
            brings death.
            But the Spirit
            brings life.   my abbreviation

 

You may say:
            “Surely, we’re supposed to obey Jewish laws
            because it was God who gave them to us.

I say:

            “God gave Jewish laws (& punishments & sacrifices)
            to only the Jews, not to gentiles.

            God intends gentiles to
            read Jewish laws, read the Old Covenant.
                       For the New Covenant
                       needs the Old Covenant
                       in order to make sense.
                       (Indeed, the New Testament
                       needs the Old Testament
                       in order to make sense.)
                
            But God intends gentiles to
            only read Jewish laws, the Old Covenant.
            Not enter into the Old Covenant,
            in any way, to any degree.

            God gave Jewish laws to the Jews because:
                 having rescued them from slavery in Egypt,
                 & while taking them to the good land he’d promised them,
                 some of them were complaining, mistrustful, rebellious,
                 even after each miracle God did for them.”
,         ,         ,         Perhaps see: Exo c1 – c19   and   Exo c32. ,,,,,

 

.

 

To conclude: God gave laws to the Jews
to try to mould their souls
(or, to be precise, their minds within their souls)
to counteract the moulding effects of:
      o    our flesh and our earthly thinking,
      o    the earth and world we’ve built from the earth,
      o    demons’ temptations.
Perhaps see later section:
THE EFFECT OF MANY SUGGESTIONS: MOULDING.


            God designed the material of the universe
            to be second class
,         ,         ,         ,         See earlier section: WHY IS THE UNIVERSE SECOND CLASS?
,         ,         ,         ,         and, immediately after it, first & second cells of:
,         ,         ,         ,         IN WHAT WAYS DID GOD MAKE THE UNIVERSE SECOND CLASS?.

            so that it moulds the souls
,         ,         ,         ,         Perhaps see next cell (starting N.B. Jewish laws:)

            of both humans and demons alike
, ,       ,         ,         ,         See first two cells of later section: THE BASIC MECHANICS.

            to be legally minded.

            Hence their souls feel at home here:
                       in this everything-must-be-earned world
                       that’s built from a competitive earth,
            and love all the:
                       I-can-manage-to-keep-these-laws-that-I-chose  laws.

 

.

 

            N.B. Jewish laws (any laws, any thing):
                       do not finally mould the soul
                       only temporarily mould the soul
            to counteract:
                       the world, the flesh, and the devil (demons),
            which, likewise:
                       do not finally mould the soul,
                       only temporarily mould the soul.

            Only the heart/spirit
            finally moulds,
            has the final say in moulding,
            the soul.

,         ,         Perhaps see later sections:
,         ,         WILL,
,         ,         and immediately after it: 
,         ,         FREE WILL.,,,,

 

 

.

 

The Old Covenant
moulded Jews’ souls
using:
            o    man-given, natural, animal sacrifices
            o    man-given, natural, human punishments
            o    God-given, supernatural, curses
            o    God-given, supernatural, blessings.

,         ,         Perhaps see: Deut c28.


            Notice that the above are only of this life.
                       The threat of Hell, and the chance of Heaven,
                       are not in the Old Covenant.

            In the Old Testament:
                       Hell (Hebrew: Sheol) was not a place of punishment
                       but merely a ‘sleeping place’ for the dead.
                       Nor was Heaven a place that you or I might go to
                       as a reward.  It was only God’s & angels’ home.

 

.

 

When God gave the Old Covenant animal sacrifices to the Jews
he made some of the laws to be predictive signs
that foreshadowed Jesus’ crucifixion to come.

      The sacrifice of lambs 
                 foreshadowed, gave significance to,
                 drew attention to, helped explain,
      Jesus’ crucifixion to come.

 

      Hence, in the Old Testament,
      God initially gave the impression
      that he needed animal sacrifices.

      But, later, he had to admit
      that he didn’t actually need animal sacrifices:

                  Psalm 50 v7-15:
                  God says “I want a word with you.
                  I don’t reject your sacrifices.
                  But I don’t actually need bulls and goats.
                  I made everything, it’s all mine.
                  So don’t think you’re actually giving me anything.
                  Instead, offer your sacrifices,
                  then call on me when you are in trouble
                  and I will rescue you
                  and you will honour me.”   my abbreviation

 

      And later, in the New Testament, God, through Paul, wrote:
                 Heb c10 v4:
                 For it is not possible
                 that the blood of bulls and of goats
                 should take away sins.   KJV

      Jesus, of course, was not an animal.
      He was (& is) God and human:
                 That’s why his self-sacrifice worked.
                 whereas animal sacrifices had never worked.

                 (God designed the material of the universe
                 so that we’d see buying
                 as an important function in life.
                 Even the buying of God’s favours.)

 

 

.

