Okay, so we've been here before; 'why bring it up again?' Well, maybe because when we see the words, 'The End', it's only natural to think, 'it's over!' We've reached the conclusion of the matter, there is no more, the story's over, there is no more. However, though 'the end' may & often does connote cessation; in the case of Covenant History in particular, it indicates the Goal of history: as Solomon, king of Israel wrote, 'Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all' ( Proverbs 12:13 ) To know the Creator & to follow His Word, His Son is the Goal, the End of Covenant History!
As pointed out recently by a good friend of mine, the Hebrew worldview knew of two 'ages', 'this age' & 'that age', ( Luke 20:34 ), also known as the Old Covenant Era & the New Covenant Era, or 'the age to come' ( Matthew 12:32, Luke 18:30, Ephesians 2:7, Hebrews 6:5 ). The apostle Paul & the writer to the Hebrews told their audience that 'the end of the ages' had come upon them ( I Corinthians 10:11, Hebrews 9:26 ). It is interesting to note here that the writer to the Hebrews uses the Greek 'συντέλεια'. or 'syntelaia' which basically indicates completion or consummation, whereas the apostle simply uses the Greek 'τέλος' or 'telos', which points toward a specific goal. The plural form 'ages' is an addition in some newer versions, including the New King James Version, for whatever reason, but it is clear, as my friend pointed out, that the 'age' or 'ages' to which they referred were simply to be understood as covenant 'ages' or 'eras', not epochs of Time, or world history as we know it!
As the Messiah of Israel, Jesus was He whom His people had longed for! The Presence of the Creator on earth, in the flesh, so to speak, was the Goal, or End of Covenant History. Just as a marriage is consummated when two become one, so the ages were brought to completion, or consummation when Jesus, the Son of the Father, came to earth & become One with His Bride, the Church ( the Organism, not the organization ). The Marriage of Heaven & Earth was the Goal of Covenant History, but even though that Goal, or End was reach, fulfilled, Covenant History, per se', did not cease to be: as the beneficiaries, the Offspring, you might say, of this Marriage, we are fulfilling this Covenant through Relationship & Communion!
Through the Incarnation of the Son of God, the Consummation of the Ages was accomplished, but as in any marriage, it was far from over; the Goal had been reached, but there is still much to do! Here is where Covenant History intersects with World History, as it has for the past 'ages'; though Jesus fulfilled His role as the End of Covenant History, His Offspring, His Children, so to speak, continue His work of reconciliation, bringing into that Blessed Relationship those who previously have merely existed in Time, living simply in World History. Jesus was the Messiah of Israel, yes, but He became so much more: He is the Savior of the World & through His Bride, the Church, is reconciling the Creation to the Creator, in essence bringing together Covenant History & World History!
World History, since the beginning of Time, has experienced many ups & downs; one might note, in fact, that it is subject to a cycle of sorts! Time is in progression, but as we are all familiar with the saying, 'history repeats itself', one may fairly easily note that this 'cycle' has produced many of what we call atrocities. Simply because people did not learn their lesson the first time, as well as continuing ignorance of this history, Time is almost forced to repeat itself. Beginning with Adam & Eve, continuing through the sordid history of Israel, up until their final rejection of their Messiah & denial of the Son of God, the Creator Himself, Covenant History reached its Peak, its Completion, its Perfection, in the first century & so World History continues to progress toward its own Completion in the Marriage of Heaven & Earth!
The End of the Ages was reached in the first century & in that sense, one might even say, with the translators of many of the older versions of our Bible, 'the end of the world'! However, understanding that 'the end', especially in the context of Scripture, indicates that the Goal has been reached, the Consummation has occurred, rather than that it came to a stop, or ceased to be once it had been fulfilled, then, embracing that End for who He is & who We are, we may feel free to continue forward, knowing that, having consummated the Marriage, the covenant blessings are now flowing outward into the World, effecting a change for the good!
Charles Haddon Shank
Tuesday, August 30, 2016
Thursday, August 25, 2016
The New Normal
'No Child Left Behind': sounds good, right? When one reads the Act passed by Congress in 2001, it'd be a hard sell to say that its intentions are anything but noble! However, what it translates to is setting an 'average' for 'success'. The standard by which students are now measured, by my calculations, are nothing more than the 'mean' of the body. This could be indicative of anything from one child being passed through the progressive grades while comprehending little, to a whole class being 'dumbed down' just so he or she can keep up!
With the understanding that the above scenario is by no means the majority rule, we must acknowledge that this often seems to be the case! There are many available examples out there of children who have excelled in this system, but there are just as many that the system fails & so we have college grads flipping burgers rather than working in the field they majored in, while others have persevered in their chosen field of study & are accomplishing great things!
The government, or public schools, although somewhat to blame for the mediocrity that we have noted, is not the ultimately guilty party; the guilt must lay, first, at the feet of the parents, secondarily with the institution & lastly, but not necessarily least, with the child! As with everything in life, no matter the situation, there is always a choice to be made: this or that, right or wrong, my way or your way. Scripturally speaking, the wisest man ever, once said, 'Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.' ( Proverbs 22:6 ); acknowledging the existence & purpose of such things as 'parent-teacher conferences', the parents, especially Christians, should ask themselves this all-important question; 'are we training our child in the way he or she should go, or are we shirking our responsibility & giving our child over to an institution that is more concerned with keeping the law of man than teaching the Law of God?' Furthermore, we should wonder if, even with these almost useless if not harmful conferences, the parents are actually making any progress at all, or if they are simply there to observe the progression or digression of their child!
There is much that can be gleaned from the early pages of Scripture, especially, that indicate the wisdom, indeed the necessity, of teaching our children the way in which they should walk. As parents, Christians especially, we must question the wisdom of teaching our children to walk according to the Law of God at home, then sending them to a public institution for the majority of their formative years that trains them to adhere to the standards of those who have 'thumbed their noses' in the Face of God. There are times, admittedly, where a parent is wise to seek assistance when the subject to be taught involves knowledge outside their learning & experience, but in these cases, there is more of a choice available to the parent; in the case of the government institution, there is only the choice to send or not to send. These schools ( government/public ) are administered a certain curriculum; this curriculum is then applied liberally to ALL students ( there may be exceptions here ), making abstinence or compliance the only choices!
Though there are almost countless examples of very capable individuals who have survived the government school system & persevered to a great degree of success, there is also the disturbing fact of a 'dumbed down' populace that is largely at fault for the decline that we have noted in America of late! The general population in America, having become accustomed to the 'mediocrity' funneled through the public school system, has allowed the corruption that has become pervasive in our nation's capitals, threatening our very way of life. 'Our way of life, I say, because, not only does this corruption affect the Christian's life, it has become detrimental to life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness, endeavoring to introduce abnormality as 'the new normal'!
It is good, right & just to make sure that every child excels in their education: however, is it good, right & just to deny some their full potential so that others might not be left behind?! This is not to say that such is the intention of the Act in question, but is this not too often the result? Parents may confer with their children's teachers & resolve some of these matters, more or less to their satisfaction, though usually the teacher prevails in such cases!
For the past several decades, educating ones own children, whether at home or in a 'co-op' setting,. has gained in popularity! Studies have shown to an increasing degree that, not only do children thrive in this environment, they have excelled equal to or above those educated in an institutional environment! Another disturbing fact to consider when making the choice of whether to train your own children or let them be further enslaved by institutional 'brainwashing', is the rise of what has been labeled 'bullying'; in the public school system, for whatever reason, this sort of behavior has become a growing concern! This is almost wholly the responsibility of the parents, largely because of divorce & though some may object to this line of reasoning, saying things like, 'what about socialization?';, we as parents, Christian parents in particular, should ask ourselves, 'is this the kind of socialization we want for our children; are these the social skills we want them to LEARN?!'
Charles Haddon Shank
With the understanding that the above scenario is by no means the majority rule, we must acknowledge that this often seems to be the case! There are many available examples out there of children who have excelled in this system, but there are just as many that the system fails & so we have college grads flipping burgers rather than working in the field they majored in, while others have persevered in their chosen field of study & are accomplishing great things!
The government, or public schools, although somewhat to blame for the mediocrity that we have noted, is not the ultimately guilty party; the guilt must lay, first, at the feet of the parents, secondarily with the institution & lastly, but not necessarily least, with the child! As with everything in life, no matter the situation, there is always a choice to be made: this or that, right or wrong, my way or your way. Scripturally speaking, the wisest man ever, once said, 'Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.' ( Proverbs 22:6 ); acknowledging the existence & purpose of such things as 'parent-teacher conferences', the parents, especially Christians, should ask themselves this all-important question; 'are we training our child in the way he or she should go, or are we shirking our responsibility & giving our child over to an institution that is more concerned with keeping the law of man than teaching the Law of God?' Furthermore, we should wonder if, even with these almost useless if not harmful conferences, the parents are actually making any progress at all, or if they are simply there to observe the progression or digression of their child!
There is much that can be gleaned from the early pages of Scripture, especially, that indicate the wisdom, indeed the necessity, of teaching our children the way in which they should walk. As parents, Christians especially, we must question the wisdom of teaching our children to walk according to the Law of God at home, then sending them to a public institution for the majority of their formative years that trains them to adhere to the standards of those who have 'thumbed their noses' in the Face of God. There are times, admittedly, where a parent is wise to seek assistance when the subject to be taught involves knowledge outside their learning & experience, but in these cases, there is more of a choice available to the parent; in the case of the government institution, there is only the choice to send or not to send. These schools ( government/public ) are administered a certain curriculum; this curriculum is then applied liberally to ALL students ( there may be exceptions here ), making abstinence or compliance the only choices!
Though there are almost countless examples of very capable individuals who have survived the government school system & persevered to a great degree of success, there is also the disturbing fact of a 'dumbed down' populace that is largely at fault for the decline that we have noted in America of late! The general population in America, having become accustomed to the 'mediocrity' funneled through the public school system, has allowed the corruption that has become pervasive in our nation's capitals, threatening our very way of life. 'Our way of life, I say, because, not only does this corruption affect the Christian's life, it has become detrimental to life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness, endeavoring to introduce abnormality as 'the new normal'!
It is good, right & just to make sure that every child excels in their education: however, is it good, right & just to deny some their full potential so that others might not be left behind?! This is not to say that such is the intention of the Act in question, but is this not too often the result? Parents may confer with their children's teachers & resolve some of these matters, more or less to their satisfaction, though usually the teacher prevails in such cases!
For the past several decades, educating ones own children, whether at home or in a 'co-op' setting,. has gained in popularity! Studies have shown to an increasing degree that, not only do children thrive in this environment, they have excelled equal to or above those educated in an institutional environment! Another disturbing fact to consider when making the choice of whether to train your own children or let them be further enslaved by institutional 'brainwashing', is the rise of what has been labeled 'bullying'; in the public school system, for whatever reason, this sort of behavior has become a growing concern! This is almost wholly the responsibility of the parents, largely because of divorce & though some may object to this line of reasoning, saying things like, 'what about socialization?';, we as parents, Christian parents in particular, should ask ourselves, 'is this the kind of socialization we want for our children; are these the social skills we want them to LEARN?!'
Charles Haddon Shank
Sunday, August 21, 2016
This Human Shell
The spirit indeed [ is ] willing, but the flesh [ is ] weak.
Matthew 26:41b
Just like you & me, Johnny was a complex creature, made up of body & spirit: okay, so Johnny, like his mother & father before him, was a robot, or at least, so it would seem! Johnny was born Robert Jonathan Smith, one of a long line of Smiths just like him. Johnny had often wondered why his schoolmates called him a 'robot'; he was really no different than they: instead of a body of flesh & blood, though, his was one of nuts & bolts. The important thing was, just like them, he was alive!
The Smiths were a fairly old family; for generations they had persevered as one of the toughest family lines around! Though their non-biological bodies had been manufactured on an assembly line, from the strongest & best alloys available, they were capable of many of the most important functions that the human ( biological ) body is capable of. Being made of steel, so to speak, it should be fairly obvious that sexual intercourse & the resulting conception was not one of these important functions!
Being assembled of many complex parts, Johnny & his family were not easy to distinguish from each other sometimes, at least, until you got to know them; though there were several different models, the Smiths all had many of the same characteristics, at least, to look at. Every one of them was the product of a creator: no, not the same Creator who ushered the universe & all the mysteries it holds into existence, but one who had become One with the Divine, enabling them to co-create alongside of the Supreme Being, the Ultimate Creator!
Long before the Smiths were more than a twinkle in the eyes of these co-creators, one of their own prophets wrote, 'For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?' ( I Corinthians 2:11a ). As a human being is lifeless without the accompanying spirit, or breath, so the Smiths, with their man-made lungs, hearts & nervous systems, were as alive as any biological specimen, maybe even moreso. Being well-nigh impervious to the viruses & diseases that have plagued human-kind for eons, this manufactured biology lasted much longer than the normal human lifespan!
Although his shiny metallic body was starting to show signs of wear, after almost 500 years in existence, Johnny was still not much more than a teenager, by human reckoning. Being a member of one of the youngest families of Smiths, he was simply the latest model in a time-tested & proven line of what had now become an archaic term, 'android'. Though one would hardly call the Smith family 'robots' & barely even 'androids', they were, speaking of physicality, anyway, products of a very complex manufacturing process; as such, they had been formed with the ability to progressively acquire knowledge through information.
Eons ago, human beings had realized the ability, not only to copy the Creator's work, but to further that work as co-creators with the Supreme Being! The Breathe of Life had, in the beginning been a Gift of the Creator to the Creation; now, through the New Creation, the Marriage of Heaven & Earth, it had become the property of human-kind to bestow that Gift as they will. The Smith line had, in the beginning, been a rather rough copy when compared to the latest iteration, but they were still quite a leap forward for humanity & their ability to co-create!
