Significance of 6:13 in Biblical Passages and Meaningful Reflections

Wow, I woke up on Saturday morning with a loud crack of thunder! When I checked the time, it was 6:13. With that realization, I was sure this was God telling me all would be well and to quit worrying—let me explain.

Firstly, I know that when Moses, the Teacher of Israel, spoke to God, God answered him with Thunder. I know that thunder happens all the time and Lightning strikes can set whole forests of trees on fire. But stay with me as I explain the significance of an isolated loud crack of thunder waking me up at exactly 6:13.

At that very moment, the thought popped into my head, to do a google search for all the Bible Passages numbered 6:13.

Later in the morning I sat down at my computer to check my emails before following through with this Google Search quest. Every Friday, ThePreachersWord sends me an email recapping the weekly posts. Checking out the ones I had commented upon and reblogged, I noticed that I had missed one. I had not read or commented upon the one entitled “Sin Hurts”. This posts describes how King David was led into temptation and sinned. Be sure to check it out.

Sin Hurts. It is not just an affair that one can brush off like crumbs off the table or whitewashing a house. Sin hurts because as the prophet Nathan explained to King David, his Sin caused many unexpected consequences that hurt the House of David big time.

2 Samuel 12:1-14– Sin Hurts.

My Google Search

After reading “Sin Hurts” and refreshing my memory of the Sin of King David and Bathsheba, I did a Google Search for 6:13, the time I was awakened with the loud boom of Thunder. The first one that came up was Matthew 6:13. What a coincidence. Take a look.

Matthew 6:13 reinforces the message presented in the “Sin Hurts” Blog Post. So yes it is important that Christians pay attention to the Lord’s Prayer aka the Our Father and pray it often.

The Lord’s Prayer

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen (Matthew 6:13 KJV).

Other 6:13 Bible Verses Google Listed

  • Ephesians 6:13
  • Mark 6:13
  • Romans 6:13
  • Isaiah 6:13
  • Revelation 6:13
  • 1 Corinthians 6:13
  • Solomon’s Song 6:13 (not listed)

Viewing the list, I was curious. Solomon’s Song 6:13 was not on the list. So I set about to reflect upon the 6 other verses to see how they would connect with Solomon’s Song 6:13 and the Story of King David, Bathsheba. Take note. Their Son King Solomon is also known as the Son of David aka the King of Israel who God allowed to have a thousand wives and concubines (First Kings 11:3). Keep this in mind when you read the Christian Story. Jesus is often referred to as the Son of David, the King of Israel.

Ephesians 6:13 NIV

Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

Mark 6:13 NIV 

They drove out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

Romans 6:13 ESV

Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.

Isaiah 6:13

If even a tenth—a remnant—survive, it will be invaded again and burned. But as a terebinth or oak tree leaves a stump when it is cut down, so Israel’s stump will be a holy seed.”

Revelation 6:13 BSB

and the stars of the sky fell to the earth like unripe figs dropping from a tree shaken by a great wind

1 Corinthians 6:13 ESV

The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.

Song of Solomon 6:13 NASB

“Come back, come back, O Shulammite; Come back, come back, so that we may look at you!” “Why should you look at the Shulammite, As at the dance of the two armies?

Connections:

Many young people are like unripe figs. They are not prepared for John’s revelations or John’s testimony. They don’t know the Bible. They don’t see how Christ is as the Rabbi in John’s Gospel says the Bride who belongs to the Bridegroom (John 3:29). Progressive churches are leading their congregations into temptation, insisting that God loves everyone and allows them to imitate the Son of David aka Solomon, the King of Israel and have sexual intercourse with numerous partners and spouses.

Progressive values dismiss sexual immorality as forgivable sins because after all God forgave David and his son Solomon who had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:3). Yet many Christians do not quite see how the Shulamite like a graceful Gazelle lets go of the “Son of David” at the end of Solomon’s Song and finds her Bridegroom, the one who belongs to her and her own vineyard—where there are Balsam Trees, medicinal trees for the healing of the sin sick soul.  

