Explaining the Problem of Evil

Can the problem of evil even BE explained? Put simply, yes! Can we explain why an almighty Creator allow it to exist, or happen? Well, that one might be a bit more difficult, though not impossible! Does God allow evil to exist, or does He allow, even cause it to happen? The question we might better ask is, 'what is evil?' Is there such a thing as 'Evil', or is it merely something that occurs ( happens ) contrary to what we know is right?

The Epicurean Paradox goes something like this;

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then He is not omnipotent!

 Is He able, but not willing? Then He is malevolent!

 Is He both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? 

Is He neither able nor willing? Then why call Him God?

The Problem of Evil has plagued the creation since, well, since man was on the earth! Not that 'evil' or wrong-doing, is relative, like an Epicurean might say, but very often, one looks at the actions or character of another and pronounces those actions or that character as evil. for instance, one will say, 'he's an evil man'! Then too, we have the wisest man ever saying , 'This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: that one thing happens to all'. Is Solomon here accusing his Creator of evil-doing?! We know that the Creator said, through Isaiah ( 45:7 ), 'I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.' The word here translated 'calamity' is the Hebrew 'ra`' elsewhere translated 'evil'.

This is not to say that God is the Author of Evil, because Scripture tells us that 'God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good' ( Genesis 1:31 ) God made ( formed ) man in His Image, and called it 'good'! Through man's disobedience to God's Law, 'evil' happens; it occurs when man does something which either God or his neighbor does not approve of, and yes, God uses, or even causes 'evil' to occur! Whether for eschatological purposes, as we read in Isaiah 45:7, or in the world today; the Almighty's purpose is fulfilled, either through 'The Evil That Men Do' or 'When Bad Things Happen to Good People'! This is not to say, either, that our Heavenly Father approves of this 'evil', or even that He is empathetic toward those who perpetrate it; it is not merely relative: Scripture is clear enough that our Heavenly disapproves of 'evil' & punishes those who perpetrate it!

How, then, can we explain it; why does it happen & why would an almighty & good God allow it to persevere? Well, we've already seen somewhat why our Heavenly Father allows it to happen, but WHY does it happen & what can be done to stop it from occurring? Why DO men do the evil that they do?!  We saw too, that when men are disobedient to their Heavenly Father, that they are guilty of committing evil! Even when men do something of which their neighbor disapproves or just plain hates, this is often viewed as an evil too! 

'Evil' then, is something that happens; whether men act in disobedience to the Law of God or against the preferences of their neighbor; it is without doubt, something that occurs! There are, no doubt, evil people out there, and sometimes these people must simply cease to exist if their evil is to be eradicated, but often, if caught soon enough & 'nipped in the bud' ( Ecclesiastes 8:11 ), the 'evil' may be redeemed & turned around in its tracks! One example I have given before & there are countless others out there ( the internet can be a great blessing! ) is a friend whose beloved daughter was killed through the evil actions of a drunk driver! That man was turned around in his tracks, and now shares a table with the family against whom he committed the evil!

Because 'evil' is simply disobedience against the Law of God, it is as easily cured; just don't do it! I know, easy to say but hard to do. Then we have the problem of what to do about all the evils out there in society! We can do our best to avoid them, but they're still there & there are too many that do follow that crooked way!  The best we can do is to avoid those evils ourselves and encourage others around us to avoid them as well. If an evil ceases to be fed, it will soon cease to exist! Another way to say this is, if people stop doing it, it won't happen!

Just like corrupt politics, 'evil' is not something that can be reformed! The people that do evil, just like those who have corrupted politics, must be either redeemed or eradicated! We can eradicate the evil in our own lives by ceasing to do what we know is wrong & we can set the example for our neighbor to follow & even encourage him to do right, rather than wrong, but we may not force someone to cease from evil & do good! Well, we probably could, but then we'd end up with the same problem we have now!

Rather than trying to explain evil by trivializing & and relativizing it, then, by using Epicurean reasoning, as we saw above, let us  accept the fact that 'evil' exists only because men ( people ) who are not in right relationship with their Heavenly Father and so do what seems right to them! We know what is right to our Heavenly Father & if we act accordingly, we will have taken a giant step towards The Eradication of Evil!

Charles Haddon Shank

Rebuilding a Free Society ( From the Top Down )

No, this article, contrary to popular opinion, is not going to be another 'revolutionary' one about reforming the powers that be ( not what you would normally think of when hearing the phrase 'top-down' ): on the contrary, we will be investigating how to begin a reform where the balance of power truly resides ( in an earthly, human context ), and why that balance has shifted.

How should we then live?

'Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other'. These words, spoken by John Adams, one of this nation's Founding Fathers, go well with another statement he made in reference to 'we the people'; he said '[I]t is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue.' The vision that our Founding Fathers pursued was that of a free society, one which was based upon self-governance, and not upon the rule of a king, or any other sovereign, a master, you might say.

The place to begin this reform, then, is in the hearts of 'we the people', and this reform must be a 'top-down' reformation! The past two hundred years or so of our history as a nation has shown us that, unless, as John Adams prophesied, we remain a wholly religious and moral people, our Constitution would do us no good, and in fact, could end up doing more harm than good ( this is starting to sound strangely familiar! )!

 ^'Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.'

Romans 7:13

Paul wrote these words to the Christians at Rome, proving that even though the Law was good, because of his sinful and naturally disobedient nature, what had been given to bring Life had only brought Death ( note that Paul was speaking in a corporate sense here, as in the prayer of Daniel )! Because the Body of Israel had clung to an outward show of obedience to the Law, rather than practicing from an inward change of heart its requirements, it had brought them down to Sheol rather than setting them free!

My point here, is that returning to a mere outward adherence to the Constitution will not return this nation to a free society, and definitely not even to the vision that our Founding Fathers fostered! If this nation is to return to being a free society, to say nothing of their vision, she must return, at the very least, to being a moral and religious people, and ultimately, to a true worship of our Creator, Father, and God!

This 'top-down' reformation, through the power of the Holy Spirit of God, might begin with a re-education of the American people of the principles upon which this nation was birthed, but it cannot stop there, and indeed MUST not stop there! It must flow through the ordinary citizen and out through their fingertips; it must begin with a head-knowledge, but that in its turn, must flow from a recognition in the very heart of the people, an acknowledgement by the spirit, and must prove its mettle through active repentance and turning!

 I have recently had the privilege, though no doubt, you will not find even a 'blurb' of this story in any major news media ( in this country ), an account of the current Ugandan president doing something that every national leader needs to do; leading his nation in a prayer ( and hopefully action ) of repentance!

He prayed, 'I stand here today to close the evil past, and especially in the last 50 years of our national leadership history and at the threshold of a new dispensation in the life of this nation. I stand here on my own behalf and on behalf of my predecessors to repent. We ask for your forgiveness, we confess these sins, which have greatly hampered our national cohesion and delayed our political, social and economic transformation. We confess sins of idolatry and witchcraft which are rampant in our land. We confess sins of shedding innocent blood, sins of political hypocrisy, dishonesty, intrigue and betrayal'.

This prayer to an Almighty God sounds much like that of Daniel, in his intercessory prayer for the children of Israel in their Captivity. It also sounds very similar to the prayer that we should be voicing, not only with our hearts, but with our hands as well, before our Almighty God and Father! We are as guilty as any Ugandan, of the sins of idolatry and witchcraft! We have as much need as they, to confess our sins of shedding innocent blood, sins of political hypocrisy, dishonesty, intrigue and betrayal!

Why have we not done this, as a nation?

One can easily and quickly answer this by blaming these atrocities on someone else; from saying 'the devil ( 'Satan' ) is the true ruler of this world', to saying 'our political leaders have become more and more corrupt, and have led this nation to the brink of disaster' ( I believe that this, somehow, is related to the first reason ), but when we say things like this, we do two things ( for starters ); we take the focus off ourselves and our own wickedness and pure laziness, and two, we admit that we have become a nation of 'sheep', and fit only to be led or driven!

The Constitution of these United States, as I am beginning to understand it, puts the power of life and death, so to speak, squarely in the hands of 'we the people'! Don't get me wrong; I am NOT saying that this is a perfect document, or completely in alignment with the Law of God, but I do believe that, as our Founding Fathers fought to ratify this document according to their understanding of the doctrines of True Liberty, strict adherence to this document is not what has gotten us to where we are today!

Many think, and there has been a great push to do this, lately, that if we can just get our leaders to return to the 'first principles' ( of the Constitution ), then all will be well once more, and our nation will once again thrive with the liberty and security she enjoyed in the beginning: sadly, this is not the case! If you will honestly think about how we got to where we are today, and how long we have been sinking into this pit of slime and ooze; I believe you'll find that it was not to long after the ratification of this Constitution ( 100 years, give or take ) that things began to transpire that led to the tyranny and misery that we see so rampant and blatant today!