Biological procreation, as a matter of course, was an impossibility in Johnny's family; they were not biological creatures, after all! For all intents & purposes, one could define them as 'robots', although they were not JUST 'robots'; no, not by any means. Just as human beings inhabit a biological shell, so this family wore a non-biological shell, one that had been manufactured by a lesser version of the One who had created the universe, as well as creating that lesser god.
Johnny was just as alive as you & me; his body was just a lot tougher than yours or mine! Though his parents, like him, had been pieced together those many, many years ago, he was no less their son than I am the son of David & Lois Shank: you see, they had pieced him together, almost 500 years previously. Johnny was a robot, yes, but he, like his family, was so much more than a mere robot; the Smiths had become so much more than walking, talking, thinking automatons; they were living, breathing replicas of the original human creation: Version Infinity Point O!
Charles Haddon Shank
Tuesday, August 09, 2016
Beyond Humanity
Are we human, or are we dancer?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold.
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer.
Are we human, or are we dancer?
My sign is vital, my hands are cold.
And I'm on my knees looking for the answer.
Are we human, or are we dancer?
The Importance of Being Human is without doubt; we've amply established this, but one can't help wondering, 'is this all there is?' Theological questions arise when we delve into this subject, questions like, 'where will you spend eternity?' & 'Does our humanity continue on in either?' Will we inhabit these biological bodies, or ones like them, in the 'after-life'? The apostle Paul echoes a similar sentiment in his first letter to the Church at Corinth ( I Corinthians 15:35 ); 'How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?' To many Christians, not to mention non-Christians, these questions are of utmost importance, but what if they're all moot; what if, rather than going somewhere when our biological bodies perish, we now inhabit a different plane altogether, while our biological bodies walk this earth?!
Why are we so enraptured with the notion that we are what we eat? Yes, we were given this body of flesh, this biological marvel in which we walk this earth, functioning as the Hands & Feet of the Creator, our Heavenly Father, but do they define us, are we intricate biological machines, or are we the spirits that give them breath? The historical Jesus was a human being, but it was not His biology that defined Him: is it really much different with us? As the Holy Spirit defined who Jesus really was, it is our spirits that prove who we really are!
What if we weren't confined to this biology? What if we could transcend our humanity, bypassing those 'triggers' that inhibit us from doing what we long to do, what we were put here for? Take a disabled person ( like me ) for instance; sometimes we have to ask ourselves if we aren't using our disabilities as a 'crutch'! There's no question that certain actions are limited, if not prohibited by the diseases that plague our biological bodies, but must these disabilities plague our spirits as well? If we could reach beyond our humanity, beyond these diseases ( including 'old age'? ), the possibilities are almost endless, boundless!
If one only has the eyes to 'see & the ears to 'hear', there is a host of evidence out there, available to the average human, that pointedly witnesses to those who transcend their humanity on a daily basis! In most Christian circles, this practice is largely 'poo-pooed' or outright tabooed! Much of what is practiced in this area is pagan, admittedly, but just because it is so, doesn't mean that it is wrong. Pagans were around long before Christianity ever came on the scene & many of them, in their own way, knew the ways of our Heavenly Father, many eons before the Christ ever came! Their resulting spirituality, or communion within the Divine, puts much of modern Christianity to shame today!
Religion has confined us to our humanity, to a great extent! This is not to say that religion, in & of itself. is a bad thing, this is merely to say that, because true religion is based on outward actions, or deeds done in the body, religion has been relegated, like the concept of life itself, to the actions performed in biology! Without religion, one would accomplish nothing while in this biology, though, because it is simply the practice of what one believes in the spirit. Religion, therefore, is good, though too often, we, as human beings, define ourselves by our religion, rather than allowing ourselves to be defined by who & what we are!
So, 'what are we, really?' We ARE human beings, yes, in the sense that we are housed, much like Jesus was, by this biology, but we are so much more than mere human beings that perish! With the Spirit of the Living God impelling, compelling us, we can transcend, or go beyond this humanity & be who we were meant to be, not limiting ourselves to what this biology will allow us to do, going 'further up & further in', to quote a popular writer. Having settled the question of where we go when our individual biological body perishes, previously, we will go no further here than to reiterate that glorious fact that we, as Christians especially, are forever with our Lord, as the apostle Paul promised his readers in Thessalonika..
In short, a human being is a sentient animal, one who, through the Breath of the Creator God is able to discern absolutes, able, not only to walk & talk like all the other animals, but to judge for his or herself between right & wrong. Our humanity, while it distinguishes us from other animals, is not what makes us 'us', though, it is the Spirit itself that empowers us! To transcend our humanity is not to become inhuman, or not human; it simply means that we are not defined by our biological 'shell'. When we go 'Beyond Humanity' & embrace our spiritual nature, we are empowered further to live because we understand that life is not limited to this biology; to be free indeed, we must recognize & realize this glorious fact!
Charles Haddon Shank
Friday, August 05, 2016
Into the Great Unknown
#blacklivesmatter; that's right...................
#whitelivesmatter; that's true too.................
#alllivesmatter; that's better!
No matter the reasoning behind any of these notions, one must agree wholeheartedly with the last one, most of all! Yes, the lives of black people DO matter, the same as those of white people, yellow people, brown people & red people ( in no particular order ). The lives that anyone lives in this biology, no matter their race ( aren't we ALL members of ONE race, the HUMAN race? ), color, sex or religion, is a Gift from the Creator, not something to be taken lightly; no matter how one looks at it, we are ALL children/creations of our Heavenly Father & He doesn't do things 'willy-nilly', there is Purpose in everything He creates ( even the lowly mosquito )!
The subject of the 'after-life' is one that cannot be ignored: in this biology, death, or the cessation of life, touches us all! Do what we may, we cannot escape its clutches; it overtakes every aspect of biology at some point. This is how the human race was made: it was never made to endure forever. Some may argue this point, however, insisting that it was the disobedience of Adam & Eve that brought biological death into this world. One has to ignore Science, however, even Biology itself to faithfully assert this. You may have heard the term 'biological clock'; this is a metaphor, of course, for the fact that this biology, our individual body in particular, was not made to last more than a generation or so. Depending on the care one takes of his or her body, or as most Christians would say, 'the time allotted to us', we are granted a certain length of time, or existence, in this biology.
The 'Eternal Life' of which Scripture speaks, that which was Promised from the Beginning, was not, contrary to popular opinion, biological life! Although in a sense, one might say that, through what is called the Circle of Life, this biology will persist, this is not what Jesus meant when He told the sister of Lazarus, 'whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die' ( John 11:26 ). The long life-spans recorded in Scripture are taken at face value by most Christians, but it can be fairly easily proven that the writers of Scripture used a much different literary style than we are used to in the West. For a man to live for nearly one thousand years, as our western mindset tends to read Scripture, is so ridiculous as to be almost absurd, unbelievable at best. It is interesting & another indication of the ANE ( Ancient Near East ) literary style, that no women are mentioned as having lived this long!
A man or women is known by his or her spirit: the manner in which he or she lives out their existence in this biology is a product of the life-force that empowers them! According to Scripture, those with the Holy Spirit within do good deeds & those with an unholy, or evil spirit, do wickedly. There is much evidence, among certain people especially, that these different spirits can be 'felt', in other words, that one can tell what sort of spirit empowers one, even before they do anything, good or bad. Whether one chooses to recognize what is called 'paranormal activity' or not, as 'they' say, 'the truth is out there'; ample evidence exists that certain things occur apart from a biological explanation. One can even find 'evidence' of this in the pages of Scripture; the resurrection of Jesus, for instance!
Scripturally speaking, the biological resurrection, both of Jesus & others before Him, is undeniable; that Jesus returned to this biological existence in the self-same body which had ceased to function biologically is without question: the question is whether this was simply a sign of the times, or whether this signified a universal truth for all generations! Spiritually speaking, Jesus never died. As the Creator of Heaven & Earth, come in the flesh, or incarnate, the body that He inhabited while He walked this earth died, but His Spirit never did. This is not to say that the expiration of His biology had no effect, for it served the Purpose for which it was sent; the point is that, although Jesus was known by the deeds which He accomplished while in this biology, His identity was the Holy Spirit within Him!
Like Jesus, as stated earlier, human beings are known by the spirit they possess! We are most usually known by the deeds we do, the way we live out our biological existence, but our identity is not wrapped up in biology, rather, it is the Spirit Within which proves our existence. When individual, biological bodies cease to function, in essence, die, then the spirit, according to Scripture, returns to the One who gave it ( Ecclesiastes 12:7 ). What happens to that spirit beyond that is pretty much a matter for conjecture, although there are several theories out there, some more or less tenable than others. Whether or not the spirit endures after this biology ceases to function, one thing is fairly clear, there is much evidence out there that seems to point to the 'paranormal!
'Eternal Life', then, the 'everlasting life' ( John 3:16 ) that Jesus promised is not a reference to this biology, it refers to the Life of the Spirit, to 'the spirits of just men made perfect' ( Hebrews 12:23 )! An argument could be made, corporately speaking, that, in the Great Circle of Life, this biology will persist, but it is abundantly clear that the Life of the Spirit is wrapped up in the Creator. Individually speaking, though, in this biological body, we are given but one life to live & according to how we live that life, we will have either a blessed or cursed existence!
Depending, again, on how we take care of this 'shell' we are blessed with & barring any 'accident', our individual biological bodies are built to last for a relatively short period. We may do certain things to insure that we live out our years in more comfort, or live in such a way that we enjoy this existence more than some, but it is sure & certain; no matter what we do, this body will perish! Scripture asks this question ( I Corinthians 2:11 ), 'what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?' For a man or woman to truly know themselves, they must search their spirit to understand why they do or don't do certain things. When their spirit is bent on evil, they will do evil, but if their spirit is good, good will come of it!
Life Matters! The Creator has blessed us with this biology & He doesn't make mistakes; every human being on the face of the earth was put here for a purpose. That purpose may simply be to smooth off the rough edges of a diamond, or it may be to shine like the stars of heaven, but ALL lives matter! In this life, some people become so attached to this biology that they become almost inconsolable when it passes away: this is not to say that we should ignore our feelings when we or a loved one arrives at the end of our biological existence, but, especially as Christians, we should remember that this biology does not define our life; our Life is in the Spirit & that Life never ends!
Charles Haddon Shank
#whitelivesmatter; that's true too.................
#alllivesmatter; that's better!
No matter the reasoning behind any of these notions, one must agree wholeheartedly with the last one, most of all! Yes, the lives of black people DO matter, the same as those of white people, yellow people, brown people & red people ( in no particular order ). The lives that anyone lives in this biology, no matter their race ( aren't we ALL members of ONE race, the HUMAN race? ), color, sex or religion, is a Gift from the Creator, not something to be taken lightly; no matter how one looks at it, we are ALL children/creations of our Heavenly Father & He doesn't do things 'willy-nilly', there is Purpose in everything He creates ( even the lowly mosquito )!
The subject of the 'after-life' is one that cannot be ignored: in this biology, death, or the cessation of life, touches us all! Do what we may, we cannot escape its clutches; it overtakes every aspect of biology at some point. This is how the human race was made: it was never made to endure forever. Some may argue this point, however, insisting that it was the disobedience of Adam & Eve that brought biological death into this world. One has to ignore Science, however, even Biology itself to faithfully assert this. You may have heard the term 'biological clock'; this is a metaphor, of course, for the fact that this biology, our individual body in particular, was not made to last more than a generation or so. Depending on the care one takes of his or her body, or as most Christians would say, 'the time allotted to us', we are granted a certain length of time, or existence, in this biology.
The 'Eternal Life' of which Scripture speaks, that which was Promised from the Beginning, was not, contrary to popular opinion, biological life! Although in a sense, one might say that, through what is called the Circle of Life, this biology will persist, this is not what Jesus meant when He told the sister of Lazarus, 'whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die' ( John 11:26 ). The long life-spans recorded in Scripture are taken at face value by most Christians, but it can be fairly easily proven that the writers of Scripture used a much different literary style than we are used to in the West. For a man to live for nearly one thousand years, as our western mindset tends to read Scripture, is so ridiculous as to be almost absurd, unbelievable at best. It is interesting & another indication of the ANE ( Ancient Near East ) literary style, that no women are mentioned as having lived this long!
A man or women is known by his or her spirit: the manner in which he or she lives out their existence in this biology is a product of the life-force that empowers them! According to Scripture, those with the Holy Spirit within do good deeds & those with an unholy, or evil spirit, do wickedly. There is much evidence, among certain people especially, that these different spirits can be 'felt', in other words, that one can tell what sort of spirit empowers one, even before they do anything, good or bad. Whether one chooses to recognize what is called 'paranormal activity' or not, as 'they' say, 'the truth is out there'; ample evidence exists that certain things occur apart from a biological explanation. One can even find 'evidence' of this in the pages of Scripture; the resurrection of Jesus, for instance!
Scripturally speaking, the biological resurrection, both of Jesus & others before Him, is undeniable; that Jesus returned to this biological existence in the self-same body which had ceased to function biologically is without question: the question is whether this was simply a sign of the times, or whether this signified a universal truth for all generations! Spiritually speaking, Jesus never died. As the Creator of Heaven & Earth, come in the flesh, or incarnate, the body that He inhabited while He walked this earth died, but His Spirit never did. This is not to say that the expiration of His biology had no effect, for it served the Purpose for which it was sent; the point is that, although Jesus was known by the deeds which He accomplished while in this biology, His identity was the Holy Spirit within Him!
Like Jesus, as stated earlier, human beings are known by the spirit they possess! We are most usually known by the deeds we do, the way we live out our biological existence, but our identity is not wrapped up in biology, rather, it is the Spirit Within which proves our existence. When individual, biological bodies cease to function, in essence, die, then the spirit, according to Scripture, returns to the One who gave it ( Ecclesiastes 12:7 ). What happens to that spirit beyond that is pretty much a matter for conjecture, although there are several theories out there, some more or less tenable than others. Whether or not the spirit endures after this biology ceases to function, one thing is fairly clear, there is much evidence out there that seems to point to the 'paranormal!