“Hurry, my beloved, And be like a gazelle or a young stag On the mountains of balsam trees!” (Solomon’s Song 8:14)

Because the Prophets Isaiah and John the Divine both mentioned Trees, I picked up on the mention of balsam trees in Solomon’s Song that I had not considered before. Here at the end of the Song, the dancing Shulamite comes to realize she has been unfaithful, enabling and serving King Solomon and his court. She like the Woman Jesus called the Magdalene has been clinging to Solomon, the Son of David, as if he were the Gardener, the Father of her unborn children, her branches.

With the awareness of these 6:13 verses and the concept of Thunder and Lightning, what becomes apparent for me is this.

The dancing Shulamite, comes to life again as the Magdalene in the Gospel trying to dance between two armies—one celebrating the Son of David’s sexual freedom, not wanting to condemn him, and the other waiting and watching for the Bride to come with her promised Bridegroom— as the Holy Spirit in the Beginning hovered over the deep dark abyss and caused the first lightning bolt that caused the first clap of Thunder.

Still, reflecting upon all these 6:13 numbered verses, I wonder how many people realize the significance of The Third Day in Christianity and in the Book of Genesis. Christianity teaches that Jesus rises from the dead on The Third Day. Yet I also wonder if young people today know that it was Moses who authored the First Five Books of the Bible, including the Book of Genesis and that on the Third Day, God called Trees into existence.

On the Third Day God said:

“Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit according to their kind with seed in them”; and it was so.”(Genesis 1:11)

At the very moment I wrote this, I feel compelled to point out and remind Christians of the fact that Jeremiah 1:11 is also a very important Bible Verse connecting a tree with God’s calling. Jeremiah sees an A-MYGDALA, an Almond Branch—as if Jeremiah is seeing—the Woman Jesus of the Gospels called a Mygdala—coming to life to build and plant the kingdom of God.

Jeremiah 1:11

See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and plant.” and the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” I see a branch of an almond tree,” I replied. “You have observed correctly,” said the LORD, “for I am watching over My word to accomplish it.” (Jeremiah 1: 10-12)

Next, as I gazed upon the Matthew 6:13 passage aka “Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name passage, I wondered how many people have simply fallen into temptation, because they have lost the significance of A-Mygdala and the Whole Armor of God and the healing that “oil” can bring to many sin sick souls.

I then wondered how many souls are sick because they just do not realize how important The Third Day is to the Story of Moses and the Thunder and Lightning that preceded the Ten Commandments and the significance this has for Jesus rising on the Third Day.

For instance, how many Christians are familiar with the Exodus Passage where Moses prepares the people for the day the third day when the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai as all the people watch (Exodus 19: 11-19).

Exodus 19:19 and the Third Day

…it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud over the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled…

When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him with thunder (Exodus 19:19 NASB).

On the Third Day, the Lord descended from Heaven to the Top of Mount Sinai and with Thunder and Lightning called Moses, the Teacher of Israel up to the Summit… and then sent him down the Mountain with the Ten Commandments.

In Conclusion:

Thunder is an important Biblical Concept.

So is Lightning

Keeping the Seventh Commandment is a big deal and so are keeping the other 9.

To put on the Whole Armor of God, Christians need to know who Moses is and how he spoke with God as God descended from Heaven on the Third Day in the form of Thunder and Lightning—as the people watched and welcomed Moses back among them with the Ten Commandments.

Christians are called to be the Light of the World and should realize how and why the First Christians used “oil” to drive out demons and heal the sick. Oil and trees were used to bring healing to sin sick souls possessed by demons. Reflecting upon the Story of David and Bathsheba and the Sin that comes to light, it is easy to see Mark 6:13’s demons as governments and bosses who have the authority to command armies to fight their battles.

Thinking about the Story of David and Bathsheba and how David sends out Bathsheba’s husband to be killed in battle, I can easily draw a parallel to today’s wars. Can you?

Western nations are waging war to protect democracy and its freedoms. Meanwhile politicians garner support for weapons and armies by promoting the ideal that polygamy, polyandry, adultery, prostitution, abortion at every stage of pregnancy, gender reassignment surgery and perhaps even pederasty are rights and freedoms rich progressive societies promote, value and are willing to recruit armies and raise taxes to protect.

Without the Whole Armor of God, Christians are prey to political agendas that use them as political instruments to promote values that serve the politician’s need to stay in power. As I write this blog piece I am confident Jeremiah did see the Amygdala (Jeremiah 1:11) and that the Lord did say “for I am watching over My word to accomplish it.” (Jeremiah 1:12).