 

To conclude:
            The Old Covenant worked in an earthly way.
            Not in an eternal way – like the New Covenant:

            The Old Covenant:
                 Does not have Judgment
                 (nor Forgiveness for that matter).
                 Does not mention us going to Heaven or Hell.
,         ,                  See earlier section: REWARDS & PUNISHMENTS  
,         ,                  and, perhaps, if you need to,
,         ,                  earlier section: JESUS PREACHED BOTH JUDGMENT & FORGIVENESS
,         ,                  and its subsections.


The main purpose of the Old Covenant
was to prepare us for the New Covenant,
was to show (first Jews, then the rest of us) that we:
            Could not get ourselves right with God.
            All needed God to rescue us, save us, do it for us.
            Not merely help us.

            Needed God to put us right with himself.

 

The Old Covenant is sometimes a humility filter.

But Forgiveness, the New Covenant, is always a humility filter.

            It shows you are already humble, to the extreme,
            to forever put your own righteousness to one side
            and forever boast of only Jesus’ work, for you, on the Cross.

,         ,         Perhaps see all of earlier section:
,         ,         REGARDNG JUDGMENT: GOD ALSO CONSIDERS MOTIVES    

 

 

.

 

SO, BE CAREFUL NOT TO ENTER INTO
THE OLD COVENANT

 

Technically speaking:

            Jesus did not destroy the Old Covenant.

            Jesus added himself to the Old Covenant
            to turn it into the New Covenant.

                       To the system of:
                             o    man-given, natural, animal sacrifices
                             o    man-given, natural, human punishments
                             o    God-given, supernatural, curses
                             o    God-given, supernatural, blessings
                       Jesus added one more sacrifice – himself.

 

.

 

If you are a believer, a Christian,
then read the Old Testament
because New Testament statements
are prophesied in the Old Testament.
The New Testament . . was built on . . the Old Testament.

But don’t believe in, don’t enter into,
the Old Covenant.  Deut c28 
to any degree.
The New Covenant . . . replaced . . . . . the Old Covenant.

            Don’t see Old Covenant laws
            as still God’s laws, as still active.
            It would imply that there are consequences, from God,
            if you break them.

            Hence, if you are a believer
            (whether a gentile believer or a Jewish believer)
            and have ever failed to:
                       keep the Jewish tithing law,
                       keep the Jewish sabbath law,
                       make the appropriate sacrifice
                       for failing to keep some law or other,
                       etc,
            then do not believe that you have
            cut yourself off from God to any degree.

            To believe the Old Covenant:
                       that your wrong actions
                       cut you off from God, 
            is a form of unbelief
            that works against:
                       your belief
                       that Jesus put you right with his Father.
,         ,         ,         ,         Perhaps see later section: UNBELIEF and its subsections
,         ,         ,         ,         and
,         ,         ,         ,         earlier section: UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.


,           And, even though:
                       Jesus changed God’s Old Covenant into the New
                       so that God’s Old Covenant curses no longer work,
            demons would nevertheless:
                       impersonate God
                       by performing his Old Covenant curses ‘for’ him.

,         ,         ,         ,         See item 4)
,         ,         ,         ,         of earlier section:
,         ,         ,         ,         SO, – WHERE DO TODAY’S BAD THINGS COME FROM? , ,

 

.

 

Only when you:
      fully understand
      that you have infinite blessings
      that the New Covenant (found in New Testament) gives

should you:
      articulate those blessings    As Paul does, in: Rom c4 v1-22  &  Gal c3. 

      in terms of the finite blessings
      that the Old Covenant (found in Old Testament   Deut c28 v1-14 )
      would have given
      were it still active.

 

.

 

Jesus’ audiences were usually Jews,
so their questions were usually Old Covenant questions.
E.G. “Which is the greatest commandment?”    Matt c22 v37    Mark c12 v30 

When you read, in the gospels,
where Jesus is speaking to the crowd,
it can be easy to identify with the crowd:

It can be easy to think:
            “God told us to honour our father & mother.
            That’s why, in Matt c15 v4-9, Jesus was angry at the Pharisees
            because they etc.”

However:
            God never told us gentiles to honour our father & mother.
            God never gave us gentiles
            any of the Ten Commandments.
            God gave all of the Old Testament commandments
            to only Jews.

            A practicing Jew may privately laugh
            at a gentile Christian who said that
            he/she had been given the Ten Commandments.

            The Jew would think:
                 “Were your ancestors at the foot of Mount Sinai
                 when Moses came down with them?  No.       Exo c34
                 Why, you might even be descended from
                 the peoples God drove out for us!”            Exo c34 v8-17, ,

 

            Hence Peter was right to tell gentile Romans:
                       to convert directly to Christianity,
                       & not become Jews first.
                       Acts c10: Peter’s and Cornelius’ visions.   my abbn

            Hence Paul was right to tell gentile Greeks:
                       to convert directly
                       from Diana of the Ephesians to Christianity,
                       & not become Jews first.
                       Acts c19: The gospel is resisted in Ephesus.   my abbn

                       Gal c3 – c5: God’s Law is bondage. 
                        God’s Spirit is freedom.   my abbreviation

            Hence also Paul was wrong to suggest,
            again to the Ephesians:
                       that honouring your father and mother
                       is a commandment, from God, for them.    Eph c6 v1 .