The only effective response to the degradation that we see in this nation is a full-scale repentance and return, not merely to the Constitution, or to the principles upon which it was formed, but with all our heart, mind and strength to True Worship of our God and Father!

We can strive as long and hard as we want, to make sure the right man gets elected as 'the leader of the free world' ( president ), and that may seem to go far toward solving our problems, but until there is a change of heart in 'we the people', not even the best, most Christian man ( or woman ) in these United States would be able to make much difference!

The prayer of the leader of Uganda, as we noted above, could go a long way, if in true earnest & honesty, in restoring that nation, but he cannot do it alone; every man ( and woman ) must recognize, and repent of, this same selfish idolatry that he admitted to and interceded for. In our nation as well; if our president was to become the leader he should be and lead his country in an active prayer of repentance; I believe that it is quite possible many in this nation would turn from their idolatry back to the true worship of God. Again though, sadly, there is a far greater number, I fear, that are far too ensconced and comfortable in their own idolatry, and such a president probably wouldn't be president very much longer!

Obviously, we cannot 'fix' our problems by using the same means that created them ( politics ); that is, unless we start raising up the kind of people that John Adams envisioned, 'a moral and religious people'! How can this be accomplished? Well, put simply, we could have a big genocide of sorts ( 'kill'em all & let God sort'em out' ), then start the process all over ( that's almost inevitably what would happen-John Calvin's Geneva? ), or just start another nasty Civil War, the effects of which last for many, many decades & centuries ( in fact, we still feel its effects today )! A better solution, though, and one maybe more in line with Kingdom principles, is to transform society from within, beginning at the beginning, so to speak, the family!

With a good, Godly focus on the family, teaching our children Kingdom principles & raising up a generation of men & women who would not only vote for & support good, Godly leaders, but would themselves step up to the plate & be good, Godly leaders; Politics could well bring this nation out of her idol-worship & back on track to becoming a free society! Until that happens, politics as usual will have the same effect it's always had, no positive & lasting one! As basically the decision of the people, politics will always be effective & and if the people are corrupt, so then will be the politics!

The only hope we have for a truly Free Society, is for one without rules & regulations, one where the people themselves live & do what is right, because it is right! If one only does what is right out of fear of reprisal, are they truly doing right? Can morality be legislated? Many Christians would most likely answer 'yes', but is it truly morality if the laws are obeyed through outward, but not inward observance?

May we, as a Covenant Community, purpose within ourselves to live these Kingdom Principles & raise up a generation of men & women who will govern themselves by these same Principles & themselves to raise up their own generation of men & women who would in turn govern themselves by these Kingdom Principles & so on & so forth! Politics is dead; let's bury her on move on, or rather, 'back' & start where we should; at the beginning!

Charles Haddon Shank

"Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/02/americas_best_fuel_a_moral_and_religious_people.html#ixzz2DeSHHtA5'

Thank God It's ( Black ) Friday!

In this day & age, Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving Day, has been known as the second biggest, if not the biggest shopping day of the year! I mean, really, a 50" Flatscreen for $200; a Playstation 3 for $100 or even $75?! Who, in their right mind would pass up on deals like that?! Recently I have heard that one can't really call the day after Turkey Day Black Friday anymore because the stores are all starting to open earlier & earlier on Thanksgiving Day! And why; to capitalize on the greediness of a population dedicated to idolatry & comfortably numb in their chains of servitude! I actually heard recently, from someone in the know, that certain shoppers have come into certain stores, asking why they're open on Thanksgiving Day!               ????!!!!

The original Black Friday, on the other hand, while it was, to many who witnessed it, a Day of Mourning, brought a kind of selfish joy to most, not unlike today's Black Friday celebration! On that Friday ( traditionally ) a world-changing event occurred, one that affected not just those who were immediately involved & closest to the situation, but for generations to come & people from every nation & all walks of life! On that Black Friday, the heavens themselves actually dimmed their lights in mourning for the death of the greatest Man who ever lived. On the Third Day, though, the day after the Sabbath, the morning light shone bright & clear in exultation of the Resurrection of the Son of God who had surrendered His life that we might Live!

What a contrast we see between these two! On the one hand, we have selfish & greedy idol-worshipers mauling each other to get the best deals they can & on the other, we have a bunch of selfish & greedy idol-worshipers killing the King of Life, just to try to keep their unstable chains! Really, not much of a contrast there; more like an unsettling & even frightening similarity! It makes one wonder, as I'm sure the true worshipers did in Jesus' Day, when God's righteous indignation was going to bring these idols crashing down! In fact, the disciples almost unwittingly, asked this question of Jesus, and received the answer, 'Watch & Wait' ( Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21 )!

On the first Black Friday, the Salvation that those true Jews & Gentiles had looked for was Realized ( though not fully Revealed until 70AD )! Belief in the Sufficiency of that Sacrifice brought Reconciliation between Creature & Creator & made manifest the Way back into the Presence of our Heavenly Father! The Holy Transaction made that Day was one of Eternal Value! Those who endured to the End, not hoping for something better, as most Americans do every Black Friday in today's day & age, but looking forward to & hasting ( not 'Hastings' ) that One Day when their Redemption would finally be Realized, they received the Gift of Eternal Salvation in that Blessed Presence!

No more can millions of greedy shop-keepers simply advertise Black Friday sales to get millions more idol-worshipers in their stores, since most of them are viciously competing with each other for their business on the day which has been officially set aside for people to be thankful for what they already have! Instead of enjoying the gifts that we receive every day & taking some time out to celebrate life, many Americans, at the instigation of these greedy shopkeepers, have forsaken these blessings for the hope of something better! Seriously, though, especially when you consider how much better most Americans have it ( materialistically anyway ) than the people of other nations, how could we as for anything more?!

Is there hope for America? Undoubtedly there is! It rests, though, not in the false hope of getting someone better in the White House, or finding the best Black Friday ( now Thanksgiving Day ) Deals! Our hope for a better tomorrow rests firmly in the events of that original Black Friday & in the Resurrection that followed! May we, as a nation look only & always to back to that Black Friday in the hope of a better tomorrow, and not to the next Black Friday Sale in the selfish hope for something better!

Charles Haddon Shank

The Protology & Eschatology of Israel

'In the beginning, God created'; this is how Genesis begins, in most modern translations! While this translation has stood thus for centuries, more recent studies have revealed that it more correctly reads, 'in the summit, Elohiym fattened' these same 'heavens and earth', which again, more correctly, should read, 'the sky and the ( dry ) land'. Put simply, these recent discoveries have brought under scrutiny the traditional notion that the beginning chapters of Genesis are about the creation of  what we know as 'terra firma', or the existent world ( globe ) along with the sun, moon & stars!

The very thought of relegating Genesis 1 & 2 to merely a record of the establishment of covenant relationship between Creator & Creation, or, even more heretically, between Yahweh & Israel, is foreign to all but a handful in this day & age! For one thing, to even entertain this notion, is to open a 'Pandora's Box' ( 'can of worm' ), the least of which is the suggestion that the earth might be more than 6,000 or even 10,000 years old! The construct of Covenant Creation might even lead one to question, not only the scope of the Flood of Noah's Day, but ( 'horror of horrors' ) whether there were even real animals on the ark ( compare Genesis 6-9 & Acts 10 )!

Assuming the facts we have in evidence ( at least, if one is willing to study with an open heart & mind ), it is easy to see how this account ( Genesis 1 ) is significant of the Revelation of Jesus the Christ, especially when one thinks of phrases such as, 'I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end'! When Peter wrote, 'the end of all things is at hand' ( I Peter 4:7 ), we readily understand that he was not signalling the end of the world ( 'terra firma' ) but rather, the end of that covenant 'world, that Covenant Creation which had been 'fattened' in the 'beginning'!

Thus we have the creation, or formation ( might be a better word ) of covenant, the open relationship which we now enjoy, as the People of God, with our Heavenly Father! Open relationship, we say, because we are thus free, not only to have a relationship with our fellow human beings as well, but because the Blessed Presence of God is not relegated to a particular geographical location. Nor is it limited to a peculiar biology either, as that was the 'end of all things' of which Peter & other Gospel writers spoke! No more would Israel be known by its biology ( Romans 9:6-8 ), but by it's spirituality, by those who 'have the mind of Christ' ( I Corinthians 2:16 ).

Much is made, in this day & age, of eschatology, or the study of the end, or 'end-times'! According to most Christians, Eschatology refers to the end of the physical world & even the end of biology, in some cases. Only recently, although the concept has really been around for centuries, have certain ones 'braved the elements' & challenged tradition to say that Eschatology is about Israel about God's Covenant Creation! It only makes sense that if Biblical Eschatology is about the End of a covenant relationship, then Biblical Protology refers to the Beginning of that same covenant relationship!

