Listening Faithfully - A periodical inspired reflection based on the words and promises of God.

Reflection 3: Moral Deception

²¹“I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and no lie comes from the truth.” ~1 John 2:21

Deception by its very nature is not of the truth, nor is a lie no matter the size or reason it was told can be of the truth. To purposefully mislead another brother or sister in Christ is also not of the truth and therefore bringing forth deceit which by its very nature is not of the truth and thus can not be of God, but rather is from Satan the deceiver. The very practice of spreading falsehoods is unholy, to speak or testify in court against a son or daughter of Christ falsely is also unholy, for God does not lie, nor spread falsehoods in order to deceive, rather that is a sin manifest against God and originating from Satan the deceiver. All of these sins which come from Satan, passed down to man, have at its core an evil intent to make others believe in something that is false, to believe in error. For in the practice of such sin with such intent is an abomination before the eyes of God. Therefore, the intent to deceive is unholy as God does not lie, nor deceive his children, rather God is of the intent to shine the light of truth within your heart so that all of His children may know Him, know the truth, and thus be brought out of the darkness and forgiven their many sins. For this was the very reason Christ was sacrificed on the cross and man’s depravity and sin was paid in full. To willfully practice deceit in any form is also practicing moral deception, for this act against God, who is truth by His very nature, has placed, (his or her), very soul in jeopardy. I say to you now, that moral deception is evil, comes from evil, begets evil, and has no place in the hearts and minds of the children of God. For I also say unto you now, that if you can not attain all your hearts desires with the truth, then it is not for you to have and to posses. For if you lie and deceive to get what you want then you have surely stolen from another whom God had ordained to have it, and thus you have stolen from the very hands God. I say unto you also that by steeling from God you have placed your very soul into jeopardy, for it has been said by Christ Jesus;

“There is nothing covered up now that will not be exposed. Nothing is secret that will not be revealed. Every secret you’ve kept will become known. What you have whispered in hidden places will be shouted from the housetops.” ~Lost Gospel Q, Q45

The light of God is great, it is the light of absolute truth, it is the light which purifies by conviction and then by forgiveness. God is just, He alone is the giver and taker of life, and thus it has also been said of God:

“Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, you should respect the One who holds in his hands both your body and your soul. What does a sparrow cost? A few pennies? Yet not a single little bird is forgotten by God. And you? God’s care extends to every hair on your head. You are worth more than a flock of sparrows.”~Lost Gospel Q, Q46

According to the Gospel of Luke the corresponding passage to Q46 reads,

⁴“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. ⁵But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who after the killing of the body, has power to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.” ~ Luke 12:4-5.

To lie, deceive, mislead, misinform, trick, spread falsehoods, make false statements, and to conceive such corrupt depravity is not of the truth, is not of God, and thus carries a heavy consequence; and those who practice it shall be convicted by God according to scripture:

¹⁶“There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: ¹⁷ haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, ¹⁸ a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, ¹⁹ a false witness who pours out lies, and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.” ~ Proverbs 6: 16-19

²²“Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, but those who act faithfully are his delight.” ~Proverbs 12:22

God so created man kind in his own image, an thus within our hearts he wrote the laws of truth so that we shall know Him, and His laws by which we shall be judged by.

¹⁶“This is the covenant I will make with them after that time”, says the Lord. “I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” ~ Hebrews 10:16

The Lord our God cares for us so much he protects us from so much sin, and we have been instructed to never lie, to never deceive, never trick, or manipulate our way through out our life, but yet to some extent we do. We are all sinners, but what makes God’s children different is in the idea that we also know our God is a loving and forgiving God and that if we just repent, our sins will be forgiven and forgotten:

¹⁷“Then he adds: ‘Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more. ¹⁸And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.” ~ Hebrews 10:17-18

But for those who lie, cheat, and steal, their punishment is found within their own lies which are proven as a lie for all to see, but kept hidden from the lair is His divine truth, for the liar God allows them to believe in their own lies and thus they become hopelessly lost within the wicked web which they themselves created. For the lair will claim foolishly they have no sin, and thus they have been proven to have greater sin than those who believe in the truth of God.

⁸“If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” 1 John 1:8

Moral deception comes in many flavors and is perpetrated for many reasons, chief among them are to our selfish motivations for personal gain. Selfishness in and of it’s self is a grave sin against God ALL Mighty. For when a mother is selfish she looks not for the best interest of her children, but rather for her own personal gain, and sometimes this can be masked cleverly with decisions which seem to be good, but have a thorny consequence for her children, or husband, or family. A selfish man sins gravely against God by not looking after his responsibilities and instead falling into sin by allowing his selfish wants for greatness and personal glory become all that he pursues leaving all other things to falter and go unchecked. In both of these grave sins their wants and personal desires outweighed all other things including God, whom has instructed us to never forget Him, and to never forsake Him. Once in this state of denial and self depravity each lie compounds upon itself as the deceiver makes grand attempts to cover up his or her actions. Pride then steps in as the big motivator which propels this life style of deceit as the grand illusion of getting away with each sin becomes greater, the more they fall into darkness. Finally with no hope of repenting this trap sin has set comes full circle as the liars have become so used to the situation that it has become habit. It is only then which God reveals to them their betrayal and moral deception. It is only when the liars have seen those they love be destroyed by the many selfish actions, perhaps it is in the revelation that because of them others also had followed and thus committed grievous sin. In some instances it is through the prism of the truth which shined upon their sin letting all others see them for who they are, not as what they had wanted others to see them as which breaks the evil spell. Loss of respect, confidence, and the consequence which alienates them from their friends, family, and world not to mention from God Himself can become the final straw which forces these sinners to repent.