'Eternal Life', then, the 'everlasting life' ( John 3:16 ) that Jesus promised is not a reference to this biology, it refers to the Life of the Spirit, to 'the spirits of just men made perfect' ( Hebrews 12:23 )! An argument could be made, corporately speaking, that, in the Great Circle of Life, this biology will persist, but it is abundantly clear that the Life of the Spirit is wrapped up in the Creator. Individually speaking, though, in this biological body, we are given but one life to live & according to how we live that life, we will have either a blessed or cursed existence!
Depending, again, on how we take care of this 'shell' we are blessed with & barring any 'accident', our individual biological bodies are built to last for a relatively short period. We may do certain things to insure that we live out our years in more comfort, or live in such a way that we enjoy this existence more than some, but it is sure & certain; no matter what we do, this body will perish! Scripture asks this question ( I Corinthians 2:11 ), 'what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him?' For a man or woman to truly know themselves, they must search their spirit to understand why they do or don't do certain things. When their spirit is bent on evil, they will do evil, but if their spirit is good, good will come of it!
Life Matters! The Creator has blessed us with this biology & He doesn't make mistakes; every human being on the face of the earth was put here for a purpose. That purpose may simply be to smooth off the rough edges of a diamond, or it may be to shine like the stars of heaven, but ALL lives matter! In this life, some people become so attached to this biology that they become almost inconsolable when it passes away: this is not to say that we should ignore our feelings when we or a loved one arrives at the end of our biological existence, but, especially as Christians, we should remember that this biology does not define our life; our Life is in the Spirit & that Life never ends!
Charles Haddon Shank
Tuesday, August 02, 2016
Learning to Live; Letting Go
It's easier said than done, but as the saying goes, 'let go & let God', right? Can it really be that simple?! When some people use this phrase, we can easily imagine that what they're really say is to stop what you're doing & start praying instead. This is not to say we shouldn't pray about certain things, but what if our Heavenly Father wants us to communicate with Him/pray to Him WHILE we are working out our own damn problems, the ones we got into through our own ignorance?!
Sometimes, we tend to go through life just going from one crisis to the next, in fact, it often seems like certain people thrive off 'drama'! This is one way to get through this earthly existence, but is it really all that attractive? To some, it seems to be the only way of life; if they didn't have something to complain about, something to keep them busy fretting & worrying about matters they needn't fret or worry about, these poor, ignorant souls would probably go crazy! A favorite saying among Christians in this day & age is, 'God has promised He won't give us more than we can handle', or words to that effect, anyway; If we truly believed that, do you really think that we would have the problem we bear witness to, with institutionalized Christianity being nearly as fraught with drama-based disasters as those who are just trying to get by in this world?
No one needs to be reminded here how many daily occurrences try to steal our peace of mind! Like it or not, there is much that happens in this life, this world, so much drama, that it seems impossible at times, to keep our peace of mind. It's hard not to fret about these kinds of things, because, even though they may be based on a bunch of unnecessary drama, they ARE disasters nonetheless. they may totally BE the spawn of certain people's stupidity, but they still warrant our concern & care!
We SHOULD be concerned about the frequency, even modern normality of this kind of disaster-based existence; this is a sobering thought: no wonder our culture is headed for 'hell' ( really, it's IN 'hell' already )! Though this trend should give us cause for great concern & action, we need not fret or worry about it. We should definitely be in constant prayer & communication with our Heavenly Father, but we should also be doing what we can, acting according to our deepest longings. Though many live according to this Rule already, we are bound, not in word only, but in deed, to remind those who do not walk this Path that life is for living, not worrying about dying!
One cannot get away from 'drama'; in this world especially, it is a clear & seemingly ever-present danger: not only natural, but man-made disasters seem to threaten our way of life on a daily basis! One might wonder if it's from a sense of boredom inspired by 'social media' or the entertainment industry that so many people feel the need to create their own drama. On the other hand, it's often because of their differences that certain people just 'clash', but this even, is unnecessary 'drama', because, when you think about it, we're all in it together & we need to learn to just get along!
Figuring out what's important in this life is a big part of our Journey! This biological machine that houses us was never meant to last forever. Periods of over 100 years have been reported as fairly normal lifespans, although the average over the past few centuries is probably 70-80 years. The point is, we have only been given a relatively short period of time in this biology in which to make our impact on this world; why be so negative when there is so much to be positive about?!
Learning to let go does not mean ceasing to care; letting go of things means ignoring the drama & not participating in the disasters that come from it! It IS easier said than done, but in order to preserve ones peace of mind, it must be done; pray about it yes, but through the strength of the Spirit Within, just do it! We all have struggles, we are all familiar with drama & we all find it just as easy to give in to the temptation, but when we stand strong together, in Community, we can all Learn to Live, as we Let Go of the negativity that plagues this world & embrace the positive aspects of Life in the Kingdom!
Charles Haddon Shank
Sometimes, we tend to go through life just going from one crisis to the next, in fact, it often seems like certain people thrive off 'drama'! This is one way to get through this earthly existence, but is it really all that attractive? To some, it seems to be the only way of life; if they didn't have something to complain about, something to keep them busy fretting & worrying about matters they needn't fret or worry about, these poor, ignorant souls would probably go crazy! A favorite saying among Christians in this day & age is, 'God has promised He won't give us more than we can handle', or words to that effect, anyway; If we truly believed that, do you really think that we would have the problem we bear witness to, with institutionalized Christianity being nearly as fraught with drama-based disasters as those who are just trying to get by in this world?
No one needs to be reminded here how many daily occurrences try to steal our peace of mind! Like it or not, there is much that happens in this life, this world, so much drama, that it seems impossible at times, to keep our peace of mind. It's hard not to fret about these kinds of things, because, even though they may be based on a bunch of unnecessary drama, they ARE disasters nonetheless. they may totally BE the spawn of certain people's stupidity, but they still warrant our concern & care!
We SHOULD be concerned about the frequency, even modern normality of this kind of disaster-based existence; this is a sobering thought: no wonder our culture is headed for 'hell' ( really, it's IN 'hell' already )! Though this trend should give us cause for great concern & action, we need not fret or worry about it. We should definitely be in constant prayer & communication with our Heavenly Father, but we should also be doing what we can, acting according to our deepest longings. Though many live according to this Rule already, we are bound, not in word only, but in deed, to remind those who do not walk this Path that life is for living, not worrying about dying!
One cannot get away from 'drama'; in this world especially, it is a clear & seemingly ever-present danger: not only natural, but man-made disasters seem to threaten our way of life on a daily basis! One might wonder if it's from a sense of boredom inspired by 'social media' or the entertainment industry that so many people feel the need to create their own drama. On the other hand, it's often because of their differences that certain people just 'clash', but this even, is unnecessary 'drama', because, when you think about it, we're all in it together & we need to learn to just get along!
Figuring out what's important in this life is a big part of our Journey! This biological machine that houses us was never meant to last forever. Periods of over 100 years have been reported as fairly normal lifespans, although the average over the past few centuries is probably 70-80 years. The point is, we have only been given a relatively short period of time in this biology in which to make our impact on this world; why be so negative when there is so much to be positive about?!
Learning to let go does not mean ceasing to care; letting go of things means ignoring the drama & not participating in the disasters that come from it! It IS easier said than done, but in order to preserve ones peace of mind, it must be done; pray about it yes, but through the strength of the Spirit Within, just do it! We all have struggles, we are all familiar with drama & we all find it just as easy to give in to the temptation, but when we stand strong together, in Community, we can all Learn to Live, as we Let Go of the negativity that plagues this world & embrace the positive aspects of Life in the Kingdom!
Charles Haddon Shank
Friday, July 29, 2016
Our Christian Identity
What does being a Christian mean to you? If going to church on Sunday & putting on a good face before a watching world is all that it entails, then you should rethink your Christianity! Add to that good works & you're starting to understand. According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, a Christian is 'one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ'; while this definition certainly fits the bill, it by no means fills the bill, or even adequately describes the true Christian. Other definitions assert, more to the point, that a Christian is a follower of Jesus ( who was the Christ ). You may have heard that, in the beginning, it was a term of derision aimed at His disciples; in other words, to call a disciple of Jesus a 'little Christ' was to remind them that theirs ( as the unbelievers saw it ) was a false Messiah, or Christ.
To call a Christian a 'little Christ', however, is the most apt & greatest compliment that you can give them! Jesus told His followers, 'You are the light of the world' ( Matthew 5:14a ); later, He proclaimed that He was the Light of the world ( John 8:12 ), so, using purely biblical reasoning, we may safely assert that we are, at the very least, His representatives on this earthly plane, whether we simply reflect that Light or are bearers of it ( John 14:23 ). It has been said that we are the Christ to the world; in other words, as He was to the Jews & Gentiles, so are we to a dark & dreary world!
A Christian, then, is not simply one who professes belief or faith in Jesus as the Son of God; a Christian is one who does, as Jesus Himself said, 'greater [ works ] than these' ( John 14:12 ), speaking of the works that He did. Those who simply profess belief, even faith in Jesus are simply fooling themselves if they do not the works that He did! This is by no means to say that, to be a true Christian, one must perform, in detail, the physical miracles that Jesus did, though we must, as James wrote later ( James 1:27 ), visit orphans and widows in their trouble' & 'keep oneself unspotted from the world'. 'To heal the sick & feed the poor' may be read several different ways, but when we do these things, we are continuing the work ( of redemption ) that Jesus inaugurated & in that sense at least, doing greater works than He Himself accomplished!
In this day & age, thanks in part to the advances of Science & Technology, the dead ARE being raised, the sick ARE being miraculously healed & the lame ARE being made to walk again! Those who have never before seen the light of day are seeing it for the first time & one only has to do a simple search on Youtube to watch the unspeakable joy on a baby's face as he or she hears their parent's voice for the first time. We must be clear here that none of this occurs without our Almighty Father's Guiding Hand; only with the Wisdom that comes from Above ( James 1:17 ), even though some may not acknowledge it, can these doctors perform these miracles. Jesus told His first-century disciples, 'Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven' ( Matthew 7:21 ); though, in context, He was speaking of those false Jews that claimed to be God's people yet crucified their Messiah, it stands to reason yet, that many who claim the name 'Christian' are false brethren & have not entered the Kingdom of Heaven!
Our Christian Identity says that we, as Jesus was, are Messiah to the world; as Bearers of the Light, or, as I have fondly asserted of late, Aquarian Water-Bearers, we, including those doctors, are spreading the Life & Light of Jesus, both in this early realm & in the heavenly one! Our focus on this physical realm & our attachment to it has caused biology to define the life of the average man or woman, but it has become clear to this blogger that is our Life in the Spirit that defines us. A life lived without the Spirit of the Living God, our Heavenly Father, is no Life at all & is reflected in our earthly existence!
'Christians don't go to church, we are the Church!' Though we meet together with others of like faith, usually at least once a week, for the purposes of corporate worship & fellowship, this is not what defines us; what defines us is that we do what Jesus did, going out & gathering in those who were not a part of the established religion, those in fact, who would be shunned by the establishment & condemned as sinners. We are identified as Christians, not by water baptism, not by going to a certain house of worship on Sunday, not even by wearing 'Christian' t-shirts & such, but by the way we live our lives, according to the Spirit Within. We are all spirit-beings having a biological experience, but when we follow the Wisdom of the Spirit of the Creator, we are blessed; when we follow the wisdom of mere men, our existence in this biological realm will be cursed!
Charles Haddon Shank
To call a Christian a 'little Christ', however, is the most apt & greatest compliment that you can give them! Jesus told His followers, 'You are the light of the world' ( Matthew 5:14a ); later, He proclaimed that He was the Light of the world ( John 8:12 ), so, using purely biblical reasoning, we may safely assert that we are, at the very least, His representatives on this earthly plane, whether we simply reflect that Light or are bearers of it ( John 14:23 ). It has been said that we are the Christ to the world; in other words, as He was to the Jews & Gentiles, so are we to a dark & dreary world!
A Christian, then, is not simply one who professes belief or faith in Jesus as the Son of God; a Christian is one who does, as Jesus Himself said, 'greater [ works ] than these' ( John 14:12 ), speaking of the works that He did. Those who simply profess belief, even faith in Jesus are simply fooling themselves if they do not the works that He did! This is by no means to say that, to be a true Christian, one must perform, in detail, the physical miracles that Jesus did, though we must, as James wrote later ( James 1:27 ), visit orphans and widows in their trouble' & 'keep oneself unspotted from the world'. 'To heal the sick & feed the poor' may be read several different ways, but when we do these things, we are continuing the work ( of redemption ) that Jesus inaugurated & in that sense at least, doing greater works than He Himself accomplished!
In this day & age, thanks in part to the advances of Science & Technology, the dead ARE being raised, the sick ARE being miraculously healed & the lame ARE being made to walk again! Those who have never before seen the light of day are seeing it for the first time & one only has to do a simple search on Youtube to watch the unspeakable joy on a baby's face as he or she hears their parent's voice for the first time. We must be clear here that none of this occurs without our Almighty Father's Guiding Hand; only with the Wisdom that comes from Above ( James 1:17 ), even though some may not acknowledge it, can these doctors perform these miracles. Jesus told His first-century disciples, 'Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven' ( Matthew 7:21 ); though, in context, He was speaking of those false Jews that claimed to be God's people yet crucified their Messiah, it stands to reason yet, that many who claim the name 'Christian' are false brethren & have not entered the Kingdom of Heaven!