Although more & more Christians are seeing this 'new' truth every day, it is still a sore subject for most, and is usually treated heretically, leading to much unnecessary heartache & pain! While Biblical Eschatology, particularly in the most recent decades of the past century, has enjoyed renewed attention & study, Biblical Protology, and the questions which it not only answers, but brings to light, are even more important when it comes to Soteriology!

What does it really mean when it says, 'in the image of God He created him' ( Genesis 1:27 )? Are ALL men ( & women ) made in the 'Imagio Dei', or was it only a certain part of God's Good Creation which received this 'image', and thus were given the ministry of reconciling the Creation with its Creator? If only a certain part of that Creation was given that ministry, where does that place the rest of God's ( good? ) Creation?

Covenant Creation opens a whole new world when it comes to all aspects of Theology! If Jesus was simply Israel's Messiah, what does that say about the Nature of God? The question of 'who is Israel?' comes under renewed scrutiny, as well it should! If the Israel formed with Abraham, Isaac & Jacob was the Israel which Jesus came to save, then where does that leave the rest of us? Or are we the Israel that was formed, not only with Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, but with that first Adam?

The apostle Paul wrote ( I Corinthians 15:45 ), 'The first man Adam became a living being.”[d] The last Adam became a life-giving spirit'. In actuality, that's all that needs to be said; Adam was the first ( covenant man & Jesus was the last ( Covenant ) Man: He was the End ( Goal ) of which Scripture had prophesied, not the cessation of the Creation, but the Goal of Creation, the Marriage of Heaven & Earth!

Charles Haddon Shank

Convenience, Comfort & Conditioning

'Why are things the way they are?'

Well, that's a deep subject ( so to speak ), but really, it's devilishly simple; mankind, outside of right relationship with the Father of all Living, is, as we read in Jeremiah 17:9, is 'deceitful above all' & 'desperately wicked'! Yes, that does explain a lot, but since the Redemption of All through the Intercession of Israel's Messiah, aren't all men basically good? I mean, really, isn't it simply our environment, or some other outside influence, like the Devil or Satan, that causes people to do bad things or to act wickedly? After all, doesn't John 3:16 say that God loved the world so much that He sent His Son to die that it might live( never mind that 'whoever believes' part )?!

Remember how, after Moses had led the children of Israel out of bondage & slavery in Egypt, they were glad to be free of their chains, but when they started to get hungry, they remembered how 'good' they'd had it back in Egypt, ant wanted to return to their 'leeks and melons' ( Numbers 11:5 )? In much the same way, but with a different twist, after the slaves were officially set free by Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of September 22nd, 1862, a monster was brought into existence, and exists to this day among the greater part of the Negroid population, and even much of the white population, that of dependence & entitlement! Because these former slaves, though they worked hard & often under rigorous & even dangerous conditions, we so used to depending on 'Massa' for their subsistence that's all that most of them knew!

In today's day & age, many Negroes, as well as ( probably more ) white folk hold stubbornly & ignorantly to the notion that they are owed something! The Negroes seem to thing that because the 'honkies' enslaved them for so long, that now the 'honkies' owe them, and much of the 'white population has jumped on the bandwagon, so to speak, and begun to clamor for handouts as well! How many people do you know, both 'white' & 'black', that sit on their wide asses all day, playing video games & collecting food-stamps, and on top of that collect a welfare or disability check every month, just because they're to fat & sassy to keep a job or afford healthy food? Because they can't hold down a 'real' job, they have to subsist on a meagre welfare check ( 'but look at my new tattoo; cool, huh?' ), and because they only get that little bit, they can't afford healthy food, which only makes the fatter & lazier, and so the vicious cycle continues!

Technology has made great leaps over the past century or so; we now have the incandescent light-bulb ( 'Thanks, Tommy' ) & thanks to Benjamin Franklin, we now have an electrical socket to plug our microwaves into! The advent of the Convenience, or 'C-Store' has been a great boon for the commerce of this great nation, if only for truckers & vacationers ( or travelers ). At pretty much any C-Store you stop at along the way, you may find pre-packaged hot-dogs, pop-tarts & hot-pockets ready to pop in any of the shiny & inviting microwaves ( there's usually more than one ) and have a delicious & satisfying meal in 30 seconds or less ( of course, you may have to make an unplanned 'pit stop' at the next truck-stop or C-Store to get rid of the unhealthy crap you've just eaten )!

One might wonder sometimes if technological advances have really had such a positive effect on this nation!

Technology is not in itself evil, though, like anything that mankind gets its grubby little fingers on, it can be corrupted & that PDQ! The creation of the Atom Bomb, for instance, though it might have been deemed a necessary evil, brought to light new technologies that helped to advance many fields. One of these fields, unless I'm greatly mistaken, and this was before the bomb, I'm pretty sure, was the greater enjoyment of that delectable delight we call beer! The Internal Combustion engine, for well over a century now, has been used to propel automobiles over roadways much faster than one can walk or run, but it has also been used as an Engine of War, and mobilized for its destructive power! These engines have allowed mankind to fly through the air with the greatest of ease ( without a trapeze )!

Comfort & Convenience may be the most glaring symptoms of this deadly disease, but Conditioning has played probably an even greater & definitely more insidious part! The greater part of the people of this country, even many of those who have been at least half-way awakened, are so used to the Comfort & Convenience of their servitude, that they don't realize the magnitude of their slavery! For many centuries, Conditioning has been used by many different powers & authorities to control the population of any respective nation, state, or area!

Even those, and this number may actually be the greater, who claim to have a right relationship with their Heavenly Father live in somewhat the same manner, enjoying the Comfort & Convenience of their Servitude, because of the Conditioning they've received for at least the last 200 years, but maybe even close to a millenia! Part of this conditioning can be blamed on a false view of eschatology, but that alone cannot shoulder the entire load of blame, there is also a false hermeneutic to blame & when it comes down to brass tacks, a misunderstanding of the Nature of God!

What can be done to rid ourselves of this insidious & debilitating disease? Can we ever hope to shrug off these chains of oppression? 'Obviously', you might hear, 'Jesus has not yet totally defeated death & set up His Kingdom on Earth ( Matthew 6:10 ), because if He had, there would be no more tears or sickness, no more war& death!' Must we, as most Christians believe, wait for the Send Coming of a Messiah who promised to return to His first-century Church ( Body )? Or, through the Power of His Resurrection & the New Temple which He constructed ( again, in the first century ), do we now have the power & authority ( Luke 9:1 ) to enact the change that is so desperately needed in this country & elsewhere?

Is it possible that, as the Disciples of Christ & Children of our Heavenly Father, that we are actually above all these petty dictators & over-lords?! Why do you think Jesus said, 'do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul' to His disciples in the first century? It wasn't because their biology, which He created & pronounced 'good' was worthless or useless; it was because that wasn't what defined THEM!  In this day & age, especially, mankind, including most if not all Christians, have become so attached to & enamored with the physical 'husk' that we live in, that the very threat of its decease scares the hell out of us & causes us to submit to evils we would not otherwise tolerate!

There is Hope though! If we, as the Body of Christ, will get off our blessed assurance & leave the cold comfort & convenience of our servitude, we can overcome those years of Conditioning! While we're at it, whether because of active preaching & example, or through education, we may even teach the nations ( peoples ) around us to follow suit! Imagine that!

In His Grace & with His Love,
Charles Haddon Shank

The Dwelling of God

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.'

Revelation 21:3

Quoting from Leviticus, Jeremiah & Ezekiel, Jesus spoke of the dwelling of God with man, the Marriage of Heaven & Earth in these terms; 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.' John wrote, in the Revelation, as well as the apostle Paul in his second letter to the Church at Corinth ( 6:16, quoted from Leviticus, Jeremiah & Ezekiel when they prophesied of the future dwelling of God in the Spirit!

Most Christians today almost vehemently take the stance that 'God cannot dwell with sin'! While I would tend to agree that our Heavenly Father WILL not dwell with sin, I would beg to differ that He cannot dwell with sin! I would challenge ANY Christian to show me, in the proper context, that He CANNOT dwell with sin! Sure, a certain logic would tell us, that, as the History of Israel shows ( ' your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear' ( Isaiah 59:2 ), He chooses not to dwell with sin, or iniquity ( though, through the Temple, He still, for a time, dwelt in their midst )!

The Gospel according to Matthew ( 1:21 ) tells us that Jesus came to 'save His people from their sins'! If Jesus succeeded in this endeavor, which no Christian in their right mind would deny, would it not follow that we too, as the People of God have been saved from our sins? As the Psalmist prophesied in Psalm 103:12, 'As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.' Again, if our sins ( 'transgressions' ) have been taken away, and as Jesus promised, 'We will come to him and make Our home with him', then we must acknowledge that He NOW dwells with His People!

