Seek to Love the Lord With All Your Heart, Mind, and Strength.
But what if you don’t?
Modern churches, it is sometimes observed, don’t want to preach a true message that we are required to keep God’s commandments. I tell you, if we did, our society would heal and our world problems would evaporate.
“If you love me you will keep my commandments.” We logically prove he was the Living Word of God walking amongst us and then say that if we love him and our Father in Heaven we must show it so by keeping his commandments. In the 1800’s all the big famous name preachers would have agreed. Now very few attempt to keep God’s commandments and the result is a society tearing itself apart!
There is really JUST ONE baseline reason we’re headed for a 3rd world war and economic disaster. It is that we as a worldwide society refuse to keep God’s Commandments.
If you want eternal life with God and want to be raised by God as one of his children so that one day you will mature to be like him you must keep His commandments. There is insufficient doctrinal proof that you can simply once call upon the name of the lord and be saved.
John 14 (NIV)
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth.
1 John 3 (NIV)
3 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,[a] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
I sincerely hope you see my point here. This requires much more than a 15-second “Oh God Save Me!” prayer. It requires commitment and a life-long effort.
If indeed you can be saved with a 15-second prayer, and have a “free ticket to God’s Kingdom” you will arrive there at a lower stratum of social respect and comfort. The most honest and righteous will be lifted up to better social strata, and comfort. The least will not necessarily suffer, but they may be many years learning God’s Wisdom before they can rise to higher social levels. (This is my thesis and you are not required to believe it.)
Is this only My Idea? I think “no” and as you continue going with me further in this article you’ll see greater mind’s than mine teaching us the same reasoning and conclusion. Please, let’s read through this together and if you must, teaching yourself to self-discipline your mind to stay on what you’re reading. Then I want to show you a video when we’re done.
Are you “getting” my message. Why study the Bible? “The Authorities” say it’s all nonsense. Indeed they do and they say you are a fool to read it or believe it. This is Satan’s deception! He, above all, wants you to ignore The Bible, to never know and love God, to never sincerely receive the Holy Spirit into your life and follow His leading to follow God’s Way.
Look at the American condition! “The opioid crisis” is a fancy euphonism for a lot of people drugged/sedated out of their minds – which by the way is the original meaning of “witch kraft”/witchcraft. Evil governors run our cities, many cities are obviously in serious degradation and the city counselors insist their way, which never worked before is the morally upright way. The schools are not teaching! The students are not safe, fearing for their lives someone will come in with a rifle and kill several students, and none of them have the courage to come up behind the shooter, point the rifle to the ceiling, put their knee into his crotch and his back and put him out of commission!
What More evidence/signs do we need? Our constant sex with strangers is disgusting to God. 80% of babies in many cites are borne to unwed mothers. And if it is inconvenient, The mother pays a “doctor” to murder the baby! MILLIONS of babies have died by legal abortion. They don’t even have the decency to drug the infant into oblivion. They insist on crushing her head or cutting her up in pieces! This is out and out Satan worship at its worst. Ancient Mayan and Israeli civilizations sacrificed thousands.
We in American have in our silence been complicit in the sacrificed fo over 60-million! And we export our planned parenthood to as many countries as we can find who will accept the same practice! I think, 2/3 of the world population will soon die because they all of them have evil on their mind constantly.
Of course Satan does not want you to know this and that’s why the schools teach an unsuccessful method of reading and their math teaching is almost equally corrupted. Satan does not want you to know the truth because he wants you enslaved to him, and he knows that the gospel and God’s truth is intended to set you free for eternity!
So now I have said it plainly and now you must make your choice.
Joshua 24: (NIV) As in the days of Ezekiel so the Bible calls to you and me now. Ezekiel told a crowd, 14 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the godsyour ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
I do my best to speak to young people in a young writer’s voice. I am not preaching to you with 17th Century English. I do not run a church. I do not request donations. I do not print tracts and hand them out. If you want to distribute this article, you have the URL/web address at the top of the screen, share it all you can. It will not make you popular. Some people will ridicule you – before they see their 2nd death and are wishing they could take back their unkind words! I am simply attempting to get this word to as many as I can, God’s Way is our only hope. Ignore Him and we are done!
The advertising that I run supports the website and keeps me eating so I can continue writing. I’m not getting rich! I am working as a writer and making a modest living – and giving a lot of that money away as charity for those in serious need. Living as I do in Asia, the need is all around me. You help me when you respond to those ads and especially to the health care articles and ads there.