Our Christian Identity says that we, as Jesus was, are Messiah to the world; as Bearers of the Light, or, as I have fondly asserted of late, Aquarian Water-Bearers, we, including those doctors, are spreading the Life & Light of Jesus, both in this early realm & in the heavenly one! Our focus on this physical realm & our attachment to it has caused biology to define the life of the average man or woman, but it has become clear to this blogger that is our Life in the Spirit that defines us. A life lived without the Spirit of the Living God, our Heavenly Father, is no Life at all & is reflected in our earthly existence!
'Christians don't go to church, we are the Church!' Though we meet together with others of like faith, usually at least once a week, for the purposes of corporate worship & fellowship, this is not what defines us; what defines us is that we do what Jesus did, going out & gathering in those who were not a part of the established religion, those in fact, who would be shunned by the establishment & condemned as sinners. We are identified as Christians, not by water baptism, not by going to a certain house of worship on Sunday, not even by wearing 'Christian' t-shirts & such, but by the way we live our lives, according to the Spirit Within. We are all spirit-beings having a biological experience, but when we follow the Wisdom of the Spirit of the Creator, we are blessed; when we follow the wisdom of mere men, our existence in this biological realm will be cursed!
Charles Haddon Shank
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
The Great Depression
I almost religiously do NOT watch the news! For one thing, the way the media 'doctors' it, one can be pretty sure that we're hearing & seeing what 'they' want us to hear & see: related to that, what they DO allow us to 'see' is so depressing that it's no surprise that our populace is in the shape it is: in fact, the surprise is that it's not worse!
For so long, we have been embroiled in wars on foreign soil & had our fingers in so many pies, nationally & metaphorically speaking, that it really should be no surprise, all the crap that's going on around the world, even in our own country! What news we DO get is no doubt 'doctored' or 'spun', to whatever extent, but we can only assume that there is some truth to it. The world is a dangerous place; one never knows what may happen when they step out there front door, but there is also a measure of excitement to be had; what might happen if we leave the safety & comfort of our own house can be somewhat frightening, but it also holds the potential for great joy!
Depression is real; focusing on what is wrong in this world is pretty easy, also very natural & too often we get so focused on what is wrong though, that we neglect the joy that is NOW! Yes, there is much to be afraid of, to worry about, not only in the world that we live in, but in our own country. When we look at all that is going on in the world today, the temptation is to get so caught up in that & forget that we so blessed to be living where & when we are. At this time & place, the world is actually, according to history, better off than it has been in the past! Thanks in part to Science & Technology, we know more about the world we live in, we are able to more comfortably live in our world ( not necessarily a good thing ), doctors are better equipped to handle diseases that 50-100 years ago, would have very likely ended in death & the Truth of the Gospel is more readily broadcast.
It is a great temptation among many, in particular, evangelical Christians, to read/watch the evening news & believe they are seeing the book of Revelation unfolding before their eyes!` The book of Revelation, as we have explored previously in these pages, was a fulfillment of the plethora of Hebrew prophets that foretold the coming adverse judgment of Jerusalem & the Temple; this happened in AD70 when it was destroyed by the Roman armies under the leadership of Almighty God. As the case may be, though, when most Christians witness all the death & destruction going on around the world, because of their mistaken theology & misplaced hope, they end up brooding over matters about which they shouldn't & worrying about things they should be rejoicing in!
The world is a dangerous place, there is no doubt, but there is beauty in the danger; what we often shun or are otherwise afraid of, usually holds the most beauty, if only we would let the scales from our eyes & see! The music group, 'The Eagles' once sang a song about 'Dirty Laundry', reminding us that 'bad news sells'; this is abundantly true & Americans today, many of them, are no better than the Roman spectators at the Coliseum who watched in glee as Christians were mauled by lions, or cheered on the winning gladiator as he mutilated his opponent. Boxing today is not too far removed, sometimes, from the early gladiator bouts & how often do many Americans enjoy a good race when there is a spectacular wreck? Though not all are so hell-bent on feeding their lust that they get a thrill out of death & destruction, too many seek this mindless entertainment rather than finding joy in the mundane everyday!
When depression sets in, knocking at the door of our mind & heart like an old, familiar enemy, the natural & easy thing to do is to open that door, welcoming in the specter that haunts our memories: yes, things look bad, not only around the world, but in our own country! However, the God we serve is the One who is over all; this is our Father's world & we are His. If/when these biological bodies perish, for they will, sooner or later, it will be only when our work on earth is done; it's not the end of the world, only of our biological existence. It has been said, 'hope for the best, prepare for the worst': good advice maybe, but too often, when preparing for the worst, we come to expect the worst & so our old enemy latches ahold of us & begins to sink its teeth in till we are nothing but a quivering blob of jelly; either that, or we start to take on its characteristics ourselves!
Joy often comes in the disguise of something that would scare the hell out of the average Joe or Jolene! What we must realize & hold onto is that we are better than average; we are the blessed children of our Heavenly Father, the King of the World, He lives in & through us, making us mini-creators. Very often, though, we forget this glorious fact & so end up creating our own depression. May we remember who we are & thus create a world in which we can live with Peace & Joy!
Charles Haddon Shank
For so long, we have been embroiled in wars on foreign soil & had our fingers in so many pies, nationally & metaphorically speaking, that it really should be no surprise, all the crap that's going on around the world, even in our own country! What news we DO get is no doubt 'doctored' or 'spun', to whatever extent, but we can only assume that there is some truth to it. The world is a dangerous place; one never knows what may happen when they step out there front door, but there is also a measure of excitement to be had; what might happen if we leave the safety & comfort of our own house can be somewhat frightening, but it also holds the potential for great joy!
Depression is real; focusing on what is wrong in this world is pretty easy, also very natural & too often we get so focused on what is wrong though, that we neglect the joy that is NOW! Yes, there is much to be afraid of, to worry about, not only in the world that we live in, but in our own country. When we look at all that is going on in the world today, the temptation is to get so caught up in that & forget that we so blessed to be living where & when we are. At this time & place, the world is actually, according to history, better off than it has been in the past! Thanks in part to Science & Technology, we know more about the world we live in, we are able to more comfortably live in our world ( not necessarily a good thing ), doctors are better equipped to handle diseases that 50-100 years ago, would have very likely ended in death & the Truth of the Gospel is more readily broadcast.
It is a great temptation among many, in particular, evangelical Christians, to read/watch the evening news & believe they are seeing the book of Revelation unfolding before their eyes!` The book of Revelation, as we have explored previously in these pages, was a fulfillment of the plethora of Hebrew prophets that foretold the coming adverse judgment of Jerusalem & the Temple; this happened in AD70 when it was destroyed by the Roman armies under the leadership of Almighty God. As the case may be, though, when most Christians witness all the death & destruction going on around the world, because of their mistaken theology & misplaced hope, they end up brooding over matters about which they shouldn't & worrying about things they should be rejoicing in!
The world is a dangerous place, there is no doubt, but there is beauty in the danger; what we often shun or are otherwise afraid of, usually holds the most beauty, if only we would let the scales from our eyes & see! The music group, 'The Eagles' once sang a song about 'Dirty Laundry', reminding us that 'bad news sells'; this is abundantly true & Americans today, many of them, are no better than the Roman spectators at the Coliseum who watched in glee as Christians were mauled by lions, or cheered on the winning gladiator as he mutilated his opponent. Boxing today is not too far removed, sometimes, from the early gladiator bouts & how often do many Americans enjoy a good race when there is a spectacular wreck? Though not all are so hell-bent on feeding their lust that they get a thrill out of death & destruction, too many seek this mindless entertainment rather than finding joy in the mundane everyday!
When depression sets in, knocking at the door of our mind & heart like an old, familiar enemy, the natural & easy thing to do is to open that door, welcoming in the specter that haunts our memories: yes, things look bad, not only around the world, but in our own country! However, the God we serve is the One who is over all; this is our Father's world & we are His. If/when these biological bodies perish, for they will, sooner or later, it will be only when our work on earth is done; it's not the end of the world, only of our biological existence. It has been said, 'hope for the best, prepare for the worst': good advice maybe, but too often, when preparing for the worst, we come to expect the worst & so our old enemy latches ahold of us & begins to sink its teeth in till we are nothing but a quivering blob of jelly; either that, or we start to take on its characteristics ourselves!
Joy often comes in the disguise of something that would scare the hell out of the average Joe or Jolene! What we must realize & hold onto is that we are better than average; we are the blessed children of our Heavenly Father, the King of the World, He lives in & through us, making us mini-creators. Very often, though, we forget this glorious fact & so end up creating our own depression. May we remember who we are & thus create a world in which we can live with Peace & Joy!
Charles Haddon Shank
Friday, July 22, 2016
A Culture of Victims
Relativity is in full swing in America! All the latest news headlines reek of 'it's not really my fault'! Cops are being killed, 'blacks' are being persecuted, Muslims are being profiled & 'whites' are being privileged. Not all cops, 'blacks', Muslims, or 'whites' enjoy the same status, though, some escape the stigma often attached to their genus, while the rest are lumped right in with the 'bad apples'. It hasn't quite come to this yet in America, though certain people are trying, but Muslims are in danger of becoming the new 'Japanese', or even 'Germans', when it comes to being stigmatized for your heritage or religion.
Persecution has been around for ages; there's nothing new about one group of people being accorded 'privilege' over another group, or certain people being 'down-trodden' because of sex, color or religion. One only has to look at recent history to see that the Negro has enjoyed a history of being labeled a second-class citizen at best & one step above a pure animal at worst. While it is true that many of the original 'blacks' over in Africa were animalistic in their behavior & lifestyle, Negroes in America are far removed from this situation, thanks in large part to those dastardly slave-traders who whisked them from their lives of comfort in Africa & brought them, in chains, to the New World!
Whatever the heritage & history, most people nowadays seem to have an excuse for why they live the way they live & act the way they act. Most of these excuses are not even very good! Those with a Japanese heritage may actually empathize with the Negro in America when it comes down to a matter of oppression & injustice. The history of the Chinese in the early Frontier Days & the Building of the West might inform the Negro of a few things about slavery as well. These are only a few examples, not to mention the American 'Indian', of those peoples who, just in this country, have suffered injustice at the hands of those who stood 'above' them!
For whatever reason, we live in the midst of a society that lives as if everybody else owes them something! Because of the way, or even where they were brought up, some people excuse or otherwise justify there actions by putting the blame elsewhere, anywhere but on their own shoulders, where it truly belongs. 'Because this happened to me, my parents or grandparents & because of what I have to deal with now, this is the way I act', you might hear one say. While this may be true enough, we must accept personal responsibility for our own actions: our choice may have depended largely on certain factors, but whatever the case may be, we still made the choice to act thusly!
Man was born with the free will to choose! Some choose wrongly & some choose rightly. Many, in fact, probably more than those who choose the good, have chosen evilly. This is not to say, however, that everyone who has chosen wrongly, or evilly, has done so because he or she is evil, or 'bad to the bone', just that, over the course of history, there have been many wrong, or bad, choices. Just like a lie, a bad choice often leads to yet another bad choice, sometimes worse than the first one. This is not always the case: usually, depending on the will-power of the victim & the Strength Within, the one who has made a bad choice because of their background, environment or whatever the case may be, can break the chain of events & tun their own life around, choosing, instead, to do what is right, no matter the extenuating circumstances!
Heritage & history are not easy to overcome; just ask any former 'junkie'! When one has grown up making certain choices & living a certain way, it is hard to 'go against the grain', so to speak, 'to kick against the goads', to use biblical language. It can be very difficult, painful even, when one is used to making bad decisions & has become accustomed to, even comfortable with them, to make the conscious decision to change their behavior, their lifestyle for the better. It can be done, however & often is, through the Strength of the Spirit of those others who have joined themselves with the Creator of Heaven & Earth, walking according to the example set forth by His Only Begotten Son!
Negroes are not the only group of people to have suffered enslavement, in fact some still suffer this tyranny & injustice! Probably more Caucasians, in fact, than Negroes, or 'blacks', have witnessed this travesty & for far longer. The history of slavery in these United States has focused primarily on the Negro, but these are, by far, not the only ones to labor under this cruel taskmaster: many Caucasians, or 'whites', primarily poor Europeans have been subjected to this ignominy as well. One could easily make the point that most Americans still wear these 'chains of oppression', to one degree or another!
'It is what it is'! Truth is absolute: right is right & wrong is wrong! Though extenuating circumstances may seem to make what is right for, one wrong for another, or what is wrong for one, right for the other, but when it comes down to it, truth does not depend on extenuating circumstances; it just is. Some may choose to split atoms here & talk about choosing white socks over black, or a bikini over a sundress, but when it come to living according to the Laws of Nature & Nature's God, there is one choice that leads to a blessed existence!
Whether one is 'black' or 'white', Muslim or Christian, from Azerbaijan or Zambia, we all are the children of One Father & we all have a choice; whether to live according to His Law, the Law of Love & be blessed, or to live contrary to it & be cursed: it's that simple! Depending on the choice that we make, we will either enjoy or deplore the life that we live in this biology. No matter our history or the chaos that we live in the midst of, may we choose wisely, to Love as He Loved, to Live as He Lived & Lives!
Charles Haddon Shank
Persecution has been around for ages; there's nothing new about one group of people being accorded 'privilege' over another group, or certain people being 'down-trodden' because of sex, color or religion. One only has to look at recent history to see that the Negro has enjoyed a history of being labeled a second-class citizen at best & one step above a pure animal at worst. While it is true that many of the original 'blacks' over in Africa were animalistic in their behavior & lifestyle, Negroes in America are far removed from this situation, thanks in large part to those dastardly slave-traders who whisked them from their lives of comfort in Africa & brought them, in chains, to the New World!
Whatever the heritage & history, most people nowadays seem to have an excuse for why they live the way they live & act the way they act. Most of these excuses are not even very good! Those with a Japanese heritage may actually empathize with the Negro in America when it comes down to a matter of oppression & injustice. The history of the Chinese in the early Frontier Days & the Building of the West might inform the Negro of a few things about slavery as well. These are only a few examples, not to mention the American 'Indian', of those peoples who, just in this country, have suffered injustice at the hands of those who stood 'above' them!