This is not to say that His People no longer transgress, or fail to keep His Royal Law of Love! Again, no Christian in their right mind would say that they love their neighbor as they should, or even God perfectly ( according to our modern definition of 'perfect' ) all the time, but, as the Body of Christ, we are, in Him, 'holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners' ( Hebrews 7:26 )! This same writer later wrote as well ( 10:14 ), 'by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified'. Admittedly, there is an aspect of the 'already, not yet' scenario to be considered here, but we should also recognize that while it may seem to us to be speaking of individual perfection, it is the ( corporate ) Body of Christ which has been perfected ( made whole or complete ), and not individual human beings!

It cannot be stressed enough that our Heavenly Father, in toto, now dwells with ( in ) His people! Although we all, as individual Christians, fail to keep His Law of Love at all times & in all ways, it is our ( corporate ) status as the Body of Christ which has rendered us 'without sin' in the eyes of our Heavenly Father!

Eschatologically speaking, and this is partially where the 'already, not yet' scenario comes in, most Christians believe that, though the Holy Spirit now dwells with us ( 'your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit'-I Corinthians 6:19 ), God Himself, our Heavenly Father, has not yet taken up that promised residence! Depending one one's eschatology, then, even though it does not effect the Truth of the Matter, one might understand that we are already 'a dwelling place of God in the Spirit' ( Ephesians 2:22 ), Jesus' promise in John 14:23 has not yet been fulfilled, or realized! Good, sound logic & reasoning, though, should tell us that our Heavenly Father, the Great & Holy Spirit, DOES dwell fully with & in His People, the Body of His Son & the True Temple!

Does God dwell with sin? According to Scripture, He does not! Can He dwell with individuals within the Body of Christ who stumble? Mot certainly ( I'm proof of that! ) Is He pleased when we fail? No, just like any good father, He is most pleased with His children when they obey Him, but He will not leave us or forsake us when we fail to keep ever jot & tittle of His Law! As individual Christians, we do face that choice, the choice of whether to love the unlovable, or even whether to love our Heavenly Father, every day, but as a part of the Sinless Body of Christ, we may take great comfort in the fact that, in spite of our manifold weakness, He has chosen to make His Dwelling with us!

Charles Haddon Shank

The Despicable Art of War

'War is a racket!'

How much truth is in that statement! Since time began, the strong have made war on the weak in order to exercise control, whether it be control of money, population, power or natural resources. Human beings have always endeavored to hold under subjection those who don't enjoy quite the same status of importance! With the advent of centralized government, human beings found a simpler way to exercise this control, by threatening & carry out war against anyone who opposed the decisions of the majority!

In this country, we have exercised this power, as have many empires in the past have, in order to prosper! Because of the shortcuts we have taken to gain this prosperity, which by the way, is simply a false prosperity, we have become one of the most hated ( though feared ) & despised nations on earth! Sure, many foreigners love our 'freedom, which, again, is a false freedom, but sooner or later, they usually find out that they had it better, or at least no worse, in their country of origin!

Since The War on Terror began ( it's been going on for well over 10 years now ), terrorist activity has, if anything, worsened in its intensity! To be fair, the biggest discernible problems have, at least since the attacks of '9-11' have been relegated to other parts of the world, but if you talk to the right people, you might begin to understand why this is so! Since the inception of this corporation ( U.S. Inc. ), those 'in the know' have revealed how such events ( 'Pearl Harbor, '9-11', etc ) have been orchestrated by the 'powers that be' to needlessly embroil true patriots in the wrongful endeavor that 'they' wish to pursue, ostensibly, for the good of the nation!

America, or the U.S. Inc., is not the first empire to employ the despicable art of war, nor will it be the last! Many empires have risen & fallen since the dawn of time, and their downfall has always been wrought by the same perpetrator; corruption from within has always been a problem for empires & while enemies from without are a big enough threat, enemies from within are an even more dangerous & subtle threat!

Centralized government, whether it be the Assyrian, Babylonian, Greek, or Roman Empire, has always imploded, due not only to outside influence, but because of inner corruption! Human nature, in particular, that which does not realize its covenantal nature, has always shared a 'pack mentality'; just like a base animal instinct, it is 'survival of the fittest'! When a certain segment of society is seen as weak or unfitting, it is readily attacked, and quickly subjugated or destroyed! When one group lusts after the possession of another group, it doesn't take long for the battle to ensue, and before the dust even settles, for the vultures to close in!

Terrorism is no doubt a big problem and has become even greater in both scope & magnitude over the past decade, but with the necessary equipment, much of the problem would likely dry up and blow away like the desert sands! It might surprise many people in this country how much of our national treasury goes out each & every year toward funding these terrorist organizations! Oh sure, this 'aid' which is sent overseas, probably on a daily basis, is marked for humanitarian aid, and to be truthful, some of it probably is ( we do, after all, have to put up a good 'front! ), but that's the 'aid' that we hear about; what about the top-secret & 'bedroom deals' that usually go unnoticed?!

While the American Empire is most certainly not the only one to ever benefit from terrorism of some sort, it is the most ready answer! Especially since the 'attacks' of '9-11', although that was doubtless not the first time, many eyes have been opened to the real enemy, that with our own central government! While we still have a long way to go & this country is very likely facing a Civil War which could make the last one pale in comparison, the corruption within the U.S. Inc, or the American Empire has had at least this one unintended, but unavoidable effect; it cannot continue to fight against itself, because, as a Wise Man once said, 'If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand'!

Charles Haddon Shank

Is the Physical Immaterial?

Ofttimes, when the proposition is made that our biological bodies will not play a part in the Resurrection, the accusation may be made that the one who made the proposal has been 'poisoned' by Gnosticism! That one then might be encouraged to remember that when Adam was created, he was pronounced 'good'. We read, in Genesis 2:7, 'And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being'. If our Heavenly Father created biology & called it 'good', who are we to say that this biology will perish someday; isn't that flying in the face of the promises of an Almighty God?!

Several problems may be confronted immediately when assaulted with such reasoning! First of all, the accuser assumes that the Resurrection of the Dead has not yet occurred! Secondly, such an accusation presumes to say that Adam was the first  ( human ) biological body to inhabit planet earth. The question of whether the creation account in Genesis 1 & 2 is about the creation of biological life, or simply about the introduction or revelation of covenantal life into that creation might be superceded by the gnawing question of whether the latter purports that Yahweh is not the Creator after all, but simply a tribal god!

If Yahweh was simply a tribal god ( God ) who decided to reveal Himself to His Creation, to initiate a Covenant Relationship with His People, then we might well acknowledge the claims of Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Krishna, etc! If, however, Genesis 1 & 2 are the beginning parts of the Story of the Creator of the Universe & all life that exists, who humbled Himself to enter into a covenant relationship with His Creation, then we have a completely different Story! This Story tells us of the Love of a Father who sent His only begotten Son to redeem His Creation that had distanced itself from Him by their disobedience & lust for power!

The Resurrection, we have found to be verifiably true, was not only personified by Jesus who was the Christ; it is inextricably bound up with the promised redemption! If the Resurrection has not yet occurred, the neither have God's People been redeemed! Again, if the Redemption of Israel has occurred, so has the Resurrection! Jesus, as we have seen ( John 14:6 ), embodied the Resurrection; it was those who looked upon Him with the eyes of faith ( Numbers 21:8 ) who experienced this Resurrection, while those who refused to do so were destroyed & annihilated!

We have found, relatively recently & through much new study & inquiry, that the creation accounts related in the early parts of Genesis, though traditionally assumed to chronicle the Beginning of Time itself, are not a History necessarily of the Dawn of Creation, but the Beginning of the Revelation of Jesus the Christ! A closer & more honest study of the original language of creation reveals the beginning of a Creation within Creation; the creation of covenant between Creature & Creator, Father & Son!

So, you may ask then, what is the use of this biology; for what purpose did our Creator form it, and why, if it was never meant to live forever, did He pronounce it 'good', so much so that He sent His own Divine Essence in that form to redeem it back to Himself? Did man, through His disobedience, so thwart His Creator's Divine Purpose, that he has become worthless in the eyes of his Heavenly Father!

The Body of Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God, was sent to the Land for One Purpose & and that Purpose was to do the will of His Heavenly Father; that is still our Purpose! Whether through death or life, biologically speaking, we serve His Purpose! This is why He created our biology, that become His Instruments of mercy & grace, His Ministers of Reconcilliation!

Charles Haddon Shank

Spiced Chai, Lame Jokes & What People Think

'Only God can judge me!'

The 'funny' thing is, most often the people that use this line are doing something wrong, and they know it! It may be true that only God can pass sentence on them, in the sense of finality, but we can judge them & in fact, are called to! We are called, not only to judge for ourselves whether something is right or wrong ( as Christians 'we have the Mind of Christ' ), but we are called to 'judge those who are inside' ( I Corinthians 5:12 )! In context, this means, not those whose ( necessarily ) that belong to the IC ( Institutional Church ), but all those who claim to follow Christ, who would be called Christian, whether they call themselves religious or just 'spiritual'!