Moral deception can only be overcome with love, kindness, respect, and an infinite amount of patience. We should always guard ourselves by using the weapons God has provided for us to use against lies and lairs:

⁶“Love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.” ~ 1 Corinthians 13:6

For filling our hearts with the truth we are also filling our hearts with love, and thus living a righteous life before all to see. By setting the standard those we love and have become close to will follow, because God’s law is written upon their hearts also.

³⁴“You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. ³⁵ The good man bring good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. ³⁶ But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. ³⁷ For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.” ~ Matthew 12:34-37

Amen

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May God bless you and keep you all the days of your life. Amen

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Special Posting: Irreplaceable

” 13 I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. 14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all people, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion. Which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.” Daniel 7:13-14

People have fights, they argue, get upset, we say things we don’t mean. Sometimes we say hurtful things we don’t mean, we do things out of anger which is destructive to our relationships and without God we keep on hurting those we love. Without love we keep on hurting those who are the closest to us. In the heat of battle people can be so cruel and we sort of go into this evil zone of blocking the pain we inflict to others and to ourselves. When the armies collide all fear goes away as the instinct to survive takes over, but even in this intense moment God is ever present, and is willing to take us from this place of grief and into his arms, His irreplaceable forgiveness which is so protective that nothing can shatter it, break it, move it, or keep you from it.

A very wise person told me once that, “We can have an argument and be mad or upset with one another. We can even hate each other for a time. But, I still love you and that means I am never willing to throw you to the wolves.”

My mother could make me feel like I was a king and she could also make me feel two feet tall. She can come up with such marvelous words both in her anger and in moments of sorrow and regret. I asked her in my anger,

“Why not throw me to the wolves, then you will have one less person to worry about?”

We had had a fight about money, our life being poor, her worries, and not having enough. During that conversation I had said something I deeply regretted which started a round of comments at the end of which I got my feeling hurt. As a man now I look back and I see my error in ever starting that argument. I can see how much pain I caused my mother by saying what I had said. I also see now her regret in losing her temper with me. As a boy however, it was going to take a lot of time for me to get over it before I could apologize, but my mom dig in with her response.

“I could never throw you to the wolves Brian, because you are my child, and because I love you. That makes you irreplaceable to me.”

When my mother said that to me, I felt such peace in my heart, I could see God standing in front of me telling me that I was irreplaceable to Him as well. Call it what you will, but I had an epiphany within that moment, euphoria engulfed me, and in the following seconds I turned around and I screamed at the top of my lounges, “I love you too mom!” as tears rolled down my cheeks I murmured over and over as my tears soaked her shoulder, “I am so sorry.”

My mother in that moment had become irreplaceable to me. In fact my entire family had become irreplaceable to me within the blink of an eye, and our problems suddenly no longer where just my parents problem, but the entire families problems. In a blink of an eye I found God, my family, and myself. I learned that you don’t abandon your family, you do not forsake them, and you never leave them behind. This was the lesson I learned as a boy, this was a feeling I have only had one other time in my life, and that was when my beautiful daughter was born. Let me also take this moment and just say, my daughter is and always has been irreplaceable to me, and as her father I have spent a lifetime trying to protect her and make her feel just as my mother had once made me feel long ago.

God is irreplaceable, his love is enough to stop wars, to heal all wounds, his words work miracles, and we do not have to be thrown to the wolves, because Jesus did that for us already through His undying love and sacrifice on the cross.

“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

Jesus before time became the king of our world, He delivered us from bondage, He paid the terrible debt, and without Him we all would be lost. We would be like those people who fight and fight and have done so for so long they have forgotten why they fight, and their eyes and hearts are absent of Gods love. To some people faith is a joke, God is a joke, they refuse to believe and they disown Him and in doing so they throw Him to the wolves over and over. But soldiers in P.O.W. camps they have nothing but their faith, it their pocket bibles that are issued to each service member which becomes the life line and helps them to survive in situations which would have otherwise killed them. It is faith in God which people in Communistic countries cling too even at the point of their own death. It is faith in God which helped millions of people in the German death camps during WWII, and the list is endless. God is irreplaceable and He looks at each one of us as if we are also irreplaceable to Him.