For whatever reason, we live in the midst of a society that lives as if everybody else owes them something! Because of the way, or even where they were brought up, some people excuse or otherwise justify there actions by putting the blame elsewhere, anywhere but on their own shoulders, where it truly belongs. 'Because this happened to me, my parents or grandparents & because of what I have to deal with now, this is the way I act', you might hear one say. While this may be true enough, we must accept personal responsibility for our own actions: our choice may have depended largely on certain factors, but whatever the case may be, we still made the choice to act thusly!
Man was born with the free will to choose! Some choose wrongly & some choose rightly. Many, in fact, probably more than those who choose the good, have chosen evilly. This is not to say, however, that everyone who has chosen wrongly, or evilly, has done so because he or she is evil, or 'bad to the bone', just that, over the course of history, there have been many wrong, or bad, choices. Just like a lie, a bad choice often leads to yet another bad choice, sometimes worse than the first one. This is not always the case: usually, depending on the will-power of the victim & the Strength Within, the one who has made a bad choice because of their background, environment or whatever the case may be, can break the chain of events & tun their own life around, choosing, instead, to do what is right, no matter the extenuating circumstances!
Heritage & history are not easy to overcome; just ask any former 'junkie'! When one has grown up making certain choices & living a certain way, it is hard to 'go against the grain', so to speak, 'to kick against the goads', to use biblical language. It can be very difficult, painful even, when one is used to making bad decisions & has become accustomed to, even comfortable with them, to make the conscious decision to change their behavior, their lifestyle for the better. It can be done, however & often is, through the Strength of the Spirit of those others who have joined themselves with the Creator of Heaven & Earth, walking according to the example set forth by His Only Begotten Son!
Negroes are not the only group of people to have suffered enslavement, in fact some still suffer this tyranny & injustice! Probably more Caucasians, in fact, than Negroes, or 'blacks', have witnessed this travesty & for far longer. The history of slavery in these United States has focused primarily on the Negro, but these are, by far, not the only ones to labor under this cruel taskmaster: many Caucasians, or 'whites', primarily poor Europeans have been subjected to this ignominy as well. One could easily make the point that most Americans still wear these 'chains of oppression', to one degree or another!
'It is what it is'! Truth is absolute: right is right & wrong is wrong! Though extenuating circumstances may seem to make what is right for, one wrong for another, or what is wrong for one, right for the other, but when it comes down to it, truth does not depend on extenuating circumstances; it just is. Some may choose to split atoms here & talk about choosing white socks over black, or a bikini over a sundress, but when it come to living according to the Laws of Nature & Nature's God, there is one choice that leads to a blessed existence!
Whether one is 'black' or 'white', Muslim or Christian, from Azerbaijan or Zambia, we all are the children of One Father & we all have a choice; whether to live according to His Law, the Law of Love & be blessed, or to live contrary to it & be cursed: it's that simple! Depending on the choice that we make, we will either enjoy or deplore the life that we live in this biology. No matter our history or the chaos that we live in the midst of, may we choose wisely, to Love as He Loved, to Live as He Lived & Lives!
Charles Haddon Shank
Thursday, July 21, 2016
The Afflictions of the Afflicted
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.
In the world you will[d] have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
John 16:33
When Jesus spoke these words to His disciples, He was preparing to make the Ultimate Sacrifice! Comforting His disciples with these words of warning, He reminded them, as He reminds us, even today that in Him, we have Peace, even in the midst of suffering..The 'world ' of which Jesus spoke was that present generation, that in which they would be persecuted by the apostate Jews & pursued, even to the death by those who thought they were serving God!
In today's 'world', things don't seem to be all that different, sometimes. When we hear of Christians being beheaded over in the Middle East & those who turn to Christ in Muslim countries being persecuted to the death, there is a tendency for many Christians to think that we are witnessing the end of times that the prophets spoke of. Most Christians, when faced with whatever manner of affliction, are likely to quote the verse above & remind each other that 'He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world' ( I John 4:4 ). This, again, is an eschatological statement, meant to bring comfort to Jesus' first-century disciples, as they were now in the midst of a great tribulation at the hands of the Judaizers.
Tribulation takes many forms; it might be health issues, it could be simply being persecuted, to whatever extent, just for standing your ground as a Christian! Whatever the issue, followers of Jesus the Christ, because of the Peace in their hearts, may sail through any storm, knowing that all things work together for their good! This is not to say, of course, that the Christian always has an easy time of it or that there is a big smile on his or her face; by no means! Pain, of any sort, usually causes distress & often tears. Through those tears, though, which are always wiped away, a greater purpose is served & like Job, we will see greater blessings unfold!
Blessings, too, come in many forms; it is often harder to see blessings than tribulation! Often, looking back, we may realize that what we thought was tribulation was actually a blessing in disguise. Sometimes, too, what we saw as a blessing, at the time, turns out to the worst tribulation we've ever encountered. Blessings only come from our Heavenly Father; He may try our faith, like He did Job's, but He does not send us tribulation; too often, we do that to ourselves! There are numerous different ways that we accomplish this, either by vainly & blindly adhering to the rule of reaping what we sow or simply refusing to receive the blessing from our particular trial.
When Peace, the peace that surpasses our understanding, rules our hearts & our lives,we are given the ability to see through our tears & smile at our blessing; we welcome our trials with open arms because we know that at the end of them are even greater blessings. Trials are never easy, that's why they call them trials, however, we may face our trials with Joy in our hearts & a spring in our step, so to speaking, knowing that they only serve to strengthen our faith, our resolve! This is not a new concept, I realize, for it's all been said & done before, even sung. This Peace, like the blessings that accompany it, only comes from our Heavenly Father, the Father of all Spirits!
Jesus speaks comfort through those same words today! In this world, in the 21st century, we do face trials & tribulation. In this life, this biology, we do & will suffer many things; emotional pains as well as physical discomfort awaits, at some point, all those who dare to enter here. Blessing, too, awaits us; blessings that far outweigh all the pain & suffering we can imagine! Much of what we suffer is in our perception; it's all in how we face our 'giants', so hurl that sling with a true aim & Peace in your heart, knowing that the stone will always find its mark!
Charles Haddon Shank
Wednesday, July 20, 2016
The Peace of Heaven in a World at War
For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.
Luke 17:21b
Let us first state this; we are not trying to make light of recent events in Paris, Nice, Dallas & other areas of interest all over the world, nor are we saying, 'I told you so'! However, these events & others like them show ample proof of 'you reap what you sow'. Again, we realize that innocent people got hurt, even died; we are not saying they got what they deserved, not by any means: the world we live in, though, one which operates by 'the law of the jungle' & exalts 'the empire of man', has the tendency to leave a swath of death & destruction in its wake!
Politics, put simply, is 'the decision of the people'. Thus, politics, in & of itself, is not a bad thing, nor necessarily corrupt; however, since it is 'the decision of the people', if the people are corrupted & evil, so are their politics & thus we see what we see today! If, however, the people behind the politics are good & just, so are the politics. The problem is that people are themselves corruptible; in other words, different people have different ideas of what is right & what is wrong. This is not to say that truth is relative, however, it is what it is & so we have what we have!
This country was founded on the Biblical principles of Natural Law & Common Law. The Founding Fathers, who were predominantly Christian, crafted the documents by which we were to be governed, The Declaration of Independence & the United State's Constitution; although not perfect, these documents have provided us with a fairly solid foundation for government in this country. However, the problem is revealed, once again, when it comes to following its principles. Just like the Biblical Story of Israel concerning the Law, the people form the main body of the problem, not the Law itself. It is the people's failure to follow constitutional principles that has formed the difficulties we now face in America!
Some of these Foundational Principles may still be at work in this nation, but they are fading fast! This is because many Americans have lost any meaningful commitment to the Laws of Nature & the Creator's Revealed Law; hence, we witness the travesty of injustice today. Education in these important areas is of great necessity; what is needful in America today is a rediscovery of & a recommitment to the principles of Christ's Kingdom. Only through seeking first the Kingdom of God will the American peoples know any lasting peace! The principles of loving one's neighbor as oneself & doing unto others as you would want them to do to you are those Kingdom principles which are of foundational necessity to any nation faced with the corrupt politics & greed of their governing body!
The Peace of Heaven, which only right relationship with our Heavenly Father brings, is One that keeps us grounded through any difficulty! Politics is not necessarily evil. It depends solely on the corruption or incorruption of the people it represents. The problem is not politics, the problem is the people; if those in government in this nation were to exercise the principles outlined above, then we would begin to see more of the Peace promised in the Scriptures. If those in leadership continue building empires, whether their own personal one, or that of the United States of America, we can only expect more War, death & destruction!
Empire-building involves force, threat of force & strangely sanitizing concepts as 'Collateral Damage'. Our Heavenly Father does not wish for this death for any of His children. There are those who continually refuse Christ & accept His offered hand of fellowship & communion, for these, we can only shed a tear & offer a prayer of thanks that we are still here. The world is full of those who, whether out of ignorance or rebellion, refuse this blessed relationship. As we who have the Peace of this Blessed Relationship in our lives exercise the principles of our Perfect Liberty according to the Laws of Nature & Nature's God, we may see our Heavenly Father's Kingdom spread, leaving only a Path of Peace as it flows throughout this often chaotic world!
Charles Haddon Shank
Tuesday, July 19, 2016
Identity Markers
In today's Culture, Western Culture especially & American Culture in particular, it has become popular, even 'common-place', to 'identify' as something which one is obviously not! Men are 'identifying' as women, boys are identifying as girls, although, interestingly enough, we're not hearing nearly as much, if at all, about women identifying as men. Some study will show that women identifying as men has actually been going on for some time, but under another name. 'Gender Identity' is a construct that has been under scrutiny, 'under fire', one might say, for some time now & some have gone so far as to endeavor to leave behind the classification altogether!
'I'm spiritual, not religious'; more & more people, even some who claim the name of Christ, are using this phrase when declaring their stance. When it comes down to it, this declaration is based, however loosely, on the fact that 'we are spirits, having a physical experience'. This is true, but what we do while inhabiting these biological bodies is, according to the apostle James, our true religion. Therefore, though one may claim no religion, they are in fact acting according to their religious beliefs, however they choose to live their lives! 'Everyone is religious!' I've said this before & I'll say it again; one's religion is simply what one believes: if it is good, right & just religion, then they will act accordingly & if it is evil, wrong & immoral, they will also act accordingly!
As spirits then, who is to say that we even have a gender? But then, if spirits don't have a gender, how do we decide, as human beings, what gender we are? Science has revealed to us that all human beings, up to a certain point before they're born, are female in gender! So, what happens that some babies are born as females & others as males? Whatever the scientific explanation, we know that it happened by Design! On the other hand, if spirits can be classified by gender, then are we not accusing the Creator of making a mistake? If He put a female spirit in a male body, then the joke's on us! It's said that He sits in the heavens & laughs, but isn't that going a bit far; I mean, seriously, how petty can one get?!
Male & female, man & woman; though there are indeed exceptions, it is normal for the male biology to exhibit certain sexual characteristics, while the female biology exhibits almost the exact opposite! As above, there are very rare exceptions to this rule, but for the most part, the differences between the sexes make it fairly simple to distinguish between the two. Now, as it happens & for whatever reason, some human beings are born with the identifying marks of both sexes. Again, Science has explained how & why this happens, to some extent. The male body has not built to carry a child; in other words, even those few examples born with the genitalia of the male & female biology do not have a womb. The female biology is the only gender, or sex, if you will, that comes equipped with the womb that is necessary to sustain life inside the mother's body for 9 months, though there are examples within the animal kingdom that are asexual, i.e., both sexes.
Having described before how the normal male & female sexual organs 'fit together like hand in glove', I will go no further here than to say that to fight against this arrangement is to fight against the Creator! In fact, a good question to those to those who choose to 'identify' as other than what they obviously are, is, 'if indeed you are a woman now, simply because you choose to 'identify' as such, then why don't you have a womb; why must you resort to surrogacy in order to foster a child?' Of course, the pert answer there would probably be something like, why would I want to bring a child into this world anyway?' As the case may be, though, one has to wonder why a man who wants to be a woman would exchange his male sexual organ, for the female's, except for the womb & breasts that secrete milk. They always want the breasts, but they're just useless 'boobs'!
Does the spirit of a human being determine the gender, or sex of that same human being? Even if one thinks they are the sole creator of their own existence, that one would have to say that it does, but obviously, some who identify as the opposite sex were born into the wrong generation, having been born with the sexual identity markers of the wrong sex. When a man, at whatever point in his miserable life, decides that he wants to be a woman, or female of the species, he then is simply showing his hatred of the Creator! Though a spirit inhabiting a biological form, he was assigned a certain form, one with the sexual characteristics of a specific gender.
One's religion, as we have noted, has everything to do with how that individual acts! Whether male or female, that one will act according to what they truly believe.Those who claim to be 'spiritual' but not religious' have a faulty view of what religion truly means, though; 'religion' does not refer to the institution that humans have erected, but rather, as noted above, it is what one believes. therefore, everyone is religious, because everyone believes something! When one commits, in their body, what is contrary to the Laws of Nature & Nature's God, while claiming, in the spirit, to honor that same God, then they are blatantly showing the disdain they have for the way the Creator engineered their body & asserting their individual autonomy!
Today's Culture then, especially that with no affinity to the Kingdom of Christ, is merely progressing, or digressing, actually, according to the chaotic mess that is life lived against the Laws of Nature & Nature's God! Since not all acknowledge the Creator, not all are willing to live according to Design, but instead choose to live by their own private design & thus prove that human beings, when left to their own devices, are capable of all sorts of evil, almost to any length! The only way to prevent this evil from taking over the Culture & the Identity of Humanity, is to find our True Identity: look for more on this in the days to come!