Being one that has always had a 'problem', caring what other people think, I have been used to 'walking on eggshells' for most of my life! To a point, we should care what others think, especially if we're not doing what is right, but if we are following in Jesus' footsteps & according to our cleansed conscience, then we should just do, no matter what others may think!

When it comes to living our own separate lives, no two people are going to live exactly the same way or enjoy the exact same things; some like it hot & some like it cold, some like Spiced  ( or Vanilla ) Chai, while the other may prefer a Nonfat Mocha Lattė with a shot of Caramel! Some may enjoy lame jokes & hilarity while others may prefer primarily serious & intellectual conversation! Although some might judge others according to these seemingly inconsequential matters, these are not really matters for our judgment, except for personal preference!

Our judgment of others, whatever form it may take & to whatever extent it may fall, should be based upon the Truth that has been revealed to us through the Word of God that is written on the Tablet of our Heart! We are called to render that judgment so that all might understand what is right & what is wrong! Many of those who receive that judgment are not going to be very appreciative, and so we ourselves may suffer from a form of judgment, even though it is unjust! Depending on how carefully we render judgment, we may or may not deserve to receive that return 'judgment'!

Often, as Christians, we are reminded by others within the Body of Christ, that according to the apostle Paul ( I Corinthians 5:12 ), we should not judge those 'outside', for as Paul wrote, 'those who are outside God will judge'. Does this mean that, even as Christians we should not pass judgment on those we see committing sin, even if they do not claim to follow Christ? Should we not judge for ourselves whether what they're doing is right or wrong, so that we can make a wise decision based on a righteous judgment?  In some sense, we may pass sentence on them as well, by the very fact that we may choose to follow along with them or not!

So, what does this have to do with lame jokes & spiced chai! Really, I just thought it sounded like a good idea at the time ; plus, I don't care what you think!!!!

Charles Haddon Shank

The ( Rain ) Forest for the Trees; the Yellow Trees

Yesterday was a great day for me; I got to visit the west side of one of the most beautiful and awesome parks in America, Glacier National Park! Typical for a rainforest, it was..........raining! Beautiful it was though, even without the added benefit of seeing the surrounding grandeur of the white mountain peaks! With a little help from my friends, this old geezer trudged slowly & painstakingly along the Trail of Cedars where you might almost think you're in the Forest of Endor, expecting a small furry figure t jump out from behind one of those awesome cedars and start jabbering at you in the cutest &; most unintelligible way! ( either that, or jump out of the way as a Stormtrooper goes whizzing past on a Speeder )

Another thing that kinda jumped out at us was the yellowed evergreens! Whatever the case, whether it's because they're are certain kind of tree or whether it's their different ages, we thought it was quite a beautiful phenomenon! As with many things in life, however, it's so tempting to focus on that one particular phenomenon, whether it be a tree or a certain doctrine, and miss the forest for the trees!

So many Christians in this day & age like to tell & retell ( even reiterate ) the manifold stories that we can read in their Holy Bibles and focus so much on slicing & dicing them to get to the heart of the matter, that they tend to miss the Story of Scripture! The importance of this Story, the Story of Yahweh's enduring Love for His people Israel ( that's us ) cannot be ignored or downplayed ( bypassed )! The individual stories ARE important, don't get me wrong, but when we focus on them to the ignorance of the Greater Story, then we face the problem of who we really are, while we try to apply the lessons of the individual stories to our own lives!

As an amateur photographer ( mostly of inanimate objects ), I find myself often focusing on things such as yellow evergreens or 'cool' rock formations that I tend to miss The Beauty of the Ordinary! In this day & age, we have been so programmed to look for ( and be held by ) the unusual & the objects that stand out, that we usually look right past the mundane. We miss a lot when we do this!

What we see as mundane & uninteresting can be, at the same time, the most beautiful & truly interesting person, object or doctrine of all! Beauty surrounds us; we simply have to sit back, relax & take it in. It isn't something we have to search for; it's something we need to accept, just to trust that it is what it is because that's the way our Creator made it! There are many things in this 'work' that, for the life of us, we cannot find any beauty at all in, and in fact, in a lot of things & people, it's almost impossible to look past ( or through ) the ugliness and see the beauty that our Heavenly Father has placed in them!

Traveling through the park yesterday, as we often forget to do as we travel the road we call life, we took our time, not only noting the awesomeness & grandeur of The Beauty That Surrounds Us, but stopping & capturing the moment! Though we missed certain spectacular features, for various reasons, we were able to witness to as well as capture on 'film', much of this beauty!

Our Heavenly Father has said, 'be still, and know that I am God' ( Psalm 46:10 )! This is not to say that we may or just sit on our blessed assurance while life passes us by, or that we should just sit quietly by while life just happens to us! He means that we need to realize, in the hustle & bustle of everyday life, that He IS our Life, 'it is He that has made us, and not we ourselves' ( Psalm 100:3 ); to remain open, in the midst of our struggles & turmoil, to The Beauty That Surrounds Us! When we do this, we can see the forest for the trees & rest in the Glory of His Presence!

As we read the various individual stories within the Greater Story, let us remember that, while these stories may occupy a particular spot in the past history of God's People, they not only contain lessons for our individual lives & and give us insight into the Mind of our Heavenly Father; they help us to be still and know that He is God! It is through the stillness ( not inactivity, but humility ) of our minds that we are able to realize & recognize the Glory that His Presence has brought to His Creation!

Glacier National Park is full of awesome beauty & with the realization of The Marriage of Heaven & Earth, it is only more beautiful! Knowing that our Heavenly Father has chosen to reside within His Creation helps us to realize that, while certain parts of it may  catch our eyes more than others, it is ALL beautiful, because He made it so!

Glorying in the Beauty of His Presence,

Charles Haddon Shank

The Unity of God ( the Essence of Divinity )

Yahweh our God, Yahweh is One!

That much is manifestly clear throughout Scripture! Even though, in the Fullness of Time, the Father was revealed through His Son & the Church in its infancy was comforted by the Holy Spirit of God ( Yahweh ), we confess One God! Trinitarian doctrine, while teaching the existence of three Persons within the God-head ( Colossians 2:9 ), confesses that these three Persons are yet One God.

We have previously, if the reader is at all familiar with the work within these pages, discussed the notion that it was for eschatological purpose that our Heavenly Father was thus revealed! This eschatological separation within the God-head was made, we might argue, that Yahweh might take upon Himself the form of humanity & suffer the ingloriousness of a fleshly existence. When Jesus returned to the Right Hand of the Father ( Matthew 22:44 ( Psalm 110:1 ) Matthew 25:34 ( 19:28 ), His Body, according to the apostle Paul ( Ephesians 1:23 ), remained on earth!

The argument presented in this small article is that we, the Body of Christ, or the Offspring of the Marriage of Heaven & Earth ( however you choose to look at it ), have become the Son of God! Although this may seem to be an incendiary statement to some, you can be assured that it is not without Scriptural support or precedent! When Yahweh spoke to Moses before send him to lead His congregation out of Egypt, He told him to relay this message to the Pharaoh, 'Israel is My son, My firstborn'. Using this same theme, Matthew, in his record of the Gospel, quoted from the prophet Hosea ( 11:1 ) when he spoke of the Christ, 'Out of Egypt I called My Son' ( Matthew 2:15 ) Luke, in his record of the Gospel, called Adam 'the son of God' ( Luke 3:38-the interesting thing here is that the rest of Luke's genealogy is speaking, not of spiritual, but of natural generation )!

Since we, as the Body of Christ, are the Son of God ( corporately ), does that mean that we now occupy the same office that Jesus occupied in the first century, that of, as some suppose & teach, the Second Person of the Trinity? Are we now part of the God-head? Are we ourselves gods ( deity )? In at least one place, the Scriptures say that we are 'elohiym' ( Psalm 82:6 ) This is not to say that we are the Creator ( of the universe ), but we ARE the Judges of the Earth; as David wrote ( Psalm 115:16 ), 'the earth He has given to the children of men'. Jesus told His disciples, 'Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel' ( Matthew 19:28 )!

What more need be said; what more can be said?!

To be truthful, there is no doubt much more that could be said, but as our purpose here is to get people to think for themselves, and not to lay it all out for them, we will conclude our argument with Jesus' words in John 14:23; 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him'. The Scriptures have made exceedingly & abundantly clear that we are ( corporately ) the Temple of the Holy Spirit ( Yahweh - I Corinthians 6:19 ( 3:16 ) Paul also told the congregation  ( In the wilderness-Ephesians 2:22 ), 'you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit'. As the Temple of God, which, incidentally is also what Jesus represented ( 'For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily'-Colossians 2:9 ), we are the Body through which His Will on earth is done ( Matthew 6:10 )!

