Christianity, According To Me

Christianity, According to Me If Christ Jesus is NOT risen from the dead (bodily) our faith is vain. If Jesus Christ of Nazareth is not physically alive in some physical place, in a three dimensional body, what is our hope? How do we think that our souls will find some kind of peace if we've been duped and our life was wasted believing a lie? I heard a talk show host imply that a politician, a senator, who's phone number was found in the phone records of "the Washington Madame" implying that he had been with a prostitute on more than one occasion, (I won't make the obvious joke) was now unfit to champion family values. Don't get me wrong, I do not endorse patronage of prostitutes, but isn't a reformed reprobate just the man for the job? (The people who claim no moral failings are the ones of whom I am leery). Reconciled with his wife years ago and forgiven by her, (she and God being the injured parties) and obviously God through Christ’s blood, this man knows the pain, regret and embarrassment this stumble creates. He may be seen by those who elected him as damaged and not able to represent them constructively, so he may loose his senatorial position (again, the obvious joke ignored), but he is still a sinner being saved by grace through faith in Christ Jesus. This senator's sin, while an embarrassment to him and his wife, is no more a mortal wound in the eyes of God than the sin of gossip (in my opinion, gossip is a more insidious sin in that people are more likely to indulge in gossip than risk the larger potential problems and embarrassment that can come from patronizing a prostitute).

I see more and more the rise of the ugly head of Satan trying to distract good Christians from the life of faith to the useless keeping of some brand of rules and regulations. The Apostle Paul said that the "Law of Moses" was a schoolmaster, a type of yardstick, designed to teach that we cannot keep the law; we will never "measure up" to God's standard, no matter how hard we try. If the rules and regulations could have been kept, if "living right" were possible, Christ would not have had to come and die for us. It would just be a matter of will power, and those who could keep the law would live forever just like God promised. The only way to obtain the perfection we know we lack is by "faithing", that is, keeping the "same spirit that raised Christ from the dead" dwelling in us by acting on God's promises. This is the truth Satan wants to hide from us at all cost. Satan wants us to be distracted by our short comings, the short comings of others, (gossip), taking our eyes off Christ and picking at our faults or those of our fellows. He wants us so busy looking at our faults, the faults of others, or being proud of our relative lack of faults compared to others we see, that our following of Christ will be so impaired that we are sure to fail. As the Apostle Paul said, returning to the works of "the law" is the only way to erase the effects of the blood of Christ. (To all you non - Christians out there who look in at Christianity and see rules and regs: Don't let the rule and reg mongers you may hear fool you. Christianity is not about rules and regulations. Christianity is about forgiveness, freedom, and love. God loves us all; all have been forgiven; we are all now free to choose to obey or not. Our Lord Jesus Christ said "judge not least you be judged" freedom from judgment, "love your neighbor as yourself" forgiveness as

we need forgiveness, "pray for your enemies" the love to want the best even for those who hate you. Christ died for your sins too, whether you believe it or not, whether you want it or not. He also rose from the dead and is alive today in a real physical body somewhere, at the right hand of God, preparing a place for his bride, (Christians). He's not raising an army, He's gathering together a body of believers joined as brothers, his inheritance from the earth. That's what we base our lives on, it may sound unbelievable, but it's the title deed to the inheritance we have in Christ Jesus. Despite what has been done in the name of Christ by "the church" in the past, we don't murder people who don't agree with our belief, we pray for them. We don't want to instill fear in people who hate us, we pray for them. When we see tyranny and murder we sometimes go to war as a last resort, not to kill the enemy, but to free the oppressed from the wicked. We value all life. We are willing to risk our lives to save and free others). (To the religious right: until Christ' return, the law of the land is the constitution of the United States of America, not the law of Moses, not the law of grandma, not the law of pastor whoever. The only reason this country is special is because God entered in 231 years ago and set up this nation as a constitutional republic (a country of refuge). We are citizens of the United States of America as well as being Sons of God. When acting as a citizen of our republic you have every right to pursue any and every political concern you have, and more power to you, but don't try to codify or impose your particular religious views into law.

