A Child's Perspective On the Word

Seeing God through the eyes of a child is powerful.

Somehow most of Christendom has caused the word of God to become something to yawn about. For a great number of people, especially Christians, hearing God’s Word is like having to sit and listen to someone’s dream. You know that in the end it will take you nowhere and benefit you nothing, but you have to listen because it’s the respectful thing to do.

Yesterday, one of my teens was doing his teen Bible study lesson (nothing like reading the Bible to fire up a teen) and he said under his breath, “I hate this!”

To try and take away some of the boredom, I picked up the Bible and began paraphrasing the passage that he was reading from Luke 9:10-17. As I began to read my teenage son showed no greater interest, but something miraculous happened with my two-and-a-half-year-old daughter.

She was standing on the floor at the end of the dining room table playing with some of her toys and as soon as I began to read she stood still, folded her hands, bowed her head, and closed her eyes. Her mother and I watched in amazement. And as soon as I read the last word of the passage, she said, “Amen,” and went back to playing with her toys.

No matter what we may believe about the Bible, one thing is for sure, there is power in the teachings of Jesus.

“I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it” (Luke 18:17 NIV).

Forever learning,
Johnny

Read At Your Own Risk!

I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately. Most of the reading I’m doing is from authors who are quite controversial and not the most popular characters to reach the Christian audience. But the subjects are wonderfully intriguing and lead the reader to search deeper.

One book I’ve been reading was a recent gift from a friend in Texas. The book’s title is “The Gift of the Jews.” Another great book that was given to me in the same week by another friend is titled “Misquoting Jesus.” These are not books that I would recommend to the average fundamentalist or anyone of a less than completely stable faith. Frankly, the two books together are a recipe for creating an atheist at worst and an agnostic at best. At the very least, they will create confusion and frustration for the average Christian.

“The Gift of the Jews” was written in the late 1990’s by Thomas Cahill and it is the history of Abraham’s ancestors who were called the Sumerians. The Sumerians were fantastic story tellers who developed their stories over literal centuries until they would reach perfection. The story of Gilgamesh is a story that began even before the Sumerians and was told over millennia.

The story of Gilgamesh included a “Tree of Life” that was protected by a serpent, a man created from a ball of clay, and a great ritual ladder that, if someone were to climb it and reach the heavens, they would become a god. There was also the belief that each individual had an angel that tended to his or her needs after a difficult time in life. The prehistoric ancestors of Abraham would pass these stories verbally long before writing was ever invented, perfecting them with each generation. And the stories are preserved in stone, the first form of writing, which archeologists and scholars use today to piece the stories together.

These are all very fascinating findings and quite faith shaking. As I said before, these are not books for anyone who wants his or her beliefs to remain unchallenged. Yet, somehow, my faith is only strengthened by the study. And I don’t mean in a rebellious way, but in a healthy kind of peaceful way that gives me the ability to say, "So what? Does it matter if the stories belong strictly to Israel or if Israel, the descendants of these great story tellers, held on to these fantastic tales and used them to build and sustain a faith in God throughout the centuries?

For me, it doesn’t give me cause to give up faith, but a hunger for more of how we have come to believe what we believe.

Forever learning, wherever it takes me,
Johnny

Grace Is A Gift From God, Not From the New Testament

Many Christians believe that God’s grace was instituted by the coming of the Messiah. It’s often understood that the old Covenant was a covenant of law, while the new Covenant is a covenant of grace.

Jews in Jesus day are thought to have been “saved-by-works” hypocrites who believe even today that they have to earn their way into God’s grace, while the Christian has the knowledge that grace is a free gift from God. We’ve heard sermon after sermon where we are taught that the Jews have missed the boat because they believe that they are saved by the “Law.” This is not the case at all.

Orthodox Jews do not believe that they are saved by the Torah. They believe that they are privileged to be the people who have received a special covenant that they are honored to practice.

When God gave the 613 instructions to Moses at Mt. Sinai, He gave them to Israel for their benefit. His intent was to allow them, through their obedience, to experience His grace as the commandments gave them the ability to experience fulfilling lives. Just as we practice certain habits like exercising, saving money, or changing the oil in our car to experience the benefits of such habits, the instructions of God for Israel were considered the wisdom of God that provided a better life for the individual and the community.

The word “grace” comes from the Hebrew word hesed and it means "beauty" or "favor." Unfortunately, most English translations translated hesed as "mercy," which causes the Hebrew Bible to appear as if there is much less grace in the old Covenant than in the new Covenant. Hesed, for the Jew, could not be bought or earned, but was the result of godly living.

How many people waste their money and still experience the blessings of wise investing? How many wives allow their husband to do nothing but watch T.V. and eat ice-cream and have a wonderful productive marriage? What kind of company allows their employees to come to work whenever they want and still benefits from a well-run organization? Have you ever known of a car that never has an oil change or a tune-up yet even after 200,000 miles, still runs like new?

Grace isn’t a ticket out of hell; it can’t be bought or earned. Grace is the benefit that is experienced by the obedient follower who lives according to the ways of God.

Forever learning,
Johnny

Honor Your Parents

My wife and I spent four days away from home this week. While we were gone, my wife’s parents watched our four children. When we returned, we received the wonderful privilege of having been honored by our children. Their grandparents told us that they were incredibly respectful and polite, and they did all that they were supposed to do while we were gone.

God tells us in the fifth commandment to honor our parents. This is a command that we could all do well to revisit as we have become a society where mothers and fathers are more apt to honor their children than then other way around.

In our world today, Mothers and fathers live to make their children smile. This is not a biblical model, but one that causes parents to be treated like bank accounts, sources of entertainment funding, and free trips to wherever rather than the wisdom granters and life teachers that they are created to be.

The Western world has done much to turn the ideals of parenting upside down and this is to the detriment of our own futures. Parents are not called to make their children happy; they are called to train their children to honor the will of God.

It’s also important to remember that “children” does not only mean “little kids.” Children are to honor their parents with their behavior and choices even as they become parents themselves.

Much of what gets us into trouble in life could be prevented if we would focus more on the command to honor our parents. Think of every sin and every crime and within them you will see that obeying the command to honor one's parents would have prevented it. How many prisoners would never have spent one day in jail had they chosen to honor their parents? With that said, I should clarify that honoring parents does not mean doing everything they say or making them happy even if it requires an immoral act. Parents are also to live according to the will and instructions of God as parents.

There is no greater way to honor God than to honor our parents. By honoring our parents, we do honor God.

I would add, after John's comments, that Mother and Father refers to the aged who should be honored rather than treated like they no longer have value. Mother and father can also be a reference to "wisdom" and "God."

In His dust,
Johnny

Interperter of Tongues

The early Church was a branch of first century Judaism. Both the synagogue and the early Church were well organized and had similar roles, titles, and positions for those who had specific responsibilities in a perspective congregation.

One such position was that of the meturganim (interpreter). A meturganim was a person who was very knowledgeable in the language of Hebrew, including the Hebrew Scriptures, and was also fluent in the common language, such as Greek or Aramaic, of the people in a particular synagogue. He would stand by the person who was reading the Hebrew Torah or teaching in the house of study, and after the reader would speak the Hebrew words directly into the ear of the interpreter, the interpreter would turn and tell the congregation, in their own language, what was read or taught.

This is the context of Jesus’ words in Matthew 10:27: “What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.”

Understanding that the Scriptures of the Hebraic Jews were written in Hebrew helps us to understand Paul’s insistence upon having a meturganim when reading in a congregation where they did not understand Hebrew. Without an interpreter, “…you will just be speaking into the air” (1 Cor 14:9b).

Forever learning,
Johnny

Let Go And Let Man

People will often resort to the quickest way to get from one point to another, which is not a straight line. The shortest way to get from one point to another is by taking the path of least resistance.

Anytime a person, including myself, gets out of control, it’s because we don’t know how to handle the situation that we are in. Often parents like me will find themselves in situations of discipline where we resort to screaming like maniacs or spanking a child, not because we have great wisdom, but because, at that moment, we don’t have a clue what we should do.

When Jesus introduced the Kingdom, he did it by show and tell, and then he said, “Take over.” In fact, he gave Peter the keys (Matthew 16:19). Peter was put in charge of the Kingdom. Jesus didn’t say, “Peter, here are the keys. You are in charge, but I’m in control.” Peter was charged with leading the Kingdom of Heaven (God's children).

Peter wasn't put in charge the same way we put our six-year-old in charge of cleaning her room. Peter was in charge like the President of the United States is in charge of the country—he is the leader, supported by the rest of the people in the U.S.

Many Christians will use the cliché “God is in control” and I often wonder—what in the world does that mean?

I have been haunted for the last two days over a little four-year-old girl in Raleigh who was brutally killed by her own father by way of decapitation in their home, while her mother was at work. The father fled the state and left the mother to come home and find the unimaginable remains of her baby. I have cried twice in the last two days, because I coudn't stop myself from picturing the horror of that little girl's last few moments of life with her dad.

When God first created human beings, the first thing he did was give them the authority to kabash the world.

“God created human beings in his own image. God gave them authority and said, “Make more people; fill the world and kabash (kaw-bash) it. Rule over all the living things in the world” (Genesis 1:27-28, my translation).