Again; we are not 'elohiym' in the same sense as our Heavenly Father is, we did not create ( form ) all that exists, or even ourselves ( though, in a sense, by our own choices, we do 'shape' ourselves into what we become, physically speaking, anyway )! We are simply His Firstborn Son & 'the apple of His eye' ( Deuteronomy 32:10, Zechariah 2:8 ( Psalm 17:8, Song of Solomon 7:8 )!

What shall we do with this glorious fact; how should we then live?

Work, Rest & Recreate!

Charles Haddon Shank

Politics, as Usual

We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

- Albert Einstein

There is a lot of talk going around today that says, 'if we could just get politicians in there who'll follow the Constitution to the letter, then everything will be better!' 'If only we could get back to the Constitution', 'Maybe if we educate people about what is really going on......' It sounds like at least one of these could be the solution to our problem, but there is the problem in a nutshell, all these 'solutions' are old hat; they're partially what helped create the problem we face today!

To be fair, the U.S. Inc. has departed quite a ways from what the founding fathers intended, I'm sure! I doubt if they envisioned even half of the excrement that comes out of the District of Criminal today ( then, on the other hand, maybe they did )! The Constitution, when followed to the letter, may have prevented a lot of what we face today, and yes, reeducation of the populace may help ( to a point ), and 'yes', if we could get the right man ( or woman ) in office, that might at least stave the worst off for a little while!

The problem is people! We're seeing much the same situation that the judges of Israel faced in the olden days. They had the Law that Moses had delivered to them on Mt. Sinai! Being straight from the Mouth of God, too, it was infinitely better than any Constitution that man could ever write, but even though, look where THEY ended up! They had prophets that adhered strictly to the Law and even reeducated the people when necessary! Sure, things got better for a time, but eventually, that whole system of things came crashing down like Dagon!

'There outta be a law'! Well, that's actually part of the problem! When weak human beings try to follow a written code, we fail miserably much of the time. However, with the realization & acceptance of the fact that our Heavenly Father fulfilled His promise in Jeremiah 31:33, 'I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their heart', we no longer have to simply adhere to a code, because we have the Love of God in our 'hearts'!

We have Law & Punishment because the makers of that Law at least understood this, that the threat of punishment would at least be somewhat of a deterrent to most! However, this 'solution' only goes so far because if the person believes they can get away with breaking the Law, they usually will! If one does not fear a God that always sees, why would he fear, except out of reprisal, a government he can see?! Our Creator God faced much the same conundrum back in ancient times, during the days of the Judges & Kings! Fear of Punishment may have a great effect on potential law-breakers, but it will not hold them forever! Sooner or later, they will find that weak link ( loophole ), and break free, unleashing perhaps a worse evil on the intended victim ( s )!

Those who have entered into Covenant with their Heavenly Father have had His Law written on their hearts follow that Law, not because they fear the punishment due one who breaks a written code, but because they love that One who inscribed it on their hearts! When we fail to keep that Law, which we, even as Temples of the Holy Spirit still do, our conscience ( 'heart' ) burns within us and will not long allow us to stray from the True Path!

There are those ( many ) who have not acknowledged this relationship ( Covenant ) and so have grown hard, as many of the children of Israel did! They may obey the letter of the Law ( Constitution ), but at the moment that one of the Guardians turns his or her back, the Law may be irreparably mangled beyond recognition! Because the Law ( of God ) is not written on their 'heart', their conscience will not play 'Jiminy Cricket' with them to let them know they are straying & to guide them back to the Way!

How, if not through politics, can we solve this problem?! Well, politics may be the answer; if the people were all good & conscientious then we could almost safely rely on politics, but the sad fact of the matter is that most people in this great nation of ours have their own agenda! We have a melting pot, a hodge-podge, if you will, of different religions in this country, and while many of them are as law-abiding as the next, it is most often a fear-driven obedience, one that is motivated by a promise of punishment if one jot or tittle is broken!

Again, then, how do we fix this problem? Politics has failed us, having become almost unrecognizable & almost absolutely useless! Politics, and especially politics as usual has gotten us nowhere, except deeper in the hole that is almost as quickly being filled in on top of those who are digging the hole! The answer, my friends, is blowin' in the wind! It is the Wind of Change that is blowing through our Father's Congregation, a Wind that is waking His Sleeping Giant & reminding us that it must begin with us, with our own families!

If we can raise up a generation of young men & women with the Law of God written on their hearts, then maybe they can begin to have a goodly effect on this beast we call politics! It may not be too late! Many fear that it is, that this system of things, like Israel's of old, must come crashing down before she can rise like a phoenix from the ashes! It looks like they may be right, but looks, as anyone will tell you, can be deceiving! The most that we can do is the best we can with what we've been given, and it MUST begin with the family; if we get that wrong, all the politics in the world will do us no good!

Charles Haddon Shank

Harvesting for the Kingdom ( the Harvest of the Earth )

When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger: I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus 23:22

When Jesus instructed His disciples to 'pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.', we realize that, in the historical context of the fullness of times, He was referencing that coming Day, when He would separate the sheep from the goats ( Matthew 25:31-46 ). That Great Harvest, though controversial, clearly pointed to the harvest 'at the end of this age' ( Matthew 13:40 )! Jesus, speaking to His first century disciples, still living under the rigors of that first age, revealed to them that they would be partakers of the first-fruits of the Harvest ( Matthew 24:31 )!

This is the Appointed Harvest of which we read in the pages of Scripture, that much should be clear! However, we should also understand that there is an Ongoing Harvest, of sorts, that is occurring while we speak. This Harvest, because of the infinite nature of 'the Lord of the harvest', is itself infinite, as the population of His Kingdom is infinitely increasing!

We are, in that sense, International Harvesters! The Body of Christ, Catholic ( universal ) is Harvesting for the Kingdom every day, as more & more of our Heavenly Father's sentient creation is returning to right relationship with Him! As His Ministers of Reconciliation, we ( corporately ) have entered into, not only the blessedness of that first Harvest, but that Eternal Harvest which will never end!

No one can successfully argue that, since that Harvest 'at the end of this age', all have been reconciled with their heavenly Father. This is a sad but glorious fact of life! Though we now live in that Blessed inheritance, there are still those who have not yet seen that Truth, as well as many who do not enjoy that Blessed Inheritance! When we reveal to those around us the blessedness of our inheritance & the Glory of Communion with our Heavenly Father, we show ourselves His fellow-laborers in that Eternal Harvest!

The earth is the Lord’s, and all its fullness, the world and those who dwell therein.

Psalm 24:1

As previously, neither can anyone successfully argue that this is not Our Father's World! As David prophesied ( Psalm 2 ), our Father told His Son, 'Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession'. Since we are the Body of His Son, we have, in that sense, inherited the earth, or His Kingdom! Though, as the apostle Paul wrote, 'I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase' ( I Corinthians 3:6 ), it was those first century disciples, through the Power of the Holy Spirit, who were the workers in that Harvest!

The Harvest of Israel, although in one sense successfully completed in the first century, is ongoing! The Israel of God today, just as Israel according to the flesh, has been assigned the task of 'discipling the nations' ( Matthew 28:19 ): this task is not yet complete, there are obviously those who, for whatever reason have not been discipled! This is not to say that Jesus was wrong when He said 'it is finished', but it was His mission, not ours, that had been completed! As long as life endures & the Kingdom of God continues to expand, there will always be a Harvest for the People of God!

We, as partakers in the First-fruits of that Great Harvest, have inherited an even Greater Harvest, that of the entire Creation! The Harvest of Israel was completed ( perfected-Hebrews 10:14 ) in the first century; the Harvest of the Earth has only begun! We know that as we Shine the Light of His Presence to the 'world' around us, the borders of His Kingdom will continue to expand!

David wrote, 'The earth is the Lord’s'; all are His, no one can get away from that glorious fact! Just because some do not acknowledge that Ownership or revel in the blessedness of it; it is His ( our ) inheritance and its harvest is ours! As we Harvest for the Kingdom, as we Glory in His Presence every day, let us remember that, while we rest in our Blessed Assurance, we should not sit on our 'blessed assurance' while the world goes to hell in a hand-basket!

The Kingdom is His & the Blessings of the Harvest are ours; let's get to work!

Charles Haddon Shank

The Adversary; Within & Without

Quite a few years ago, the radicals at Covenant Community Church posted this message on their signboard, 'Fatherless Homes; More Dangerous Than Foreign Armies'. The point of this statement should be fairly clear, for the consequence of children, especially male children, growing up without a stable father-figure in their lives is more than manifest!