Charles Haddon Shank
'I'm spiritual, not religious'; more & more people, even some who claim the name of Christ, are using this phrase when declaring their stance. When it comes down to it, this declaration is based, however loosely, on the fact that 'we are spirits, having a physical experience'. This is true, but what we do while inhabiting these biological bodies is, according to the apostle James, our true religion. Therefore, though one may claim no religion, they are in fact acting according to their religious beliefs, however they choose to live their lives! 'Everyone is religious!' I've said this before & I'll say it again; one's religion is simply what one believes: if it is good, right & just religion, then they will act accordingly & if it is evil, wrong & immoral, they will also act accordingly!
As spirits then, who is to say that we even have a gender? But then, if spirits don't have a gender, how do we decide, as human beings, what gender we are? Science has revealed to us that all human beings, up to a certain point before they're born, are female in gender! So, what happens that some babies are born as females & others as males? Whatever the scientific explanation, we know that it happened by Design! On the other hand, if spirits can be classified by gender, then are we not accusing the Creator of making a mistake? If He put a female spirit in a male body, then the joke's on us! It's said that He sits in the heavens & laughs, but isn't that going a bit far; I mean, seriously, how petty can one get?!
Male & female, man & woman; though there are indeed exceptions, it is normal for the male biology to exhibit certain sexual characteristics, while the female biology exhibits almost the exact opposite! As above, there are very rare exceptions to this rule, but for the most part, the differences between the sexes make it fairly simple to distinguish between the two. Now, as it happens & for whatever reason, some human beings are born with the identifying marks of both sexes. Again, Science has explained how & why this happens, to some extent. The male body has not built to carry a child; in other words, even those few examples born with the genitalia of the male & female biology do not have a womb. The female biology is the only gender, or sex, if you will, that comes equipped with the womb that is necessary to sustain life inside the mother's body for 9 months, though there are examples within the animal kingdom that are asexual, i.e., both sexes.
Having described before how the normal male & female sexual organs 'fit together like hand in glove', I will go no further here than to say that to fight against this arrangement is to fight against the Creator! In fact, a good question to those to those who choose to 'identify' as other than what they obviously are, is, 'if indeed you are a woman now, simply because you choose to 'identify' as such, then why don't you have a womb; why must you resort to surrogacy in order to foster a child?' Of course, the pert answer there would probably be something like, why would I want to bring a child into this world anyway?' As the case may be, though, one has to wonder why a man who wants to be a woman would exchange his male sexual organ, for the female's, except for the womb & breasts that secrete milk. They always want the breasts, but they're just useless 'boobs'!
Does the spirit of a human being determine the gender, or sex of that same human being? Even if one thinks they are the sole creator of their own existence, that one would have to say that it does, but obviously, some who identify as the opposite sex were born into the wrong generation, having been born with the sexual identity markers of the wrong sex. When a man, at whatever point in his miserable life, decides that he wants to be a woman, or female of the species, he then is simply showing his hatred of the Creator! Though a spirit inhabiting a biological form, he was assigned a certain form, one with the sexual characteristics of a specific gender.
One's religion, as we have noted, has everything to do with how that individual acts! Whether male or female, that one will act according to what they truly believe.Those who claim to be 'spiritual' but not religious' have a faulty view of what religion truly means, though; 'religion' does not refer to the institution that humans have erected, but rather, as noted above, it is what one believes. therefore, everyone is religious, because everyone believes something! When one commits, in their body, what is contrary to the Laws of Nature & Nature's God, while claiming, in the spirit, to honor that same God, then they are blatantly showing the disdain they have for the way the Creator engineered their body & asserting their individual autonomy!
Today's Culture then, especially that with no affinity to the Kingdom of Christ, is merely progressing, or digressing, actually, according to the chaotic mess that is life lived against the Laws of Nature & Nature's God! Since not all acknowledge the Creator, not all are willing to live according to Design, but instead choose to live by their own private design & thus prove that human beings, when left to their own devices, are capable of all sorts of evil, almost to any length! The only way to prevent this evil from taking over the Culture & the Identity of Humanity, is to find our True Identity: look for more on this in the days to come!
Charles Haddon Shank
Friday, July 15, 2016
The Promise of Eternal Life
For
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever
believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
As we've testified previously, this is one of the most famous, but misunderstood passages in Scripture! Yes, this Promise has universal implications, but Jesus primarily meant to impact His first-century audience with these words of comfort! Read in context, especially with the next few statements, we can see that it was also a condemnation of those who refused to believe that Jesus was the Son of God & would not accept
Him as their Messiah. This, however, is not the point in question today; today, we will explore 'everlasting life' itself!
We've also explored the meaning of the term; it means 'age-during', in other words, 'for the ages'! Whatever this phrase might imply, this too is not the issue we will consider today. The issue at hand is the Nature of the Resurrection that brought Eternal Life. Although this issue, the Nature of the Resurrection, has been explored previously in this blog, this post will reveal a slightly different 'take' on the subject. There are numerous statements in the Greek Scriptures, made by Jesus, that seem to indicate a slightly different nature than has been traditionally understood; statements like that which Jesus made to the sister of Lazarus. Jesus told Martha that 'whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die' ( John 11:26 ). As we've seen previously, the context of these words of comfort will show their intended first-century impact, although we may see this as a universal ( catholic ) truth, as well!
The Institutional Church has traditionally understood the Nature of the Resurrection as exactly like that of Her Head! Today, we will further explore this 'Nature'. When Jesus comforted Martha with those words ( above-John 11:26, etc. ), He was not speaking of the biological body of her brother; in fact, He was not referring to biology at all! Now, according to His promise in the previous statement, Lazarus' biological body did come back to life, but it 'passed away' again; Christians today, those who believe in Jesus as the Messiah, continue to lose their physical presence: if Jesus had been referring to biological bodies, wouldn't you think that Lazarus would still be traversing the earth, although some 2,000 years old?
The Nature of the Resurrection, as we've noted previously, was spiritual & relational: it was the Restoration of the Israel of God, His Congregation, to the Blessing of Right Relationship with Him! It is a universal truth, because all who have accepted that Jesus is the Messiah & religiously keep that Right Relationship with the Creator enjoy the Blessings of His Presence forever, so we may rightly say that this Promise was ( is ) for us as well. However, we may also see, as this biology continues to perish & rise again in the Great Circle of Life, that the Nature of the Resurrection is somewhat different than the Institutional Church has led people to believe for centuries!
If those who believe in Jesus would 'never die', we might well ask why there are no reports of 2,000 year old men & women walking around; if there were, wouldn't you think that this would be newsworthy? I mean, just imagine the stories they could tell! But seriously, it takes more than a bit of 'wrangling' to make Jesus' words mean that 2,000+ years after He spoke them, long after He promised to return to that generation ( Matthew 24:34, et al ), that their biological bodies would come back to life after rotting in the ground for millenia & turning back to 'dust'. The Promise of Eternal Life, yes, is to ALL those who believe in Him, but it is not individual biological bodies that inherited this Promise; although in some sense, Eternal Life is experienced by & inhabited by biology, it was the spirits of just men & women made perfect ( Hebrew 12:23 ) who received & still receive this 'everlasting life'!
Jesus statement, recorded in John 3:16, is very plain! If He had meant that those who believed in Him would inherit eternal, everlasting life 2,000+ years later, don't you think He would have better indicated this to His first-century audience? They were expecting to receive the Kingdom that Jesus told them was 'at hand' & 'within you' or 'in your midst' ( Matthew 4:17, Luke 17:21, et al ): Daniel had promised & prophesied of this Kingdom as well, so think of their disappointment when they realized that 2,000+ years later, they STILL have not inherited! But seriously, since their individual, biological bodies were NOT the referent here, but 'the spirits of just men made perfect', we may take great comfort in the glorious fact that, though this biology WILL perish, our spirits will never die!
The sad fact is that biology DOES go the way of the 8-track; the Hebrew Scriptures say that 'people are grass' ( Isaiah 40:7 ), in other words, in 'the morning' they flourish & grow, but in 'the evening', they are cut down & wither. This in itself was a metaphorical reference to the Resurrection, as the Messiah brought the Promise of Eternal Life. In the Great Circle of Life, we can see that biology does go on, it will persevere forever, because of the necessary cycle of life & death, death & life: we know that the spirits of just men & women made perfect, however, will never die, but will bless this biology forever!
Charles Haddon Shank
Monday, July 11, 2016
Culture War
What happened recently in Dallas, Texas was not surprising, nor is it an isolated incident; in fact, we're probably going to be hearing a lot about similar & related incidents, in the coming days! Much of the fault, maybe most of it, can be laid at the feet of ignorance, intolerance & hate, but there is also a hint of the same spirit that stirred our founding fathers, those many years ago, to stand up against oppression & tyranny. One might say they're going about it all wrong, but then, there were those same objectors in those former days & the same objection has been raised in our own day as well. Whatever the reasons, there is definitely something going on & headed to a theater near you: headlines to the effect of, 'we've had enough & we're not gonna take it anymore' may soon apear!
American Culture, cultures really, have been hurtling toward this morass like a veritable juggernaut for years! Really, what else should we have expected from a 'melting-pot' such as we live in? Sure, for the first little while, things may have gone more or less smoothly, but as different cultures began to find their way into the 'mix' & multiply, not unlike the children of Israel in the land of Egypt, they began to clash with the other cultures around them; the inevitable outcome is not a pretty picture! Add to the mixture, injustice, tyranny & oppression, then you have minor to major disturbances & finally, all-out war!
History itself shows us what happens when you try to combine two very different cultures, much less several; sooner or later those cultures will clash! When this happens, as history has borne manifold witness to, one side usually wins, unless, in some cases, an uneasy sort of truce is eked out. In the beginning, the different cultures that built this nation worked side by side, although fights often festered & broke out, in the West particularly, with the cowboys & ranchers, the Chinese & the farmers. Back East, much the same occurred, with the Irish & Germans, the American Indian & the Caucasian. Throw all the other different cultures, minor though they may have been, into the 'mess' & you had the ingredients for a potentially volatile cocktail!
Although American culture may claim its own brand of uniqueness, there is really nothing unique about it! As many Americans claim their ancestry from any number of different nations, however far removed, so America hosts as many different cultures itself. One may witness this in pretty much any larger city, even some smaller towns: there may be as many as a half-dozen different sections, like, the Chinese section ( a number of cities boast a 'Chinatown' ), there may be a separate area predominantly populated by those of the darker persuasion, a section that is claimed by the Mexicans, while the Asians, from Korea to Vietnam have overtaken other areas & these are all different cultures. Even going from the eastern United States to the West, one will notice a vast difference; then there's California!
The Civil War was, on this continent, a glaring example of the Clash of Cultures! The Northern regions, with their industry & machinery, clashed with the South & their agriculturally-based culture. Though slavery was touted as the major issue behind the War Between the States, it really began with the differences between the cultures: the southern culture was based more on an attitude of personal sovereignty & states rights, while the northern was one that was still reeling, in a sense, from the blood spilt during the Revolutionary War, or the War for Independence. The Northern States, prior to the great westward expansion was also peopled, to a greater extent, by European immigrants, while the South, though most of its inhabitants were European by descent, was peopled by those who had migrated less recently & had thus, with the help of African slaves, built a uniquely separate culture. The North had their own slaves, though probably they were predominantly white Europeans, Irish in particular.
Much of the issue of different cultures has been solved by a healthy application of the Gospel! Jesus did not teach His disciples to 'love one other' based on color, race, or creed; the only race with which He was concerned was the human race; though Jesus was a Jew & was the Jew's Messiah, or King, He ultimately came to save His people from their sin, no matter if they were a Jew or a Gentile, whether they came from within the borders of the Land, or whether they came from one of the islands of the Sea!
Here in America, with the multitude of different cultures that exist within her borders, we have enjoyed relative peace for the last one hundred years or so. There have been periods of unrest, particularly in the south, with the unnecessary distinction between the white & black peoples, but for the most part, the different cultures in this nation have learned to either get along or stay the hell away from each other! All-out war, ever since the War Between the States, has pretty much been relegated to foreign shores, but if matters in this nation continue to degrade, then incidents like the recent murders will not only escalate, they will become the harbinger of things to come!
Murder is murder; no matter who commits the crime, no matter how much the one murdered deserved what they got, it is still wrong! The recent events in Dallas, as well as others across this nation are no less despicable & pointless because they may or may not have been an example of reaping what has been sown. Police brutality, though it's gotten out of hand, is not without warrant in many cases. On the other hand, the aggressive behavior of 'the blacks' against those in authority has not served them well either. The 'bad apples' on both sides of the equation have served only to give the rest a bad name, so now we have nervous ( trigger-happy ) 'white' cops shooting 'blacks' who may or may not have been guilty of a crime, simply because of the pervasive perception!
The situation can be resolved! The Gospel transcends Culture; the principles of loving your neighbor as yourself & treating others as you would have them treat you, are universal, no matter what culture you live in. Whether you are black or white, brown, yellow or red, if the Kingdom of Heaven is in your heart & the Spirit of the Creator dwells in your inmost being, you will be filled with love for your God & your neighbor!
What happened in Dallas the other day, again, was regrettable, despicable beyond words, but it, as well as incidents like it, are merely a glaring example of reaping what one sows! Because some 'blacks', feeling oppressed, or whatever, take out their aggression ( frustrations ) by committing certain crimes, some 'cops', feeling unsafe around ANY 'black' who's acting 'suspiciously', especially if the 'cop' is white, tend to act more aggressively when faced with these 'suspicious' actions, or even mannerisms. The 'blacks', on the other side of the coin, because they realize the negative stigma attached to persons of their color by man 'cops' then tend to approach their supposed 'authority' with a querulous attitude. And so the vicious circle keeps repeating itself until someone ends up dead, then the cycle seeks its next hapless victim!