Amen

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Reflection 1: Spiritual Accountantcy

” ¹⁵ And he said unto them, ‘Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.‘” ~ Luke 16:15

Life is a journey of immense struggles pitted with many victories and defeats. It is a race to the finish line of judgement, once there many will have ran a good race but will have done it without moral conscience and will be damned to hell for all eternity. Many will have ran the same race but prevailed with great love, faith, and ethics, and will be allowed passage into the Kingdom of God. The difference between the two is incalculable if coming from the filter of modern life, celebrating our many luxuries and comforts afforded those with what is termed as the good life. But if viewed from the prism of our Lord and Savior then it becomes more personal, deeply ethical, riveted with countless moral guidelines that help to forge a sinner into a born again child of God. It is not an easy path, in fact it is filled with much sacrifice and with many painful defeats. For to choose to be a child of God is not for the faint of heart and in the end, within the very hour of our death, Jesus promises for the faithful that they shall never taste death.

“⁴⁷ Verily, verily, I say to you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” ~John 6:47

For many of us it is hard to put into place a moral life while being surrounded with such temptations which we find at our fingertips on a daily basis. It is hard to not give in to the world of excess and comfort with so many voices telling us we don’t have too. The prevailing belief advertisers drown us with daily is, “Life doesn’t have to be so hard” and “Why wait when you can have it now!” We have become a society of capitalistic carnivores devouring everything while ignoring the implications it places upon our life and our immortal soul. We make recluse justifications to explain away why we can, when the Holy Bible has clearly stated we should not. A world that places more value on things, property, and money, over relationships, love, honor, ethics, and that of our christian savior, who is the savior of every man, women, and child on planet Earth as we know it, is an abomination in the sight of God. There are so many sins, so many fruitless attempts at winning Gods favor while pleasing the flesh. People can be so awesomely good, and in the same breath find ways to be just as evil and destructive. When we look hard at who we have become, the choices we have made, the justifications for actions which caused countless others to suffer, it is then that our deeds will be told, despite the lies of our mortal legacies. For you can preach good all the days of your life, but in private do evil, it is in your heart and therefore God see’s the truth of your life. He can discern the proper judgement from the web of misleading, randomness and noise of sin which has permenantly blacked your heart.

“³³ So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.”~ Luke 14:33

Jesus warned against collecting wealth and then not sharing it but rather hording it. He warned against ignoring your own sins while calling to the carpet others sins. He warned against hypocrisy for in the eyes of God it is nothing more than “lip service”. Jesus warns against denying the poor food, clothes, shelter, and mercy. He warns against not raising your child up in the ammunition of the Lord thy God. For he also warned against excess of all kinds, depravity of all kinds, blasphemy of all kinds, and evil works of all kinds. Yet we do them daily, we ignore Him daily, and in doing so we mock Him daily!

“³² Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. ³³ But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.” ~ Matthew 10:32-33

Be on guard for those who refuse to speak the truth of God, who refuse to hear you speak the truth of God, be warned they are filled with Satan. There are people who get upset when they are shown their immoral ways and are convicted by the light of God, and by His son’s moral teachings and inwardly repress God, reviling against all righteousness, for they are filled with the spirit of Satan. Stand firm and do not waver from the light of God for instead bask within its glorious rays for it shall purify thy soul. Profess daily the miracles of God in your own life, for each day is a true miracle as it was not promised to you before you went to sleep the night before. Be on guard of those who would manipulate your words, the words of others, and the words of God to suit their lying ways, for such is the arch tool of Satan himself. Walk away from profane, perverse, corrupt, immoral, and impure people as they will as soon suck you down with them than to see you happy and free in the light of God. For to disown God is a rejection of the miracle of ones own birth and life; for Satan does not hold the keys to these things; for only God can create life and can bring about death; for only God can destroy thy very soul. Be on guard of those who wish to systematically take from you all the things in your life which bring you happiness, for they have no conscience, no remorse, no ambivalence to using deceit to accomplish their goals. For these people are expert in their disguise and can make the most illogical thing sound logical, the most profane thing sound holy, and the most hurtful thing look to others as self-defense. For God has no tolerance for them and though in the moment they grasp victory, in reality they have only clutched defeat because what God meant for you and was stolen, he will give to you in abundance in Heaven, a reward they shall not reap for they chose a selfish and self serving path.

“²¹ Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have I not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? ²³ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you: depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” ~ Matthew 7:21-23

It is truly important to not just know which side of the tracks you are on, but to also profess it, teach it, embrace it, and above all love God with all your heart, mind, body, and soul; to do all things for God with all your strenght and might. It is simply not enough to say you love God to close family and friends then in private do wicked, but rather love God enough to always do good in public and private, for there should only be one message of your life, because there is only one God. Be sure to never take credit for the things which you have accomplished in your life for each accomplishment was first a gift from God, to do so would be to say you willed it to be so and that is a lie. For remember Moses who took credit for the miracle of the rock which sprang water; for the rod was from God, the power was from God, and the very words which Moses spoke to bring forth the water was from God, for such a sin he was denied entry into the promised land. Remember also King David who committed adultery and who God took from him the first born son in payment of the life he had stole from Bathsheba’s first husband Uriah the Hittite. Rather be like Christ who complied with the will of God even until the point of his own death.