Kabash is a very interesting word. We often read it translated as “subdue.” "Subdue" in our day can mean a lot of things. I would venture that most people think it means “cover.” But the real meaning of the word will probably surprise most of Christendom. Kabash is a word of great depth; it means to conquer, bring into bondage, bring into subjection, CONTROL.

God put human beings in control.

Good or bad, pretty or ugly, we are in control.

Nice or hateful, life-giving or murderous, we are in control.

Happy or sad, grateful or greedy, we are in control.

Saying to ourselves or to others, every time something goes horribly wrong, “God is in control,” may sound nice, but it’s not true. We are in control. God put us in control and we don’t have the privilege of taking the path of least resistance and giving control to God.

God said a long time ago, "Let go and let man."

Today, I stopped giving my responsibility to kabash the world back to God. It may not be easy, fun, comfortable, convenient, or simple, but it’s still our responsibility.

Forever learning,
Johnny

Who Is Your Jesus?

Whether we want to accept it or not, Jesus did not go around the country finding non-Jews and creating the Christian Church. Neither did Jesus go around converting Jews to Christianity. Jesus was a Jew in a Jewish world with a message for Israel. The non-Jews are privileged to be welcomed into the family of Israel. It’s not the other way around.

“As far as the gospel is concerned, they [the Jews] are enemies on your account but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable” (Romans 11:28-29).

The history of the Church is often written with the pre-70 A.D. Jewish world left out. This is unfortunate, because the ability to thoroughly understand Jesus and the early Church requires a person to have some understanding of the world in which Jesus lived and taught. Ignorance about the world of Jesus is also partly responsible for such atrocities as the Crusades of the early Church, the Holocaust, and the ongoing terrorism from one religious group upon another. Even the lone-ranger evangelists that in good conscience condemn others to hell with printed posters and harsh words do so out of ignorance of the true message of the true Jesus.

Christ’s movement was a very Jewish movement within a Jewish world and founded on a Jewish framework that was almost completely lost when the Church became dominated by the non-Jewish world.

Bringing a clear focus to Jesus and his Jewish world is difficult today because over the centuries the world has worked diligently to define who Jesus is outside of his Jewish culture. Almost every era has its own version of Jesus. As Dr. Ron Moseley points out in his book, Yeshua: A Guide to the Real Jesus and the Original Church, the influence of Gnosticism is probably the first to begin distorting the image of Jesus with its teachings of dualism (the idea that the soul is good and the body is sinful, and one day the soul will be freed from its sinful cage). With this thought in mind, Jesus began to take on the persona of being a mystic teacher who could show us the way for the soul to be released. This philosophy still invades the Theology of the Church today and has given life to songs such as “I’ll Fly Away.”

From the fourth to the 7th century, indicative of the Byzantine period, Jesus was presented as a powerful emperor who resembled Constantine rather than a humble rabbi.

And reflective of the medieval attitude in the Middle Ages, Jesus was portrayed as the lowly, defeated victim who is hanging on a cross.

Today, especially in the Western world, many people view Jesus as a fair skinned, blue-eyed, long-haired, middle-aged Caucasian rather than a Jewish man with a dark complexion.

Our picture of Jesus has an affect on our perspective of his words, which also has an affect on our interpretation of Jesus’ message as we share it with the world. If I picture Jesus as a lowly, defeated, suffering bearer of a cross, then I will tend to see the rest of humanity as guilty sinners who are unworthy of the Savior whom they killed by their sins. If I picture Jesus as a powerful conquering emperor, then I will view humanity as servants of a respectable king who empowers his people for an abundant life.

Our picture of Jesus, when removed from the reality of his Jewish rabbinic world can inspire an entirely different message from that of the historical Jesus, and make the message of Jesus as subjective as our individual pictures.

Jesus, the Pharisee

In Dr. Ron Moseley’s book, Yeshua, Moseley cites an essay written by Morton Smith, where Smith writes that the ancient world did not have a general term for “religion.” In the Hellenized world, the only word used for “religion” was “philosophy,” which included the religion of the Pharisees. In addition, Smith notes that the ancient Jews used the Hellenistic term “philosophy” to describe what they believed and how they expressed their beliefs.

There are some remarkable similarities between the Pharisees and Greek philosophers.

Pharisaic teachers and Greek Philosophers:
1. were not paid to teach;
2. had disciples who followed and served them;
3. had occupations and were financially supported by those who appreciated their teaching;
4. were exempt from taxes;
5. were recognized in public by the way they walked, talked, and dressed;
6. practiced some level of asceticism.

The philosophy of the Pharisees included believing in the entirety of the Scriptures and the Oral Law (spoken commentary), resurrection of the dead, angels, and eternal judgment.

If it were not for the Pharisaic philosophy, we would not believe in life after death, the resurrection of the body, preaching on the Sabbath, the existence of angels, or the importance of commentaries.

It is widely believed by many scholars of first century Judaism that Jesus was very much in line with the Pharisaic philosophy and that his criticisms of the Pharisees were not criticisms of all Pharisees, but were part of an ongoing debate between those who followed the great teachers, Hillel and Shammai. Jesus was most closely aligned with the teachings of Hillel who was thirty years older than Jesus and was known for his great wisdom and teaching. One of Hillel’s teachings, which was supported and quoted by Jesus, was “what you would not have done to you, do not to another; that is the whole Law, the rest is commentary.”

Those who supported and followed the yoke of Hillel were often debating with those who followed the yoke of Shammai. Jesus often entered the same debate, supporting the teachings of Hillel who taught that it is okay to heal on the Sabbath and clean the outside of a cup at a later time rather than before drinking from it.

The philosophy of Jesus is his yoke, and Jesus' yoke is the yoke that we follow today. Jesus' yoke and Hillel's yoke were very similar. Therefore, the point of this article is to bring attention to the possibilities that the Pharisees, like other ancient philosophers, were varied in their beliefs and teachings, and that Jesus, like the other Jewish sages of his time, was not necessarily enforcing an entirely new philosophy for living out the Word, but was an advocate of a philosophy which was already being taught and practiced in his time by a portion of the Pharisees, a group with which Jesus was most closely aligned.

Forever learning,
Johnny

Check out this blog.

I want to invite everyone to check out Angela's blog at www.ang4him.blogspot.com.

She's sharing some really great studies on the Hebraic and Jewish roots of Christianity.

Say hello while you're there.

Grace and peace,
Johnny

Signs of A Cult

Has anyone else ever heard of these five signs?

Tantalizing if True
Five signs of a cult
Posted in Desperate Suggestions Thursday, December 7th, 2006 Trackback

1. A strong sense of group identity and community.
2. A belief that the group is somehow separate from the rest of society.
3. A strong sense of group destiny and purpose.
4. An unwavering adherence to the teachings of its founder, which may differ radically from the rest of society.
5. A total commitment to the goals of the movement which overrides personal goals and comfort.

Forever learning,
Johnny

Is the Bride Ready?

Ancient Israel had many customs and practices that would not be allowed in our culture today. One such custom was the engagement process. A young man in his twenties would go with his father to the village where the 14-year-old girl whom he was to marry lived with her parents. While there, he would meet the girl and her father for the first time.

A Jewish matchmaker called a shadkhan would put the young man and young woman together based on yihus (stock, family background, reputation in the community, and personal virtue). Jewish marriages placed an emphasis on love after marriage, as opposed to marrying the one you love.

When the young man arrived at the young woman’s house, the two fathers would settle on a “bride-price." Payment by means of money or material items was a way of honoring the family that would be losing the daughter. When the price was settled, the young man’s father would pass his son a cup of wine. The young man would drink from the cup and pass the cup to the young woman, signifying that he wanted her to be his wife and that he was giving his life to her. If she drank from the cup, she was in effect saying, “I want to marry you. I accept your life, and I will give you mine.”

Then the young man and his father would travel back to their village where the young man would begin building a room onto his parent’s home. Generations of sons would build on to the house, creating what is called an insula, a house with many rooms. The young man would work on his house until his dad, the only person who could give a final approval for the new home, would say, “It is ready. Go and receive your bride.”

While the young man worked on the new house, the bride-to-be would make wedding clothes and learn to take care of a home. She was expected to always be ready for his return at any moment. During this time of preparation, all of the people in the young woman’s village would refer to her as “one who has been bought with a price.”

Eventually, the home would be ready, the young man’s dad would give his approval and send his son to receive his bride. When the bridegroom entered the village of his bride-to-be, he would blow a shofar and all the village would hear the horn and know that the bridegroom had arrived. A wise bride would be ready when her bridegroom arrived.

Those who have been learning, preparing, and have kept themselves ready for the groom will join him when he returns and sends his angels to sound the trumpet.

“Do not let your heart be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:1-3).

In His dust,
Johnny

There Is No Old Testament

It is often believed that when Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matthew 5:17) that he is saying, “I have not come to nullify them, but finish them off and start a new one.” With this thought in mind, most of Christendom believes that Jesus was teaching that he came to obey all the commands, close the old book, and write a new book. As we study the very Hebraic nature of the idiomatic words and phrases “to come,” “to abolish,” and “to fulfill,” we will find the true meaning of Jesus’ words.