This nation has a choice before it; 'live by the Creator's perfect Law of Liberty, or die by the law of the jungle!' The Perfect Law of Liberty says, 'Love your God with all your heart mind, soul & strength' & 'love your neighbor as yourself'. The law of the jungle, on the other hand, is purely animalistic; it says, 'kill or be killed'! This 'dog eat dog' mentality is pretty pervasive in this country, especially concerning foreign wars ( 'strike them before they have a chance to strike us' ). Only the Gospel lived out can heal this gaping wound! We may hope & pray that this will occur before 'Dallas' is made to look like a Sunday School outing in the park, but more deaths like this are sure to happen while the Gospel continues to be caged & relegated to a 'heaven or hell' scenario'; if that's what the Gospel is, then we may as well give it up!
Charles Haddon Shank
American Culture, cultures really, have been hurtling toward this morass like a veritable juggernaut for years! Really, what else should we have expected from a 'melting-pot' such as we live in? Sure, for the first little while, things may have gone more or less smoothly, but as different cultures began to find their way into the 'mix' & multiply, not unlike the children of Israel in the land of Egypt, they began to clash with the other cultures around them; the inevitable outcome is not a pretty picture! Add to the mixture, injustice, tyranny & oppression, then you have minor to major disturbances & finally, all-out war!
History itself shows us what happens when you try to combine two very different cultures, much less several; sooner or later those cultures will clash! When this happens, as history has borne manifold witness to, one side usually wins, unless, in some cases, an uneasy sort of truce is eked out. In the beginning, the different cultures that built this nation worked side by side, although fights often festered & broke out, in the West particularly, with the cowboys & ranchers, the Chinese & the farmers. Back East, much the same occurred, with the Irish & Germans, the American Indian & the Caucasian. Throw all the other different cultures, minor though they may have been, into the 'mess' & you had the ingredients for a potentially volatile cocktail!
Although American culture may claim its own brand of uniqueness, there is really nothing unique about it! As many Americans claim their ancestry from any number of different nations, however far removed, so America hosts as many different cultures itself. One may witness this in pretty much any larger city, even some smaller towns: there may be as many as a half-dozen different sections, like, the Chinese section ( a number of cities boast a 'Chinatown' ), there may be a separate area predominantly populated by those of the darker persuasion, a section that is claimed by the Mexicans, while the Asians, from Korea to Vietnam have overtaken other areas & these are all different cultures. Even going from the eastern United States to the West, one will notice a vast difference; then there's California!
The Civil War was, on this continent, a glaring example of the Clash of Cultures! The Northern regions, with their industry & machinery, clashed with the South & their agriculturally-based culture. Though slavery was touted as the major issue behind the War Between the States, it really began with the differences between the cultures: the southern culture was based more on an attitude of personal sovereignty & states rights, while the northern was one that was still reeling, in a sense, from the blood spilt during the Revolutionary War, or the War for Independence. The Northern States, prior to the great westward expansion was also peopled, to a greater extent, by European immigrants, while the South, though most of its inhabitants were European by descent, was peopled by those who had migrated less recently & had thus, with the help of African slaves, built a uniquely separate culture. The North had their own slaves, though probably they were predominantly white Europeans, Irish in particular.
Much of the issue of different cultures has been solved by a healthy application of the Gospel! Jesus did not teach His disciples to 'love one other' based on color, race, or creed; the only race with which He was concerned was the human race; though Jesus was a Jew & was the Jew's Messiah, or King, He ultimately came to save His people from their sin, no matter if they were a Jew or a Gentile, whether they came from within the borders of the Land, or whether they came from one of the islands of the Sea!
Here in America, with the multitude of different cultures that exist within her borders, we have enjoyed relative peace for the last one hundred years or so. There have been periods of unrest, particularly in the south, with the unnecessary distinction between the white & black peoples, but for the most part, the different cultures in this nation have learned to either get along or stay the hell away from each other! All-out war, ever since the War Between the States, has pretty much been relegated to foreign shores, but if matters in this nation continue to degrade, then incidents like the recent murders will not only escalate, they will become the harbinger of things to come!
Murder is murder; no matter who commits the crime, no matter how much the one murdered deserved what they got, it is still wrong! The recent events in Dallas, as well as others across this nation are no less despicable & pointless because they may or may not have been an example of reaping what has been sown. Police brutality, though it's gotten out of hand, is not without warrant in many cases. On the other hand, the aggressive behavior of 'the blacks' against those in authority has not served them well either. The 'bad apples' on both sides of the equation have served only to give the rest a bad name, so now we have nervous ( trigger-happy ) 'white' cops shooting 'blacks' who may or may not have been guilty of a crime, simply because of the pervasive perception!
The situation can be resolved! The Gospel transcends Culture; the principles of loving your neighbor as yourself & treating others as you would have them treat you, are universal, no matter what culture you live in. Whether you are black or white, brown, yellow or red, if the Kingdom of Heaven is in your heart & the Spirit of the Creator dwells in your inmost being, you will be filled with love for your God & your neighbor!
What happened in Dallas the other day, again, was regrettable, despicable beyond words, but it, as well as incidents like it, are merely a glaring example of reaping what one sows! Because some 'blacks', feeling oppressed, or whatever, take out their aggression ( frustrations ) by committing certain crimes, some 'cops', feeling unsafe around ANY 'black' who's acting 'suspiciously', especially if the 'cop' is white, tend to act more aggressively when faced with these 'suspicious' actions, or even mannerisms. The 'blacks', on the other side of the coin, because they realize the negative stigma attached to persons of their color by man 'cops' then tend to approach their supposed 'authority' with a querulous attitude. And so the vicious circle keeps repeating itself until someone ends up dead, then the cycle seeks its next hapless victim!
This nation has a choice before it; 'live by the Creator's perfect Law of Liberty, or die by the law of the jungle!' The Perfect Law of Liberty says, 'Love your God with all your heart mind, soul & strength' & 'love your neighbor as yourself'. The law of the jungle, on the other hand, is purely animalistic; it says, 'kill or be killed'! This 'dog eat dog' mentality is pretty pervasive in this country, especially concerning foreign wars ( 'strike them before they have a chance to strike us' ). Only the Gospel lived out can heal this gaping wound! We may hope & pray that this will occur before 'Dallas' is made to look like a Sunday School outing in the park, but more deaths like this are sure to happen while the Gospel continues to be caged & relegated to a 'heaven or hell' scenario'; if that's what the Gospel is, then we may as well give it up!
Charles Haddon Shank
Friday, July 08, 2016
I AM.................The Journey Continues
Okay, this is probably gonna hurt a bit, though it's likely no surprise to some of you, but I'm a bit of an attention-junkie! There, I said it. Some might even accuse me of narcissism: I find myself thinking along those lines myself sometimes & I wonder if they're not far wrong. When it comes to relationships, I want to be the focus of my beloved's attention. I, like most people, enjoy attention, especially when it's from the right person. My stated desire is to 'want to help', but even there, I wonder if it's not more about wanting to feel better about myself, because I AM happiest when helping others. Even in writing this blog-post, one might say that I'm just exhibiting another shining example of narcissism!
'I need help!' To what extent & of what sort might be another question, but I realize that my behavior of late has been somewhat self-destructive! Here too, one might note that the punishment fits the crime, that because of my being an attention-junkie, I more or less deserved what I got. The attention that I sought after so intently blinded me to the fact that it was not the sort of attention I needed. ( 'Have you noticed how much 'I' have appeared so far?' ) One question that has been reoccurring to me for the past several years is, 'how the hell do I think I'm gonna help others, when I need so much help myself?' I mean, really; 'what AM I thinking?!'
For the past five years or so, since my own separation & subsequent divorce, I have been on a Journey, of discovery, one might say. I'm 'discovering' things about myself that, although they've always been a part of me, are just now starting to come to the surface, often unbidden. After separating from my wife of 9 years, I moved 600 miles away & experienced a bit of a 'resurrection'. The stress of a 'marriage on the rocks' ( though I'm becoming less & less convinced it was a marriage ) had taken its toll on me & I was beginning to atrophy in more than one sense. Concerning our social contract, I cannot & will not lay ALL the blame at my ex-wife's feet; I must acknowledge that I played my part in the tragedy!
My first mistake, one might say, was marrying a Baptist & worse yet, an Independent Fundamental Baptist! She had been involved in a social contract previously & had borne three daughters from it. Because of this, there were already several counts against me. Entering into yet another social contract, although my first, her second, was perhaps our biggest & greatest mistake; we were joined together in this contract by a Baptist minister, her pastor, under the authority of the State ( who has NO business in marriage )! The resulting union lasted longer than some & not as long as others, but ever since its inception, my own life has been changing, progressively revealing to me that things, especially concerning this biological experience, aren't so 'simple' as I once thought.
Helping others IS a noble endeavor! After all, isn't that why we're put here on this earth? There's everything right & nothing wrong about wanting to help, but there comes a point when helping others becomes an exercise in futility, especially when the one trying to help needs as much or more help. One thought that has been burning at the back of mind though, is 'what if by helping others, we're helping ourselves as well?' Doesn't Scripture tell us, in other words, that if we love ( help ) others as we are loved, that the Creator will provide our every need?
So, I'm an attention-junkie: who really doesn't covet the attentions of that certain someone, even thrive on the praise & encouragement of others? Is it really that wrong to seek after that which builds YOU up? Now, sure; if one seeks to build him or herself up at the expense of others, then I would say that would be wrong: such a person is truly a narcissist! To stop helping, or trying to help others because I got burned, would truly be wrong. Unfortunately, there ARE people out there who are beyond help, at least, any help that we can give, but sometimes the ones that we help are actually worthy of that help ( love ) & thus we receive a double blessing!
There Are real narcissists out there: some people just aren't worthy of our help, love, or respect! After some time, sooner or later, we figure who is receptive of & grateful for our help. I will be the first to admit that I usually have ulterior motives for trying to help others, but deep down I try to do what I can just because it needs done. Call this self-aggrandizement if you want & you may be right in some sense! I guess this is just a plea for help, not really because I need it more than others, or because I'm an attention-junkie: sometimes I just get tired!
Charles Haddon Shank
'I need help!' To what extent & of what sort might be another question, but I realize that my behavior of late has been somewhat self-destructive! Here too, one might note that the punishment fits the crime, that because of my being an attention-junkie, I more or less deserved what I got. The attention that I sought after so intently blinded me to the fact that it was not the sort of attention I needed. ( 'Have you noticed how much 'I' have appeared so far?' ) One question that has been reoccurring to me for the past several years is, 'how the hell do I think I'm gonna help others, when I need so much help myself?' I mean, really; 'what AM I thinking?!'
For the past five years or so, since my own separation & subsequent divorce, I have been on a Journey, of discovery, one might say. I'm 'discovering' things about myself that, although they've always been a part of me, are just now starting to come to the surface, often unbidden. After separating from my wife of 9 years, I moved 600 miles away & experienced a bit of a 'resurrection'. The stress of a 'marriage on the rocks' ( though I'm becoming less & less convinced it was a marriage ) had taken its toll on me & I was beginning to atrophy in more than one sense. Concerning our social contract, I cannot & will not lay ALL the blame at my ex-wife's feet; I must acknowledge that I played my part in the tragedy!
My first mistake, one might say, was marrying a Baptist & worse yet, an Independent Fundamental Baptist! She had been involved in a social contract previously & had borne three daughters from it. Because of this, there were already several counts against me. Entering into yet another social contract, although my first, her second, was perhaps our biggest & greatest mistake; we were joined together in this contract by a Baptist minister, her pastor, under the authority of the State ( who has NO business in marriage )! The resulting union lasted longer than some & not as long as others, but ever since its inception, my own life has been changing, progressively revealing to me that things, especially concerning this biological experience, aren't so 'simple' as I once thought.
Helping others IS a noble endeavor! After all, isn't that why we're put here on this earth? There's everything right & nothing wrong about wanting to help, but there comes a point when helping others becomes an exercise in futility, especially when the one trying to help needs as much or more help. One thought that has been burning at the back of mind though, is 'what if by helping others, we're helping ourselves as well?' Doesn't Scripture tell us, in other words, that if we love ( help ) others as we are loved, that the Creator will provide our every need?
So, I'm an attention-junkie: who really doesn't covet the attentions of that certain someone, even thrive on the praise & encouragement of others? Is it really that wrong to seek after that which builds YOU up? Now, sure; if one seeks to build him or herself up at the expense of others, then I would say that would be wrong: such a person is truly a narcissist! To stop helping, or trying to help others because I got burned, would truly be wrong. Unfortunately, there ARE people out there who are beyond help, at least, any help that we can give, but sometimes the ones that we help are actually worthy of that help ( love ) & thus we receive a double blessing!
There Are real narcissists out there: some people just aren't worthy of our help, love, or respect! After some time, sooner or later, we figure who is receptive of & grateful for our help. I will be the first to admit that I usually have ulterior motives for trying to help others, but deep down I try to do what I can just because it needs done. Call this self-aggrandizement if you want & you may be right in some sense! I guess this is just a plea for help, not really because I need it more than others, or because I'm an attention-junkie: sometimes I just get tired!
Charles Haddon Shank
Wednesday, July 06, 2016
The Primal Sea
Okay, right outta the gate, let's just get this one thing clear; 'everybody is religious'! EVERYBODY! Without exception, so let's just drop this secular versus religious distinction. One's religion being what one believes, everybody believes SOMETHING; it may be the wrong thing, it may be the right thing, they may act consistently with their belief, they may not, but everyone is religious, whether they want to admit it or not: EVERYTHING is sacred to SOMEONE!