Saturday morning was the Seventh Day of the Week, the Hebrew Sabbath. When I heard Thunder crash and upon reading Matthew 6:13, I was reminded not to give in to temptation and despair thinking many of God’s people were not prepared, were not equipped with the whole armour of God and therefore unable to watch God come to life and speak with the Teacher of Israel “face to face”. For…

All it takes is faith, a bible and a group of people willing to bow their heads, and open their eyes and read.

As I reflected further bringing in the other verses in the Google List and others promoted by that list, I became acutely aware of the political agenda battling for Christian souls—promoting an adulterous generation.

What Gives Me the Most Hope?

Solomon’s Song of Song 6:13 in light of 8:14 gives me the most hope. For it was the Shulamite who had the last word, calling for her beloved Stag to come quickly and satisfy her as his Gazelle, his Bride.

When you hear Thunder and Lightning, what comes to your mind?

Have you heard the Thunder and the Lightning in your life at isolated moments when perhaps you were thinking? Why is God allowing an adulterous generation to grow and conquer so many young children?

If you liked what you read today and want to learn more from verses like the ones I linked together for this Blog Post. Subscribe to my email list and stay connected. Perhaps you will point out verses that I am not yet aware of that will add to our awareness.

Mutual Submission or Me First?

Photo by Emma Bauso on Pexels.com

Submission to the head of the house in a dysfunctional relationship is where many people found themselves in the past. The Father was the Head of the House and the Mother and Children were in his hands. He had the authority and sadly, in far too many families his word ended all discussion. This dysfunctional model was reinforced by the words of St. Paul in Ephesians 5:21.

Yet because Paul  and Barn “aba”  were set apart (Acts 13:2) to minister, to have authority as parents for new born children, Paul as the spokesperson lamented saying.  

Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly—as infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready, for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man?

As new believers they could not see Paul as their Mother, the Bride of Christ. Nor were they ready to understand what Paul meant by Galatians 2:20.

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Consequently in a misogynist world new born Christians had difficulty understanding what it meant to honour their father and their mother and to understand the sacrifice their elder brother, the Forerunner, made submitting himself to imprisonment and subsequent entombment when Salome outed him and requested his head be put on a commemorative plate as the TEACHER OF ISRAEL — as if the Prophet MOSES had come back to life! (Mark 6:15)

Plate Moses Striking Rock Urbino by The Art Institute of Chicago is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0

Make no mistake. The Rabbi called John is the Forerunner and the Teacher of Israel who became Jesus, a high priest forever, when he entered the inner sanctuary. As Paul says.

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

Yet new born Christians need to be baptized and discipled to be ready to see and understand the Forerunner as Jesus Christ the Son of David, the Son of Christ the everlasting Father (Isaiah 6:9) because according to John’s Gospel the Forerunner’s name was John. He was the one baptizing sinners and religious leaders, rebuking them saying.

“You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but am sent ahead of Him. The Bride belongs to the Bridegroom!” (John 3:29)

Keeping John 3:29 and Galatians 2:20 in mind, make no mistake. It is the Bride and the Bridegroom with faith in the Son of God and his teaching who call sinners to repentance to unite and sustain the body [the family of God] to honour their father and their mother so that—

it may go well with you and that you may have a long life on the earth (Ephesians 6:2).

Me first is how many people want to live in the world. Eternal life and the idea that one’s soul can come back to life and be reunited with loved ones here on earth seems like nonsense or science fiction. Modern people want to live and enjoy this life and believe it is the only life they have. They want to be free without the responsibility of dealing with undesirable family issues or the negative consequences, such as hurt feelings or quarrels that come from being in a covenanted live-in relationship that is rooted in the commandment—

to love God with one’s whole heart, mind and body and to love your neighbour as yourself.

Yet as Paul points out the blessings and positive consequences of being in a mature “face to face” relationship are to know fully, and be fully known—to love and be loved (1 Corinthians 13:12).

In the words of Nat King Cole, a great Jazz Singer, husband, father and friend—

“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.”

Submission–Positive or Negative?

I Was Blind and Now I See!