We are facing one of the most irresponsible generations that the world has ever seen! More & more, women, if they even get married in the first place, are finding it easier to remain single after a usually nasty divorce. The husbands in these scenarios are usually more than happy to get rid of the evidence that they were ever married in the first place! ( We should note here, most emphatically, that this is not ALWAYS the case, nor is it the 'norm' )

There is a common joke going around, and has been, for the past few decades ( at least ), that a mother's oldest child  is her husband'! Unfortunately, in many cases, this is an all-to-true statement! You're no doubt familiar with the phrase 'big boy's toys' ( as in, 'the only difference between men & boys is the size of their toys' ); in many ways, this too is a true & verifiable statement! Men are no longer men ( and again, this is not the 'norm' ); so many adult males out there value their playtime ( 'workin' for the weekend' ) so much that much of their income, rather than being focused on their family, is focused on what is called 'fun'!

Very often, too, the woman becomes the spiritual leader as well, and this is likely because the husband either grew up without the stability of a father in the household, either that, or a weak example who allowed ( or 'forced' ) his wife to be the spiritual leader! This obviously could go back for generations, just like the idolatry of the kings of Israel did!

'What makes a man a man?' Maybe more to the point, 'how does a boy become a man?' Does a boy become a man simply by growing older, though not necessarily 'up'? Is a man a man simply because he is physically mature, and has fully developed the ability to be a sperm donor? Or does a boy become a man when he has spiritual matured to the point where he is able to father the child ( or children ) that he has, through his physical prowess helped to ( pro ) create? If someone has developed the ability to not only bring forth a child into this dangerous environment, but to nurture & protect that child until he/she develops his/her own maturity, do we not call him truly a man?

Women don't get off easy either! Maybe 'females' would be better terminology here! Women in this day & age have been just as affected by this travesty as the men, or males rather, have! Because more & more girls are growing up without the stability of a good, stable father ( figure ) in their lives, many of them, as they begin to mature physically, if not emotionally, seek for that spiritual leadership & physical companionship in whatever form they can get it! Usually they are seeking that protection that only a good husband can provide, as well, but too often, because of the travesty we've already discussed ( referring to the male species ), neither the spiritual leadership, the physical companionship or the protection turns out for their good!

Now, lest we lose all hope of ever correcting this problem & divesting society of this travesty; there is hope! We've sunk pretty far, for sure, as a society, but this difficulty is not insurmountable! There are plenty of good men in this world who leapt over the difficulties and persevered, showing themselves to be the truest examples of Godly spiritual leadership, offer excellent physical companionship, and offer their wives some of the best protection available! Such men are to be praised, but not only should we exult in their faithfulness, we should also be prepared to follow their example! It is only by following their example & the example set before us in Scripture by the Messiah of Israel that our society will begin, once again, to not a decline in the number of fatherless homes!

May we, as true men of God, lead this charge, and begin to affect such a change in our 'society as our 'world' has never seen! May we truly be the men that God has called us to be as we lead our families through this morass that we call everyday life!

Charles Haddon Shank

The Looting of Egypt

And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.

Luke 16:9

When Jesus told His disciples, one one hand, to 'make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon', and then on the other 'You cannot serve God and mammon'; it might have been a bit confusing to them, although maybe not as much as to those of us who read these words today! What did Jesus mean by giving them these instructions?

As always, with passages like this, we must first hearken back to the Ancient History of Israel, and read this parable in that context! When God was preparing to liberate His People from bondage in Egypt, He ordered them to plunder their neighbors that they might have the wherewithal to subsist on the long and arduous journey to the Promised Land! This 'making friends of unrighteous mammon' ( ill-gotten wealth? ) enabled the children to obey God's instructions, to whatever point they did, throughout their Exodus!

It is manifestly clear, through the knowledge & study of metaphor that this parable, like so many others that Jesus told, along with the stories that we read in the Gospel accounts, was not simply about money or material wealth. Just like the words of Jesus in the parabolic story that follow this one, this parable had reference to a greater spiritual truth, that being found in the fact that the religious leaders of Jesus day sought, not His Kingdom & His Righteousness, but their own!

Can we who read this parable today make application from it to our own situations? Well, yes & no! We can surely take a lesson from it, and realize that sometimes those who are not followers of Christ have a better head for business ( this is, by far, not always the case ); we can understand ( and take advantage of ) the fact that, even though this material wealth may seem like 'meat offered to idols'; in our Heavenly Father's good Plan, it has been placed there for our use ( or not )! We may not & should not make quite the same application that those first-century disciples did, nor can we, for we have been set free from that bondage & and have reached the Promised Land pictured in the original Exodus! Although unrighteous gain still serves God's Purpose for His People, we know that our 'stewardship', unlike that of the 'unjust steward' in the parable, will never be taken away!

Just as the physical bondage that the children of Israel cried under in Egypt was a metaphor for the bondage of sin that Adam's race was subject to until the Time of the Christ, so the 'riches' ( Matthew 13:22, Mark 10:23 ) that Jesus talks about in these parables, referred, not necessarily to just material wealth, although that was definitely a consideration, but to the greater spiritual truth of the battle for righteousness that was waged from the time of the first Adam till the Time of the Second, or Last Adam!

When we realize, viewing passages like these through the lenses of a covenantal understanding, that we are not in danger, like those in the first century, of losing our stewardship, our place within God's Covenant Family, we can live with the freedom & comfort of knowing that, because we seek His Kingdom first. all that we need has been & will be, added to us! Yes, our Heavenly Father still uses the material wealth of the unrighteous to meet our needs, sometimes & no, this material wealth no longer has reference to unrighteousness; Both the righteous & the unrighteous in this Kingdom of our Heavenly Father have the ability, to whatever extent, to amass material wealth! It is what is done with that material wealth that is right or wrong, not the material wealth itself!

Charles Haddon Shank

The Lost Sheep ( of the House of Israel )

What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?

Luke 15:4

When Jesus spoke this parable to those assembled there, He was no doubt referring to those 'lost sheep of the house of Israel', but what if He wasn't simply making this allusion, but was making a blanket statement of His entire creation?! Many Christians are afraid to go there, for whatever reason, first & foremost probably being that this kind of think could almost be construed as some sort of 'universalism', and at the very least, could lead to universalistic tendencies!

Although some might try, there really is no arguing with the fact that Jesus was relating His Father, our Heavenly Father, with the man who had the symbolic one hundred sheep! The representation might not be perfect, as we construe perfection today, for our Heavenly Father is infinite and we are finite, but are we not all His, since He created us?

The argument has been made, and will doubtless continue to be put forth, that just because we are all His creatures, His creation, if you will, all are not His children! This may well be debated for eternity, for Scripture does make abundantly clear that, within the context of the Story of Israel anyway, there were 'children of the devil' & 'children of God'; these were always opposed o each other as bitter adversaries!

If the Scriptures were simply a History of Israel according to the flesh, as some seem to purport, now that all is fulfilled, then that would mean, especially if this 'devil' ( adversary ) was symbolic of those Jews who selfishly opposed Yahweh's Plan, that there are no more 'children of the devil' as opposed to 'the children of God', right?!

Well, yes & no! The Scriptures ARE a History of Israel, but they are NOT simply about Israel according to the flesh ( natural generation ); they all pointed to the Spiritual ( Re ) Generation of Israel, both Jew & Gentile that came through the Messiah of Israel, through God Himself! Those Jews who rejected Christ were most definitely the adversaries ( devil/Satan ) of God's Covenant People back then, but do the People of God today still have those who oppose them, do we not still have our adversaries?

The Israel of God is doubtless, according to Scripture, those who accepted Jesus as their Messiah, and without doubt, those who, even today, continue to accept this saving fact! His entire creation, all His children, so to speak, do not belong then to this Israel of God, not having become members of the Body of Christ, but can we not deduce, from this parable, as well as the greater context of the Covenantal Nature of Scripture, that our Heavenly Father seeks to be reconciled with all His children?

Why then, do not & have not all His creatures, Pol Pot & Hitler, for example, reconcile & return to His Open Arms? This is a question that has plagued the Church for centuries & may do so for centuries more! The conundrum is false! Neither do we have a weak & helpless Creator, wringing His hands, nor do we have a Cruel & merciless God who creates just to destroy! We have a gracious & merciful Heavenly Father who justly punishes those children of His who choose to disobey His Word, but gladly accepts into His family those who repent of their unrighteous deeds & return with all their strength, to His Way!

May we all remember that, as the Israel of God, it is our Purpose to be the Fulfillment of His Word & Way, and to bring all His children back into His Loving & Open Arms!

Charles Haddon Shank

Free-Will Versus the Sovereignty of God; By Grace, through Faith

Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.