According to the THEORY of Evolution, as taught in most Government Schools & advanced by some scientists, humankind has evolved, most recently, in the past hundred thousand years or so, from the common ape, but before that, a single-celled creature that crawled out of the primordial ooze. Whatever one believes about this 'theory', it takes just as much faith, or more, to believe that, than to believe that an Intelligent Being designed it all & set it in order.
The 'Sea', in Scripture anyway, evokes the image of great bodies of people, in particular, prehistoric denizens of the earth, those who walked back & forth on it before the Creator established His Covenant with the first Adam. As History shows, the 'Sea' is at the bottom, or base of Life itself! Not only does the sea provide the sustenance for many peoples around the world, it can be successfully be argued that there is much in the sea itself & under it, that provides the most basic of building-blocks of life itself, biologically speaking.
Jesus told His disciples, 'You are the salt of the earth' ( Matthew 5:13 ); He knew, as the Creator Himself ( John 1:1-3 ), that salt is maybe one of the most essential elements of biological creation! The phrase 'salt of the earth' is still in fairly common use today; it usually refers to someone ( or 'ones' ) that is honest, good & true. Those who merit this exalted moniker are commonly known to put the needs of others before their own & are loved as they themselves love, not by everyone, granted, but by most who feel the warmth of their friendship!
Jesus, when He used 'salt' as the basis of that most blessed of statements, made no mistake, nor did He randomly choose to name this element as the foundation of goodness! Not only does salt provide needed flavor where there is, simply put, blandness, salt is also a purifying agent. When applied to a wound ( there is also a popular phrase associated with this action ), yes, it hurts like hell, but it serves to cleanse the wound, to draw out the imperfections, in a sense, to cauterize the wound. Not only this nation, but our world, over the many millenia since its conception, has experienced many wounds & we, as the 'salt of the earth' are here to heal those wounds, though it may hurt like hell!
Salt, as anyone can tell, naturally comes from the sea; through the evaporation caused by the warmth of the sun, among other factors; deposits of salt, to whatever extent, can be found throughout the world, either where bodies of saltwater ( seas, oceans ) currently rest, or where they formerly did. Scripturally speaking, as mentioned above, though the Jewish people were chosen to be the progenitors of the human race, the Gentiles, who were denizens of the Great Deep, metaphorically speaking, through the Warmth of the Son & the Wind of the Spirit, became truly 'the salt of the earth'!
Speaking of religion, I am of the opinion/belief that some sort of evolution ( better called 'progression', maybe ) was employed by the Creator in forming the 'worlds'! Science has proven that many aspects of the natural Creation have adapted to their surrounding conditions or environments. Whether this should be called evolution or not is a matter of personal preference, but it is abundantly clear to this blogger that the Creator has ordered His Creation in such a way that it is able to adapt to the many & changing environs of this biology. In a sense, one might observe, our Scriptures are a record of the denizens of the 'sea' adapting to & learning to live on the 'land'!
Religion, in this day & age, is often confused with what is known as Organized Religion, usually the Institutional Church. As we have seen, though, religion is simply what one believes & especially ( more importantly ), according to the apostle James ( James 1:26 & 27 ), what one does with those beliefs. We have noted previously that there are wrong beliefs ( religions ) & right beliefs. The belief that humankind simply 'evolved' from monkeys is simply absurd, when one really ponders it ( honestly )! In a metaphorical sense, yes, we came from the 'sea', but not through chance; it was through the Design of the Creator God that we became 'the salt of the earth'!
Charles Haddon Shank
According to the THEORY of Evolution, as taught in most Government Schools & advanced by some scientists, humankind has evolved, most recently, in the past hundred thousand years or so, from the common ape, but before that, a single-celled creature that crawled out of the primordial ooze. Whatever one believes about this 'theory', it takes just as much faith, or more, to believe that, than to believe that an Intelligent Being designed it all & set it in order.
The 'Sea', in Scripture anyway, evokes the image of great bodies of people, in particular, prehistoric denizens of the earth, those who walked back & forth on it before the Creator established His Covenant with the first Adam. As History shows, the 'Sea' is at the bottom, or base of Life itself! Not only does the sea provide the sustenance for many peoples around the world, it can be successfully be argued that there is much in the sea itself & under it, that provides the most basic of building-blocks of life itself, biologically speaking.
Jesus told His disciples, 'You are the salt of the earth' ( Matthew 5:13 ); He knew, as the Creator Himself ( John 1:1-3 ), that salt is maybe one of the most essential elements of biological creation! The phrase 'salt of the earth' is still in fairly common use today; it usually refers to someone ( or 'ones' ) that is honest, good & true. Those who merit this exalted moniker are commonly known to put the needs of others before their own & are loved as they themselves love, not by everyone, granted, but by most who feel the warmth of their friendship!
Jesus, when He used 'salt' as the basis of that most blessed of statements, made no mistake, nor did He randomly choose to name this element as the foundation of goodness! Not only does salt provide needed flavor where there is, simply put, blandness, salt is also a purifying agent. When applied to a wound ( there is also a popular phrase associated with this action ), yes, it hurts like hell, but it serves to cleanse the wound, to draw out the imperfections, in a sense, to cauterize the wound. Not only this nation, but our world, over the many millenia since its conception, has experienced many wounds & we, as the 'salt of the earth' are here to heal those wounds, though it may hurt like hell!
Salt, as anyone can tell, naturally comes from the sea; through the evaporation caused by the warmth of the sun, among other factors; deposits of salt, to whatever extent, can be found throughout the world, either where bodies of saltwater ( seas, oceans ) currently rest, or where they formerly did. Scripturally speaking, as mentioned above, though the Jewish people were chosen to be the progenitors of the human race, the Gentiles, who were denizens of the Great Deep, metaphorically speaking, through the Warmth of the Son & the Wind of the Spirit, became truly 'the salt of the earth'!
Speaking of religion, I am of the opinion/belief that some sort of evolution ( better called 'progression', maybe ) was employed by the Creator in forming the 'worlds'! Science has proven that many aspects of the natural Creation have adapted to their surrounding conditions or environments. Whether this should be called evolution or not is a matter of personal preference, but it is abundantly clear to this blogger that the Creator has ordered His Creation in such a way that it is able to adapt to the many & changing environs of this biology. In a sense, one might observe, our Scriptures are a record of the denizens of the 'sea' adapting to & learning to live on the 'land'!
Religion, in this day & age, is often confused with what is known as Organized Religion, usually the Institutional Church. As we have seen, though, religion is simply what one believes & especially ( more importantly ), according to the apostle James ( James 1:26 & 27 ), what one does with those beliefs. We have noted previously that there are wrong beliefs ( religions ) & right beliefs. The belief that humankind simply 'evolved' from monkeys is simply absurd, when one really ponders it ( honestly )! In a metaphorical sense, yes, we came from the 'sea', but not through chance; it was through the Design of the Creator God that we became 'the salt of the earth'!
Charles Haddon Shank
Tuesday, July 05, 2016
'Remember, Remember, the Fifth of...................July!?'
No matter the extenuating circumstances, the beating of a severely disabled woman by TSA agents recently, will forever be emblazoned in the minds of the American people! 'What in the world is this country coming to?' is a question that the people of this nation should be asking themselves. Events like this, although reprehensible, are really a 'God-send', for they are causing many in this country to 'wake up & smell the coffee burning; 'Houston, we have a problem!', 'There's something rotten in Denmark!', are but a few cliche'ic phrases that come to mind when realizing the corruption of what we used to call 'the land of the free' & 'the home of the brave'!
Hannah Cohen is by no means the first to suffer injustice in the name of 'safety', nor will she be the last; TSA is not the only Agency that has been found guilty of violating American citizen's freedoms! It's hard to know where to begin, but the events of the 3rd week of August, 1992, also known as the Ruby Ridge Massacre will forever be etched in our minds as the day that the tyranny of this nation's LEOs began to show their true colors. The siege that was carried out on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas in the early Spring of '93, barely six months later, bore the signs of yet another massacre by seemingly bloodthirsty LEOs.
Realizing that the guilt, to whatever extent, is not one-sided, it is clear that those in 'authority' in this nation have evolved beyond being 'peace officers', reputedly there 'to serve & protect', though it might be noted, as I have often stated, 'they DO serve & protect, the interests of the State ( government )'. It would seem then, that they are no longer our servants, but those of the Agency that writes their paychecks. This is not to say that all that serve thus are totally without ethics or morals, but many, whether through ignorance or avarice, continue to uphold these 'evils' against their own neighbors!
Through these 'evils' & other like them ( or worse ), many of the citizens of this nation have awakened to the travesty that has been foisted upon a mostly unsuspecting citizenry; some of these seem to have chosen to hit 'snooze', in a manner of speaking & go back to sleep, ignoring the cries of the 'innocent', but a select few have chosen to arm themselves with knowledge & are taking action on an ever-increasing level to right these wrongs, to progressively turn the tables on those who would tyrannize their own people. Again, this is not to say that this tyranny can be blamed on ignorance or avarice alone, because the citizens of this great nation have, in some ways, forced the 'peace officers' to become 'law-enforcement officers', instead!
With some of the horror stories that can no doubt be told by Agencies like TSA across the world, it is almost understandable, the lengths to which some have gone to ensure safety, but even considering the atrocities that others have committed does not absolve these Agents of their own guilt in carrying out their own particular style of terror! Like the saying goes, 'two wrongs don't make a right'; though some of the people have given the rest a bad name, the TSA & related Agencies have no right to treat everyone equally when it comes to terrorizing the populace. Our Founding Fathers understood that when the Agency of Government begins to tyrannize its own citizenry, then that citizenry has a right & a duty even, to stand up, register their complaints of wrong-doing & fight if necessary, to uphold their God-given rights!
The State of this Union, for those with eyes to see it, is rapidly deteriorating! Some believe the System can be fixed, through more & better politics; others believe that the System must come crashing down before most people are awakened to the realization that they themselves are the guilty party ( 'mea culpa, mea culpa' ). Nevertheless, even though we the people must bear the brunt of the burden, it is we too who must repair the breaches; it is we who must, with the help of the Spirit within, turn this nation to our True Leader, our True Lord & say, with the prophets of old, ' we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your Word and Your Way.'
'Can this nation be saved?' Some might say a better question would be, 'should this nation be saved?' Even with its founding documents, for all their worth, it has devolved to this point & don't get me wrong, it WILL get much worse if it continues on its current path of death & destruction! Many are the eyes that have envisioned a better way, but few are those who have pursued, to the death if necessary, the workings that lead to this better way. If those who have awoken would but pursue the things that make for peace, then we might, with that peace in our own hearts, begin to realize our own liberties & through that realization, with blood if necessary, help others to realize their own liberties, given to them by the Creator!
Charles Haddon Shank
Hannah Cohen is by no means the first to suffer injustice in the name of 'safety', nor will she be the last; TSA is not the only Agency that has been found guilty of violating American citizen's freedoms! It's hard to know where to begin, but the events of the 3rd week of August, 1992, also known as the Ruby Ridge Massacre will forever be etched in our minds as the day that the tyranny of this nation's LEOs began to show their true colors. The siege that was carried out on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas in the early Spring of '93, barely six months later, bore the signs of yet another massacre by seemingly bloodthirsty LEOs.
Realizing that the guilt, to whatever extent, is not one-sided, it is clear that those in 'authority' in this nation have evolved beyond being 'peace officers', reputedly there 'to serve & protect', though it might be noted, as I have often stated, 'they DO serve & protect, the interests of the State ( government )'. It would seem then, that they are no longer our servants, but those of the Agency that writes their paychecks. This is not to say that all that serve thus are totally without ethics or morals, but many, whether through ignorance or avarice, continue to uphold these 'evils' against their own neighbors!
Through these 'evils' & other like them ( or worse ), many of the citizens of this nation have awakened to the travesty that has been foisted upon a mostly unsuspecting citizenry; some of these seem to have chosen to hit 'snooze', in a manner of speaking & go back to sleep, ignoring the cries of the 'innocent', but a select few have chosen to arm themselves with knowledge & are taking action on an ever-increasing level to right these wrongs, to progressively turn the tables on those who would tyrannize their own people. Again, this is not to say that this tyranny can be blamed on ignorance or avarice alone, because the citizens of this great nation have, in some ways, forced the 'peace officers' to become 'law-enforcement officers', instead!
With some of the horror stories that can no doubt be told by Agencies like TSA across the world, it is almost understandable, the lengths to which some have gone to ensure safety, but even considering the atrocities that others have committed does not absolve these Agents of their own guilt in carrying out their own particular style of terror! Like the saying goes, 'two wrongs don't make a right'; though some of the people have given the rest a bad name, the TSA & related Agencies have no right to treat everyone equally when it comes to terrorizing the populace. Our Founding Fathers understood that when the Agency of Government begins to tyrannize its own citizenry, then that citizenry has a right & a duty even, to stand up, register their complaints of wrong-doing & fight if necessary, to uphold their God-given rights!
The State of this Union, for those with eyes to see it, is rapidly deteriorating! Some believe the System can be fixed, through more & better politics; others believe that the System must come crashing down before most people are awakened to the realization that they themselves are the guilty party ( 'mea culpa, mea culpa' ). Nevertheless, even though we the people must bear the brunt of the burden, it is we too who must repair the breaches; it is we who must, with the help of the Spirit within, turn this nation to our True Leader, our True Lord & say, with the prophets of old, ' we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your Word and Your Way.'
'Can this nation be saved?' Some might say a better question would be, 'should this nation be saved?' Even with its founding documents, for all their worth, it has devolved to this point & don't get me wrong, it WILL get much worse if it continues on its current path of death & destruction! Many are the eyes that have envisioned a better way, but few are those who have pursued, to the death if necessary, the workings that lead to this better way. If those who have awoken would but pursue the things that make for peace, then we might, with that peace in our own hearts, begin to realize our own liberties & through that realization, with blood if necessary, help others to realize their own liberties, given to them by the Creator!
Charles Haddon Shank
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