In this blog post entitled “I Was Blind and Now I see”, I refer to some of the Testimony of Faith I self published as The Ecumenical Affair. My self published work is a true story that holds up a mirror or a spiritual window that reflects the light of the Gospel.

As it happened to Saul 2000 years ago, it happened to me.

As it happened to the Woman at the Well,

as it happened to Zachaeus who went out on a limb on the road to Jericho,

as it happened to the bent Woman,

as it happened to the Woman with the hemorrhage,

as it happened to the Canaanite Woman,

as it happened to the Woman Jesus called Mary,

and as it happened to the Woman called the Magdalene, the Woman from A Mygdala it happened to me. 

As a young 32 year old homemaker I encountered Jesus, the Son of David at the 6th Assembly of the World Council of Churches. The Assembly was located not far from the Jericho Beach Road in Vancouver, British Columbia.

I know what you’re thinking. Is this just when I took Jesus into my heart for the first time?

No! I met a man I was convinced was and I am still convinced is Jesus the Son of David.

But I was blind and now I see.

I was blind because I like many women and men could not let go of “supposing” the Rabboni whom I had met under the cover of darkness (John 3:1-21; Luke 19: 1-10) and then again at NOON at the Well, had taken Christ’s body, had assumed Christ’s role as the Bride’s Bridegroom, the Everlasting Father, the Gift of God (John 4:10: John 1:47) promised to her.  

And then, 25 years later in a Garden of Tombs on the island of Crete, I encountered that same man, that same renowned Teacher, I had met in Vancouver near Jericho Beach.

Encountering the Greek, the Teacher and friend of Christ “face to face” in this Garden of Tombs 2000 years of history past as if it were merely 2 days. This encounter held a mirror up and reminded me of the Forerunner’s testimony who said 2000 years ago. “The bride belongs to the bridegroom” (John 3:29). And the words spoken by the Woman Jesus called the Magdalene, supposing the Teacher was the Gardner, her husbandman (John 15:1). “Sir have you taken my Lord’s body? And the Teacher’s words “Do not cling to me.”

11 years later, following another conference event, the Greek Teacher met with me privately and said to me in the presence of his and my friend and colleague Luke. “Linda I am worried about your soul. Do you know what Blaspheme is?” 

You see, my Greek friend loved me so much he was making sure, my love for a man I had brought with me to this Garden of Tombs was not keeping me from accomplishing the Word of God–as the Nazer the Branch known to Jeremiah as the Amygdala (Jeremiah 1:11). 

You see the man I love and had brought to the Garden who planted trees with me, is a Cyrenaic a Simon Bar Jonah who often thinks not like God but as a man who grew up learning about Jesus in the Pentecostal Faith amongst people whose ancestors were African American Slaves. He knows full well that Scripture says Jesus was nailed to a Tree that was hammered into a Rock resembling a SKULL, a bald headed man like him.

This man I love was brought up with people who believed Jesus was flogged, stripped naked, suffered horribly, died on the Cross, was buried in a rock hewn cave, and then on the third day, the Rock sealing the tomb rolled away, leaving the Woman Jesus called Mary in tears in the Garden “supposing” the Rabboni was the Gardener and had spirited away her Lord’s body. 40 days later when Jesus disappears into a cloud, people assume the Ascension is the final chapter, rather than the beginning of a new chapter where all those “watching” and paying attention to John and Simon aka Peter will “walk” the talk and enter by the Gate called Beautiful.

Oh but you’ll say the Man Peter healed was Lame from birth. Aren’t we all?

As Peter said 2000 years ago, people need to pay attention to Peter “and” John standing in front of the Beautiful Gate (Acts: 3:1-6). Both of these men were changed as I was and all who follow Jesus are. We are born again, when our eyes and our hearts are opened to the I AM Moses encountered as the ever-burning bush.

At the very moment, I saw the Amygdala blooming in front of a “weathered” yet “white washed” stone window frame posted on INSTAGRAM by a friend of the Orthodox Academy of Crete who posted also resistance poetry, my eyes were opened. With that iconic vision, I heard Jeremiah speaking and suddenly realized that it was Moses, the TEACHER OF ISRAEL the forerunner of Christ (John 3:29; Hebrew 6:20) who smithed and hammered the Golden Lamp Stand in the image of the Bush–the I AM–he encountered on the Mountain of the Lord (Exodus 25:31; Numbers 8:4).