According to David Bivin in his book, New Light on the Difficult Words of Jesus, when Jesus says that he did not “come,” the word that he would have used was often idiomatically used to denote his intent or purpose rather than meaning he left one place and came to another. In other words, Jesus is saying, “My purpose is not to…but to…” In the King James Version, the original word for abolish was translated “to destroy the law.” According to Bivin, this is not a correct translation as the probable Hebrew equivalent of the Greek verb, levatel, which literally means “to cancel” was often used among the educated teachers during the time of Jesus, and it meant “to misinterpret a biblical mitzvah or commandment.”

Bivin goes on to teach that the probable Hebrew equivalent of the Greek verb plerosai, which is translated “fulfill,” is lekayem, which was often used as the opposite for levatel and meant “to clearly or properly interpret a commandment.”

All of this leads us to understand that it is very possible that Jesus is saying, “I did not come to misinterpret the law and the prophets, but to clearly interpret them” denoting that God’s people needed His instructions reiterated and clarified.

Knowing that Jesus as a Jewish rabbi greatly valued, respected, and kept the Hebrew Scriptures, we should consider that Jesus would not have given a new Bible to the world; he gave clarity to God’s original instructions, not to replace them, but to be placed with them. As one who agrees with this understanding of Jesus’ words, I would add that it does harm to the Church to consider the “New Testament” a new law, rather than a clarification with two amendments. The two amendments to the instructions of God are the release from making blood sacrifices as Jesus became a permanent sacrifice, and all people are now welcome to become a part of God's chosen people.

Furthermore, the approach of considering the “Old Testament” to be an outdated and finished up book of rules replaced by Jesus’ book of grace would appear to resemble the teachings of Marcion who completely rejected the Old Testament and considered it to be the scriptures of a cruel and completely different God from the God of the New testament. Marcion’s influences from Gnostic beliefs have unwittingly been carried on within Christian theology, philosophy, and practice whether overtly recognized or revealed in more sinister and hidden ways.

It may be that the practice of printing Bibles which are without the Old Testament is justified by a hint of Marcionism and the anti-Jewish culture that has been cultivated by the post-70 A. D. movement of the Church.

I want to do my best to fulfill Jesus' words and never abolish them.

In His dust,
Johnny

The Mark of the Beast

When the book of Revelation was written, emperor worship was in full swing. The emperor at this time was Domitian.

Domitian demanded that he be addressed as “God” even by his wife.

Ephesus was a very important city during Domitian’s reign. It was a city in which many citizens of that era would do their shopping, and without being able to shop in Ephesus, a person and his or her family would be without many of their basic human needs. Before a person could shop, he or she was required to declare that Domitian is God at the public altar.

Once a person declared the deity of Domitian, he or she was required to participate in festivals, give an incense offering, and make sacrifices in honor of the deified emperor.

Other requirements included recognizing that the emperor was the provider of life before drinking from public water fountains.

By practicing all the requirements of paying homage to the emperor, the person was considered to have taken on the “mark” of the emperor. To accept Domitian as God and to follow his requirements was to take on the “mark of Domitian.”

The Jews of Domitian’s time nicknamed Domitian "the beast."

Domitian also had a 35-foot statue that would be presented by his representatives wherever he went. This statue would be rolled out into the street and all the people present would pay homage to it by saying in loud voices, “Our Lord, our God, you alone are worthy of praise and honor and power." The statue depicted a very muscular version of Domitian who was actually very obese.

Those who accepted Domitian as God were allowed to shop freely in the market place as they were considered to have taken the “Mark of the Beast.”

“And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no respite day or night—these who pay homage to the beast and to his image and whoever receives the stamp of his name upon him” (Revelation 14:11).

Forever learning,
Johnny

Reflection of Perfection

This morning, most people went into the bathroom, looked at a person who lives in the mirror, and they dressed that person up until he or she was exactly what he or she wanted that person to look like.

They looked as close as they possibly could at that person in the mirror so that if one nose hair was out of place, he or she could see it and pluck it out. Some of them stood, hunched over the sink in an uncomfortable position, holding their breath at times to keep their hand as straight as possible so that they could put makeup on that person as perfectly as possible or so that they could shave away every single whisker. And when they were done, they looked at that person again; looking over every shade and line to make sure it was exactly what they wanted it to be.

They brushed the hair of the person in the mirror and many took dozens of minutes making sure the hair of that person in the mirror was just right.

Many people dressed up the body of that person in the mirror, making sure his or her clothes were without wrinkles and being sure to have every part of that person’s body decorated in clothing that matches, with jewelry that adds to the splendor of the day’s attire.

And many of those people would not leave the mirror until they were absolutely sure that the person in the mirror would add beauty and value to the world.


There were also many who didn’t take any time at all to dress the person in the mirror. Many of these people never even looked at the person in the mirror. The person in the mirror was there, but the person in charge of dressing the person in the mirror had either no ability, time, or interest in dressing that person.

There are many reasons why some never take time to dress up the person in their mirror. Some don’t like the person in the mirror; some are blind and need someone else to dress the person in the mirror. And then there are those who have found themselves so busy that there is no time to spend on the person in the mirror. Finally there are those who have no mirror and don’t have the opportunity.

The person in the mirror is important to us because it is our own exact representation and some of us value what the person in the mirror represents. Some of us care about the gift that the representation of the person in the mirror gives to the world as a person who is cared for and valued, and cares for and values others.

And once we leave the mirror, we take ourselves out into the world where we live in someone else’s mirror. The world then has the opportunity to make us what it wants us to be and look like.

Who am I allowing to dress me up to spend my life representing? If I wonder into the mirrors of the world, I may end up as someone else’s neglected slob.


I am a child of God who is dressed every new day to represent Him. I am to be a reflection of perfection in the world.

I Am God!

In Luke 19:9-10, Jesus says something that we cannot understand unless we have at least a minimal knowledge of Hebrew and the seven exegetical teaching techniques used by first-century Jewish rabbis.

Not only would Jesus have used a play on words at times, but he would also have used the technique known today as remez. A remez is a clue or a hint at a passage of scripture without actually reciting the passage.

As Westerners, we want people to just come out and say what they mean. We even have a phrase that we use—“Say what you mean and mean what you say.” We also say, “Don’t beat around the bush.” But rabbis would always beat around the bush. And if you don’t have a deep and thorough knowledge of the text (God's Word) you will miss the message entirely.

First, Jesus uses a word play. Jesus says to Zacchaeus, “Today salvation has come to this house…” In Hebrew the word for salvation is yeshu' ah (God’s salvation). Jesus is playing on the words “God’s salvation” when he says in Hebrew, “Today yeshu’ ah [which sounds like Jesus' Hebrew name, Yeshua] is coming to your house.” Then he says, “For the son of man has come to seek and to save what was lost.” “Son of Man” is a Hebrew way of saying, “this man” or “I.”

When all the Jews in the crowd and Zacchaeus heard Jesus say that he has come to seek and save the lost, they heard the remez that Jesus used. And what they heard was the 34th chapter of Ezekiel which records the words of God saying, “Because my shepherds have scattered my sheep and have abused them and put them in harms way, I WILL COME AND BE THE SHEPHERD, AND I WILL SEEK AND SAVE MY LOST SHEEP” (My paraphrase).

What this means is that when they heard Jesus say, “I came to seek and to save what was lost,” they heard Jesus say, “’I am God!’ And I have come just as I promised through my prophet, Ezekiel, to bring my sheep out of the trees and the fields and to rescue them from the wild animals and the dangers of the world.”

Often we hear commentators and others say that Jesus never claimed to be God. That seems to be true until we understand the technique of remez that Jesus used often. Zacchaeus and the others Jews on that day heard Jesus say it loud and clear.

Forever learning,
Johnny

Life in the Kingdom is a feast."Merry Christmas."

And we've all had days when we feel like this.

We've all had days like this.

redrum!

How Do I Live a Godly Life (Inherit Eternal Life)?

"Eternal Life" is one Hebrew idiom that has been severely shredded by the Western theological knife. The very reason a Jew would accept and imitate the yoke or scriptural interpretation of a particular rabbi was because he believed that by doing so he would be able to "inherit eternal life."

Inheriting eternal life is a Hebrew idiom for "living life in the will of God." This meant that those who followed Jesus believed that if they obeyed his teachings and imitated his ways of living out God's will, they would gain the ability to "live their lives in the will of God" (inherit eternal life) because they believed that Jesus’ interpretations of the commands of God in the Torah were the perfect interpretations.

The eschatological reward and punishment system was not as important to Jewish people as it is to us Westerners today. In other words, first century Jews were not as concerned with the "afterlife" nearly as much as they were concerned with the "active" life of being a child of God who lived God's will correctly in the world.

It is not easy for those of us who grew up in the Western world where everything either ends with reward or punishment/ payoff or pay-up to imagine doing something because we should do it and it pleases God. I would even suggest that if it was somehow proven that there was not an afterlife reward for Christians that many who claim to be Christians would choose another religion.

I would challenge all Christians to imaging for just one day doing God's will without even considering a reward in the afterlife. Actually, pretend for one day that you are either going to live according to God's will or not and either way there is no heaven or hell in the end. This is the attitude of the first century Jewish world with regard to obedience to the will and ways of God.

