You are not a Spirit with a Body

Have you ever heard the saying: "you are a spirit in a body with a soul". I believe that's wrong and it devalues the human being. In the video below I highlight a few problems with that theory and what I believe a true definition of a human is.

To be honest, i was taught this concept by very well meaning and scholarly people. The only problem is that it emanates from a Gnosticism which has crept into the Christian thinking so much that we don't even recognize it. I respectfully disagree with this view, a human is a human because he has a body, a spirit and a soul and whatever other components. Anything less than that means we are no longer human. Which makes us contrary to Gods purpose for creating us. Watch the video below for more

BACK ON THE BLOCK

Hello beautiful people. So sorry i went on a hiatus like that, i've been busy. But now i'm back and i'm adding a few extra features to the blog. One of which is my video blog. I have a couple of videos on the Grace Community Youtube page. And i intend to upload the whole lot of them here. I'll be sharing the new ones as they come out too.

So here's are a couple of them below


What is the Gospel?

The Lordship of Jesus

The Lordship of Jesus (Conclusion)

Making Jesus your Lord and personal saviour

PATMOS BY C. BAXTER KRUGER

Dr C. Baxter Kruger is a theologian, but he’s not one of those stuffy, hard to understand ones. He’s the theologian that takes pains to make the works of the stuffy ones a little easier to understand. In addition to his own academic endeavours too. He is someone I admire and have learnt a lot from, especially about the cosmic and all pervasive nature of Jesus and the influence he has over the universe. He has written several books and essays, and given lectures all over the world on the Trinitarian life. And now he has added a novel to his list of accomplishments

The story of Patmos follows a Theologian, Dr Aidan, who is taken back in time by the Holy Spirit to the Island of Patmos during the time St. John the Apostle was exiled there. In the span of three days, the Apostle helps Aidan straighten out some wrinkles in his thoughts about God and brings him to begin to experience the living relationship open to us all by the power of the Holy Spirit. During these three days a friendship ensues that will affect both men for the rest of their lives

Dr Kruger uses the book to explore themes he has always covered in his books and teachings. The Trinity, union, inclusion and several others. It also gives us a glimpse at how he reached (or is reaching) the point where his knowledge is going beyond his head and becoming real and actually effecting changes in his life. The novel is no great work of fiction like Tolkein or C.S lewis at their finest but it holds its own and gives great insight about the life we live in the The Son, beholding the Father by the power of the Holy Spirit

Overall it’s a great read, full of humur and insight. I highly recommend it.

Disclosure of Material Connection:

I received this book free of charge from the publisher and writer via the Speakeasy network, I'm not under any obligation to write a positive review and the views I have expressed are entirely my own. I'm writing this disclosure in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

CONFESSIONS OF AN ANGRY PREACHER

By the Grace of God, I’ve been privileged to be in a leadership position in the Church. Men who were better than me realized the call of God on my life and gave me opportunities to preach to the people. It seems to me that while it is true that I was called at the time, I had not been sent. I wasn’t ready to lead, I wasn’t prepared by God enough. I knew very little about God and most of what I knew were lies and half truths.

God is love and I don’t believe any minister is ready until he gets that into his head; that all that God does is motivated by his being Love. Of course, we grow into this, but it must have settled well enough before we presume to lead our brothers and sisters. I remember many sermons I preached and many times I got an opportunity to speak and it was horrible. I was always pointing out how unsatisfied God was with people. Which is really how unsatisfied I was with them. I disqualified them from God’s blessings. I berated people for not praying loudly enough, praising vigorously enough, or giving largely enough. Ultimately, this was all a reflection of how i felt God was unsatisfied with me.

Even when the grace of God began to unfold to me, I became a Grace Pharisee. I lost my patience with anyone who refused to see things my way and got into many arguments and fights with my brothers. I look back at some of my encounters with certain people and realize how those meetings could have ended in a more peaceful and friendly way.