,         ,         ,         ,         Paul, a Jew, had once been a Pharisee – and old habits die hard.

 

.

 

The Old Covenant’s cause-&-effect line was:
            God says:
            “You Jews: Do what’s right so I’ll reward you.”

            (It’s like the world.)

Whereas the New Covenant’s cause-&-effect line is:
            God says:
            “Everyone: I’ve given you every good thing.
            Believe it so that you receive it.
            Then, out of gratitude, do good.”

            (It’s the other way round to the world.)

 

 

.

 

YOU’VE PROBABLY ALREADY FAILED ANYWAY

 

Whether you are a Jew or a gentile,
it’s probable that you haven’t kept all the Jewish laws.

And, assuming that you are a gentile Christian,
it’s probable that, where you have not kept Jewish laws,
that you haven’t made the appropriate sacrifices
or undergone the appropriate punishment:

            Exo c31 v12-15:
            God said that whoever works on the Sabbath (a Saturday)
            must definitely be put to death.   my abbreviation

            Exo c35 v1-2:
            God said that whoever works on the Sabbath (a Saturday)
            must definitely be put to death.   my abbreviation

            Num c15 v32-36:
            A man was found
            gathering sticks on the Sabbath (a Saturday).
            God told Moses to tell everyone to stone him to death.
            So they all stoned him to death.   my abbreviation

And, as well as failing to keep the Sabbath,
you’ve probably also failed to tithe properly.
Though, as Russel Earl Kelly puts it (in cell after next): 
            only Jewish farmers,
            within old Israel,
            could tithe.

Indeed, the Old Covenant says that you are cursed
if you don’t keep every law.
            Deut c27 v26: Cursed be he that confirmeth not
            all the words of this law to do them … ctd   KJV

Most church leaders cherry-pick Old Covenant commandments:
choose the do-able ones, &/or change them to be do-able.
Or past church leaders have done so
and today’s church leaders follow suit.

 

This is a good point to show why:
            a Christian who believes in tithing
and:
            a Christian who does not believe in tithing
may both get
results that support their beliefs:

      Christians who do believe in tithing:
            Rightly believe that the God of the New Covenant is good.
            Hence they are able to:
                       ignore the curses of the Old Covenant
,,        ,,        ,,        ,,        Deut c28 v15-68
                       yet believe the blessings that are written
                       right next to them
,,        ,,        ,,        ,         Deut c28 v1-14
                       and, because they believe, they receive.

,         ,         ,         ,         See last lines of first cell
,         ,         ,         ,         of earlier section: MY ATTITUDE TO THE BIBLE.


      Whereas Christians who do not believe in tithing:
            Rightly believe that the New Covenant replaced the Old.
,         ,         Perhaps see earlier section: THE NEW REPLACES THE OLD.

                       So they don’t believe in, don’t enter into,
                       any of the Old Covenant.

                       And, even if they started to believe
                       in any of the Old Covenant,
                       they believe they’d lack the authority:
                                   to believe one Old Covenant scripture
                                   yet ignore another Old Covenant scripture
                                   that’s right next to it.

 

You might like to see:  YouTube: – Should The Church Teach Tithing?:
            a debate between  Rev Mike Kola Ewuosho
            and  Russel Earl Kelly Ph.D.
            first shown on 30th March 2011
            on the Live@nine show, Revelation TV.

 

.

 

I reckon that tithing is a result of us having
ten fingers & thumbs.

            Hence its origins are worldly,
            are from the counting of goods or money
            on fingers & thumbs. 

            If it had been God’s idea
            it would have been a seventh or a twelfth.

            So don’t think that giving a tenth is more Godly
            that giving any other fraction.

 

 

.