We use the reward and punishment system because it works for most situations to which we are required to get people to do what we want. But what if people did their jobs simply because they were able to do them and the jobs needed to be done? What if there was no pay or loss of pay whether I did my job or not? Would I still do my job or be a life-long couch potato? And how would this impact those in supervisory positions. Would they be more likely to express words of appreciation and encouragement like God or would they use tactics of threats and fear like most religions?

God’s word was always a sweet tasting gift to first century Jews, which allowed them the privilege of obeying God simply because it pleased Him, not because they were mortally afraid of losing their jobs or lives. God’s word was written to encourage His people to follow His will, not to scare them into obedience.

Paul tells us that we are to do everything we do as if we are doing it for God (Col. 3:23). God doesn't say do everything we do as if we will be paid for it. We do God's will for the sole purpose of bringing His Kingdom into the world wherever we are present as His children.

Eternal life is the opportunity to please God by doing His will in the world, not the opportunity to live forever, though that may very well be part of the package. But even if our death brought nothing but the end of life, we should do the will of God and do it gladly.

Grace and peace,
Johnny

Many Are Called, But Few Are Talmidim

Jesus said many are called, but few are chosen. Jesus chose his disciples, unlike the normal process of a rabbi's disciple gathering, which was to have a teenage student apply to follow him, by asking the rabbi "Can I be like you?" Upon the rabbi accepting the disciple, after testing him with many questions concerning the Torah, prophesies, other scrptures, etc., the disciple would live with the rabbi day and night from the time the disciple is 15 years-old until he is 30 years-old. Thirty years old was the time a disciple would become either a Torah-teacher or a Master-teacher. Master-teachers were rabbis who had the authority to make new interpretations. These rabbis were very rare, and they were the only rabbis who had disciples. Torah-teachers could only teach in the synagogues and schools and they could only teach what was considered orthodox teaching. Jesus was thirty when he began his public ministry in accordance with the common custom of his day. He was also a Master-teacher, recognized by every Jew of his day by the fact that he led disciples and made new interpretations of the Torah.

Torah-teachers taught students. Master-teachers led disciples. Disciples were not students. The difference between a student and a disciple or the Hebrew equivalent “talmid,” was that a student wanted to know what the teacher knows. A talmid wanted to be like the teacher. Jesus was a Master-teacher or 'Rabbi with shmikah (translated 'authority' in the English Bible).

When Jesus called his 12, he did not require them to apply to him and ask if they can follow him or “be like him.” Instead, he went to them and said, “Come. Follow me.” Or more literally, “Come. Be like me.”

The rich young ruler could not follow Jesus, because to be in the Kingdom of Heaven (a member of the group of Jesus' followers) meant living exactly how Jesus lived, icludeing Jesus' lack of wealth. The rich young ruler's refusal to enter the Kingdom of Heaven did not mean that the rich young ruler couldn’t go to “heaven” when he died. It meant that he couldn’t be a disciple. The Kingdom of Heaven was the group of disciples who followed Jesus in order to learn how be like Jesus, emotionally, spiritually, economically and every other way. It would be impossible for a rich man to be like Jesus, without being willing to share his riches.

When Jesus says it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into the Kingdom of God (Heaven), he is actually saying that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a person who's not willing to share his wealth to become a disciple.

Very few people have ever been disciples. Many have been saved, but few have been chosen to be disciples. In fact, if you or I were to say to one of Jesus' disciples, "I'm a disciple of Jesus," even Judas Iscariot woud laugh in our faces. Jesus only chooses as his disciples those who desire more than anything in the world to be like him. Others may be saved, but only those who are willing to mimic him in every way are chosen to be his disciples.

In all truth, I probably don't know a single disciple. Only those believers who live every moment, every occasion, and every situation as an imitator of Jesus who says, "Before I do or say anything, how would Jesus respond, what would Jesus say, what would he do in this situation" are disciples. Everyone else may be saved, but they are not disciples.

Most Christians don't know Jesus well enough to mimic his words, much less his life.

Forever learning,
Johnny

Why Do People Quit Good Jobs?

The statistics listed come directly from the book, First, Break All The Rules: What The World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently.

“Based on in-depth interviews by the Gallup organization of over 80,000 managers in over 400 companies – The Largest Study Of Its Kind Ever Undertaken”

The following questions are those that when answered positively by employees, reflected a higher level of retention in a company or company department.

1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?
2. Do I have the materials and equipment to do my work right?
3. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
4. In the last 7 days, have I received recognition or praise for good work?
5. Does my supervisor or someone at work seem to care about me as a person?
6. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
7. At work, do my opinions seem to count?
8. Does the mission or purpose of my company make me feel like my work is important?
9. Are my coworkers committed to doing quality work?
10. Do I have a best friend at work?
11. In the last six months have I talked with someone about my progress?
12. This last year have I had opportunities at work to learn and grow?

"Those who answered positively to these questions also worked in business units with higher levels of productivity, profit, retention, and customer satisfaction. It was also discovered that the answers were different within individual business units, which proved that it’s not the company that creates a workplace where good people stay, but it’s the immediate managers that create retention or turn-over."

If you are a leader in you organization or company and you're having a difficult time keeping your staff, put yourself in their place and find out if you worked for yourself, could you answer yes to all of these questions. Despite the thinking of conventional wisdom, it's not pay and perks that keep good people.

If you, as an employee, would jump at the first good opportunity to leave your job for another, even if your pay and perks are good at your current job, I guarantee you have answered "No" to most of these 12 questions.

Forever learning,
Johnny

What In the Heck Is "Hell"?

Three words used for “hell” in the Bible:

1. Tartaroo - a word borrowed from the Greek world which was a reference to the place where angels were punished in the world of mythology.

2. Hades – A Greek translation of the Hebrew word Sh’ol – only word used for hell in the Old Testament and refers to the world of the dead, grave, pit, and sleep. The Gates of Hades is a physical place in the Decapolus where the pagan God, Pan, was worshiped.

3. Gei-Hinnom – A reference to The Valley of Hinnom. 2 Kings 23:10, “He (King Josiah) desecrated Topheth, which was in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, so no one could use it to sacrifice his son or daughter in the fire to Molech.”

Molech was a god that the people would sacrifice their first born child to by burning him or her in the Valley of Hinnom. King Josiah destroyed and desecrated the place so that it could never be used for anything other than a town dump, which it became and was still being used for in the days of Jesus.

People would take their garbage to the Valley of Hinnom in Jerusalem where a continuous fire would burn the trash. Wild dogs would fight for scraps of food. And as they fought they would make a high pitched whimper like fighting dogs do and their teeth would grind together. This was known as the “weeping and gnashing of teeth in Gei-Hinnom."

When Jesus speaks of a person being cast into hell, he is referring to the wasted life; a life which is good for nothing but the local dump. When we don’t follow God, we are like food that can’t be eaten, therefore we have become a rotten spot in the Kingdom of God, which is better off being thrown in the garbage where only wild animals will find anything of value in the waste that has become the life of a child of God.

Hell for Jesus and his followers was a literal place to which they could point and say, "That's all you are good for, unless you are doing God's will." For them, it was not a spiritual, after death place, but a very real and present, ever-burning, stinking place where wild dogs fought for the garbage.

In His dust,
Johnny

No One Can Afford You!

Reflection on my own behavior and attitude toward my work has led me to the following insights. I feel that they are helpful and should be shared with others.


When a person has a job, he or she can never be paid what they are truly worth, if they are truly worth being paid for the job.

For example: If you have a job that pays you $30,000 per year, work like you are being paid $60,000 and you'll never have to worry about losing your job.

Most people will work like they are not paid enough for what they do. That's the wrong attitude, because, if it's true that we can never truly be paid what we're worth, then no one can complain about not being paid enough.

We should be so good at whatever we do that no one can afford us, if they had to pay what we're worth.

On the other hand, if you're not being paid at least one half of what you're worth, which is double what the job should be able to fairly pay, then you need to find a new job or ask for a raise. The sad fact is that most people ask for a raise when they are only doing the amount of work they are being paid for rather than giving more than their job pays them to do.

I truly believe that Jesus agrees with me. As Paul says, “Do everything as if you’re doing it for God, and not for man” (Colossians 3:23).
Those are my thoughts. Enjoy.

In His dust,
Johnny

Shmikah

The first century followers of Jesus understood that to be a disciple meant that they had devote their lives to becoming like Jesus. Most Christians today are not disciples of Jesus. They are believers, but they are not disciples.

In the Jewish world, there were two kinds of rabbis. One was called a Torah teacher. Torah teachers were very learned in the Torah and were able to teach whatever the people understood and accepted as sound teaching from the Word of God. The second kind of rabbi was called a Master teacher. Master teachers could recite 365 pages of Scripture from memory and they were able to give new teachings or new interpretations of the Scriptures. For example, the Bible says that God’s people are not to work on the Sabbath, but it does not clearly define what “work” is. Defining these meanings was the job of the Master-teachers. Jesus was one of these rabbis who was able to give new interpretations. We know this because we read often in the gospels where Jesus says, “You have heard it said, but I say…” This is an example of giving new interpretations.