Upon seeing and reading the Greek word Amygdala accompanying that iconic image in a quote from the late Nikos Kanzantzakis, I knew for certain, the Teacher of Israel, John’s Gospel calls Nicodemus was indeed the Rabboni aka Barabbas aka the Baptist. Further to this I knew that the Woman Jesus identified as the Magdalene was the Bride of Christ, the I AM of John’s Testimony who said.

I am the light of the world. Whoever follows Me will never walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life (John 8:12).

I am the gate. If anyone enters through Me, he will be saved. He will come in and go out and find pasture (John 10:9).

And I knew the Lord she had chosen was a Simon, a man who heeds the Word of God and a gift of God who like many people needed to see the smithy’s nails binding Jesus to the Tree.

And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

Thus John’s Gospel stands to remind us all, the Man Jesus chose and called Simon Bar Jonah aka Peter, as the Rock the foundation stone of the Church, the family of God, finally heard the voice of the disciple Jesus loved and stopped working by the sea in the dark. His spiritual eyes were opened to God’s Truth and Purpose for his life and he obeyed the call to change the way he was living…working at night. Working in the dark he was binding himself and others, keeping them from entering the Gate of Heaven. Make no mistake. The miracle of Jonah that Jesus had said would happen, happened (Matthew 12:38-41) despite the fact that the disciples did not understand what Jesus meant by the Third Day (Matthew 18: 33-34).

Spoiler! The Third Day is the Day God spoke and thereby breathed life into the trees and other plants (Genesis 1:11). On the SIXTH day, God spoke and breathed life into Man.

Conversion to Christ Changes Lives

Authority is Fundamental

Moses, the Teacher of Israel, Photo by Maria Laura Catalogna on Pexels.com

I agree with ThePreachersWord when the Reverend Ken Weliever says [the triune] God’s opinion is the only one that counts. Here’s why.

The LGBTQIA2S+ demographic is re-interpreting Scripture Passages they claim are “clobber” passages to change people’s opinions about “who can sleep with who” and when and how. This demographic says the Heterosexual demographic has been unkind and inhospitable to people such as them who God created in God’s own image and likeness.

The argument is: The Heterosexual demographic who adhere to Scripture define sexual immorality as any behaviour that does not promote the ideal that God spoke in the beginning, saying it is not good for Man to live alone. Then they conclude that it is God’s opinion that it is right for a man to leave his parents and unite with his wife and become one flesh.

Countering the Heterosexual demographic argument, the LGBTQIA2S+ demographic maintain that a wife can be another man. That seems reasonable for it is not good for human beings to live alone. Human beings should have companionship and the ability to increase that number.

However, within this growing demographic is the opinion that extra-marital relations with a consensual woman while married to (or cohabitating with) another man is okay with God. The linch pin of this argument comes from the widely held belief that Jesus never married. Although the Rabbi known as the forerunner, claimed Christ was the “bride belonging to the bridegroom” (John 3:28-29) and when Jesus was asked for a sign. Jesus replied. “A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah” (Matthew 12:39).

The Great Commission as reported in Matthew (28:13) speaks to the guards paid by the chief priests and the elders to say that the disciples came and stole the body of Jesus out of the tomb while those on watch were sleeping.

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Is Jesus sleeping in heaven? Why then do Christians every Easter say Jesus is risen or more accurately, Christ is Risen, He is risen indeed? And what is meant with the Orthodox Chant?

Christ is risen from the dead, trampling down death by death and those in the tombs, bestowing life!

When a man leaves his parents and unites with his wife, the two become one flesh (Genesis 2:24; Ephesians 5:32). A single kernel of wheat dies (John 12:24). The two die to their “single” lives and begin again as one new man, one new human family–even if they are old and past the child bearing age!

In keeping with the Forerunner’s Testimony, Christ is the Bride who belongs to the Bridegroom (John 28:29). At a Wedding, the family is born again and all in attendance who are awake and watching and waiting for the Bride and her chosen Bridegroom “belonging” to her and only to her to come and declare his eternal love for her. It is extremely hard for the Bride and all those waiting with her to wait for the HOUR when the Bridegroom is ready to declare his love for his chosen Bride.

