The Repentant Camel

In my latest podcast, “Malchut Shamayim,” I speak a little about the statement that Jesus made, which is recorded in Matthew 19:24, “…it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.”

Why a camel through the eye of a needle? Couldn’t he have said, it’s easier for a pig to fly or a spider to eat a horse?

The reason that Jesus used the particular saying of a camel going through the eye of a needle has to do with a common teaching about repentance, as well as a first century rabbinic style of teaching.

To read the rest, go to www.flocksdiner.com.

Blessings,
Johnny

The Only Word of God

Many Christian denominations hold as a doctrine that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the only divinely inspired teachings that constitute the rule and faith of a Christian life.

In Jesus’ day, commentary on the Written Torah, which was only translated verbally through memorization until 200 A.D. was also considered authoritative and divinely inspired.

To read the rest, go to http://www.flocksdiner.com/.

Thanks,
Johnny

Why Sunday?

I have always wondered why we have collective worship on Sunday, and when I ask those I think will know, I always get the same response: “It’s the day that Jesus rose from the grave.”

Based on Jewish studies and research, I have reason to challenge that answer.

To read the rest, come to www.flocksdiner.com.

God Is Not a Babysitter!

WARNING: This may be disturbing to some readers. This article includes news of sexual brutality towards a child.

Monday evening I turned on the television in a hotel room in Gatlinburg, TN to hear something that made my blood boil…toward God. I was so disturbed by what I had heard that I found myself having difficulty sleeping. There were even moments when I wanted to scream out and cry for the misery that had been given to an innocent toddler who had no one to turn to…not even God.

Go to www.flocksdiner.com to read the rest.

The Green Pastures

The “green pastures” mentioned in Psalm 23 often give us the idea that God takes us to a place of plenty.

However, the picture that is visualized by the ancient Eastern world is one of an opposite view.

www.flocksdiner.com to read the rest of this post.

Blessings,
Johnny

Sons of God

There were many called “sons of God.”

Miracle workers were considered to be close to God and were often referred to as “sons of God.”

To read the rest, you know where to go.

The Fare is Share

What good thing must I do to get eternal life?

When a man came to Jesus to find the answer to that question (Matthew 19:16), Jesus response was close to that of Daniel’s understanding of God’s message for Nebuchadnezzar’s dream.

To read the rest, click here: www.flocksdiner.com.

Blessings,
Johnny

God Is Not My "Do-Boy"

The feeling of being completely dependent upon God is expressed by the phrase, “men began to call on the name of the Lord” (Genesis 5:26b). The act of prayer was developed after the act of giving sacrifices. It is understood by the ancient Hebrews that people had not always understood their true frailty and need for God and all that He provides, hence, prayer began after the birth of Enosh.

To read the rest, come to www.flocksdiner.com.

Bless God,
Johnny

One Way

Keeping hostages separated is a common practice for terrorists and bank robbers. Congregating gives the hostages an opportunity to unify a plan for escape and/or a take-over.

In Genesis 11, the "Tower of Babel" is a story about people plotting and planning a take-over. God commanded that people are to multiply and spread out upon the earth (Gen 1:28), but the people of the earth had devised a plan to stick close together.

To read the rest, come to www.flocksdiner.com. Your meal is waiting.

Blessings,
Johnny

The Language of Angels

Paul teaches at length on the subject of speaking in unknown tongues. He makes it clear that if a person can speak in the tongues of men or angels, but doesn’t love, that person is nothing but noise (1 Corinthians 13:1).

To this day, the teaching of unknown tongues and tongues of angels is brought up often among Christians. The meaning of this has been debated for centuries, and especially since the rise of the charismatic movement of the church.

Unknown toungues are easily understood to be foreign languages or languages foreign to the teachers and readers of God’s Word.

The important question, at least for me, is: What is the language of angels?

For the answer, go to http://www.flocksdiner.com/.

Blessings,
Johnny

Too Godly for God

There are many Christian denominations that place restrictions on what God has provided. Additional restrictions are seen as more godly, and some forms of asceticism are generally respected as honorable to God.

I have heard preachers teach that we should not only devote ten percent of our assets to the work of God; we should devote one hundred percent. Maybe those preachers missed reading Jesus’ warning to those who did just that in Matthew 15:3-9. Jesus clearly taught that a person can attempt to honor God by his or her excessive self-denial, and actually be practicing disobediene to God.

For the Jews of Jesus’ day, “Total abstinence was not considered a virtue” (Abraham Cohen, Everyman's Talmud, 232).

Read the rest at http://www.flocksdiner.com/.

Blessings,
Johnny

Sharing Without Fear

Over the last few years, I have learned a great deal about the blogging world.

Whenever I post an article, I am always aware that there will be those who agree with my research and reflection, and there will be those who disagree at many levels, to include the down-right ticked-off-at-me.

Fortunately, I learn from my agreeable brothers and sisters and those who want to tar and feather me. In fact, when folks don't agree, I am challenged and privileged to dig deeper or even change my perspective based on new information shared by others.

