Glorified in His Saints

Isaiah 66: 15-16: "For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many."

This is the Lord working THROUGH His saints (purified believers that are dead to self--not milk bottle Christians; Lordship Christians, not salvation Christians). When the Lord glorifies your body (rapture, the Presence God, Holy Ghost Fire), this is how the Lord destroys Satanic strongholds: strongholds in our physical bodies; powers and principalities in the heavenlies.

The Lord glorifies my body (rapture) usually a few to several times a week. Sometimes it is so powerful, I think my eyes are going to burn right out of their sockets; it is almost painful.

II Thessalonians 1: 8-10: "In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; WHEN HE SHALL COME TO BE GLORIFIED IN HIS SAINTS [The Second Coming to purified believers--believers that have gone through their tribulation], and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day."

Prophetic Words from a Democrat - U.S. Senator Patrick McCarron

A friend of mine from California sent this email to me:

"There used to be good men and women who called themselves Democrats. There probably still are some, somewhere. Sadly, the old Democrat Party has been hijacked by the Marxists and Statists and is now more concerned about redistribution of income and world governance than interested in American exceptionalism. But let's step back in time to June 1952 and read what an old-fashion Democrat once said about immigration and the powers that be.

"'I believe that this nation is the last hope of Western civilization and if this oasis of the world shall be overrun, perverted, contaminated or destroyed, then the last flickering light of humanity will be extinguished. I take no issue with those who would praise the contributions which have been made to our society by people of many races, of varied creeds and colors. America is indeed a joining together of many streams which go to form a mighty river which we call the American way. However, we have in the United States today hard-core, indigestible blocs which have not become integrated into the American way of life, but which, on the contrary are its deadly enemies. Today, as never before, untold millions are storming our gates for admission and those gates are cracking under the strain. The solution of the problems of Europe and Asia will not come through a transplanting of those problems en masse to the United States. ... I do not intend to become prophetic, but if the enemies of this legislation succeed in riddling it to pieces, or in amending it beyond recognition, they will have contributed more to promote this nation's downfall than any other group since we achieved our independence as a nation.'

"Who spoke those words nearly 60 years ago? Senator Patrick McCarran of Nevada, Democrat. McCarran was a staunch anti-communist and worked hard to pass many bills in Congress that were meant to prevent undesirable (read that as anti-American) immigrants from coming here. He also joined Joe McCarthy in searching for Communists in this country's government and entertainment industry. Their work was finally acknowledged, begrudgingly and belatedly, as being right on the money. It's true - there were, and are, Communists in Hollywood and Washington, DC. Would anyone deny that today? Not if they were honest. Patrick McCarran, a Democrat, also stood firmly against Democratic President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's socialist program known as 'The New Deal.'

"If McCarran's name sounds familiar, that's because the Las Vegas international airport was named after him, Nevada's own native son, the first native-born Nevadan to serve in the US Senate. McCarran was a Roman Catholic whose parents emigrated from Ireland. If only schools taught students about him instead of that other Roman Catholic Irish descendent, Ted Kennedy. If only more Democrats today thought as McCarran did 60 years ago.

"Senator Patrick McCarran - one Democrat who got things right."

Preaching from a Proper Pulpit - Christian Pharisees

Shiloh
By Tim Shey

Brutal deathdance;
My eyes weep blood.
Pharisees smile like vipers,
They laugh and mock their venom:
Blind snakes leading
The deaf and dumb multitude.

Where are my friends?
The landscape is dry and desolate.
They have stretched my shredded body
On this humiliating tree.

The hands that healed
And the feet that brought good news
They have pierced
With their fierce hatred.

The man-made whip
That opened up my back
Preaches from a proper pulpit.
They sit in comfort:
That vacant-eyed congregation.
The respected, demon-possessed reverend
Forks his tongue
Scratching itchy ears
While Cain bludgeons
Abel into silence.

My flesh in tattered pieces
Clots red and cold and sticks
To the rough-hewn timber
That props up my limp, vertical carcase
Between heaven and earth.
My life drips and puddles
Below my feet,
As I gaze down dizzily
On merciless eyes and dagger teeth.

The chapter-and-versed wolves
Jeer and taunt me.
Their sheepwool clothing
Is stained black with the furious violence
Of their heart of stone.
They worship me in lip service,
But I confess,
I never knew them
(Though they are my creation).

My tongue tastes like ashes:
It sticks to the roof of my mouth.
I am so thirsty.
This famine is too much for me.
The bulls of Bashan have bled me white.
Papa, into your hands
I commend my Spirit.

Ethos
February/March 1997
Iowa State University

Genesis 49: 10: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”

_____

Psalm 22: “I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.”

“Shiloh”: “They have stretched my shredded body/ On this humiliating tree.”

_____

Psalm 22: “My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws.”

“Shiloh”: “My tongue tastes like ashes:/ It sticks to the roof of my mouth. / I am so thirsty. / This famine is too much for me.”

_____

Psalm 22: “For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.”

“Shiloh”: “The hands that healed/ And the feet that brought good news/ They have pierced/ With their fierce hatred.”

_____

Psalm 22: “Many bulls have compassed me: strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round.”