Preachers of the 1800’s could not understand this because they could not imagine the physics we deal with today. Our endless inventiveness has led to a technology that outruns our morality and lack of true civility. How do you get the civility we need? It is in The Bible. It is in the minds of women and man who give to help others and are more concerned about the needs of others than of themselves!
Now YOU must think where you want to fit into all of this. Will you help build the foundation for a New Kingdom of God on Earth, or will you live for the pleasures of this weekend and give no thought to your future. Choose this day whom you will serve, the gods of materialism and money, or the True and Living Lord Creator of The Universe.
Quickly thinking, would it make most sense to you if we agreed that the world is likely fixated on a major city like Bohn, Brussels, Paris, Moscow, New York, Tokyo, New Delhi, Manila, Kawala Lumpur, Hong Kong or Beijing, (just to name a few.) But why is the world fixated upon Jerusalem?
ALWAYS REMEMBER: The Enemy does NOT want you reading The Bible. Why? Because he is hiding the truth from you. He knows “the truth will set you free.” He wants you dead or enslaved.
Christian perfection
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Christian perfection is the name given to various teachings within Christianity that describe the process of achieving spiritual maturity or perfection. The ultimate goal of this process is union with God characterized by pure love of God and other people as well as personal holiness or sanctification. Various terms have been used to describe the concept, such as “Christian holiness”, “entire sanctification”, “perfect love”, the “baptism with the Holy Spirit“, and the “second blessing“.
Certain traditions and denominations teach the possibility of Christian perfection, including the Catholic Church, where it is closely associated with consecrated life. It is also taught in Methodist churches and the holiness movement, in which it is sometimes termed Wesleyan perfectionism.
Other denominations, such as the Lutheran and Reformed churches, reject teachings associated with Christian perfection as contrary to the doctrine of salvation by faith alone. Critics of the doctrine sometimes term it “sinless perfection”, but this terminology is rejected by Christians who believe in the possibility of Christian perfection.
The terms “perfect” and “perfection” are drawn from the Greek teleios and teleiōsis, respectively. The root word, telos, means an “end” or “goal”. In contemporary translations, teleios and teleiōsis are often rendered as “mature” and “maturity”, respectively, so as not to imply infallibility or the absence of defects. Rather, in the Christian tradition, teleiōsis has referred to progressing towards spiritual wholeness or health.[1]
Church Fathers and medieval theologians[edit]
In antiquity, baptism was commonly referred to as the perfecting of the Christian. This view was expressed by Clement of Alexandria in his work Paedagogus: “Being baptized, we are illuminated; illuminated we become children [lit. ‘sons’]; being made children, we are made perfect; being made perfect, we are immortal.”[2] In another work, the Stromata, Clement discussed three stages in Christian life that led to a more mature perfection. The first stage was marked by the change from heathenism to faith and initiation into the Christian religion. The second stage was marked by a deeper knowledge of God that resulted in continuing repentancefrom sin and mastery over the passions (apatheia). The third stage led to contemplation and agape love.[3]Origen also proposed his own stages of spiritual ascent beginning with conversion and ending with perfect union with God in love.[4]
Gregory of Nyssa defined human perfection as “constant growth in the good”. For Gregory, this was brought about by the work of the Holy Spirit and the self–discipline of the Christian.[5] Pseudo-Macarius taught that inner sin was rooted out of the pure in heart, but he also warned against the hidden potential for sin in everyone so that no one should ever say, “Because I am in grace, I am thoroughly freed from sin.”[6] By the 4th century, the pursuit of the life of perfection was identified with asceticism, especially monasticism and withdrawal from the world.[7]
In the 12th century, Bernard of Clairvaux developed the idea of the ladder of love in his treatise, On the Love of God. This ladder had four rungs or degrees. The first and lowest degree was love of self for self. The second degree was love of God for what he gives. The third degree was love of God for his own sake; it would not be difficult, according to Bernard, for those who truly loved God to keep his commandments. The fourth degree was love of self only for God’s sake; it was believed that this degree of perfection in love was only rarely achieved before death.[8]
Thomas Aquinas wrote of three possible levels of perfection.[9] The first, absolute perfection, is where God is loved as much as he can be loved; only God himself can be this perfect. The second level, where love for God fills a person constantly, is possible after death but not in life.[10] The lowest level of perfection was thought to be possible to achieve while living. Theologian Thomas Noble described Aquinas’ view of this level of perfection as follows:
All Christians have the grace of caritas infused into them at baptism and this love for God excludes all mortal sins. Such sins are not impossible, and, if committed, require the grace of penance, but Christians do not live committing flagrant acts of intentional sin contrary to their love for God. That is incompatible with the state of grace. But those who are no longer beginners, but making progress in the life of perfection, come to the point where everything contrary to being wholly in love with God is excluded: they love God with all their hearts.[11]
Catholic teaching
According to the teaching of the Catholic Church, something is perfect when nothing is lacking in its nature or purpose. The ultimate purpose of humankind is union with God, also called divinization. This is accomplished on earth by grace and in heaven by the beatific vision. Perfect union with God while on earth is impossible; therefore, absolute perfection is reserved for heaven.[12]
The Catholic Church teaches that Christian perfection is a spiritual union with God that is attainable in this life. It is not absolute perfection as it exists alongside human misery, rebellious passions, and venial sin. Christian perfection consists of charity or love, since it is this virtue that unites the soul to God. It is not just the possession and preservation of sanctifying grace, since perfection is determined by one’s action—the actual practicing of charity or the service of God.[12]
The more charity a person possesses, the greater the perfection of the soul. A person who is perfect in so far as being free from mortal sin obtains salvation and can be called just, holy, and perfect. A person who is perfect insofar as also being free from venial sin and all affections which separate a person from God is in a state of active service and love of God. This is the perfect fulfillment of the law—loving God and loving other people.[12]
The Catholic Church teaches that Christian perfection is something all should pursue. There is also, however, what is called “religious perfection”, which is pursued by those committed to living religious life, such as members of religious orders. All Catholics are obliged to attain perfection by observing the commandments, but religious life imposes a more exacting obligation, requiring the religious to also observe the evangelical counsels (also known as “counsels of perfection”) of poverty, chastity, and obedience. The evangelical counsels are believed to promote perfection in two ways. They remove the obstacles to perfection—lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life. They also increase a person’s love of God by freeing the affections from earthly ties.[12]
El Camino de Perfección is a method for making progress in the contemplative life written by Saint Teresa of Ávila for the sisters of her reformed convent of the Discalced Carmelites. St. Teresa was a major figure of the Catholic Reformation in 16th century Spain. Christian Perfection is also the title of a book written by theologian Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange. Perfectae Caritatis, the Decree on the Adaptation and Renewal of Religious Life, is one of the shorter documents issued by the Second Vatican Council. Approved by vote of 2,321 to 4 of the bishops assembled at the Council, the decree was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on October 28, 1965. As is customary for Church documents, the title is taken from the Latin incipit of the decree: “Of Perfect Charity”.
Methodism
Wesley’s teaching
In traditional Calvinism and high church Anglicanism, perfection was viewed as a gift bestowed on righteous persons only after their death (see Glorification). John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, was responsible for reviving the idea of spiritual perfection in Protestantism.[13] Wesley’s views were elaborated in A Plain Account of Christian Perfection, published in 1777.
According to Noble, Wesley transformed Christian perfection as found in church tradition by interpreting it through a Protestant lens that understood sanctification in light of justification by grace through faith working by love.[14] Wesley believed that regeneration (or the new birth), which occurred simultaneously with justification, was the beginning of sanctification.[15] From his reading of Romans 6 and First John 3:9, Wesley concluded that a consequence of the new birth was power over sin. In a sermon titled “Christian Perfection”, Wesley preached that “A Christian is so far perfect as not to commit sin.”[16]
Wesley did not, however, believe in an absolute “sinless” perfection, and he repudiated those who taught that Christians could achieve such a state.[17] Wesley defined sin as conscious, voluntary transgression of known divine law. Involuntary transgressions (such as those arising from ignorance, error, and evil tempers), according to Wesley, were not properly called sins.[18] Therefore, regenerated Christians would continue to be guilty of involuntary transgressions and would need to practice regular confession. Furthermore, Christians continued to face temptation, and Wesley acknowledged that it was possible for a regenerated Christian to commit voluntary sin (if, in the words of Noble, the Christian ceased “actively trusting in God through Christ and living in the divine presence”), which would also necessitate confession of sin.[19]
The power over sin received at regeneration was just the lowest stage of Christian perfection according to Wesley. Based on First John 2, Wesley proposed three stages in the Christian life: little children, young men, and finally fathers.[20] Young men were defined as those who had experienced victory over temptation and evil thoughts. Fathers were defined as mature Christians who were filled with the love of God.[21]