Christians should live their convictions while following Christ. Christians should preach Christ risen and understand that our Lord said "judge not lest ye be judged" "Love your neighbor as yourself" "pray for your enemies" for a reason; because this world is not our home, we are passing through, and as Psalm 84 says "passing through we turn this valley of weeping (becca) into a place of springs".) Adultery is wrong, so is lying, so is homosexuality, so is backbiting, so is murder, so is gossip, etc. We all know what is wrong, but when we commit one sin and not the other, the Apostle Paul said that according to the "law of Moses" If we are guilty of one, we are guilty of all. By that logic a liar or a gossip is as guilty as a murderer; when you tell a lie, you might as well have murdered someone or committed adultery, you SINED. Our Lord Jesus went even further, He said " if you hate in your heart, you are as guilty as a murderer" which makes sense if you consider that His focus is on the condition of our souls; I mean that if you hate someone in your mind, your soul is a murderer, just because you control your physical action and no one is harmed, you still want them dead. Let me put it this way, if you were all powerful like God and your word became fact (as it may well in our future as sons of God), that thought might kill. "Be angry and sin not". Paul said to "pray without ceasing". It is pretty hard to sin when you are talking to Jesus all day long. Sin is Sin. The king James says "all have 'sinned' and fall short of the glory of God". Where did that English word SIN come from anyway? In the Greek it's "all have missed and missed the glory of God". The word is translated from the Greek "hamartano", in Strong's concordance number G264

it translates "to miss the mark, as to not share in the prize". Our use of the word "sin" may have come from an old archery term, when reporting the result of a missed target, the Latin, "sine" meaning without or lacking as in, "the target is without or lacking an arrow, the arrow missed the target". The Spanish "sin" also means without or lacking as in, "Jose es sin pantalones" or Jose is without or lacking pants; the French word for without, sans, Portuguese, sem, etc. That's my theory anyway, it makes sense to me (I could be wrong but someone will have to prove it to me). That is the whole point of Christianity, we miss because we are missers, not because we try to miss, not because we want to miss, no matter how much we try, we miss, we miss every day. We have some kind of congenital astigmatism that only Christ' blood can cure. Was there ever a day you thought you did not fall short of God's glory? Christ entire life was a bull's-eye, He didn't miss once, how could He, all He had to do was be Himself, the "Law" was a basic description of the personality of Christ, and he was punished as if He missed everyday like we do. Since Christ took our punishment, God is now free (yes, God is freed, He was bound by his word " for sin comes death") to put a portion of the same spirit in you that raised Christ from the dead to quicken your mortal body, (the only hope any of us have) and when He looks at us He sees Christ in us. Not because we deserve it: How could we deserve to be looked upon as Christ? How many good deeds could you do to make up for not being Christ? We become a hybrid person, part old man, part new man. The trick is to feed the new man and starve the old. Not an easy trick, simple, not easy.

You feed the new man by keeping your mind on Christ, not on your sins, not on mine, but on Christ. When you fall in love, aren't you are always thinking about the one you love; about reporting to your loved one what happened to you during your day, what you saw that reminded you of her, planning where you need to stop to buy her a rose on the way to see her, what you can do to make her happy. That is the way our relationship with Christ should be, just keep that up, it is an adult relationship that MUST be nurtured with communication and private time. He loves us, we are his "bride" (I continually have a hard time with thinking of myself as anybody's bride). He walks with us to watch out for us and we can talk to Him whenever we want to, (you don't have to close your eyes to "pray", just talk). We are in Christ when Christ is in us. We have to keep that connection, our relationship functioning, and we do that by continuing as we started, stepping in faith, (faithing) that is what keeps us in Christ and Christ in us. Christ is formed in your heart by Faith. (Here is translation problem with the King James and most other versions of the bible), (I enjoy knowing the origins of words, and this one is especially important since it is how Christ gets formed in our hearts). If you have a computer, download the 'e sword' program (it’s free) and you can check it out. The 'e sword' has a search option (click on the binoculars in the task bar at the top and a search page will appear) and every word that was not added by the translators (and there are a lot of added words) has a 'Strong's' concordance number next to it. If you put your curser on the number for that word, it gives you the Strong's definition and the word in Greek or Hebrew. Just as an example, Mathew 6:30 (by the way I could spend a lot of