“Shiloh”: “The bulls of Bashan have bled me white.”

_____

Psalm 22: “All they that see me laugh me to scorn.”

“Shiloh”: “The chapter-and-versed wolves/ Jeer and taunt me.”
“Pharisees smile like vipers/ They laugh and mock their venom.”

_____

Psalm 22: “Be not far from me; for trouble is near; for there is none to help.”

“Shiloh”: “Where are my friends? / The landscape is dry and desolate.”

_____

Isaiah 52: “As many were atonied at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men.”

Isaiah 53: “He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him . . . But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.”

“Shiloh”: “My flesh in tattered pieces/ Clots red and cold and sticks/ To the rough-hewn timber/ That props up my limp, vertical carcase/ Between and Heaven and earth.”

_____

The Holy Ghost dictated "Shiloh" to me for three days back in the fall of 1996.

Pagan Christianity? by Frank Viola and George Barna

Pagan Christianity?
Exploring The Roots of our Church Practices

By Frank Viola and George Barna



Page 201: Four Stages of Theological Education

“Throughout church history there have been four stages of theological education. They are: episcopal, monastic, scholastic, and seminarian (pastoral).”

Scholastic

Page 204: “Contemporary theology cut its teeth on the abstraction of Greek philosophy. University academics adopted an Aristotelian model of thinking that centered on rational knowledge and logic. The dominating drive in scholastic theology was the assimilation and communication of knowledge. (For this reason, the Western mind has always been fond of creedal formulations, doctrinal statements, and other bloodless abstractions.)

“One of the most influential professors in the shaping of contemporary theology was Peter Abelard (1079-1142). Abelard is partly responsible for giving us ‘modern’ theology. His teaching set the table and prepared the menu for scholastic philosophers like Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274).

“Distinguished by Abelard, the school of Paris emerged as the model for all universities to follow. Abelard applied Aristotelian logic to revealed truth, though even he understood the tension between the two. . . He also gave the word theology the meaning it has today. (Before him, this word was only used to describe pagan beliefs.)

“Taking his cue from Aristotle, Abelard mastered the pagan philosophical art of dialectic—the logical disputation of truth. He applied this art to the Scriptures. Christian theological education never recovered from Abelard’s influence. Athens is still in its bloodstream. Aristotle, Abelard, and Aquinas all believed that reason was the gateway to divine truth. So from its beginnings, Western university education involved the fusion of pagan and Christian elements.”

Seminarian

Page 205: “Seminary theology grew out of the scholastic theology that was taught in the universities. As we have seen, this theology was based on Aristotle’s philosophical system. Seminary theology was dedicated to the training of professional ministers. Its goal was to produce seminary-trained religious specialists. It taught the theology—not of the early bishop, monk, or professor—but of the professionally ‘qualified’ minister. This is the theology that prevails in the contemporary seminary.”

Page 206: “Concerning the seminary, we might say that Peter Abelard laid the egg and Thomas Aquinas hatched it. Aquinas had the greatest influence on contemporary theological training. In 1879, his work was endorsed by a papal bull as an authentic expression of doctrine to be studied by all students of theology. Aquinas’s main thesis was that God is known through human reason. He ‘preferred the intellect to the heart as the organ for arriving at truth.’ Thus the more highly trained people’s reason and intellect, the better they will know God. Aquinas borrowed this idea from Aristotle. And that is the underlying assumption of many—if not most—contemporary seminaries.

“The teaching of the New Testament is that God is Spirit, and as such, He is known by revelation (spiritual insight) to one’s human spirit. Reason and intellect can cause us to know about God. And they help us to communicate what we know. But they fall short in giving us spiritual revelation. The intellect is not the gateway for knowing the Lord deeply. Neither are the emotions. In the words of A.W. Tozer: ‘Divine truth is of the nature of spirit and for that reason can be received only by spiritual revelation. . . . God’s thoughts belong to the world of spirit, man’s to the world of intellect, and while spirit can embrace intellect, the human intellect can never comprehend spirit. . . . Man by reason cannot know God; he can only know about God. . . . Man’s reason is a fine instrument and useful within its field. It was not given as an organ by which to know God.’”

Page 207: “Today, Protestants and Catholics alike draw upon Aquinas’s work, using his outline for their theological studies. Aquinas’s crowning work, Summa Theologica (The Sum of All Theology), is the model used in virtually all theological classes today—whether Protestant or Catholic.”

Page 208: “Without a doubt, Aquinas is the father of contemporary theology. His influence spread to the Protestant seminaries through the Protestant scholastics. The tragedy is that Aquinas relied so completely on Aristotle’s method of logic chopping when he expounded on holy writ. . . . Regardless of how much we wish to deny it, contemporary theology is a blending of Christian thought and pagan philosophy.”

*****

As a seventeen-year-old atheist, my bible was Aristotle’s Nichomachean Ethics. Being an atheist and embracing Aristotle just made sense.

Revelation from God is superior to reason; Christ is superior to Aristotle and Aquinas.

“On this rock [of revelation knowledge—not reason] I will build my church and the gates of hell [the strategies of hell] shall not prevail against it.”