Luke 7:50

We have been here before, and the battle continues to be wage in the boardrooms of countless seminaries across God's good Creation! 'Are you a Calvinist or an Arminian; do you believe in the Sovereignty of God, or the free will of man? Just like the political landscape today, especially with its two-party system, it's often hard to tell the difference between these two systems of thought! There are so many varying degrees to both of these 'schools' that in some cases, they seem almost to have merged, as in 'Calvinian', or 'Arminianist'!

The fact of the matter is, that both views have their good & bad points! The Scriptures ARE very clear on the Sovereignty of God, but they are also pretty blatant about man's free-will choice! For one thing, if Adam didn't have free will, how did he decide to disobey God rather than protect his wife from the serpent? How did Judas decide to betray Jesus? We have certain Calvinists who come to the extreme conclusion that God causes us to sin that His Grace may abound, and thus we have the heretical notion that God is the Author of sin; there is a good ( right ) heresy, and there is a bad ( wrong ) heresy: that is simply a wrong heresy!

Many Arminians, on the other hand, with their focus on the free will of man, perceive an almost forced paradox, one which seems to debilitate that Sovereignty.  Thus, from the traditional Arminian point of view, rather than the Almighty & Jealous God of the Old Testament, we now have the more gentlemanly Holy Spirit who would never force anyone to do anything! Either that, or a weak & helpless One, who can do nothing to save His own People unless they allow Him to!

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.

Ephesians 2:8

Jesus told numerous people, after they were healed through His ministrations, that they had been healed, or saved, by their faith! Whether you want to be a Calvinist or Arminian about it, and say either that the apostle, in the passage above, was saying that the grace he mentioned was a gift of God, or that the faith he mentioned is the gift of God ( really, both are the gift of God, however you look at it! ); it is clear from Jesus' words to ( some of ) those He healed, that it was their ( own? ) faith in His ability to heal them that their salvation rested!

Really, when you read these words in the context of the History of Israel, wherein they ( corporately ) had become an unclean thing, a dead body; you begin to understood how these physical healings & resurrections pointed to the Healing & Resurrection of Israel! It was Israel's ( the Remnant's ) faith in Jesus as their Messiah that healed them, that saved them & brought about their resurrection, the standing again!

We can argue till we are blue in the face, or the cows come home to roost, whichever comes first, about whether it is grace that saves us, or whether we are saved by faith, whether the Calvinists or the Arminians are right, but the apostle clearly tells us in his letter to the Church at Ephesus that it is both! ''For by grace you have been saved through faith'; like James later wrote, 'faith without works is dead' ( James 2:26 ); the Grace of God, working through their own actions, or faith, is what saved Israel! Consequently, it is what identifies us as the Body of Christ; if we say that we a member of the Body ( the Church ) yet do not do according to what Jesus did, loving God & our neighbor as ourselves, it is manifest that we are not part of that Body!

Let us always remember that the salvation of God's People was never an 'either or' proposition; it was always a 'both and'; the Grace of our Heavenly Father working together with their Active Faith that saved the People of God: it always, as they say, 'takes two to tango'!

Charles Haddon Shank

A Fair Tax ( Levy )

In the spirit of fair-play, it has been decided that since our government schools are funded largely if not wholly by unfair mill levies on all citizens, regardless of race, color or creed, it would be just and good to do the same for those who choose to educate their own children at home. Because these 'home-schoolers' have chosen, for various odd reasons, to educate their own children, but are, through their taxes and various mill levies, forced to support the government schools, with which they obviously disagree, again, for various odd reasons, a mill is being levied upon the citizenry of this fair state, in order to fund, through a fair tax, those who wish to educate their own progeny.

For years, despite differences in race, color or creed, the Federal Government has been forcing the citizenry of these United States to pay into the National Treasury tax monies which are then used however the hell this Auspicious Governing Body ( AGB ) sees fit! Even though we, the aforementioned, acknowledge the fact that certain of our fair citizenry have been forced to pay these taxes and support these unworthy causes against their will, or else be penalized with extreme prejudice, we stand firmly behind this resolution, and will continue to uphold these unjust practices. However, being the unjust stewards that we are, we have decided, in our munificent beneficence, to levy a tax in deference to those ( idiots ) who choose to school their own children!

While there may be certain benefits to educating your children at home, such as no parent-teacher conferences, the children are not chained to a desk for 6-8 hours a day and so on and so forth, we must warn those parents who would dare to even think of taking on this daunting task ( of educating their own children, these children may not develop the necessary social skills, like many government school grads, to function in the real world! Because of the sheltered life that many of these 'home-schooled' children lead, these children, now young adults, may feel shy and backwards when it comes to joining in the common debauchery of these government school grads!

For the most part, these parents who choose to educate their own children do so for their own selfish reasons, though they usually blame it on religion! They claim to believe that their God has commanded them to teach their children His ways, 'when they lie down and when they rise up', but they have chosen to educate their own children simply for the reason that they have certain 'religious objection' to the way their children are being brainwashed by state government agents. They have simply and selfishly chosen to deprive their children of the joys of social interaction with other drones ( this includes 'bullying' ), and to ensure that their own children will follow in their footsteps, rather than being allowed to choose for themselves who they will serve, whether the God of their fathers, or the god of their own choosing ( or making )!

As we have previously stated, even though we disagree wholeheartedly with those parents who choose to attempt educating their own children, we have chosen, in our graciousness, to levy this mill ( unfair tax ) upon our fair citizenry, in order that our unfair practice of mill levy-funded government schools might be balanced, in the eyes of these 'home-schoolers' with an unfair tax of their own!


STEVE MARTIN-STEWART

A Saving Faith

Quite a few times, when Jesus healed someone, He then told them, 'your faith has made you well' (Matthew 9:22, Mark 5:34, Mark 10:52, Luke 7:50, Luke 8:48, Luke 17:19, Luke 18:42 )! Was Jesus telling them that they had made themselves well?! Even given that faith itself is a gift of God ( Ephesians 2:8 & 9 ); is it possible that we can heal ourselves?!

As usual, in Scripture, we know that context is often what determines the intended meaning! The context, of course, of Jesus words above, was the first century. In most, if not all cases, those who were healed were native Israelites! Our modern translations do us a bit of a disservice here; rather than Jesus saying something like 'your faith has made you well' ( or 'whole' ), it might more correctly read, 'your faith has saved you'! Many times, in order to heal a person, before Jesus made that person whole again, He uttered the words, 'your sins are forgiven'. Jesus came to save His People from their sins, and by performing these miracles of healing & resurrection, Jesus was symbolically healing the diseases of Israel whereby they had corporately died the death of Adam and must be saved from the effects of the sin ( Romans 6:23 ) of Adam, before She could be raised to New Life!

Of course, we trust that Jesus did heal the physical ailments of these people, there's really no denying that! But even these healings were symbolic of the healing of the disease that Israel after the flesh had incurred with her rampant idolatry, harlotry & witchcraft! The Hebrew Scriptures are rife with examples of this, and even the seemingly meaningless ( to us today ) cleanliness laws codified in Leviticus & Numbers prophecy of the time when Israel herself would be removed from the Blessed Presence of God because of her ritual uncleanness! Israel, in the Time of Jesus, had become an unclean thing, and must be cleansed in order to prepare for the return of Her Lord & Master!

In today's day & age, we might often hear, from well intentioned ( but almost totally ignorant ) Christians, 'you just don't have enough faith'! Well, it is true that Jesus told His disciples that 'if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done'  ( Matthew 21:21-the apostle Paul reiterated this statement in I Corinthians 13:2 ), but here again, we must take into account the historical context of Jesus words! This might require more in-depth study & probably another whole article, but do you think maybe the Faith to Move Mountains was not simply to jump whatever hurdles we might face in life, but was given specifically to those first-century disciples so that they might overcome the false 'mountain of the Lord's house' ( Isaiah 2:2, Micah 4:1 ) that Israel according to the flesh had become?! The Time had come to cast Her into the Sea!

Our Heavenly Father has graciously provided many means today by which we may heal our own body, some more or less costly than others! Most often, the cures for whatever disease wracks our humanity can be found in nature, but with the rise of technology, doctors have been plying their trade, to varying degrees of success, with man-made drugs & placebos! For the most part, with these man-made drugs & placebos, doctors, rather than working toward curing, or healing, the actual disease, have been treating symptoms! But I digress....................

The conclusion that we should reach here, is that the Saving Faith of Israel and Israel's God had it's intended effect; it did provide for the salvation of His People! No more do the sin & the death of Adam reign! As we read in Revelation 20:14, 'Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire'! The death that Adam brought on his progeny is no more; death was defeated, first at the cross, by the one & final sacrifice of Jesus, the Perfect Lamb of God, and the decisively in AD70, with the destruction of Jerusalem & the Temple, symbols of the ministration of death itself!

It was the faithfulness of the Son of God that saved them then & and it is the faithfulness of the Son of God that heals us now, both spiritually & physically!

Charles Haddon Shank