time on how we got the chapter and verse divisions) ends " o ye of little faith." the word faith has the Strong's number G3640 and in English letters the word is oligopistos, a version of the word pistos". Faith in English is a noun. Belief in English is a noun. Trust in English is a noun and a verb which is closer to the real meaning of the word translated faith in the King James. Every time you see the words Faith, Belief, or Trust in the Old Testament the Hebrew words being used are verbs; running to shelter or leaning on a staff: Running to the cleft in a rock to escape the rain or hail, or like baby chicks, running to hide under their mother bird’s wings: Leaning on a staff expecting support. In cases, verbs, actions. In the New Testament the Greek word is always a form of the word Pistos. This word or one of its derivatives is what is being translated as trust, belief and faith. Pistos is rightly translated faithing, not believing; (I believe that politicians exist, but I have no faith in them) you can believe all day long that if you turn the key in your car the car will start, but until you act, you ain't going nowhere; you can believe that if you drop that letter into that mail box, somehow it will get to the addressee, but until you act, that bill won't get paid. Pistos involves, necessitates action, action based upon belief, sustained by confidence. When you drive thru a green light expecting those who have a red light to stay stopped, you are pistosing (faithing). Look in your New Testament and every time you see the words belief, faith, or trust, substitute a form of our new verb, to faithe. “for those who believe" should read "for those faithing". So how do we get us in Christ and Christ in us, we act based on a promise of God, believing that His word is true, confident He will keep his word.

"Commit your way unto the Lord". The word translated "Commit" is a term camel train drivers used when directing the bearers of their goods to load the camels. They carried their burden on their shoulders, and as the camel sat on the ground the bearers would walk up to the camel, tilt their shoulders and roll the burden off their back and onto the camel's back. So to "Commit" means to roll your burden off your shoulders, onto the Lord's. Lets go back to my "letter" analogy, you "Commit" your letter to a blue box or a slot in a wall, and in your mind you are no longer responsible for it, you have rolled that burden off of your shoulders and entrusted it to (with no guarantee whatsoever) the U.S. postal service (of all people), fully expecting the letter to arrive safely and on time. So we are Faithing when we commit our way unto the Lord and Christ is formed in our hearts by Faithing. Faithing comes from hearing the word of God. Let's look at the hated word, obedience. No one wants to obey. Our society has demeaned this word, taken it out of wedding vows, made it to sound in our ears like something a slave does. The word obedience does not mean "do what I say or else". The word at it's root, when you break it down means "run to the 'sayer' or the one speaking", you hear the voice of the one who loves you and you respond by coming closer and listening more intently, paying special attention, that's why our lord said "My sheep hear (a form of obey) my voice". I know this may turn you off but it's an analogy, not reality. Have you ever had a kitten or a puppy? What do you think of that pet? Do you say to that puppy or kitten "do what I say or I'll beat you? I hope not. When you call that puppy and he comes arun'in, you keep calling until he arrives and you pet

him and praise his "obedience". Do you think less of him for coming when you call? Do you think he cares what the other puppies think of him? After you have taught him to perform a task and you command him to sit or stop or stay, do you think him slavish? No, of course not, you love an obedient animal, everyone does. We praise the owner and the obedient pet and the more obedient the pet, the more praise we bestow. We even tell our friends and loved ones about what a good dog that was, and we look at our not so obedient pet with a little sorrow that either we were not able to train them as well as we could have or we assume that our pet was not as "smart" as the other one, but we still love him. God wants us to be obedient, to run to him when he calls, because He is looking out for us. He considers us his children and when a father calls his child he expects to be acknowledged and a response. If God the Father called Jesus do you think Jesus would not obey? Check out the Strong's concordance. Here, in the example of Mathew 8: 27 "… the sea obey him." The Strong's number is G5219. "to hear under", (as a subordinate) "to listen attentively". In Hebrew as in Exodus 24:7 "… and be obedient". The Strong's number is H8085. "to hear intelligently, with implications of attention, call or gather together, carefully, certainly, consent, consider, be content, declare, diligently, discern, give ear, hear, listen, … understand, witness". So once we have committed our way to the Lord, when we hear His voice, we obey by giving attention to the word of our lord, we fathe what we hear, faithing forms Christ in our hearts, and God sees Christ in us.