 

GREAT FAITH

 

I saw, in one of Pastor Joseph Prince’s TV programmes,
that he once had an interesting conversation with God
about two people in the Bible:

            Luke c7 v1-10    (Matt c8 v5-13):  my abbreviation
            Jesus went to a centurion’s house to heal his servant.
            But the centurion sent friends out, saying:
                 “Don’t bother coming in, I am not worthy. 
                   Just speak.
                        I am under command. 
                       And others are under my command.
,,        ,,        ,,        ,,        [I understand authority]

                       So your words alone will heal my servant.”
            Jesus told the crowd that the centurion had great faith.
            So [Jesus spoke, and] the servant was healed.   my abbreviation

            Matt c15 v21-28    (Mark c7 v25-30)   my abbreviation
            A Canaanite (Syrophenician) woman came to Jesus
            begging him to cast a demon out of her daughter.
            At first Jesus ignored her, but eventually he said:
                 “I came for only lost Israelites.”
            She said:
                 “Lord, help me.”
            He said:
                 “I’ll not throw the children’s bread to the dogs.”
            She said:
                 “True.  But even the dogs eat the crumbs
                 that fall from the master’s table.”
            He said:
                 “You have great faith.  Have what you want.”
            And her daughter was healed.   my abbreviation

,         ,         Notice that Jesus didn’t mention her great humility.
,         ,         God knows that faith already includes humility.
,         ,         See first cell of earlier section:
,         ,         REGARDING JUDGMENT: GOD ALSO CONSIDERS MOTIVES, , , ,

 

            This centurion and this Canaanite woman
            are the only two people in the Bible
            who Jesus said had great faith.

 

            Pastor Joseph Prince:
                       having read the above scriptures
                       and having thought the above conclusion,
            asked God:
                  “Why did Jesus tell only these two
                   that they had great faith?”

            God replied:
                  “What was unusual about them?”

            After about fifteen minutes Pastor Joseph Prince said:
                  “I give up.  What’s the answer?”

            God replied:
                  “They were both gentiles.”

 

.

 

I reckon that the above shows that every generation of Jews
taught the next generation:

            The Creator is holy, and we are sinful.
            So, in order to have the Creator’s blessings,
            and not his curses,
            every sin must be paid for:
            by the sinner
            or by the sinner’s community.

But the centurion & the Canaanite woman, not being Jews,
had not been endlessly taught this.
All they’d personally experienced was Jesus.

So they had great faith in the God of the Jews.
Or rather, great faith in the God of love of the Jews.

 

 

.

 

CAN NEW TESTAMENT MIRACLES
BE LARGE-SCALE?

 

Old Testament miracles
often involved everyone in the tribe of Israel.
Hence they were often large-scale miracles.

Can New Testament miracles (e.g. fixing global warming)
also be large-scale?  No.

      a)   Jesus commanding a storm, to instantly stop,
            Matt c8 v23-27     Mark c4 v35-41     Luke c8 v22-25:  
            was a New Testament miracles
            and seems to be a large-scale miracle.

            But it was witnessed, as a miracle,
            by only the disciples:
                 Only they saw him say “Peace, be still”
                 and
                 saw it instantly stop.

,         ,         ,         There were people, in other boats,  Mark c4 v35-41..  
,         ,         ,         But they would’ve been too far away to see Jesus speak.

,         ,         ,         Indeed, they were probably pointing the other way
,         ,         ,         and partly returned, since Mark mentions only one boat ending up
,         ,         ,         at the other side of the lake/sea,  Mark c5 v1-2. 
,         ,         ,         Those other people would have thought that their distant God did it,
,         ,         ,         would not have realised that it was a hands-on miracle.


      b)  God, through Paul, could have stilled the storm off Malta
            (after all, Paul had raised the dead,  Acts c20 v7-12).

            But, instead, God had everyone swim or float to safety.
            God saved them, miraculously
            but inconspicuously.  Acts c27.,,,

 

 

.

 

            Old Testament:
                       is of only Israel       (all of Israel, but only Israel)
                       is not personal.

            New Testament:
                       is of all people
                       is personal.

,         ,         ,         ,         See third cell (starting This place is merely temporary)
,         ,         ,         ,         of earlier section: WHY IS THE UNIVERSE SECOND CLASS?.

 

Hence Moses led all of Israel through the parted Red Sea
whether every inividual wanted to go or not.

In contrast:

            The Pharisees eventually killed Jesus.
,         ,         So at least some of the Pharisees were his enemies.
,         ,         See: Luke c4  for context.

,         ,         I’m sure there were others too.  See first cell
,         ,         of earlier section: WHY WAS JESUS EXECUTED?, , , ,

 

            Hence Jesus healed people out of sight of his enemies.
            And most people who wanted healing
            had to come to Jesus, or be carried to him,  Luke c5 v17-25 
            or send a request for him to come  Mark c5 v21-43. 

            Merely going to Jesus was an act of faith.

,         ,         Perhaps see first four cells
,         ,         of later section: ACTS OF FAITH, , , ,

 

 

To conclude:

            Old Testament miracles were sometimes
            large-scale and impersonal.
 
            New Testament miracles are always
            small-scale and personal.

 

 

.

 

 

Another difference between Old Testament miracles
and New Testament miracles
is that:
 
            Old Testament miracles were:
                       good, constructive,
                       or:
                       bad, destructive.

            Whereas New Testament miracles are always only:
                       good, constructive.