What gave a rabbi the right to give new interpretations? Rabbis who were able to teach new interpretations were those who had shmikah. The word that the English translators often use to translate the word shmikah is “authority.”

In Mark’s gospel we read that Jesus went to Capernaum and began to teach in the synagogue. And the Bible says Jesus taught, not like the Torah-teachers, but like one who had authority (shmikah). Jesus was a Master teacher, a rabbi with shmikah.

How did a rabbi get shmikah? It actually begins way back when Moses and Aaron chose the 70 judges in the book of Exodus. They brought all of the 70 together, placed their hands on the heads of each of them and declared that they had the authority to speak on God’s behalf when leading God’s people. After that, only a rabbi who was anointed by two other Master-teachers and declared in the presence of witnesses to have schmikah was considered to be a Master-teacher.

Rabbis would often be asked, “Where did you get your shmikah” just as Jesus was asked by the chief priest, Torah-teachers, and elders in Luke 20:1-3. “One day as he was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel, the chief priest and the teachers of the law together with the elders, came up to him. ‘Tell us by what authority you are doing these things,’ they said. ‘Who gave you this authority?”

So, who were the two people who had the authority to speak on God's behalf and declared that Jesus had that same authority? Jesus says after the teachers, priest, and elders asked him where he received his shmikah, “I will also ask you a question. Tell me, John’s baptism – was it from heaven, or from men,” which was half the answer. When Jesus came to the Jordon River for John’s baptism, John said, “Look everyone! The Messiah!” John is the first shmikahed rabbi to claim that Jesus has the authority of God when he speaks. The second authoritative person who declared the authority or shmikah of Jesus spoke when the heavens opened after Jesus’ baptism and said, “This is my son! Obey him! For I love him!”

Jesus is the only Master-teacher in history who received his authority to speak on the behalf of God from God himself. This means that when Jesus says something to his followers, God is speaking to His followers. All authority in heaven and in earth has been given to Jesus. To follow Jesus is to follow God. To obey Jesus is to obey God. To imitate Jesus is to imitate God.

When Jesus tells us that we must do something, if we are to follow him, then he isn’t giving us a suggestion. Either we love our enemy or we are not His followers. Either we feed the hungry or we go home. Either we help the sick or we stop pretending that we know what it means to follow Jesus.

Being a disciple is not synonymous with being a believer. Being a disciple of Jesus is to be an imitator of God.

A Christian Nation?

The subject of America being a Christian nation was addressed to me in an email by a friend. I was very glad to receive the opportunity to discuss the issue, as it afforded me the opportunity to begin to dig into my own thoughts on the subject. And the following paragraphs are the initial result of this quest.

Jesus' message was clear in that the "key" or "theme" of his message was "The Kingdom of God." The Kingdom of God was the people of God doing the will of God on earth today and together. If I go into a room, a store, a house, a country, I either bring with me the Kingdom of God or the kingdom of hell. God's Kingdom is brought with me when I obey the teachings of Christ whose words are literally God's words. Hell's kingdom is brought with me when I don't obey Christ's words to heal, help, serve, feed, et cetera.

We are to establish the Kingdom of God on earth as Jesus directed. With this as the case, to call ourselves a Christian nation is a lie at worst and silly at best. We are no more a Christian nation than the ocean is a Christian ocean. And I'm not sure that Jesus wanted us to create a Christian nation. After all, it was after the death of Constantine when all other religions except for Christianity were declared illegal that a nation of Christians who were persecuted became a nation of Christian persecutors.

I'm not as interested in being a Christian nation as much as I am interested in being a nation that accepts Christians who are free to enter and invite others to enter the Kingdom of God.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to discover what I think about this topic.

In His dust,
Johnny

Don't Give Up Your Kavanah

Luke 18:9-14

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican in Luke 18 is a message about kavanah. Kavanah is the Hebrew word for the sincerity of the heart in worship. Kavanah is what God looks for in those who worship Him. And, to truly understand the parable, you have to first be willing to open your mind to the idea (actually the fact) that Pharisees were not considered to be bad people in Jesus’ day. They were considered to be very obedient, righteous, God-fearing, Bible-studying, live-out-the-Word of God people.

The fact that Pharisees were held in very high esteem is what made this story so powerful. Christians often hear the parable with their thoughts of the characters being “The Hypocrite and the Tax Collector.” But, if Jesus were to tell this story today, he would expect us to picture these two people as Billy Graham and a porn star. Or, as the writer John Crossan said, “The pope and the pimp.”

Jesus speaks of these two people going up to the temple for prayer. In the original language of Hebrew, prayer meant “worship.” You and I will say that we are going to church to worship, but the Jews would have said, “We’re going to synagogue to pray.” Of course worship included prayer; it also included singing of praises and other elements of worship. In fact, when the Bible tells us that Jesus went out into the wilderness to “pray,” it literally means that he went out into the wilderness to “worship.”

Knowing this, we must also recognize that Jesus says they were both going up to the temple to pray, meaning they were both going to the temple to worship. This is a reference to corporate worship, meaning that this was a day when thousands of people were going to the temple to worship God.

The tax collector or publican was a public official for the Roman government. The taxes he collected went to support the pagan worship practices and many lined their own pockets as well. This caused the Jews to look at their Jewish brothers who were working for the Romans as idolaters and traitors. During worship, the tax collector would have been escorted out of temple through the eastern gate as soon as the symbols began to crash during worship. But the Pharisee, being seen as a godly man would have been able to get very close to the altar itself and pray.

The prayers of the two people in the parable are the powerful climax of the story, because the prayer of forgiveness plays a vital role in temple worship during the first century.

Atonement was the ultimate purpose and goal of Temple worship. And the prayer of repentance would have been offered at the climactic and most important moment in the time of worship.

When the worshipers begin to gather, they enter according to their roles, positions, and standing in society. Gentiles would gather outside in the gentile court, Jewish worshipers would gather in the women’s court or in the court of the Israelites. And the priests would be in charge of conducting worship. The first part of worship would take place on a staircase inside the temple with music, liturgy, and possibly a short sermon. For the next element of the worship service the priest moved from the steps to the great altar, and as the people stood in awe of God, observing the musicians and the priests and Levites, the worship reached a climax with the Levitical coir chanting a Psalm with symbols crashing over and over. This is when those considered unclean, including the tax collector in this story, would have been escorted outside the temple.

Then the priest takes the lamb and he is standing with the knife in his hand. All of the music and chanting and the symbols crashing comes to a complete stop and the trumpet is blown. Then the lamb’s throat is cut, the blood is caught and spattered on the altar. There isn’t a sound in the temple. The lamb is slaughtered, its parts placed in a pan and carried to the fire. And the priest would say, “God, keep your promise that you will forgive our sins!” He says this as if he has taken God by the shirt collar and is looking God in the eyes with all of the tenacity of starving man, “GOD! REMEMBER YOUR PROMISE!”

Everyone is standing completely silent as the priest offers repentance on behalf of all the people worshiping in and outside the temple. Then another priest walks past the altar and up the steps to the Holy of Holies; he is standing in front of the altar of incense with his bowl of 21 different kinds of incense mixed together as he looks up and begins to pray, “God, hear your people!”

The people can’t see the priest, but as the priest stands and begins to pray, the people also begin to pray out loud as the way to the Lord has been opened. When the priest is done, he pours the incense on the coals and a cloud of steam and spoke rises up, it fills the temple courts along with the smell of incense and roasting meat, which is a vivid picture symbolizing God’s presence with His people who is able to hear every prayer. Thousands of voices are now lifted up as the people pray for forgiveness.

It is at this moment, when every worshiper is given the opportunity to admit thier wrongs in the presence of God, that the Pharisee, standing alone, close to the alter of God, is reminding God of his own righteousness, while the publican who is not even allowed in the temple, is standing far from the altar, beating his chest and crying for forgiveness.

This parable is the story of the truly righteous who has become self-righteous and the sinner who worships with kavanah. It is not the godly man, but the sinner who has come with the heart of worship.

How many times have we said, “I’m glad I’m not like the Pharisee”? As soon as we make that statement, we, like this good intentioned, godly man, have given up our kavanah.

In His dust,
Johnny

Thanks, Ronnie.

"Behold the turtle. He only makes progress when he sticks his neck out." (Unknown)

Grace and peace,
Johnny

"You Can Do Anything You Want to Do, As Long As You Were Created to Do It"

For the record, I would like to say that there are things that some people will never be able to do, nor should they be expected to learn how to do them.

For example, a blind person should never take driving lessons. This is not a criticism, but recognition of his or her inabilities. Blindness is an obvious inabilitiy, but everyone has inabilities, and those inabilities may not necessarily be considered flaws. For a blind person, he or she may discover that blindness is not a flaw, but a different opportunity with which to experience the world. The blind person should no more be taught to overcome his or her weakness of not being able to drive than a tall person should be taught to practice being shorter.

We wouldn't ask a high energy person to teach a class on how to be slow. High energy is actually the gift of that person and he should teach high energy people how to be great at using their high energy. Find somebody else to teach how to be slow. We wouldn't think twice about waiting for a jump master to teach us how to parachute, if a scuba diving instructor offered to take us up in a plane.