Please feel free to post a thread on the Coffee Talk Forum at www.flocksdiner.com, even if others may call you a heretic. We can't learn and grow if we are afraid to share our deepest beliefs and philosophies.

Many blessings,
Johnny

Living With Arrows

Isn’t it true that life can be very cruel? Not all of us experience the same form or measure of cruelty as others, but all of us know the feeling of being hurt. As believers, we are instructed to forgive and love others as we would have them love us.

What if that was actually easy? What if we could all detach ourselves from the pain of the past? What if every painful experience was like a bruise; it showed up, hurt for a while, and finally went away without a trace of its existence ever to be seen again?

The ancient sages taught that hurting others could be likened to a sword or an arrow.

Come by www.flocksdiner.com to read the rest. I've saved you a seat.

Blessings,
Johnny

Dear Flock's Diner Family,

I am so grateful for you and for all that you do to encourage and support this ministry. I pray that you are all doing fantastic as you seek out God’s will for your lives.

It is hard for me to believe that almost 7000 of you stop by the site to read and listen. We have become a very large internet campus family as Flock’s Diner continues to cross the web-sea.

Hopefully you are blessing God by what you are learning and sharing.

The next step is to get feedback from you. Flock’s Diner now has a Coffee Talk Forum where you are encouraged to share your own thoughts, fears, doubts, and celebrations in order that others may be able to grow from your words. With an average of 900 individual people every seven days, and almost 7000 individual people in the last four months stopping by, I know that we can all share something that will help others to grow.

Thank you for your willingness to minister to me and others at Flock’s Diner.

I eagerly await your comments on the blogs and your discussion topics and comments at the Coffee Talk Forum at www.flocksdiner.com.

Be a blessing,
Johnny

The Meek Shall Inherit "Eretz"

"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." (Matthew 5:5, NIV)
My doctor asked me, "Who are the meek?" My guess is that when someone asks this, they want to know who is going to get the planet and all of its stuff.

Let's dig.

There are a couple of interesting points that are often overlooked or unknown by Christian readers and teachers of this verse. The Replacement theologian will quickly dismiss the fact that Jesus is speaking to Jews, while the empathetic pastor will quickly share that all of those who allow themselves to be abused without retaliating will be greatly rewarded in the afterlife to make up for their lack in this life.

Matthew Henry teaches in his commentary that "they shall inherit the land of Canaan, a type of heaven." Hurray for Mr. Henry. However, Mr. Henry is only partly right, at least according to David Stern the writer of the Jewish New Testament Commentary.

As Stern points out, Jesus is quoting Psalm 37:11 to remind them of God's promise...

To read the rest, I have saved you a seat at www.flocksdiner.com.

Blessings,
Johnny

Put Down the Flyswatter

What is the thing with smacking children for doing wrong? If someone smacked me every time I did something wrong, I’d have to wear body armor.

Not long ago, while sitting in a restaurant with a few others, there was a table across from us with a family who had a small child eating with them. The little boy was probably less than two-years-old. On the table beside the baby lay a flyswatter, and each time the baby did something wrong...

To read the rest, I have prepared a seat for you at www.flocksdiner.com.
Blessings,Johnny

Baptized for the Dead?

There is a great deal of debate over whether or not the Bible has been preserved in its original state. The fact of the matter is that we don’t have a complete Bible in its original state. In fact, the Greek New Testament that is used by Bible students and scholars is known to be put together by Erasmus using many different portions of many different ancient scripts.

According to Bart Ehrman’s studies in his book, Misquoting Jesus, even Erasmus was forced to add fillers to complete the Holy text (Mark 16:9-20, for example).

The point that those who held the only copy of the Scriptures in their town and having the ability to change the texts by adding or subtracting is well-founded. Even our beloved NIV has many passages of Scripture which have been removed, placed in the footnotes, or have added explanations stating “The earliest manuscripts and many other ancient witnesses do not have (fill in the passage).”

One particular passage of Scripture that my feeble mind has a hard time accepting as original is found in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthian church.

To read the rest, I've saved you a seat at the Diner. http://www.flocksdiner.com/.

Meet the Flockers!

Meet the Flockers!

www.flocksdiner.com

New Servers at Flock's Diner

Hey everyone,

There are now two different teachers on the Flock's Diner Podcast.

You will be blessed by the passion of Captain Vance Murphy.

Thanks for listening. www.flocksdiner.com

www.flocksdiner.com/podcast/FlocksDinerPodcast.xml

Blessings,
Johnny

What's In Your Water?

Most of us are more than happy to share a glass of water with someone who is thirsty.

However, we don't all have the right to share the water that comes from our own supply. Some of us have water that will do more to harm the thirsty than help them.

What is in your water?

Check out "Living Water" at www.flocksdiner.com/podcast/FlocksDinerPodcast.xml or go to www.flocksdiner.com and click on podcast for those of you who have iTunes.

Blessings,
Johnny