,,        ,,        Perhaps see earlier section:
,,        ,,        GOD DOES NOT CHANGE
                   BUT HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH US CHANGES.,,,,,

,,        ,,        Perhaps see earlier section:
,,        ,,        GOOD & BAD, RIGHT & WRONG, , , ,

 

 

.

 

 

,,        ,,        To understand  the significance
,,        ,,        of New Testament miracles being only good, being only constructive:
,,        ,,        ,         ,         see earlier webpage:
,,        ,,        ,         ,         Proof of God’s existence  
,,        ,,        ,         ,         and, immediately after it:
,,        ,,        ,         ,         God’s origin., , , ,

 

.

 

GOOD RELIGION
& BAD RELIGION

 

As you may have gathered, and as Paul’s epistles show:
      the word religion can have a good meaning
      or a bad meaning:
 
Bad religion – is to have:

            An analogue, variable, earthly, view
            of wrong ways (sins):
                       “Only big sins count.
                         Small sins don’t count.”

            An analogue, variable, earthly, view
            of Heaven:
                       “I’m good enough for Heaven,
                         Virtually nothing in me needs changing.”

,         ,         ,         ,         Perhaps also see later section:
,         ,         ,         ,         SINS ARE DIGITAL, NOT ANALOGUE,
,                                   AND ARE GOD’S MEASURE.


Good religion – is to have:

                 A digital, perfect, heavenly, view
                 of wrong ways (sins):
                             “Even small sins count . .

                 A digital, perfect, heavenly, view
                 of Heaven:
                             “ . . hence none of us are going to Heaven
                             without help.  So I’m so grateful to Jesus
                             for putting us right with his Father.

 

 

.

 

The Father’s heart is entirely loving . .

      1 John c4 v16    (& v8):
      ctd … God is love [i.e. agape love] … ctd   KJV
,         Any kind of human love is less than God’s kind of love: agape love.
,         I suppose that’s why it’s:   God is love,   and not:   love is God.

 

. . hence bad religion: 

      seems God-led,
      but is actually
      people-led

      is an extension of the world:
      leaves you as a part of
      the world, 

      leaves God as unknown 

 

 

 

      inspires, in you, a love,
      but only for those
      who deserve it 

 

      needs enforcing 

      involves your soul
      but not your heart/spirit.

. . hence good religion: 

      is God’s Son
      having reconciled
      all of us to his Father 

      gives you God’s Spirit
      and the certainty of an
      eternal home in Heaven 

      produces a big, warm,
      knowing, familiar,
      relationship with God

      inspires, in you, a love
      for everyone,
      even for those who
      don’t deserve it 

      is attractive 

      involves your heart/spirit,
      which then involves
      your soul.

 

 

.

 

Good religion is:
            agape love, in God, towards us.

which produces:
            agape love, in us, towards God & others.

            1 John c4 v19:
            We love him,
            because he first loved us.   KJV

 

.

 

Bad religion is often called dead religion
(or just religion, dead being shown by the context):


            Dead religion:
                       has only the Judgment mechanism.
,         ,         ,         ,         See left column, JUDGMENT TO COME,,,,
,         ,         ,         ,         of earlier section: JESUS PREACHED BOTH JUDGMENT & FORGIVENESS.


            Good religion, i.e. Christianity:
                       has the Judgment mechanism
                        and the Forgiveness mechanism.
,         ,         ,         ,         See both columns
,         ,         ,         ,         of earlier section: JESUS PREACHED BOTH JUDGMENT & FORGIVENESS. ,,,


            In dead religion:
                       What you believe must be exact.
                       What you do must also be exact (legalism).
,         ,         ,         ,         See earlier section:
,         ,         ,         ,         THE OLD COVENANT
,         ,         ,         ,         (THE JEWS’ ACCOUNT WITH GOD). ,,,


            In good religion, i.e. Christianity:
                       What you believe must be exact.
                       But what you do
                        is ‘merely’ a result of what you believe
                        and so may vary from person to person (love).

 

.

 

In Christianity:

            Dead religion:
                  Lets belief in Jesus to exist in your heart/spirit.
                  Stops your heart/spirit duplicating that belief
                  into your mind.
                       Hence belief is only in your heart/spirit.
                       Hence you have joy in your heart/spirit
                       but not in your soul.
                       In your soul you have only happiness.
,         ,                            See third cell of earlier section:
,         ,                            NATURAL BEAUTY & SPIRITUAL BEAUTY., , , ,

            Dead religion is:
                       A soporific for the righteous.
                       A cover for the wicked.
,         ,         ,,        ,,        Perhaps see earlier section:
,         ,         ,,        ,,        JESUS’ USE OF THE WORDS ‘RIGHTEOUS’ AND ‘WICKED’, , , ,


In the world:

            Secular dead religion:
                       Is the legislation of love.
                       But, as love cannot be legislated, it’s fake,
                       mere forced politeness.
,         ,         ,         ,         For a definition of love, see: 1 Cor c13 NIV. ,,,,,


            Secular dead religion is powered by:
                        fear of people
                        or love of self (if it feels good it's right).