Moses was called in the King James Version of the bible "very meek". This word Meek is translated by Strong h6035 as "depressed in mind or circumstances, humble, lowly, poor. There is something either wrong in the word of the text or the translation is just wrong. I could go for humble but the rest just doesn't seem to jibe. Moses was raised in the home of the Pharos of Egypt at a very high point of their civilization. He might have been depressed, humble, lowly and poor after he was in the desert for a while but I don't think that is what the word is trying to communicate. I can't dispute this word with Strong's or anything right at hand but I think (and this is called Christianity according to me) the word should be more rightly translated "tamed" or "trained". I can't see Moses, the leader of 2.5 million former slaves being meek, lowly, poor. I've been told the word was used in the world of horse training. Anyone who has ever worked with horses knows the difference between a "meek" or depressed horse and a well "trained", spirited, controllable workhorse. I have seen cutting horses and barrel racers that respond quicker and with more dexterity than any race car. Tamed, not wild and uncontrollable but obedient, responding to commands; not "meek", depressed, shy, timid, skittish, nervous. So "committed Christians" pay attention to our Lord's word of promise and direction (obedience) which prompts us to action, based on belief, which is sustained by confidence (faithing), forming Christ in our hearts and minds, and God, seeing Christ in us, works on our taming or training.

What is the hardest thing to get people to do? I'd say it's giving. Basically, people are tight, with good reason. Money equals power, control. We have peace of mind knowing that WE can pay our bills. For most people it should say on our money "in this we trust". I've heard it said “there is only one color, GREEN!" "The man with the gold makes the rules". Money in our society represents the worth of our work, the value of our time and talents; the power to purchase what we need and want; the power to get people to do for us; the more money you have, the more control you have. Paul said "the LOVE of money is the root of all evil"; the only reason money is loveable is the power and control it represents. Christianity is about giving up control of our life, committing our way to God. He wants us to understand that He is in control; He is working on us, training us to be faithers of His word, (which is Christ). He wants us to depend on Him; as the apostle Paul said God wants us to worship Him, not like those who "worshiped and served the creature more than the creator". Our "old man" hates the idea of giving because he is selfish. He wants to have more than he needs and to spend the least he can, balanced against his laziness. Giving is risky; it takes the chance that God will not "supply all your need according to his riches in glory". Giving requires faithing. The Old Testament ends with the book of Malachi and God saying "you have robbed Me of tithes (tenths, plural) and offerings (plural) and you are cursed with a curse". That sounds to me like God takes this giving stuff seriously. He also promises to pour out blessings so great they cannot be contained.

Giving has been described as the difference between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. The Dead Sea has no outlet and is therefore dead while the Sea of Galilee has an outlet and is alive. Once we understand that giving is as necessary for our spiritual health us as it is for the Sea of Galilee and the blessings that it brings, the verse "…. for God loves a cheerful (hilaros in Greek, like our word hilarious meaning spontaneous outburst) giver" makes sense because God sees us giving up that control spontaneously, joyfully, voluntarily, that is something the old man cannot do. Hilarious giving is a sure sign that the new man is growing in you. God is all about giving; He gave his Son and His Son gave His life, He gives us the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead. God knows what the spirit looks like when He sees it and His spirit growing in a human wants to give joyously, not giving to get, but giving hilariously. Once we understand this, we see that the tithes (plural) and offerings (plural) are a governor against over-giving; helping you to be a good steward of the talents we've been blessed with. So we who have committed our way to the Lord are busy paying attention to God's word of promise, not to our failings or the failings of others, talking to Him, listening for His voice, acting on what His word and that inner voice (if you feel like you ought to do something, do it) says, realizing that we fail in all sorts of ways we don't even understand, knowing we are in Christ and Christ is in us, that spirit working in us, warring with our "old man", God, training us to depend on His provision to the point we give hilariously. There it is, that is basic Christianity according to me, Bryan W.Gall