Special Posting: Christmas 2012

26 “In the sixth month of Elisabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.'” ~ Luke 1:26-28, NIV Bible.

An angel came to Mary, the mother of Jesus and said to her, ” Greetings, you who are highly favored.” In retrospect there is no better opening; no news greater; nothing more spatular, than what we as mortal beings could have ever hope to hear whether in the time of Mary or in our own current day. How awesome it would have been to be told by an angel of God that you are highly favored. I can’t even begin to imagine what was going through Mary’s mind upon hearing those words spoke aloud. Building upon what would have most certainly been a highly emotional event for Mary; firstly the shock of seeing an angel of God, secondly the impact of what he had announced must have been overwhelming in and of itself, those breathe taking and at the same time scary words Gabriel spoke to her. To be certain Mary indeed was blessed, and God was truly with her in that moment and in every other precious moment she experienced and would ever experience from that moment on. For me I think Christmas begins with these words spoke by Gabriel, “Greetings, you who are highly favored!”, because through the promise of Jesus, His salvation, the future events which had not yet come to fruition at the time Gabriel came to Mary, I can’t help but to think that Gabriel was really speaking to all of humanity, that he had foreknowledge of the mission of Jesus and was thus so excited when first addressing Mary. There is no arguing to the fact that God loves us and wanted us to be close to him, to have a lasting rewarding relationship with Him, thus logically the first present given to humanity by God in this moment was these very words spoke by Gabriel, thus adding to Gabriel’s excitement and jubilee; “Greetings, you who are highly favored!”

29 “Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.'” Luke 1:29-33, NIV Bible.

If it was fear that Mary first felt, then the second emotion must have been the smallness of being mortal, or even more to the point the feelings of being inferior and undeserving. The first question which might have crossed her mind might very well have been; (Who am I to have won such favor with God?) Again many of us today ask this very question when God blesses us with miraculous miracles that we know that we do not deserve; ( Who am I to have won such favor?) This question also would elude to a devastatingly awesome humility that few of us exhibit in today’s time, but Mary was filled with it. In fact it was Mary’s humility which concurred the sin of pride exhibited by Eve in the garden of Eden. It was our beloved mother Mary which redeemed for all time women and their roll in society. Her love which concurred the law in Joseph her betrothed that which kept him from turning her over to be stoned as it was demanded by the Mosaic law of the Jews. This same love that for thirty years fostered in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. All of this told to her by the angel Gabriel to calm her and to ease her for what was to come. Mary’s fear and then humility was honest and forthright and it was qualities which God Himself feel madly in love with. Proof of this can be found in the blessing God bestowed unto her both in life and in death, for what she received no other person has or will ever receive, the chance to give life, to give birth, to be the mother of the most High God. In truth the story of Christmas started nine months before the birth of Christ, as there where many individual miracles which manifested themselves to make this one event possible, all of which was given as foreknowledge to Mary as both a promise and proof of God’s power and unfailing love for her and of all mankind. Truly this is a time of love, sacrifice, forgiveness, mercy, and a season of giving.

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” ~ Luke 1:34, NIV Bible.

On this verse of the Bible, Mary’s concern is one of the worlds not of God, but a fare question as she would have to deal with the repercussions of becoming pregnant before marriage as everyone that she knew would believe she had been with a another man when in fact she had not been. What of Joseph, his disgrace; but how would giving birth to the Son of God be disgraceful? Another valid question which she did not ask, but rather implied with her first and only real question. With no tangible manner in which for Mary to cling onto, the angel Gabriel steadfast in his mission answered her;

” 35 The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.” ~ Luke 1:35-37.

If there was any fear or uncertainty in Mary at this point, the Bible does not mention it, again her humility, her nobility in God, and her strength which she is so known for was all that remained. Her questions seceded and her humanity took over, for Mary must have known her unborn child’s mission, and of his fate. The gravity of the moment and its life altering affects also must have loomed large in her mind. But despite these challenges Mary forged on, and accepted it, gave herself to God, and with it the salvation of all mankind.

” 38 I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. ‘May your word to me be fulfilled.’ Then the angel left her.” ~ Luke 1:38, NIV Bible.

Thus, let it be so that in this Christmas season we celebrate not just the birth of Jesus, but also of Mary His mother who over came fear and doubt, but who also loved us enough to make this sacrifice for all of us. May we remember those gifts which came into this world that might not have if Mary had not been humble and obedient to God. May we give thanks to her bravery and forthrightness in all her deeds in raising Jesus to be who He eventually became.

Amen

If you have been moved by this reflection please do not hesitate to leave a comment, and may your holidays be filled with the love and blessing of our loving God.

Reflection 1: Deception

45 “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” ~ Luke 6:45

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There is a sin greater than all the others which is not talked about and it is directly related to pride. It is the Sin of Giving False Hope. This sin is rooted in lies and malicious misrepresentations of promises unfulfilled. It is a direct assault on hope as it makes the target think something they want is going to happen when there is no real intention for it to ever happen, no serious attempt at making it a reality. Misleading through destructive lies and distortion of what is real. This weapon of Satan crumples the heart, restricts proper thought patterns, and destroys faith in everything including God. It is a vicious sin, one administered through a prideful heart. The giving of false hope is disingenuous, and places unrealistic insurmountable obstacles in the way of the target in order to wear them down and make them tired so they will give up. Here is what Jesus said about this chief among sins,

“Obstacles to faith are sure to arise, but beware to the one who creates them. It would be better for that person to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around the neck than for that person to mislead one of my followers.” ~ Lost Gospel Q, Q76