 

Good religion is:

            God putting us right with himself, through Jesus,
            so that we are grateful
            so that we do good with ease:

                       John c10 v10:
                       The thief cometh not, but for to
                       steal, and to kill, and to destroy:
                       I am come that they might have life,
                       and that they might have it
                        more abundantly.   KJV

                       Matt c11 v28-30:
                       Come unto me, all ye that labour
                       and are heavy laden,
                       and I will give you rest.
                       Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me;
                       for I am meek and lowly in heart:
                       and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
                       For my yoke is easy,
                       and my burden is light.   KJV
,         ,         ,         ,         A yoke is the collar on a beast of burden (horse, ox)
,         ,         ,         ,         which is connected to the burden (cart, plough).

            Also we become holy in God’s eyes & mind.
            Hence he was able to give us his Holy Spirit.
            Hence we can do good miracles.
,         ,         ‘Do’ is the verb used in the KJV.

 

.

 

In Christianity, dead religion
makes you think:
            earthly at worst
            Old Testament at best.

            Hence you wrongly see:
                        This universe – with its limited resources.
                       But not God – with his unlimited resources.

            and wrongly envisage
                       In these New Testament times,
                       only miracles that are materially vital.
                       (Just like Old Testament miracles  
                       were all materially vital.)


Whereas good religion leaves you
thinking New Testament, thinking heavenly:

            Hence, as well as you envisaging
            miracles that are materially vital,
            you also envisage
            miracles that are not materially vital.

            Just like some of Jesus’ miracles
            were not materially vital.

                 Calming a storm.

                 Matt c8 v23-27     Mark c4 v35-41     Luke c8 v22-25     

                       Wait until the storm’s over.
                       Or miraculously make it
                       not get so bad in the first place.

                  Walking on water.
                 Matt c14 v22-33 

                       Walk around the lake.
                       (Jesus impressed with healing miracles anyway.)

                  Cursing a fruitless fig tree.
                 Matt c21 v17-22     Mark c11 v11-25    
                       Chop it down, or just ignore it.

                  Miraculously catching a huge catch of fish.
                 Luke c5 v1-11,,,,,

                       (Jesus impressed with healing miracles anyway.)
                       Also, they didn’t need the fish;
                       they just left them all behind.
,         ,         ,         ,         I reckon John c21 v1-6 is forged, so I ignore it.
,         ,         ,         ,         Perhaps see earlier section: BIBLE VERSES THAT I OMIT. ,,,,,


                  Miraculously feeding 5,000 people
                  merely because it was late in the day.
                 Matt c14 v13-21     Mark c6 v31-44 
                 Luke c9 v10-17    John c6 v5-15 

                       Send them home before it gets any later.

,         ,         ,         ,         This is different from another congregation, of 4,000 people,
,         ,         ,         ,         who had already gone three days without eating
,         ,         ,         ,         and so actually needed food to miraculously appear
,         ,         ,         ,         to sustain them for the long walk home.
,         ,         ,         ,         Matt c15 v32 – c16 v10    Mark c8 v1-9 

 
                  Miraculously foreknowing Nathanael.
                 John c1 v43-51 

                        (Jesus impressed with healing miracles anyway.)

                  Miraculously finding a coin, in a fish’s mouth,
                 to pay a tax.
                 Matt c17 v27  

                       Ask around for it or borrow it.

                 Miraculously changing 160 gallons of water into wine.
                 John c2 v1-11  
,         ,         ,         Mind you, though it was no medical emergency,
,         ,         ,         perhaps it was a social emergency.
,         ,         ,         See: Crisis of Wine and Joy in Cana. ,,,,,

 

 

.

 

GOD’S METHODS

 

Ironically, if Christians today:
            did the same miracles Jesus did
            listed in the last cell of the previous section
            (as compared to, say, healing miracles),
many other ‘Christians’ would accuse them
of doing demonic tricks.

            I reckon they’d accuse because:
                 o    They go to church
                       but do not believe all Jesus said.
                 o    They are earthly minded
                       and judging heavenly matters.
                 o    Because such miracles are not vital.

            Here are some examples of current, non-vital, miracles
            that include some body-changing-for-the-better miracles.

,         ,         YouTube: – Supernatural weight Loss?
,         ,         and:
,         ,         YouTube: – Supernatural weightloss is easy on her knees
,         ,         and:
,         ,         YouTube: – Jesus gave her a new tooth and more
,         ,         and, dare I add:
,         ,         YouTube: – Money manifesting out of thin air.
,         ,         (God does not forge money, 
,         ,         so I’m sure someone, a human, gave it, sacrificially
,         ,         somewhere along the line.)