I think of this often when I think about kids in American schools where every child is expected to be an audible learner with a calm temperament who can sit and listen for long periods of time. The phlegmatic children with relaxed natures and a gift for audible learning are considered to be good, well-behaved children, while the sanguine or choleric children who are hands-on learners, highly social and energetic are suspected of having A.D.D. and have their parents given the recommendation to take the child to see a doctor. Eventually the child with natural high energy will learn to hide his or her true temperament while in school, out of the fear of failing or getting into trouble. The suppression of the child's true temperament will be forced to reveal itself in unhealthy, nervous tension. I don't think this is the answer.

Ultimately, ducks are ducks and eagles are eagles. I think that's true of people too. Each has his or her part to play, and each is to value the parts others play, without expecting to have to be able to play the others' parts.

The age of the "you can do anything you put your mind to" is quickly giving way to the age of "you can do anything you have been created to do as an individual with individual gifts, when you recognize and develop those gifts."

Grace and peace,
Johnny

"You are you and I am me, no matter what others insist we should be."

So many wonderful people are not recognized simply because they are in the wrong position or they are not allowed to live and work in their strengths. I have argued this truth for years.

I’m reading The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People by Stephen R. Covey. In his book he shares the genius of Dr. R.H. Reeves on the subject of appreciating one another’s differences in order to synergize, rather than simply compromise, and develop highly creative plans together.

“The Animal School”

“Once upon a time, the animals decided they must do something heroic to meet the problems of a ‘New World,’ so they organized a school. They adopted an activity curriculum consisting of running, climbing, swimming and flying. To make it easier to administer, all animals took all the subjects.

The duck was excellent in swimming, better in fact than his instructor, and made excellent grades in flying, but he was very poor in running. Since he was low in running he had to stay after school and also drop swimming to practice running. This was kept up until his web feet were badly worn and he was only average in swimming. But average was acceptable in school, so nobody worried about that except the duck.

The rabbit started at the top of the class in running, but had a nervous breakdown because of so much makeup in swimming.

The squirrel was excellent in climbing until he developed frustrations in the flying class where his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of from the tree-top down. He also develop charley horses from over-exertion and he got a C in climbing and a D in running.

The eagle was a problem child and had to be disciplined severely. In climbing class he beat all the others to the top of the tree, but insisted on using his own way of getting there.

At the end of the year, an abnormal eel that could swim exceedingly well and also run, climb and fly a little had the highest average and was valedictorian.

The prairie dogs stayed out of school and fought the tax levy because the administration would not add digging and burrowing to the curriculum. They apprenticed their children to the badger and later joined the groundhogs and gophers to start a successful private school."

Valuing one another’s differences is important, no matter what organization, school, home, marriage, or job we are a part of.

Mercy is for the Merciful

In Matthew 18:23-25 we read of The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant.

It’s not easy to have a clear understanding of many of the words of Jesus without a better understanding of the context, time, and place in which Jesus is teaching.

This story is a reminder that when you’re feeling sorry for yourself and you're thinking that nobody cares about you, try missing a couple of payments.

The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant is a message about divine forgiveness exemplified in human relationships. God does not provide mercy to the unforgiving.

The amount of money that is portrayed by Jesus in this story is so ridiculously large that it had to have been heard as funny. I’m sure his listeners were thinking to themselves, “That is just silly that someone would owe that much money” which is how Jesus got their undivided attention to hear how this would all pan out.

Ten thousand talents was roughly equivalent to the national debt. No average worker could ever even dream of paying back that much money. A talent was equivalent to 6,000 denarii. To help you understand how much that is, Judea, Idumaea, and Samaria together would pay 600 talents per year, while the servant, an average working man, in this story, all by himself owed 10,000 talents. If this working man could work every day of his life, and save every single dollar, meaning he had no bills and didn’t even use money to eat, it would take him over 150 years to pay this back.

The enslavement or imprisonment of a person, and in many situations, the enslavement of family members for paying off debt is a reality for Jesus’ listeners as well. In fact, Jesus refers to this when he says, “Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison; truly I say to you, you will never get out till you pay the last penny” (Matt 5:25-26; Luke 12:58). In 2 Kgs 4:1 a widow cries to Elisha, “Your servant may husband is dead; and you know that your servant feared the LORD, but the creditor has come to take my two children to be his slaves.”

The listeners of this story are amazed when Jesus says that the king forgives the debt and lets the man go free.

Then the twist comes when this same man who had an enormous debt forgiven by the king goes to a man who owes him what would be considered three months wages and he does not forgive the debt. The man who was forgiven then faces the judgment of being unmerciful.

I believe that we, as children of God, are to gorge one another with forgiveness; without it, we whither and die.
The ultimate goal of Jesus’ story is to remind his hearers of God’s compassion and willingness to forgive, as well as His unwillingness to ignore justice

Only the merciful are shown mercy.

Forever learning,
Johnny

God's Daughters

The ministry of women is as ancient as Eve. She was created to be a "powerful partner" and to be an encourager.

As a Salvation Army officer, the privilege of seeing women given the opportunity for meaningful ministry has been a true blessing, though there is still a long way to go.

Catherine Booth, who was the wife of The Salvation Army's founder, William Booth, was the author of many of her husband's sermons and her deep theological and spiritual sensitivity was an always needed balancing tool for her husband.

The lack of respecting the ministry of women in the history of the church has had many negative impacts on some branches of the church. For example, The Salvation Army, to this day, does not practice communion, as it was not accepted by female ministers in the beginnings of The Army's mission. Therefore, William Booth declared that we will not practice communion in order that we do not offend anyone needing to hear the gospel.

I believe that women have always been just as important as men in God's family, Kingdom, and ministries. It is very exciting to see the changes in the world of women's ministries and how our generally male dominated church is beginning to benefit from recognizing the gifts, talents, and offerings of God's daughters.

It's interesting to me that wisdom is always spoken of as "her" and "she" in the Bible. That Mr. Booth went to his wife for counsel, wisdom, and sermon writing should be expected, as a woman's sensitivity to the Spirit is a wonderful part of her creation.

Grace and peace,
Johnny

Life

When I was a boy growing up in Jacksonville, Florida, my brothers and I had a friend our age. I’ll call him Ricky.

Ricky had a little brother, whom I’ll call Timmy.

Ricky and Timmy lived in a house down the street from ours. One particular Christmas around 1980 or 81 my brothers and I got an Atari 2600 with at least 10 new games, a bunch of other toys, and brand new clothes, which my mom charged on her credit card and paid back over the next ten years.

I remember being so excited, and I couldn’t wait to go out and tell everyone all that we got for Christmas.

My brothers and I went and visited our other friends, one house after the other, each showing off our new treasures. Then we went to Ricky and Timmy’s.

Walking into their house was strange. Immediately, the first thing that caught my attention was the floor, which was almost covered in grey sand. In their bedroom was a pile of old clothes that they used for a bed, and they had almost no furniture.

This was Christmas. Everything should be shimmering with lights and shiny decorations, with the smell of a Christmas tree and turkey or ham baking in the oven. Ricky and Timmy were alone in their house. Their mother wasn’t home. I’m not sure where she was on this Christmas day, but I do remember that they had presents.

Their presents weren’t like ours, with the smell of new clothes and toys, and the shine of freshly opened boxes and wrapping paper.
One of their presents was a board game that was torn on the corners, repaired with masking tape, and a small, black and white television with a coat hanger for an antenna. I don’t remember anything else.

I do remember that on a few occasions, Ricky climbed in our window of the porch that was made into a bedroom where we kept our Atari. He’d be in there about six in the morning playing video games.

Ricky was in jail about ten years ago, where my younger brother, who’d gotten into some trouble, saw him. Ricky said his little brother, Timmy, died of malnutrition. I’m not sure what happened to his mother.

I tell this story to remind myself, that no matter how rough I think my life can be at times, there are always those who have it rougher.

Grace and peace,
Johnny

What does it mean?

For two nights in a row, I dreamed that Ella was in danger of being hurt in a ditch. And in the ditch was a large cement drain pipe that ran under the ground until it protruded just a few inches into the ditch. The first night she and I were falling into the ditch together and she nearly hit her head on the drain pipe until, while in midair, I jerked her away by her hand just in time for both of us to land on the grass outside the ditch. The second night she crawled into the drain pipe, which happened to be flooded about 4 inches with tomato soup. I know…weird.

I think I know what it means. It means nothing.

Isn’t it nice when something means nothing? How often does that happen in real life? Everything always means something, no matter how big or how small the thing is.

It’s so cool to have a really bad dream like your spouse has left you or your baby fell in a ditch, only to wake up and learn that it was all a dream. There are a lot of people who wish their lives could be like that, hoping that they’ll wake up and it was all just a dream that meant nothing.

They'd love to wake up and remember that their real life is wonderful and means so much.

Sometimes all it takes to go from meaning nothing to meaning a lot, is a change.

I like change. Change can turn nothing into something.

Grace and peace,
Johnny

“Strengthening Faith or Dancing with the Devil?”

Speaking dangerously is something that more Christians would do well to dabble in. I have found that far too many believers become angry or even threatened by some of the thoughts and ideas of the classic writers and even refuse to read for fear of feeling that they are dancing with the devil.