I was an angry preacher because I believed that God was angry with me. I have since repented from that error. I no longer feel condemned for my wrong doings, not even for the ones I just pointed out. However, I do want to apologise. To all that have felt condemnation, unworthiness, or disqualification by my words or actions, I sincerely apologise. I knew not what I was doing. And I want you to know that God loves you with an unquenchable love. He does not need you to move an inch, give a cent, or pray a decibel louder before he blesses you. In fact, he has blessed you in the Lord Jesus and he doesn’t take back what he gives.

May the Grace of our Lord continually be with you.

THE SEED A TRUE MYTH BY ERIK GUZMAN

The story of the Bible and the Gospel can be summarized this way:. God creates all things and it is good, man believes a lie and seperates himself from God plunging himself along with all of creation into utter darkness; and God becomes man in order to rescues him and all of creation from the darkness.

In “The Seed-the True Myth” Erik Guzman uses that backdrop and creates a story of eternal love and the triumph of Love over every darkness. The book portrays how in our brokenness and helplessness, we see the hand of God extended to us in Love with suspicion and fear. We are so lost that we saw the light of God’s love and viewed it as utter darkness. While we worshipped Satan and his principle of self-centeredness and fleshly indulgence. In the book he portrays how we view God as the taskmaster who expects us to work to the bone and who is never satisfied. He also portrays how many of us are so willing to serve this god and our feeble attempts at pleasing this god, in spite of the constant voice in our heads telling us we are not doing enough. We build bigger and bigger temples, doing more and more acts of service, offer bigger and bigger sacrifices and pray longer and longer but it is never enough. In reality, this “god” is Satan, using the madness we fell into at the fall to superimpose himself as God. In other words, he is filling the vacuum of the false impressions we have about God and gaining great power from it. Satan is the first and ultimate being that fell into the madness of flesh, and by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we joined him in his madness

But it’s not all gloomy, because Erik also shows how God who is Love came and shattered the power of Satan in a way he never expected or even understood, because it was through Love and Divine sacrifice and self-giving; A way Satan had abandoned eons ago. And God calls us to join him in that way again, his Holy Spirit is like a river flowing over the whole world beckoning on all mankind to drink of him and fill themselves with the light of his love. Halleluiah

This is a wonderful novel that wraps the Gospel in a beautiful fantasy story, much like C.S Lewis and portrays its beauty so wonderfully. I don’t agree with a few ideas in the book, but so what, he doesn’t agree with me too. In the grand scheme of things, the story is compelling and can be enjoyed just as a novel. But it is also a great portrayal of the Gospel.

Disclosure of Material Connection:

Now I have to say this (seriously, I do): I received this book free of charge from the publisher and writer via the Speakeasy network, I'm not under any obligation to write a positive review and the views I have expressed are entirely my own. I'm writing this disclosure in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255

THE NEW HUMANITY IN CHRIST

"For neither is circumcision [now] of any importance, nor uncircumcision,
but [only] a new creation [the result of a new birth and a new nature in
Christ Jesus, the Messiah]." Galatians 5:6

courtesy of thehumanityproject.com

I love the Epistle to the Galatians. It Is a very inspiring book. One of the major points that Paul tries to point out in this letter is the believers freedom from the need to appear holy outwardly through rituals and religious practices. We have been set free from the basic principles of this world. We live by a higher law, a higher power.

The Jews took great pride in being circumcised. It was the sign of their approval with God. Circumcision meant they were in. They had a covenant with the living God and every other person was a heathen who would eventually be destroyed by their God. It meant that God would send his anointed one (Messiah) to them in order to rescue them from all their troubles and establish Israel as a world power. Even though the Old Testament prophecies speak of a New World of peace for all. They interpreted it to mean a new world where they would be the ruling class This was the climate that the early Christians lived in. And many early Jewish Christians still had this idea.