Wesley believed this last stage of Christian maturity was made possible by what he called entire sanctification (a phrase derived from First Thessalonians 5:23). In Wesley’s theology, entire sanctification was a work of grace received by faith that removed inbred or original sin, and this allowed the Christian to enter a state of perfect love—”Love excluding sin” as stated in the sermon “The Scripture Way of Salvation”.[22] Wesley described it as having “purity of intention”, “dedicating all the life to God”, “loving God with all our heart”, and as being the “renewal of the heart in the whole image of God“.[22] A life of perfect love meant living in a way that was centered on loving God and one’s neighbor.[23]
Even this was not an absolute perfection. The entirely sanctified Christian was perfect in love, meaning that the heart is undivided in its love for God or that it loves nothing that conflicts with its love for God. Christians perfected in love were still subject to conditions of the Fall and liable to commit unintentional transgressions. In consequence, these Christians still had to depend on forgiveness through Christ’s atonement.[24]
Wesley’s concept of Christian perfection had both gradual and instantaneous elements. In his 1765 sermon “The Scripture Way of Salvation”, Wesley emphasized the instantaneous side, stating, “Do you believe we are sanctified by faith? Be true, then, to your principle and look for this blessing just as you are, neither better nor worse; as a poor sinner that has still nothing to pay, nothing to plead but ‘Christ died’. And if you look for it as you are, then expect it now”.[25]
In “Thoughts on Christian Perfection” (1759), Wesley stressed the gradual aspect of perfection, writing that it was to be received “in a zealous keeping of all the commandments; in watchfulness and painfulness; in denying ourselves and taking up our cross daily; as well as in earnest prayer and fasting and a close attendance on all the ordinances of God . . . it is true we receive it by simple faith; but God does not, will not, give that faith unless we seek it with all diligence in the way which he hath ordained”.[18] In addition, Wesley also believed that Christian perfection, once received, might be forfeited.[25]
After Wesley
After Wesley’s death, his teachings on Christian perfection remained important to the Methodist church, but, according to historian David Bebbington, “the tradition fell into decay.” As later generations of Methodists sought greater respectability in the eyes of other Christian denominations, they turned to “a watered-down version” of the doctrine outlined by William Arthur (who served as Secretary of the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society) in his popular work The Tongue of Fire, published in 1856. While Arthur encouraged readers to pray for a greater experience of the Holy Spirit, he de-emphasized the instantaneous aspect of Christian perfection. According to Bebbington, this eliminated the distinctiveness of Wesleyan entire sanctification, and by the 1860s, the idea that Christian perfection was a decisive second blessing or stage in Christian sanctification had fallen out of favor among Methodists.[26]
In contemporary Methodist Churches, Christian perfection remains official doctrine.[27] A Catechism for the use of the people called Methodists teaches:[27]
Through the Holy Spirit God has given us His love so that we may love Him in return with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, and our neighbour as ourselves. This is a gift offered to all Christians, and by responding we affirm that there is no limit to what the grace of God is able to do in a human life. By giving us the Holy Spirit, God assures us of His love for us and enables us to love as He, in Christ loves us. When God’s love is perfected in us, we so represent Christ to our neighbours that they see Him in us without hindrance from us. Perfect love, as Christian perfect is often called, is the result of, and can only be maintained by, complete dependence on Jesus Christ. It is given either gradually or at one moment…[27]
Candidates for ordination are asked the following question, “Do you expect to be made perfect in love in this life?”[28] In the Methodist Church of Great Britain, the distinctive Wesleyan teachings are summed up in the phrase “All need to be saved; all can be saved; all can know they are saved; all can be saved to the uttermost” (the word “uttermost” referring to Christian perfection).[29]
Nevertheless, Brian Beck, former President of the Methodist Conference in Britain, expressed his personal opinion in 2000 that “The doctrine [of sanctification] remains with us in Charles Wesley’s hymns, but the formative framework, and even, I suspect, the spiritual intention, have largely gone”.[30] Writing on the need for improved spiritual formation within the British Methodist Church and the US-based United Methodist Church, Methodist theologian Randy L. Maddox commented that the terms “holiness of heart and life” and “Christian Perfection” were considered “prone to moralistic, static and unrealistic connotations, resulting in the growing uncomfortableness with and neglect of this aspect of our Wesleyan heritage”.[31] James Heidinger II, former president of the Good News movement, an evangelical caucus within the United Methodist Church, has noted the uncertainty that exists within the denomination over the doctrine: “Our discomfort with this doctrine today is seen in services of ordination when candidates are asked, ‘Are you going on to perfection?’ Our misunderstanding about this often brings uneasy chuckles and quick disclaimers that we certainly don’t claim to be ‘perfect’ in our Christian life.”[32]