“¹ Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” 1 Corinthians 11:1

Spiritual accountantcy is the means which we review our own place with God, it is the act of asking where are we in our relationship to God. “Have I done things which God disapproves of, am I saved?”, is the question we need to ask daily and then we need to repent daily. Be assured God loves you, wants you, cares for you, and will never leave you if you never disown Him.

Amen.

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Prayer Request April 2012

The Prayer for Parents: “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he old, he will not depart from it.”~Proverbs 22:6

Lord you give little miracles which impact us daily, that bring us unimaginable happiness, and you create miracles which give life in such unpresidented ways. You bring the most beautiful gifts to life and then grant your children the right to share in that joy of seeing things from your perspective by allowing us to have children also. Lord thy God, your heart beats within us, your love shines down upon us, your mercy builds us up, and your might preserves us through our children, as an extension of you, oh’ Lord. As a parent through you my God you have sought to mold me into a much better person than what I started out as, and it is this process which you have promised all my children, and their children also, for they are your children first. Lord my God there are moments when I feel I have lost this gift which you have so freely given, the happiness that was once there is no longer, the light I can not see, but I know my child is not lost in you nor shall they fall to the retched manipulations of this world. Lord my God there are moments when I feel my child has gone onto a separate path which is so frightening to me, for my heart barely beats in my chest, the air escapes my lungs, though I know you are there and see my fear. Oh’ my God, there are times as a parent when I feel inadequate, unprepared, and ineffective, for I fear I have not done in accordance to your great merciful ways oh’ Lord. I fear I have become mute as a parent, unappreciated, unadorned, lost, and forgotten. Though I know you are with me always, encouraging me always, loving me always, giving me strength always, for I admit unto you Oh’ Lord there are moments of silence, moments of terror in that I have not lived up to your standard, that I have not had enough time to raise up my child so as when I am old they shall not depart from which I have taught, that which you have departed in me. My God, My God, I know these feelings are not from you, they have no place in you, and these fears will become mute in you. I know my child is not lost, for my faith in you is stronger with each test I face. I have confidence in your ability Oh’ Lord to have seen all that I have done, which I have provided, and that my love is as pure as you have shown me that it needs to be. Oh’ My God, My God, I take refuge in you as I have taught my child to do the same. For I know you can see their choices, and will instruct them as you have me. Lord I pray this prayer as not for my own sake, but for the sake of all those you have made into parents as yourself, who you are currently molding as you have me, and for whom you love as much as you do me and all my offspring. Lord My God, I ask for your gentle mercy, your wisdom in hard times, your confidence to build me up, and the words to use when the time comes in all situations which I will face through your everlasting eternal grace.

Amen.

Bureden of Proof

“For sin shall not have dominion over you; for you are not under the law, but under grace.” Romans 6:14

If there is one lesson that I have learned in this life it would have to be that we stack up proof of our character, of our nature, and of what we stand for and love most. With each action we testify to God, to ourselves, and to others who know us for the people that we truly are. We stack up our sin debt and we sometimes fool ourselves into thinking that everything will be ok after the next sin, after the next lie. Sometimes, its other people who convince us to sin against God, sometimes those people are the people we love the most. The burden of proof has already been calculated, examined, weighted, and forgiven if only we believe in the miracle of truth. For we do not need the trappings of our life, we do not need the glamour and fame. The truth is we will survive without a house, a car, money, and of all those things which make us collect more sin debt. For the only thing we truly need is the grace of God, his love, his protection, his truth, because it is only He who can forgive the sin and wipe clean the slate, and forget the burden of proof He has against all of us. Therefore, it is true when you hear it said, the truth can set you free and wipe away all your burdens if only you give it to God.

Amen

As a special thanks to all my readers, supporters, and followers I offer this new free resource to become closer to God in your personal journey and at the behest of my daughter who I love with all my heart and soul who suggested I use Tumblr for this new resource I proudly present to you; I-AM-SENT-ME. This new blog will be updates throughout the month with new and different insides to the nature of God as they are exposed and inspired by God based completely upon the Holy Bible. I hope you enjoy these short readings and meditations I personally use in my own walk with God.

If you have been moved by this posting then I urge you to leave a comment letting us here at Listening Faithfully know: YOUR THOUGHTS. May God be with you all the days of your life: Go now in peace and spread the Word of God to all you know and love.

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God Bless,

Brian Keith, Founder of Listening Faithfully Blog

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Communicating with Listening Faithfully

It has come to my attention that so many of you want to communicate with me directly and because of technology it is completely plausible for use to communicate in a variety of ways. Therefore I have listed below four ways for you to interact with me and I invite every to keep in touch. I sincerely look forward to hearing from everyone soon and on an ongoing basis.