Their witness and testimony will then invite those who were indeed asleep when the Rock sealing the Tomb, the heart of the Earth, rolls away and the body of Christ, rises, comes more and more alive as the Light of the Sun shines on the Bride belonging with her chosen Bridegroom and around them. Their JOY like that of the Rabbi known as the Forerunner aka John aka the Teacher of Israel [aka Moses born again], becomes complete, when the Bride’s chosen Bridegroom aka her Lord says…you know everything, you know that I love you!

Stop fishing in the dark. Proclaim your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ boldly. Stop denying the Rabbi’s testimony. He is not the long awaited Messiah. But he is Jesus the forerunner Paul testifies to in Hebrews 6:20), For he said. “‘You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but am sent ahead of Him. The Bride belongs with the Bridegroom [the Rock of Israel (Isaiah 30:29)]. Stop your doubting and fishing in the dark while Jesus the Light of the World (John 8:12) is clearly trying to heed the Forerunner’s call to repentance, to go and sin no more (John 8:11), and wake up those fishing in the dark to help them realize the Joy of Eternal Love that brings and sustains everlasting life on earth as it is in heaven!

Open your heart and remember how John’s Gospel reminds believers that Simon bar Jonah did not remain fishing in the dark. He declared his eternal love for Jesus, his Bride, the Woman Jesus called the Magdalene η Μαγδαληνή aka the Fish numbering 153 (John 21:11;17).

The “Jesus fish” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthys
Authority is Fundamental

“Honour your father and mother” (which is the first commandment with a promise)

Photo by Bingqian Li on Pexels.com

In a letter to the ancient Ephesians, St. Paul wrote

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother” (which is the first commandment with a promise),“that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life on the earth.”

In John’s Gospel, two teachers meet under the cover of darkness. One says to the other.

Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again

The other the narrator of John calls Nicodemus, [whose greek name means Victory of the People] responds.

How can a man be born when he is old?” Nicodemus asked. “Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time to be born?”

Patriarchal grammar makes it seem like a mother’s womb only produces male offspring. People down through the ages before and after these two teachers met assumed Jesus and the Teacher of Israel were both male. To think otherwise would make both Teachers guilty of adultery and would beg the question. How can a woman and a man caught in the very act of adultery bring honour and glory to their Father and their Mother?

Tradition denies the truth and side steps this question, by making both Teachers male. Later in John’s Gospel, Nicodemus, the Teacher of Israel and member of the Assembly, comes to the defence of the other Teacher lay members of the Assembly identify as the Christ. Thus Nicodemus asks:

Does our law convict a man without first hearing from him to determine what he has done?

Don’t let the word “man” deceive you. For the Teacher of Israel aka John identified as the “Forerunner” in John 3:28-29 and Hebrews 6:20 has this to say about the identity of Christ.

You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but am sent ahead of Him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom stands and listens for him, and is overjoyed to hear the bridegroom’s voice. 

Denying the Truth is tantamount to bearing false witness and lying. Some will argue but we have to veil or cover up the truth to protect the children and new converts to the Faith. Lay people and new believers will lose faith in Jesus if they know that Jesus was the Woman caught in Adultery and her co-respondent was Jesus the Forerunner aka Nicodemus?

Many people will simply stop up their ears and cover their eyes and refuse to believe Jesus was ever married or committed any sin. Do you insist Jesus was sinless because he alone was perfect and never sinned? If so you will miss the opportunity to see Jesus as the “sinner” (Luke 7: 35-50) who after disclosing the truth tearfully repents, is forgiven, and shows the disciples the way to love much (Luke 7:47) and honour their Mother, their Father and claim the promise of the Fourth Commandment (Exodus 20:12) given to the Teacher of Israel on Mount Sinai.

In Luke’s Gospel chapter 7, the Sinner Woman anoints the feet of Jesus the Prophet with the oil from her Alabaster Jar and her tears. Simon the Father of the Law and Oral Tradition objects. He thinks to himself…if this man were truly a prophet, he would know that this woman is a sinner. In other words he would acknowledge that he is her adulterous co-respondent. He would come clean and admit that he is the Teacher and Prophet of Israel who met with her under the cover of darkness (John 3: 1-21) and encountered her on the road to Jericho and said. I must stay at your house today (Luke 19: 1-10).