,         ,         YouTube: – Heidi Baker: Intimacy for Miracles – CBN.com 
,         ,         See: creating chicken & beads, at:  2m 30s  to  5m 45s.

,                YouTube: – GIRL'S BACK OF THE HEAD GREW 15 mm,
                   jaws and ears realigned!. ,,,,,

.

Such ‘Christians’ might also condemn:
            laughing in the Spirit, being drunk in the Spirit,
            being slain in the Spirit, shaking in the Spirit,
            burning in the Spirit, etc.

Whereas I reckon that such things are of God.

(Mind you, like anything that’s of God,
demons can produce a worldly fake.  Matt c7 v15-23),,,,,
Perhaps see later section: TRICKS & MIRACLES.,,,,,

            Regarding normal laughter, earthly laughter:
                       It needs knowledge of two (or more)
                       different, earthly, concepts/situations
                       before the punch-line suddenly reveals
                       their incongruous juxtaposition.
                       (Sudden relief is how a comedy punch-line works.)
,         ,         ,         ,         Perhaps see sixteenth cell (starting In fourth cell of)
,         ,         ,         ,         of earlier section: BREAKDOWN OF THE etc.

 

            Regarding laughing in the Spirit:
                       It’s not objective but subjective.
                       You suddenly see
                       that you have already moved:
                                   out of the kingdom of the world
                                   (this temporary, judging, world
                                   with its good side and bad side)
                                   into the eternal kingdom of light.

,         ,         ,         ,         In 1907 Smith Wigglesworth once inadvertently caused
,         ,         ,         ,         eleven of his congregation to fall to the floor,
,         ,         ,         ,         helplessly laughing in the Spirit.
,         ,         ,         ,         Perhaps see near foot of:
,         ,         ,         ,         WIGGLESWORTH BAPTISED IN THE HOLY SPIRIT,
,         ,         ,         ,         or ch5 (p49) of Smith Wigglesworth: Apostle of Faith,
,         ,         ,         ,         by Stanley H Frodsham.

,         ,         ,         ,         Perhaps also see:
,         ,         ,         ,         YouTube: – The FIRE of the HOLY SPIRIT comes down:
                                       Peterborough UK revival meetings..,,,,,
,         ,         ,         ,         A short, 13m, video of the miraculous.

,         ,         ,         ,         ,         I suspect that all the burning

,         ,         ,         ,         ,         was build up, or somesuch,

,         ,         ,         ,         ,         to the ‘demon wrapped around the head’ deliverance, at 8m 38s.
,         ,         ,         ,         ,         At 10m 56s, ‘That your joy might be full” lesson
,         ,         ,         ,         ,         makes sense to me.
,         ,         ,         ,         ,         John c14 v1-11     John c16 v23-24     1 John c1 v1-4,,,,,

.

Christians differ in their methods of ministry.
Perhaps see eighth cell (starting Mark Hemans, Australian)
of earlier section ABOUT BIBLICAL TEACHER-HEALERS GENERALLY.

 
            Mark blows the Holy Spirit onto the microphone
            as well as onto the person.  John c20 v22,,,,,
            He also does the ‘laying on of the foot’
            as well as the laying on of hands.
            Deut c34 v9   Acts c8 v17-19   Acts c9 v17   Acts c19 v6,,,,,

            Mark also believes, and so experiences,
            God’s Spirit, in him, and around him:
                       casting out demons,
                       fixing body & soul,
            often accompanied, within the person,
            by a feeling of burning.   Matt c3 v11   Luke c3 v16,,,,,

Of course, Jesus, and any Christian who miraculously heals,
have the Holy Spirit in common:

            In every case,
                        It’s God’s Spirit who does the actual healing.

            And, in every case:
                       It’s God’s Spirit who gives guidance
                       (helpful prophesy &/or helpful words of knowledge).

For Jesus, and for any Christian,
the Holy Spirit’s guidance varies:

            Telling to heal one person one way
            and to heal another person another way,
            even when it’s the same illness.

That may seem random.
But actually it varies according to
the healer, the patient, the circumstances, and the sickness:

            Does the patient believe the gospel?
            Do they also believe that God will heal them now?
            If they have belief,
            do they also have unbelief: doubt, in their mind
            (i.e. does this sickness scare them,
            more than other sicknesses)?
            Are there others, in their life,
            who would prompt/encourage them to doubt?
            Are those people, in thought or physically, present?
            If they’re not present, might they discourage them later
            and so (inadvertently) cause them to lose their healing?
            Even if they believe, are they also doing something wrong?
            Has doing that sin/wrong
            been an invitation, to a demon, to come, and stay,
            with his ‘gift’ of encouragement to sin/do wrong?
            Which act of faith would be appropriate
            for the person to do, if any?
            Etc.