Sure enough, the Messiah comes and he dies for sins and rises again as King. But instead of focusing on Israel, the apostles seem to be talking about the gentiles too. That Jesus died for both Jews and non - Jews. This was
strange.Even some of the apostles resisted this revelation as God began to show it. Enter the judaizers; "apostles" who went about the churches preaching that Jesus saved the gentiles in order to make them Jews. They couldn't shake off the pride they took in their race. This pride was symbolised in their being circumcised. They insisted that whoever wanted to have a part in the Kingdom of God had to be circumcised. In other words they had to perform the ritual that makes Jews partakers of the old covenant. To this argument, Paul screams a resounding NO!! Circumcision or Uncircumcision doesn't matter, what matters is the New Creation.
The full scope of his mission on earth was to create a new humanity in Christ. One where race, gender, or occupation were meaningless. all that matters is Jesus, he symbolises the creation of a new humanity fully in union with the living God, 

The Early Christians had people who insisted on circumcision; we have people who insist on denomination, circumcision, observance of certain Jewish practices e.t.c. We all have our isms and schisms; reasons for which certain people are disqualified from the favour of God, To all these arguments, this word still stands
"For neither is circumcision [now] of any importance, nor uncircumcision,
but [only] a new creation [the result of a new birth and a new nature in
Christ Jesus, the Messiah]."

Jesus is the Logic of God telling us we are in!!!!

Grace be with you

HEALING TROUBLED HEARTS BY DR. BILL DAY

Dr Bill day is an inner healing practitioner. When I first got this book and realized it was about inner healing I was skeptical. I have come to associate the words with two things:

1.      New Age Religion and 

2.      Ultra spooky charismatic Christianity

I find neither of these two very palatable so I prepared myself for a very annoying read. Much to my surprise, it’s not bad at all. It is counseling, psychology and psychiatry from a Christ centered point of view. In this book, Dr. Day uses his personal life experiences and the testimonies of his patients to highlight some very important points

·        We all have baggage and are damaged because we have come to believe lies about ourselves and about God

·        These lies are so embedded in our subconscious that we sometimes don’t even realize it

·        Conventional counseling techniques, which majority of Church counselors also adopt can neither reveal nor dislodge those lies from our minds

·        It takes the HOLY SPIRIT to not only reveal them, but to shine the light of Jesus into the darkness and replace the lies with the truth of Jesus

As I read the book, I realized the very salient point he is making. Christian counseling and psychology should be just as Christ-centered as every other aspect of the Christian life. The most beautiful part of this is that he has seen it all; been through different types of religions and all forms of spirituality. In his quest for personal fulfillment and emotional stability, he went from Secular Humanism to learning New Age spirituality in San Diego and here’s what he has to say:

“In San Diego I had learned that self-actualization could be achieved without much conflict, that the intrinsic goodness of the human self would come through once people saw the truth and light of innate human goodness.”

“In this system of thought (and I ran across many expressions and varieties) there was no need for a Savior. Suffering and evil were seen as resulting from ignorance, avoidable by learning and applying true knowledge”

In hindsight, he shares with his conclusion on these schools of thought:

“Reflecting on this time in my life, I think it was a robust round of whistling in the dark. After all my study, striving, practicing meditation, and other spiritual exercises that promised enlightenment, no significant transformation had taken place”

I must be honest, I really like this book and I would recommend it for anyone who is being led by the lord into the ministry of counselling and therapy. I would also recommend it to all people in general. He gives practical tools to inviting Jesus into our baggage to heal and transform us himself.

Dr. Bill points out that we cannot relegate God to just the opening and closing of therapy sessions; We pray to at the beginning of the session and then use our educational and professional skills for the whole session, and when we’re done we pray to him again. He believes that God must be allowed to actively run the session; directing, speaking and healing. The counselors job should be to facilitate this engagement and make the client aware of the great physician’s presence.

“The finished work of Christ will be finished when these ultimate intentions of God are realized. Redemption is God’s story; it is about His ultimate intentions. The whole panorama is about Him, for Him, by Him, and in Him…and especially in Jesus”

Selah