It has been my experience that when you lie or practice deception you deny a fundamental right to all those who are affected by it. This fundamental right was preprogrammed into our genome from the very beginning and has given rise to how we perceive the truth and why we hold the values and morals we do as a society and as individual people. This right I speak of, that which God freely gave to us, and which we destroy with each lie and deception is the right to justice. Every society in the world that has ever been no matter how great or trivial they where in history  all had a system of dealing with justice. For it was justice the people wanted when they revolted against Rome, it was justice the people of Rome wanted in over throwing the tyrant called Caesar Nero on June 9, 68 AD. It was justice the people of Britannia wanted through self government which sparked the construction of Hadrian’s Wall by the Romans in 122 AD to deny freedom. The building of obstacles to destroy hope for justice has been an old and relentless practice for a very long time. In fact the idea of justice is what made the Jewish leaders known as the Sanhedrin seek out and create a case to execute Jesus Christ. In our modern world we dispense justice through a court who is headed by a judge who declares after hearing both sides  his opinion and makes orders accordingly. But what if the judge gets it wrong? What if the judge was manipulated and deceived by a very skillful lawyer? Deception in all forms is a lie, and God does not tolerate liars.

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16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.” ~ Exodus 20:16

The Lord our God is truth, every word he utters is pure. It is in his heart and upon his words. Truth and justice is the very essence of God, and yet our justice system that once was founded upon the principals of the commandments of God has now turned their face from God in a prideful tirade as like a small child who thinks themselves more powerful, smarter, and better than their own parents. It is the word justice we have defiled in our own repression and destruction of the American family through mounting a brilliant defense and creating obstacles to block one parent from another and this contest does nothing more than mask the truth and deceives and defrauds our ability to raise our own children in the ammunition of the Lord. Our courts like all other courts in history hold a subset of specific belief patterns that can be discovered by careful examination of each ruling and through this research has the truth about deception been discovered. The truth begins with the idea that all courts claim jurisdiction over the land of which they rule. The rules they create are in fact obstacles to your freedoms, and thus when you go to court you are giving your freedoms away, you are submitting to a justice system which must find guilt and which will find guilt whether or not you are guilty and this is done through deception as the lawyers argue their case they present and shade the truth. Though honor bound to tell the truth, none do. In this practice the ninth commandment is constantly destroyed in our justice system. This in turn causes mental and sometimes physical harm to the one being prosecuted, just like a warrior who has come home form battle.

15 “You shall not steal.” ~ Exodus 20:15

Through the destruction of the ninth commandment the eight commandment is also destroyed, because justice is stolen through deception. It was through this deception Christ was sacrificed, it was through this deception every martyr has meet their end, and it has been through this kind of deception parents are denied their rights given to them by God to parent their own children. In all of these examples there is the greatest of sins which springs from a prideful heart, and that sin is the sin of giving false hope. King David pin pointed from where this sin is rooted when he wrote, 

3 “With words of hatred they surround me; they attack me without cause.” ~ Psalm 109:3

It is through a prideful heart filled with hatred which makes deception possible. Because of this hatred the heart spews violence against others, the words spoken into the reality of the moment is what the heart most desires. Ironically the idea of justice was supposed to protect us from these kinds of deceptions, but as Satan is all to aware that when we fill our hearts with hate we stop caring about justice, we stop caring and right and wrong, we stop caring about the affect our actions have on others, we forget about love and thus we ignore and turn from God in rebellion and we cut corners and act in a selfish manner to get what we want. Under this we defraud our entire system of justice, we destroy our entire moral code, we over write the very fabric which God himself wrote into our genome.

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12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” ~ Exodus 20:12

The word, “honor” was written into stone by the very hand of God. It was a word which upholds justice and defeats deception. It holds to a very powerful set of rules which can not be discarded or ignored by anyone or things and if you are bound under a system of honor and believe in the code then justice will prevail. Again God knew this when he wrote it into the rock before Moses. God knew that if we honor our father and mother we will honor ourselves and in turn will honor others. The drive to deceive will be held in check as the consequences would be swift and final making the risks to great to practice deception. This truth is the original plan, the one Satan thwarted with the introduction to sin. His prideful heart grew cold as hatred seeped in and deceived him into thinking he could be greater than God. Satan dishonored our father through greedy blind ambition, and it is this which our children are taught to testify in court against one of their parents. They are taught it is ok to spread false testimony about one of their parents. This practice is one that is allowed and ignores the fundamental fact that children are easily manipulated and are easily deceived into believing what is happening is the truth when in fact it is a deception of the highest order. It is this which Satan places the obstacle and which we fall to deception, and which we turn our back on justice. It is through this avenue courts have defiled our God given rights and will not turn back to God, for as far as our society has fallen only the truth can allow honor back in and restore justice, for as stated above:

  45 ” :an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” ~ Luke 6:45

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Guiding Post to the Truth

Question: How can you tell the difference between a lie and the truth?

Answer: Because when people lie what they say makes no since, it defies logic. Their lie is weaved with hints of the truth only twisted in order to give it plausibility. It always leaves lingering questions. A lie can never be told the same way twice as the facts it sites are rooted in swampy mud and is alway shifting and changing. In contrast the truth is straightforward needing no support, it is impossible to trip up because the facts are rooted in the hardest rock and is unmovable. It is not afraid to stand in the mist of many liars and thieves and shine the light of its truth for it is blessed by God. The truth is consistent in every aspect, it builds upon only the truth and cannot be suppressed. The truth transforms a person from inside out and lights a furnace within the heart so hot water evaporates before it can ever hits the flames. The truth consumes lies with a righteous vengeance as it is molded from time it’s self and will be the same today as it will be tomorrow and every day after till the end of time.

“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, Q 45

Amen

If you have been moved by this post I urge you to write me back and let me know, and secondly I ask you come back and become a follower of Listening Faithfully spreading the word to everyone you know. May God Bless you and keep you all the days of your life, in His name I we pray each and every day for his mercy and love. Amen

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