            N.B. Let God:
                       do the calculations
                       then tell you what to do.

.

Most Christians assume that Jesus’ methods,
or rather the Holy Spirit’s methods, enacted through Jesus:
            were, and are, perfect,
            are what we should all be aiming for:

            That means, perhaps, that
            laughing in the Spirit, being drunk in the Spirit,
            being slain in the Spirit, shaking in the Spirit,
            burning in the Spirit, etc,
            are all part of an inferior phase we are in.
            For Jesus did none of these things.

            Also, we speak in tongues, but Jesus did not.

            Also, Paul wrote that tongues, prophesies, & knowledge,
            will all cease.   1 Cor c13   Note v8.
,         ,         Makes sense when you think about it.

            All this means that we are in an inferior, passing, phase.

            Conversely, Jesus said that we would do
            greater miracles than he did:
 
            John c14 v12-14:
            Verily, verily, I say unto you,
                  He that believeth on me,
                  the works that I do
                  shall he do also;
                  and greater works than these shall he do;
                  because I go unto my Father
,         ,         ,       [i.e. I die – so that he can send you the Holy Spirit, permanently.]

                  And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name,
                 that will I do,
                  that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
                  If ye shall ask any thing in my name,
                 I will do it.   KJV

,         ,         ,         Perhaps see later section: CONTINUING THE SON’S WORK
,         ,         ,         and
,         ,         ,         earlier section: GODLY SELF-CONFIDENCE., , .

            That this isn’t happening yet
            also supports the idea
            that the manifestations in the previous cell
            are temporary,
            are evidence that we are in a passing phase,
            an inferior, passing, phase.

.

Jesus always obeyed the Spirit such that,
because people, circumstances, & sicknesses, all vary,
he, ended up doing things in a variety of ways.

If we, too, always obey the Spirit,
then,
because people, circumstances, & sicknesses, all vary,
we too, should end up doing things in a variety of ways.

            If our variety of ways
            gets to be exactly the same as
            Jesus’ variety of ways
            then that’s less variety than it could be.

            That’s not what the Constructor wants.
,         ,         Perhaps again see earlier section: GOOD & BAD, RIGHT & WRONG.,,,,,


            Hence our variety of ways of doing things
            should vary, where it can vary,
            from Jesus’ variety of ways of doing things.

.

Some Christians heal people a whole crowd at a time,
a method that Jesus never used.

            Jesus’ method, the one-at-a-time method, is best
            because there’s the opportunity
            for, perhaps vital, discourse;
            discourse in the form of:
            words of knowledge, words of wisdom, and prophesy.
            Mark c9 v21-24     Luke c7 v6-10     Mark c7 v24-30 ,,,,,


,         ,         For the difference between prophesy and words of knowledge
,         ,         see: YouTube: – Prophetic Word vs. Word of Knowledge
                              // Katia Adams // Vineyard Insights. ,,,,,

Smith Wigglesworth was the first to miraculously heal
a whole crowd at a time (others have since followed suit).

But it was only because he was forced to do so
by the Swiss police (though God knew how it would all go):

            The police were going to arrest him
            for “practicing medicine without a license”
            if he continued to heal people individually.

            Presumably they saw it as healing:
                       if he laid his hands on people
                       or gave them individual attention.
            But not healing:
                       if he healed them a whole crowd at a time
                       without touching them,
            which is what, in Switzerland, he then continued to do.

,         ,         Perhaps see: YouTube: – Insider view of Smith Wigglesworth, 2m 15s,
,         ,         or ch6 (p68 onwards) of Smith Wigglesworth: Apostle of Faith,
,         ,         by Stanley H Frodsham, (also ch9 p113 onwards).

.

If Jesus miraculously healed people today, in the UK,
he would be repeatedly arrested and eventually jailed;
charged with “practicing medicine without a license”.

Likewise if, in the UK,
any believer who does what Jesus did,
does what Jesus told us to do:
            Matt c10 v8:
            Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead,
            cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give.   KJV
would be also arrested and eventually jailed.
See later section: BAPTIZED IN GOD’S SPIRIT LATER?., , .

Of course there is no such license.  It doesn’t exist.
There is no college, there is no test/exam, there is no license,
for doing miracles.
For medicine, yes.  For doing miracles, no.
‘Do’ is the verb used in the KJV.

.

Another problem might be that:

            If someone:
                 is miraculously healed,
                 and used to do some sin/wrong
                 that, somehow, demonically caused
                 their illness/condition,
            then:
                 even though they’re now healed,
                 if they go back to doing that sin/wrong,
                 their illness/condition will return.   John c5 v1-14 ,,

,         ,         Perhaps see more
,         ,         in later section:
,         ,         UNBELIEF, & KEEPING YOUR HEALING ,,,,,

 

.

 


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