God Bless,

Brian Keith

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Special Posting: Actions, Consequences, and the Truth

“7 Do not be deceived. God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith” ~ Galatians 6:7-10, NJKV, P.1124

There are many things in our lives which become confusing and scary. They overwhelm our minds and if allowed shake us right down to our immortal soul. In these moments we often times seek out advise from friends, relatives, neighbors, and spouses. In some instances these trusted few, (most often those whom we love the most), instruct us what we need to do. There advise can be seen as applying pressure so as the outcome fits more into their frame of reference, or more to their design, (whether intended or not), but the outcome rarely be it intentional or by accident is acceptable as there is always consequences. Parents do this to their children, friends do this to other friends, and classmates do this to their other classmates. This peer-pressure can become scary in-and-of-itself. But we often times also place a great amount of pressure upon ourselves in difficult, confusing times, as we become all worked up over an issue and before we realize it have over thought the problem, cause it to become three times worse than what it really was in the beginning. Often times we are warned of the outcome, and yet we commit the act anyway. Therefore, we are as Christians have been placed on notice, we have been told of the actions God does not want us to commit, key among then was given to us by Jesus Christ when asked by Pharisees which commandment is to be kept,

“18 He said to him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness. 19 You shall honor your father and your mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself” ~ Matthew 19:18-19, NJKV, P.954-955.

In direct view of God we must understand how much importance is placed upon the word, “TRUTH”. For truth is our very relationship to God the Father, through Jesus Christ our savior. God and Jesus is found within the Bible placing extraordinary emphasis on telling the truth, most notably by Jesus before the Roman Governor Pilate;

“37 Pilate therefore said to him, “Are you a king then?” Jesus answered, “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” ~John 18:37, NJKV, P.1047.

Jesus also places truth of his character, which we all as Christians should try to emulate as he states quite clearly;

“6 Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. 7 If you had known Me you would have known the Father also and from now on you know Him and have seen Him” ~ John 15:6-7, NJKV, P.1042-1043.

Therefore, the consequences are clear, if you commit murder, there will be guilt. If you commit adultery then too will there be guilt, and the same goes for stealing, and thus convicted by truth. However, these crimes against God are forgivable no matter how hanse. For Jesus forgave a murder on the cross, he forgave Mary Magdalene who committed adultery and told her to sin no more, and he forgave those who stole. But there are special crimes against God that if committed God will take his time in making you feel guilty over, and these crimes carry special punishments. Jesus mentions one which is, “You shall not bear false witness.” It is no accident that this is also found in Exodus 20:16, and is the ninth commandment from God to Moses. According to Jesus to commit this crime against God makes your heart unclean, and thus unfit to claim eternal life. Bearing false witness is a grieves sin, one which is done from selfish motivations. It is a refusal to be obedient to God and often times places those whom you accused falsely into extraordinary circumstances where punishment was dealt unjustly. In this the crime becomes compounded and the sin debt grows ten fold. Punishment extends beyond feelings of guilt, as the emotional sin debt is forever burned into the memory, haunting the sinner as if it where a plague. Small things can trigger guilt, a passing word from a friend or stranger, a flashback incurred by a picture or by being in the same place as the sin was committed, to the realization of loss when the person whom was hurt no longer responds by phone, letters, and or emails all which have been ignored. It is a sin that cannot be easily forgotten or forgiven, and ironically is the one sin which could have been easily prevented by simply telling the truth.

Jesus continues his list with honoring your parents. This for some children, and even some adults find difficult because the parent was either not ever present, or was pushed away by the dominate parent. In two parent households children often struggle to love and honor both parents as each relationship is both individual and linked to the amount of support provided within the family unit. One parent plays the role of disciplinarian and the other is passive, and children will generally gravitate towards the passive parent. However, in some extraordinary circumstances children will become closer with the disciplinarian if this parent uses fear, force, or threatens to take the love for the child away, thus basing each request upon conditions that at any moment that parents love could be called into question. In these relationships children will say anything not to lose the love of their parent, or parents. Be not deceived, for the sins sowed will be the sins reaped.

“Love your neighbor as yourself”, is also a special commandment as this is linked directly to Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. For in doing this the heart becomes pure, as selfish motivations become less important. Living for God becomes the dominate thoughts and actions and therefore reap the most rewards in heaven.

Challenge Questions: If your feeling guilty for a sin you committed is it wise to admit it, ask for God to forgive you, or should you lie about it and get others into serious trouble?

Amen
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Reflection 2: Jesus As God? Part 2

47 “Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, ‘Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.’ 49 ‘Why were you searching for me?’ he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?’” ~ Luke 2:48-49.