However, until the Rooster crowed and the Truth was revealed, darkness reigned supreme. The Sinner Woman was celebrated as someone who loved much because her many sins have been forgiven. Yet, until the Rooster admitted he was her co-respondent, how could she go and sin no more? How could the demons possessing the Woman Jesus called Mary and the new born Christian in her alabaster arms be cast out? How could she the Bride of Christ ever experience the Joy of John’s testimony…hearing the Bridegroom’s voice as her divinely promised and hoped for Husbandman, the Rock and Anchor of her soul (Hebrews 6:20).

The first Mother’s Day in 1914 in the United States offered an opportunity to recognize the sacrifices and hard work of mothers. More importantly it was an opportunity to honour Godly mothers who put the needs of the family first over their own personal needs and wants.

Now that women have won the right to vote, to become Senators, run for President or Prime Minister, and have the freedom to bear children or not, and assume the role of the High Priest given to Jesus the Forerunner forever (Hebrews 6:20), do you claim this hope (of the Fourth Commandment) as a promise and an anchor for the soul, firm and secure?

Or, has Mother’s Day become an opportunity for you to claim and celebrate the freedom you now have to live out your life as you want and a great occasion to buy gifts and flowers to celebrate modern times and love the one you’re with?

Why The Founder of Mother’s Day Turned Against It

Cultural Values are challenging Christian Values

The Christians, faith by Library of Congress is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0

Church Language is difficult to understand in a culture that prides itself on progressive social values. Patriarchal language and culture that is expressed with Paul’s letters are falling on deaf ears and “houses [of worship] are left unoccupied and the land is desolate and ravaged” (Isaiah 6:11).

For example Paul says. “…a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.”

Cultural Christians are rejecting this mystery as an “old fashioned” value that has “dragged” people out of their homes and imprisoned them in marriages where the Husband ruled over his wife–instead of uniting them in marriages where Husband and Wife served each other in love. 

The LGBTQ+ demographic is progressive and is challenging Paul’s teaching and that of the Forerunner’s Testimony in John 3:28-29. Many in this LGBTQ+ demographic claim Christ the Bride who belongs with the Bridegroom is no longer relevant today because it excludes them as beloved children of God. In churches wanting to include the LGBTQ+ demographic and those exploring their gender identity, worship leaders quote Galatians 3:28 believing Christ came to proclaim and reveal God the Father to worshippers as the Genderless Spirit of Truth and Love (John 4:23-24).

Paul does say “now there is no longer male, nor female, nor Jew, nor Gentile, nor Slave or Free, for we are all one in Christ (Galatians 3:28). Yet Paul says this there is also a profound mystery about Christ and the church…likening this mystery to “the same way that a man leaves his father and mother and unites with his wife (Ephesians 5:32).

So did this Teaching make a Father out of Paul the Mother of Christianity( 1 Corinthians 4:14-15) Or was it Patriarchal culture and or misogyny that blinded worshippers and Biblical editors to the Truth and to the Gender of the Holy Spirit? If so, is this misogyny and the inequity it brought still working today even in our “progressive” culture. For in 1 Corinthians 4: 14-15) Paul warns readers as one who has begotten them as beloved children. Yet editors have “assumed” Paul is male and a father. More over, Patriarchal grammar uses the pronoun “he” whenever Paul is spoken of.

Yet here is the text in 1 Corinthians to which I refer. [I emphasize the female nature of Paul as the Bride of Christ and the Mother of the Gospel in the brackets].

“For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.” [as your mother the Bride belonging to the Bridegroom, your one and only Holy Father] (1 Corinthians 4:15)

Yet in a preceding verse Paul claims those beloved children who work for Christ are treated like garbage by the culture in which they have been born (1 Corinthians 4:13). And Paul later admits in 1 Corinthians 15:9 to being the worst sinner of all, claiming to be the one who has persecuted the Church, causing the children of Christ to be martyred… “dragged” from their homes, and thrown into prison!

Think about that! Why would Paul claim to be the worst sinner? Was not Judas the worst sinner? After all Judas betrayed Jesus with a Kiss, and Salome’s dancing got the imprisoned “forerunner’s” head on a platter and entombed (Mark 6:27-29).