Recently I read a definite classic by Rudolf Bultmann, of which I'm sure many have read, titled "Jesus Christ and Mythology." Bultmann's philosophy is very striking and thought provoking as his words would seem to challenge the reader to once again approach some of the questions many have during a point in life when a person begins to experience doubts about faith and God. Bultmann's "de-mythologizing" theory is very tantalizing in that it brings to the surface of those reading the book that many well-meaning believers have mythologized much of the ideals of Christianity.

When we tell our children that angels are watching over them, how much of our thoughts about that statement are steeped in myths of female, winged, gown wearing, glowing, ghost-like creatures hovering invisibly about the bed?

Some of Bultmann's thoughts are no doubt placed in the theological world of infamy, while at the same time there is much to his words that gives us cause to look deeper into what we believe and how we live as Christians.

In a general conversation, I spoke of this book to another Christian who not only did not want to read it, but refused to even talk about it. This brings to my mind that we, as believers, must not fear the thoughts of the classic writers who helped to shape and even challenge our Christian theology throughout history, ancient or more recent. It is through the efforts of the classic writers that we are able to galvanize our thoughts as Christians.

I wish that we would all dare to dabble in the dangerous. Faith is only as strong as it is able to stretch in and out of the safest and scariest of converstations, whether written or spoken.

Forever learning,
Johnny

"Get A Shovel"

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl in Matthew 13:44-46 has a deep and rich background in the Hebrew world, which has always been a reference to the teaching of God’s Word. Learning the Word of God was more valuable than anything that had ever existed; it was a hidden treasure that was meant to be excavated by every child of God, and nothing was more valuable.

Jesus' message was The Message of the Kingdom. He taught of the priceless Way and Will of God. And the people who found the Kingdom, who found the Way of God, had indeed discovered a priceless treasure.

The church fathers, like Origen and Irenaeus taught that the pearl was Christ and that those who found Jesus had found the great Jewel. But in the context of Jesus’ teaching, it was the opportunity to enter the Kingdom of Heaven and learn to live the will of God that was the value of his invitation.

In Jewish tradition, the greatest treasure was the Torah, and people would give up land, flocks, crops, and gold to have the opportunity for deep study in the Torah of God.

“An ancient sage named Jose, the son of Kisma, said, I was once walking by the way when a man met me and greeted me, and I returned his greeting. He said to me, Rabbi, from what place are you? I said to him, I come from a great city of sages and scribes. He said to me, If you are willing to dwell with us in our place, I will give you a thousand golden dinars and precious stones and pearls. I said to him, even if you were to give me all the silver and gold and precious stones and pearls in the world, I would not dwell anywhere but in a home of the Torah.” –Brad H. Young, Parables, 210

The hidden treasure and the pearl both signify the Kingdom of God, which is the Word of God being learned and lived by the people of God. Jesus calls us to search for the treasures of the Kingdom, the Will and Ways of God and His people, and even to give up everything to know and live according to His priceless Word.

Jim Rohn said when we invite people to come and dig for the treasures of higher learning, many will say, “I don’t have a shovel.” He will then say, “Get you one” with their reply being, “Do you know what a shovel costs today?”

Jesus calls us to pay the price, no matter how expensive the shovel, in order that we may find the Pearl of Great Price that is His eternal Word.

Forever learning,
Johnny

People Are Like A Box of Whitman's Chocolate

Listening is such a needed attribute within the body of Christ. Often we are given the opportunity to share or be shared with, and the chance is missed for lack of interest or difference of opinion.

I love what one writer, possibly Stephen Covey, says, “First seek to understand, and then seek to be understood.”

Forest Gump said, “Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get.”

Life may not be predictable as we'd like it, but I think people are another story.

Most people are like a box of Whitman’s chocolate; the kind that does let us know what we’re going to get, if only we take the time to look inside the box before we grab or reject the morsels inside of one another.

Grace and peace,
Johnny

Was Jesus "Whacked" by the Mob?

The background of The Parable of the Tenants in Luke 20 has a sinister history which is very often unknown by the majority of those of us who read the Bible.

Often this parable is taught with the understanding that the "tenants/farmers" are the Jews, the "servants" are the prophets, and “others” refers to the Gentiles, non-Jews, or Christians. However, a closer look at the history of the Temple reveals that this parable is more likely a direct reference to the corruption among the Temple authorities and God's ability to remove and re-staff His Temple with new Levites and priests, such as the case after the destruction of the first Temple.

According to very important and reliable writings of antiquity, the background of the parable has to do with some Levite families. One particular family is that of the high priest, Ananias, who was a wealthy landowner. By the time of the Second Temple period, in Jesus day, it is well documented that many Levites were wealthy landowners, though they were not supposed to own land. This caused many Jews who were taught to give tithes (10% of crops and animals, not money) in order to feed the Levites and priests, to stop tithing, realizing that many wealthy Levites and priests no longer required being fed by the rest of Jerusalem’s farms.

Levites who were wealthy landowners were given great honor by the Jews because of their wealth and prestige. Unfortunately, this wealth led to oppression by some of these Levite families. When the priests (servants) came to receive from the tithes (fruit) provided at the Temple (vineyard), the Levites (tenant/farmers) would not give them their food and the priests would even be physically beaten and or killed by the slaves who were owned by the Levite and his family. Many of these priests simply starved to death.

The high priest, Ananias (tenant), would not give to the priests (servants) who came for food, which he was required to provide to the servants of the temple when they came to the owner's vineyard (God's Temple) for their fruit (food to feed their families).

Ananias is spoken of by the first century historian, Josephus, as “a supplier of money.” "Supplier" is another name for "robber," which is the title that robbers would call themselves. Josephus also says of the Levite family of Ananias: “Such was the shamelessness and effrontery which possessed the high priests that they were so brazen as to send servants to the threshing floors to receive the tithes that were due to the priests, with the result that the poorer priests starved to death” (Ant. 20.181).–Jesus’ Last Week, 69

Ananias and his family are characterized as a “mafia” who bullied the priests of the temple in Jesus day and began making a lucrative living off of the tithes of the people.

Worth noting, is the fact that purchasing sacrificial animals from the temple would not have been a reason for Jesus’ aggressive behavior since Deuteronomy 14:25-26 makes provision for purchasing offerings.

The issue of Jesus behavior is much, much bigger than stopping people from selling or buying offerings. Anyone in earshot of Jesus telling The Parable of the Talents knows exactly to whom he's referring. After all, all of Jerusalem is frustrated and disgusted by corruption of the Temple authorities.

Imagine everyone's surprise when Jesus takes on the Mob. This could lend an explanation to the illegal trial and the fact that no one tried to stop him in the Temple.

Forever learning,
Johnny

Make Life Happen!

This is such a strange world that God has created. I can almost taste the irony as I stretch my way through life, too often never really lifting my feet from the past. And, though I pass through the years, I never really touch down on the future.

Every day I feel less and less up to the task of seizing the day. My crystal-blue eyes are tired from the strain of concern. My mind wonders around the pool of regret. And my heart beats faster to keep me ahead of the negative pulses that struggle to weigh me down. This, I believe, is a spiritual crisis. And I want to capture it. I want to grab it by its throat and stand on its chest. So, I have. I am not allowing it to talk to me. Instead, I am talking to it. And, what do I say?

I yell into its eyes, “I have been given goals, dreams, and visions for life that only I can prevent--Not You! And I'm not about to stop them!”

I know more than I ever knew before. I dream vividly at night, and I look forward to the day. And my heart is not as soft as it once was. There is no fear of man or the tools of intimidation that are used to restrain the tenacious. Instead, I seek out the bully, stand on his turf, and look into his eyes. There’s nothing that he can say or do that is able to turn back my relentless pursuit to drive my dreams on the roads that have been paved for the plans laid out for me.

There have been those who have labored to convince me that life is something to let happen. But I am convinced that life is better suited for those who make it happen. The less inspired is heavily disturbed by the unrelenting quest of the determined. That is why paradox attempts to define my way by convincing me that I can reach for the stars that have fallen onto the ground. “After all,” says Mr. and Mrs. Underachiever, “Stars are stars, even when they have fallen.”

Don’t believe it. Those aren’t dreams; they’re compromises.

Spend time dreaming real dreams, and then go after the dreams—the high, far, far-away dreams; the dreams that don’t allow your feet to stay where they are, while you stretch out your hands.

As Jim Rohn so wisely says, “Life is short, even at its longest.”

So, live life like you are the one chosen to prove to God that life will not be wasted when He gives it to human beings.

Grace and peace,
Johnny

Which Matters Most--The Goose or the Egg?

Pity parties are strange occasions. But there’s just something about life that brings them on when we least expect them. Maybe it’s the weather change, a time of year, a holiday. Who knows what causes them? But sometimes there’s something that brings out our negative feelings without warning.

I believe that one reason some people get down is because of a lack of encouragement, recognition, and affirmation for who they are and what they have been created to do. People begin to feel like commodities, rather than valuable assets.