Children have a spectacular way of looking at the world around them. They say some of the wildest things, all of which in the beginning is by-in-large truthful in a very naive way. They have this ability to sum things up and spit them out without regard to anyone else’s agendas, goals, purpose, feelings, and or wants for the information to be shared. Parents cringe each time their three year old says something on a topic the parent wanted to keep private, or teachers who have given examples on something the children misunderstood. It is all about perception, and Jesus not just silenced his parents even though they had a reason to be upset with him, but also th Jesus in the Temple A<a class= ge 12" src="http://listeningfaithfully.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/jesus-as-boy-temple.jpg?w=300" alt="" width="229" height="220" />e pharisees who would later come to hate him and work for his destruction. Children and adults alike work off of their own world view, their own varying opinions, and of course wants and desires. Because God gave man free will we have always had conflicts which have riddled our collective human history with wars, death, and disease, all of which has been justified based off of our perception of right and wrong, morality, and immorality, justices and injustices. As children we share freely, but as we grow some of us become secretive and in some cases those secrets manifest themselves in the most inhuman ways. Good can become evil, and evil can be justified if done for good purposes. Our lives the older we get become more complicated because of our learned perceptions soley based off of our collective experiences. With all this stated and accepted as fact by most educational and child development experts, then the real questions that need to be asked about Jesus as a boy is, “What major world view, or learned experience could Jesus have had at his tender age of twelve? What knowledge base was he drawing off of which amazed the Pharisees so?” To truly answer these questions we must admit, no normal twelve year old would have such insight without formal training. Most normal children of his age group could not exhibit their knowledge in such a manner as to not be confused or fooled by older, wiser, and or learned people such as the Pharisees were. In addition there is no other child in history so filled with the correct interpretation on legal issues and matters of religious belief as Jesus proved his understanding within that specific visit to Jerusalem for Passover.

The other unexplainable issue which is presented that must be fully explored is Jesus’s ability to simply know things, to have certainty about the world and his role in it. Few people pocesses such self awareness as to convenience older more scholarly people as adults, let-alone as a child no matter how clever they are. Jesus was working off of a higher intellect, a source of wisdom beyond his years. The idea that a desert dweller who up to this point had no formal education other than working with his hands with Joseph could have possibly gone toe-to-toe with the Pharisees as Jesus did for about three days straight. I would also like to include a comment my daughter made to me as she helped to flesh out this point, “Jesus continuously gave flawless answers with amazing confidence without the help from anyone.” (Des, 2012). I would just like to add to this comment that Jesus’s family was not there to help him, there was no one who could have been giving him the answers as the Pharisees had surrounded him asking him questions. There was no intermediary, it was just God and man, Jesus as a boy and religious scholars. It is also important to note that the Jewish people where a repressed people at this point in history, and formalized education was almost none existent. Most Jewish boys learned a trade or skill to help pay their families taxes, few had time to learn the laws of Moses and or interpret them with such clarity as Jesus. This is not discounting that his father Joseph did not take him to the Synagogue, because he must have as a practicing Jew, but still this does not account for the extent of knowledge Jesus exhibited, nor his confidence in this knowledge. So we must ask again, from were did Jesus get his learned knowledge?

“39 When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.” ~ Luke 2:39-40.

Briefly, the Bible mentions an Angel of the Lords coming to Joseph in a dream telling him to flee with Mary and the new born baby Jesus and go into Egypt. This is found only in Matthew 2:13-23, then in Chapter 3 Matthew starts straight off with John the Baptist. Mark starts straight away with John the Baptist and the temptations of Christ. Then John starts with the creation of man and then dives straight into John the Baptist. It is only Luke who gives us an insight to the boy Jesus. Thus, it is important to state that Luke is was referencing to the accounts found in Matthew 2:13-23 then scripture would read something like this; and so it was from Egypt the family of three was returning from, “39 When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.” ~ Luke 2:39.

It is also important to note that the Laws of God included Jesus to be circumcised and then to be presented to God in the Temple in Jerusalem to be purified all of which is according to Jewish law handed down from Moses. Luke tells us that Jesus was presented in the temple according to this law, but if King Herod the Great had indeed ordered the deaths of hundreds of babies as it is written in Matthew, then logic would dictate that Joseph and Mary would be playing straight into King Herod’s hands by going to Jerusalem. It would not have been safe for them to have done so. Thus, Luke is most likely referring to the accounts found in Luke 2:21-38 which tells a completely different story than the one found in Matthew. So the Laws of God handed down by Moses according to Luke was fulfilled in the Temple in Jerusalem.

Another interesting point to make is that Jesus would have been circumcised to fulfill the Law of Moses. This is also done to all male Jews at this period. So it would appear the Bible has a conflict in facts and events. However, because the writers of the Bible were less concerned with exact dates as we are today, there is a Book which does a very fine job at making the Bible come together in a chronological order, that book is called, The Book of Jesus, written by Dennis F. McCorkle, ISBN-13: 9780595258925. I am in no way endorsing this book, but it does do a nice job at sorting out this controversy.