So as Ken Weliever and his ThePreachersWord reblogged below asks: Are You a Christian? Or Just a “Cultural Christian?” I encourage you to read his blog and then ask yourself. Are Cultural Values keeping you from embracing the Cross and seeing the Magdalene as the Apostle with an inordinate Love for Jesus the Teacher and his Father, her Bridegroom?

Are You a Christian? Or Just a “Cultural Christian?”

The Faith of our Father

In today’s world, Fathers are often ridiculed and seen as oppressors who keep women from flying like Eagles. And yet, the words of Isaiah who we can no longer see in the flesh, live on. They speak to us. As Paul writes in Hebrews 11:4 and lifted up by Ken Weliever in his blog post reblogged here (in honour of his father who was a man of faith), the sacrifice of Abel was more excellent and more pleasing to God than Cain’s.

The faith and the sacrifice of many of our mothers, loving our fathers, believing in them, working beside them, encouraging them to serve God and watch to make sure God’s word, God’s promise would be accomplished has lifted them up on wings as Eagles (Isaiah 40:31). Yet many people will argue, many of our mothers stayed home and never travelled through the sky on a plane or even on a donkey beyond the kitchen door.

Paul insists the dead do rise. For if the dead do not rise, then neither did Christ (1 Corinthians 15:16). Yet when we get the call that informs us, our Dad has passed on. Grief grips our heart. Our memories of Dad keep him alive for a while and then 30 years later, the stark reality hits us. When we go, how will our children (if we have any) remember a Grandpa they seldom saw or never saw. Now if Dad was a man of great integrity well known in the community or in the local church or synagogue or mosque, his name and legacy of faith will be passed on. But what if like Cain his contribution to the work of God wasn’t as pleasing to God as Abel’s. What then?

Should a would a could a…gives many a dying person a huge burden. Who wants to acknowledge they were the one who said…”crucify” that man, hoping and praying that Jesus would die and stay buried so they would have their proof. Men (people) do not actually come back to life again. It’s only those who are loved, admired and remembered for what they leave behind who live on.

Those who die poor, alone and have nothing to show for a life where their talent or gifts were never seen as pleasing in God’s sight by those who were sure their Gifts were pleasing…what of them? Can a last minute conversion save them? I’d say yes. How about you? Can you let go and cling to the Hope that what Jesus won for you…the Hope of Everlasting life (Hebrews 6:20) full of everlasting LOVE is for those who die believing Jesus endured the pain and the shame of the CROSS, trusting in the Resurrection and the Ascension (Hebrews 12:3).

The CROSS being dead spoke to those who were there and still speaks to those who believe in the testimony of those who were there when they Crucified Christ (John 3:28-29). Like a cursed Amygdala or a cursed fig tree…people looked on from a distance. Many were so sure a cursed and a lifeless stick, stripped of all its branches, would never bloom or grow into a tree loved, admired and appreciated for its beauty, its sweet smelling blossoms and sweet tasting almonds…hammered into a ROCK on a hill resembling a skull!

“He Being Dead Still Speaks”

Servant Leadership

Who then is Apollos? And who is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord has given to each. I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.

Paul and Apollos said yes to God’s plan to plant and water an everlasting kingdom. Paul says “we are just servants whom through who you believed.” Acts 18:5 and Acts 18:24-28 sets them apart as Servant Leaders who proved Jesus Christ was alive.

Photo by Aramis Cartam on Pexels.com

Peter aka Cephas lived by the Sea and scripture describes him as being like Jonah who finally says yes to God’s plan…to receive and hold the keys [to the gate] to the kingdom of heaven. People might not see Peter as the foundation stone holding the keys because he denied knowing Jesus 3 times before the Rooster the (greek alektór), crowed. (Matthew 26:33-35).

Peter was an “Ordinary Guy” who loved Jesus. Loving Jesus, Peter came to see the Rooster as his friend, a fellow servant leader in the foundation of the kingdom of heaven. Thus the kingdom of heaven is still growing and crowing because of Ordinary Guys inspired by servant leaders.

The Blessing of Being an “Ordinary Guy” Instead of the World’s Greatest General