Holiness movement[edit]
Main article: Holiness movement
In the 19th century, there were Methodists who sought to revitalize the doctrine of Christian perfection or holiness, which had, in the words of religion scholar Randall Balmer, “faded into the background” as Methodists gained respectability and became solidly middle class. While it originated as a revival movement within the Methodist Episcopal Church, the holiness movement grew to be interdenominational and gave rise to a number of Wesleyan-holiness denominations, including the Church of the Nazarene, the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana), and the Wesleyan Church.[33]
An early promoter of holiness was American Methodist Phoebe Palmer. Through her evangelism and writings, Palmer articulated an “altar theology” that outlined a “shorter way” to entire sanctification, achieved through placing oneself on a metaphorical altar by sacrificing worldly desires. As long as the Christian placed themselves on the altar and had faith that it was God’s will to accomplish sanctification, the Christian could be assured that God would sanctify them. In the words of historian Jeffrey Williams, “Palmer made sanctification an instantaneous act accomplished through the exercise of faith.”[34] Many holiness denominations require pastors to profess that they have already experienced entire sanctification.[35] This emphasis on the instantaneous nature of Christian perfection rather than its gradual side is a defining feature of the Wesleyan-holiness movement.[36]
Wesleyan Pentecostal denominations also believe in entire sanctification. These denominations include the Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee), the International Pentecostal Holiness Church, and the United Holy Church of America. For these Pentecostals, entire sanctification is the second in a series of three distinct blessings that Christians experience. The first blessing is conversion (the new birth) and the third blessing is the baptism in the Holy Spirit (which is marked by speaking in tongues). According to church historian and theologian Ted A. Campbell, this three-part pattern is often explained by stating “the Holy Spirit cannot fill an unclean vessel”, so the cleansing of the heart that takes place in entire sanctification is necessary before a person can be filled or baptized with the Holy Spirit. Non-Wesleyan Pentecostal denominations, such as the Assemblies of God, reject the doctrine of entire sanctification.[35]
Protestant criticism[edit]
There are Protestant denominations that reject the possibility of Christian perfection. This is true of Confessional Lutherans.[37][38] The Augsburg Confession of 1530 condemns “those who contend that some may attain to such perfection in this life that they cannot sin.”[39] Lutherans, citing Romans 7:14-25 and Philippians 3:12, believe that “although we will strive for Christian perfection, we will not attain it in this life”.[40] Modern apologists further note that:
Our salvation is complete and is simply received by faith. Good works are the fruit of that faith. Good works show that we are saved, but have no part in saving us. Becoming more and more God-like in this life is the result of being saved. If we are saved by becoming more and more God-like, our salvation is in doubt because our being God-like is never perfect in this life. The troubled conscience will find little comfort in an incomplete process of theosis, but will find much comfort in God’s declaration of full and free forgiveness.[41]
While Presbyterians believe that Christians do “grow in God’s grace” or holiness as they become conformed to the image of Christ, they reject the notion that perfection is attainable. In their view, sin will continue to affect one’s motives and actions. This means that perfection is only attainable in glorification after death.[42]
Matthew 5:48 NIV
Love for Enemies
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor[i] and hate your enemy.’44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47 And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
What is it to be perfect? It’s debatable but this at the end of Christ’s Sermon is the summary, the end, the finally important conclusion. How can we do that? Love everyone and teach and preach the true gospel everywhere you can. If you can’t speak it, pray and send it via email and chats and twitter and anything else you can manage.
Our young society is so lost in smart phones they can’t even converse decently any longer! But soon they’ll rebell against this insanity and the coldness of using bodies for sex rather than loving the person/spirit who owns the body, soon they’ll learn to love and help one another and then teach the truth of God. There, then they will find perfection.
Links about perfection are here:
Perfection – Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfection
If you seek to be a believer and have citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven here on Earth, we must do, study, strive, speak the truth, help others to find the truth. We must stand up for God, not for “being popular” or “liked.” If we want a better world this is the only route to have it.
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