Historical Chronology of Jesus
Fact 1: Jesus was born and fulfilled proficy as the Son of God. (More of this found in future blog posts)
Fact 2: After Jesus was born Shepherds from the hills sides came to see him.
Fact 3: According to Luke Jesus was circumcised and then taken to the temple to be presented. (Luke 2:21-38)
Fact 4: Then King Herod ordered the slaughter of all the boys under 2 years of age and Joseph and Mary fled to Egypt. (Matthew 2:13-23)
Fact 5: Joseph and Mary came back from Egypt after all the Laws of the Lord had been fulfilled and after the death of Herod. (Jesus would have been about 10 years old)

Therefore, it could also be said that Joseph and Mary went to Jerusalem to present their new born son in the temple. Then they went back to their home in Nazareth, where by Joseph wanted to return to his ancestral home and place of Jesus’s birth in Bethlehem in Judea. This is where Matthew begins his story. Upon this second visit to Bethlehem did the Magi enter into the picture finding the child Jesus, (not the new born) for Jesus was about two years old at this point. Then Joseph received the dream from the Angel of the Lord telling him about Herod’s desire to kill the child. It is then that Joseph left his home and took his family to Egypt until the death of Herod. Instead of returning to Bethlehem for fear that Herod’s son Archelaus would search them out Joseph took his family back to Nazareth and settled there.

No matter the order of events, no matter the amount of traveling to keep Jesus safe, it is clear than God went to great pains to both forewarn and protect Jesus. It is very clear that people in the region saw Jesus as someone special. It is very clear that Jesus had been brought up with the blessings of God upon him. So in the final analysis all these prior events of supernatural interventions which really began at the conception of Jesus within Mary and then the protective hand of Joseph, all leads to one date in time that will serve as the precursor of things to come. That being the Passover celebration where Jesus demonstrates the power of God as a twelve year old boy, without any formal training, without any help form scholars, and without any need of books and intense studying, Jesus as a boy, proves that he alone is God manifest in human form. Interestingly Jesus does not appear again until his baptisum by John the Baptist, which is an indicator that Mary was more than just upset at Jesus for losing track of him, but chose to protect him in a very quiet secluded area of the country in hopes to save him from his own future, as any loving mother would attempt to do.
Amen
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May God bless you and keep you all the days of your life. Amen

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From Listening Faithfully Founder Brian Keith

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is the second largest public school system in the United States just behind New York City Unified School District and has an operating budget of about $1.7 million. In comparison the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Schools who operates independently from the Church maintain a fiscal budgets of about $840,000 per year, give or take the schools location and number of students. Short falls in the State Budget in 2011-12 have forced Public Elementary Schools to no longer offer badly needed programs like summer school and Pre-K classes.

This is where Listening Faithfully Blog steps up to help support a number of the private Christian schools in our inner city communities. We understand that these schools relay heavily on donations that are collected from outside entities like Listening Faithfully. We understand that advertising is not evil but there simply is no place for it on our website. I believe Listening Faithfully Blog is something special and provides free content for the sole purpose of bringing people closer to God while allowing everyone the opportunity to be active in their faith by helping to support God’s children.

When I founded Listening Faithfully Blog I had no idea to the volume of christians who was looking for a none intrusive way of connecting to God while learning more about the bible as well as Gods words and promises. Many of my monthly readers and followers find Listening Faithfully Blog very educational. Ironically, it is through technology Listening Faithfully Blog exists and is able to reach out to the world sharing God’s message, it is also through technology and computer literacy many of our displaced children are finding little to no access to technology and thus falling behind. Therefore, as an educator it is Listening Faithfully Blog’s secondary mission to helping our children achieve a quality education and to become technology literate. Though it takes little to run and upkeep Listening Faithfully Blog; the educational processes of evangelization a long with the many hours of research and lesson planning does cost money, especially while the LAUSD is closing schools and programs our inner city students so badly need, that the private schools are trying to make up for.

With this said, the work I personally do within the private schools allows me the unique understanding of how faith community’s operate as well as their importance and impact on our underprivileged communities. Each year I see the disparity between the rich and poor grow wider and wider and it is our children who are made to suffer for our short falls.

In short, if every one of my readers and followers donated $10.00 we would only have to fundraise for six months each year. But not everyone can or will donate, and that’s fine. Currently we have two causes we are collecting money for and badly need your support, the first being the funding of the Technology Team: (see the following link: http://ascensiontechnews.wordpress.com/ ), and the other goes to help fund Listening Faithfully.com and now Listening Faithfully.org sites to grow and expand as we strive to keep our sites free of charge, (see the link following link: http://listeningfaithfullyblog.com/donations/ ).

This year, please consider making a donation of $5, $20, $50 or whatever you can to protect, sustain, and provide for the education of all God’s Children.

Sincerely Yours,

Brian Keith

Listening Faithfully Blog Founder

Reflection 1: Jesus as God?

“Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” – which means, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?” ~ Matthew 27:46

No person willingly marches to their death. No one willingly places themselves in such torture that bodily functions begin to shut down do to the damage. No normal human-being chooses the hour and manner of their death, nor chooses who will betray them. No mortal man nor woman or child would be able to exhibit such faith in an afterlife, let alone accomplishing a self proclaimed resurrection. No man has ever done any of these things to the precision of Christ Jesus. Now if by chance these things where accomplished they would not have been done for the sake of all mankind if a normal human was doing it, rather wouldn’t it be fair to say the reasons would have been far less loving, perhaps a tad more selfish. Why would anyone be so concerned about salvation for others. Especially those who would be strangers, after all the Chief Preists where not so concerned, nor was the Kings and Queens that came before and after the birth and death of Christ. See when we break this down only God would be so concerned, only Satan would be concerned, and only those who do Gods bidding would understand this fact. In fact the Bible tells us only the men and women of God where concerned about salvation, and they understood the function of sacrifice. So in this event of our Lord’s death we must take note that no normal man and woman, clergy, rulers, and or those people who believed in nothing were all blinded by this basic mortal need to be saved, because the separation between God and man was so great that that only illustration which comes close would be to reference the distance between one galaxy to another. The sheer volume of testimony recorded in the Bible not to mention the volume of prophecies which Jesus full filled points to only one thing, that Jesus is the Son of God, and in that statement is God and one third of the full power of God. It is hard to wrap ourselves around this fact but even Jesus proclaimed that His ways are not our ways.

“45 From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over the land. 46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” – which means, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken Me?” 47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “He’s calling Elijah.” 48 Immediately one of them ran and got a sponge. He filled it with wine vinegar, put it on a stick, and offered it to Jesus to drink. 49 The rest said, “Now leave him alone. Let’s see if Elijah comes to save him.” ~ Matthew 27:45-49.

Even until the last second the Sanhedrin mocked Jesus, their remarks about calling forth a prophet to save a living God was more than just insulting, it was and in and of itself blasphemy. The same act they accused Jesus of they committed within the final seconds of our Lords life. The Romans who executed Jesus would have a far better chance to be saved than those who mocked Jesus in these final moments.

“50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.” ~ Matthew 27:50.

In Matthew we see the last and final remarks of the Sanhedrin, or the Chief Priest, and those who supported them in the prosecution and then execution of Jesus play an extraordinary role in the human saga of denial, failure to believe, and in the utter lack of faith in God. In no other text can it be found other than in the remaining three Gospels were man so utterly failed to believe in the might of God. For they lived and saw his miracles, they witnessed him speak, preach, raise the dead, heal the sick, and make the blind see, the maimed walk, and the sinners be forgiven. In no other time period had any human being have such access to God, to feel his presence in their lives with such a personal touch as when Jesus walked the Earth, and still they refused to believe. In a way that says something about our man made religious beliefs, our since of justice, and the laws we pass. For these things have something more sinister about them, they serve only a few men’s interests leaving everyone else out in the dark. In comparison to Jesus the men who falsely accused Him, who spat upon Him, who knowingly rejected Him suffered more than Our Lord and Savior because they were influenced and deceived by Satan. The old adage that makes a stab at defending the Sanhedrin and in their disbelief in offering the question, (how were they to really know that Jesus was the Son of God in the face of so many who claimed to be the messiah, most of which lived in the same time period as Christ Jesus), leaves all who dare to ask or believe this question to be true in such an utterly defenceless position in full view of all the facts it would be embarrasing to even ponder. For after reviewing the life of Christ this question can not be properly supported as none of the other fake messiahs accomplished in their lifetime what Jesus did in four years. None of them where as concerned about man’s salvation as Jesus, and none of them went to the lengths to peaceably accomplish man’s salvation as did Jesus.

“44 It was now about the sixth hour , and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, 45 for the sun stopped shinning. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. 46 Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.‘ When he had said this, he breathed his last.” ~ Luke 23:43-46.

In the Gospel according to Luke, those final words of Jesus was proceeded by darkness, as he clearly states, “the sun stopped shining”. This text makes a reference to the curtain of the temple tearing in two halves, symbolizing the ending of the Old Testament Jewish Laws of Moses, and the starting of a New Convent between man and God. In this moment just prior to Luke’s Gospel accounting in chapter 23:46, and Matthews accounting found in chapter 27:49 The Gospel according to John tells us that when Jesus cried out and then was offered the sponge filled with wine vinegar our Lord made the most awesome proclamation before everyone and for all to hear for Jesus uttered,

“30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’ With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.” ~ John 19:30

All of these final words from Jesus just prior to his death proves he was sent to accomplish his mission, and part of that mission was for him to die. In all of these words from Jesus we find that he is focused on one task and that is mans salvation. So again I must state, no mortal man would have willingly sacrificed himself for other men’s sins nor to save their immortal souls be we, members of the human race would have never been able to carry out that mission. In this thought our walk with God can become close again because of the sacrifice of Jesus, who had Godly strength, direction, and who is and of himself God.

Amen

May God be with you and bless you all the days of your life.