There is a great story called Aesop’s fable that is the story of a man who owned a goose. One morning he went out to the pen to get the eggs from the goose and found a golden egg. At first he thought that it was ridiculous to think a goose could lay a golden egg, so he simply threw it to the side. Then he thought about it and said to himself, “What if the egg really is a golden egg?” He took it to an appraiser and found out that it was pure gold.
The next morning the man went out to the goose’s nest and there was another golden egg. Morning after morning, the man would rise early and run out to the nest to find another golden egg.
Eventually, the man became incredibly wealthy. He also became very greedy and impatient. When he could no longer stand to wait until morning for his golden egg, he took the goose, killed it, and tore open its belly to get all the eggs at once. Of course, there were no eggs, and he had ruined the producer of his riches.


Sometimes we treat people like the man in Aesop’s fable treated his goose—we don’t really care about the geese, only the eggs that they produce.

The moral of the story is obvious: Don’t destroy the people, in order to get what you want out of them. It’s the people that are the true treasure.

How often are we pressed to pursue encouragement, due to a lack of appreciation for who we are as people? I would venture to say that in the church, we are too often asked (not overtly) to hide our strengths and keep our accomplishments a secret, lest we be heard as boasting.

What a shame. We should be shouting from the rooftops when we discover our purpose and our gifts.

I'm picturing that goose running out of the pen, screaming, "I laid a golden egg! I laid a golden egg!" and the man saying, "Stop bragging! Get back in that pen, hang your head, and make out like you lay the same kind of eggs as every other goose, or they'll think you believe you're better than them."

We have to stand out. God has given each of us a specific purpose. To borrow from Zig Ziggler, we are all created to be "meaningful specifics," not "wondering generalities." I don't think we should have to hide our gifts or have our bellies torn open for the goods. We are just to be who God created us to be, doing our specific part and being appreciated for who we are as individuals, without being ripped apart by greedy, hasty people. Instead, we are to encourage one another daily with care, concern, words of affirmation, love, and celebration for the person whom God created.

Grace and peace,
Johnny

Stuff Them Like An Ox!

To be a student is something that is very valuable. It has been said that learning is the key to maturity. Sadly, there are far too many people who have no love of learning.

In my experience, those with the most disdain for new information are those with the least appreciation for constant intellectual and practical growth. This may sound redundant, but as Louis Armstrong said, "There are some who, if they don't know it, you can't tell them."

Over and over I have heard people with very little education say, “Be careful how educated you become. Those who are more educated tend to think more and do less,” which is nowhere near true. The educated are by far the majority of leaders, philanthropists, educators, and greatest contributors to society.

There is also an attitude among many that the educated should live a life of false humility, almost apologizing for all that they have learned. But this is not an accurate reflection of God's attitude toward education.

God has always valued education for His people. It has only been since the days of the Great Awakenings and the birth of the evangelical church that education has been treated as a virus. Praise God for the recent spike of interest among the evangelicals.

The ancient Jews valued learning so much for their children that the rabbis would say, “Under the age of six we do not receive a child as a pupil; from six upwards accept him and stuff him (with Torah) like an ox” (B.B. 21a). –Abraham Cohen, Everyman’s Talmud, pg 175

The ancient rabbis also emphasized the importance of learning during childhood by saying, “If one learns as a child, what is it like? Like ink written on clean paper. If one learns as an old man, what is it like? Like ink written on blotted paper” (Aboth IV. 25).
–Cohen, pg 175

The education of children was a top priority in ancient Jerusalem. The following is a collection of ancient quotes which help us to see this passion of God’s people:

“’Touch not Mine anointed and do My prophets no harm’ (1 Chronicles 16:22)—‘Mine anointed’ are the schoolchildren, ‘My prophets’ are the scholars.’

‘The world only exists through the breath of schoolchildren.’

‘We may not suspend the instruction of children even for the rebuilding of the Temple.’

‘A city in which there are no schoolchildren will suffer destruction’ (Shab. 119b).” –Cohen, pg 173

Clearly, God’s people in the days of Jesus believed that no child should be prevented from sitting at the feet of a rabbi. This is probably the reason Jesus was so firm with his young disciples (between the ages of 16-25), when he told them not to prevent children from coming to him (Matthew 19:14). This is also what made it possible for Jesus at the age of 12 to sit and question the rabbis at the Temple when he was left in Jerusalem. Jesus’ questioning of the scholars was common for children to do. What was not as common was the extent of Jesus’ knowledge as a gifted child (Luke 2:46-47).

Knowing the impact of God’s Word on a culture, why do most Christians continue to teach biblical education inside the establishment of church buildings alone? It would seem that those of us who claim to be the disciples of Christ would be emphatic about “stuffing our children like an ox” in every building, especially the home.

"Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths; guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long" (Psalm 25:4-5 NIV).


Forever learning,
Johnny

Difficult People

The following is a list of the seven patterns of difficult people as given by Dr. Robert M. Bramson in his book, Coping with Difficult People.

Hostile-Aggressives: these are the people who try to bully and overwhelm by bombarding others, making cutting remarks, or throwing tantrums when things don’t go the way they are certain things should.
Complainers: complainers are individuals who gripe incessantly but who never try to do anything about what they complain about, either because they feel powerless to do so or because they refuse to bear the responsibility.
Silent and Unresponsives: These are the people who respond to every question you might have, every plea for help you make, with yep, a no, or a grunt.
Super-Agreeables: Often very personable, funny, and outgoing individuals. Super-Agreeables are always very reasonable, sincere, and supportive in your presence but don’t produce what they say they will, or act contrary to the way they have led you to expect.
Negativists: When a project is proposed, the negativists are bound to object with “It won’t work” or “It’s impossible” All too often they effectively deflate any optimism you might have.
Know-It-All Experts: These are those “superior” people who believe, and want you to recognize, that they know everything there is to know about anything worth knowing. They’re condescending, imposing (if they really do know what they’re talking about), or pompous (if they don’t), and they will likely make you feel like an idiot.
Indecisives: Those who stall major decisions until the decision is made for them, those who can’ let go of anything until it is perfect—which means never.

This should be looked at in two areas:

1. Who is the difficult person in my life?
2. Whose difficult person am I?

Grace and peace,
Johnny

There Is No Such Thing As Secular

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 NIV).

When I was a kid, I would always smash all my food together and eat it. Mom would make fried chicken, peas, corn, mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and rice and gravy, and I’d swirl it all together, except for the chicken, and eat it like a hot, mushy salad.

Many of us are careful to keep our food separated, just like we compartmentalize our lives. We have our work life, family life, church life, and on and on. There are also occasions when we verbally and literally speak to God, connect with God, and invite God to join us, and there are occasions when we never even consider God as being a part.

For the Jews of all time, including today, prayer has always been the method used to remind them that everything in the world belongs to God and is for His purposes.

The Jews, including Jesus and Paul, have a prayer or a benediction for everything. These prayers or benedictions are called berakhot, translated in English as “blessings.” A blessing is a prayer of thanksgiving to God. It is not a prayer of power or effectiveness upon an item, situation, or place, but a prayer of thanks for the item, situation, or place. In other words, we don’t bless food; we bless God for the food.

The Jews pray a blessing for every part of life. There is nothing that is secular. All things are sacred, set apart for God, but not all people honor God in them. Think about music. All music belongs to God, but not all music is honoring to God. Still it belongs to Him. Whether it honors God or not is up to God’s people. That’s why it’s so important to pray a blessing to God for everything, reminding ourselves that God is always present and expecting to be honored.

The Jewish rabbis taught, “It is forbidden to a man to enjoy anything of this world without a benediction, and if anyone enjoys anything of this world without a benediction, he commits sacrilege” (Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 35a). –Marvin Wilson, Our Father Abraham, page 157.

"Secular" did not exist in the Jewish mind, but in the Greek mind it infiltrated the theology of the church. Eusebius of Caesarea in the 4th century said, “There are two ways of life for those of us in the church. The one devotes itself to the service of god alone, while the other, more humble, more human, permits farming, trade, and other more secular interests. The first is the perfect form of the Christian life while the other represents a kind of secular grade of piety.”

Praying a blessing to God for everything is a good way to remember to give Him honor no matter what we are a part of. It’s much more difficult to do something that is sinful, when we remember that after we are finished enjoying it, we will be thanking God for providing whatever “it” is.

There is an ancient rabbinic story called “The Rabbi and the Exceedingly Ugly Man” that reminds us that everything is God’s.

“On one occasion Rabbi Eleazer son of Rabbi Simeon was coming from Midgal Gedor, from the house of his teacher. He was riding leisurely on his donkey by the riverside and was feeling happy and elated because he had studied much Torah. There he chanced to meet an exceedingly ugly man who greeted him, ‘Peace be upon you, rabbi.’ He, however, did not return his greeting but instead said to him, ‘Raca [‘Empty one’ or ‘Good for nothing’] how ugly you are! Is everyone in your town as ugly as you are?’ The man replied; “I do not know, but go and tell the craftsman who made me, ‘How ugly is the vessel which you have made.’ When R. Eleazer realized that he had sinned he dismounted from the donkey and prostrated himself before the man and said to him, ‘I submit myself to you, forgive me!’” –Brad H. Young, The Parables, page 9.

Giving thanks in all circumstances, good, bad, beautiful, and ugly, helps us to keep all things in perspective…God’s perspective.

Forever learning,
Johnny