Behold! I Knocked… And A Camper Trailer Opened (Please Pray!)

Knock, Knock Knocking on Heaven’s Door

Fat Beggars School of Prophets

Three days ago (long enough for a Savior to lay in a tomb and the disciples to find it empty) I sent an email/letter to the shepherds of the church knocking on the door.

3 Days.

I have not received a call, a reply, a text, email, personal visit – absolutely no response.

Could it still come?  Could we still get a favorable outcome?

Yes.

There is nothing stopping a response or favorable outcome except contempt.  And we can pray about that!

If this knock at the door had not been ignored but instead received with ANY sense of urgency, I could have/should have received some kind of reply by now.  Even if it merely said, “We hear you and are talking about it….”.

But before the wagons circled to block me out and shun me several months ago, I received a very angry, wrathful response to a previous effort…

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Jesus as the tree of Life

Remarkably, John the Revelator describes Jesus as a living tree providing life for all in the midst of the new earth. In some ways, we can experience a similar offer in the book of Genesis at the Garden of Eden. The tree of life is the icon, the symbol of eternity, wholesomeness, and the emblem of reward as a result of obedience to the father.

The source of food here is not a literal symbol, yet that which is born of manna, the same as Christ demonstrated he was the bread of life.

Jesus stated: I eat meat which you know nothing about but out of every word of God which proceeds from the mouth of God.

We can also see the tree in this situation as a tree of genealogy. Numerous scriptures in the Bible describes God speaking to trees and as trees speaking to other trees. Even our own modern day version in reference to trees is such whereas we speak of this is our genealogy.

Whereas Adam and Eve rejected God’s word in the garden, henceforth we were all banned and in a way made mortal by virtue of death. Men being man rejected God’s law in the presence of God’s life: the tree.

It really is no different today for we continue to reject God’s law even as we reject his son Jesus. The penalty for rejection is the same today as it was then. Rejection equals death. Acceptance equals the tree of life.

Hence, the nature of man has remained the same since Adam and a consequence of sin also remains. The consequence was death then and death now.

The tree of life then equaled eternity. And Jesus today also equates the tree of life.

Whereas Jesus is our tree of life and in spite of Him we continue to sin.

With these identities we cannot expect anything different than what we see by our own experiences. And this is true either inside the church or outside the church.

And where they should not be it was the same inside the garden of Eden. And it was the same for we were in the same then as we are now. Where Adam was offered the tree of life, we are offered another tree Jesus. In both cases God expects obedience. As far as we know, Adam had but one law to obey and he failed.

The expectation with Jesus is that we no longer fail, that in spite of our flaws we can overcome our imperfections by virtue of his spirit.

So then the question remains… Are we fighting inside the Gates of Eden orare we outside and without… With a flaming sword pushing us away?

Truly this could be determined by how we treat the least of these as expressed in Matthew 25 through 26. For it comes down to a question of who we know and in turn by how we are known.

Jesus exemplified this term by a fig tree. When that figtree failed to produce, it was cursed withered and died.

Where do we stand in our obedience? Where are we in terms of our distance to the tree of life? Are we inside the garden of Eden or simply another voiceless champion silent alongside the road for those who beg for the mercy of God. In the end, I would hope at least that all Christians are gathered together around the tree of life would a report of good news… All holding hands and in one voice, shouting the proclamation of Jesus Christ through the evidence of the works of his church. And there we come to know Jesus as we should inside that garden as we experience each other face-to-face knowing each other through obedience.

“Nothing Personal”

It’s nothing personal that people hate you. In truth, they don’t hate you as a person insomuch that they loathe the fact that you are poor or that you are skinny or fat or possess the wrong ethnicity or carry the wrong surname or that you are ugly or homeless or live in the wrong geographic region or speak the wrong language or many, many other reasons.

It’s nothing personal that they hunt you down and chase you or ban you or imprison you or deject, reject, detest, despise, shun, ostracize, exclude or push you aside. They can’t help it. They simply hate all that you stand for.

For you see, they fear they could be just like you one day and no, they can’t have that. They don’t want to be in your situation.

They wouldn’t know how to deal with poverty or exclusion or disease or from the position of a total lack. Lack is NOT in their vocabulary.

For you see, you just might rub off on them. No, they can’t sit on your furniture for the dirt might penetrate their goodness, might just stain them and others might simply call them ‘you’.

For this is simply the way of people. And whatever they don’t like or understand, they kill. They killed Jesus for the same reasons. People don’t understand goodness, so they killed him. Nothing personal.

It’s just how people are. Thus, when they beat and rob and imprison and maim and invade and confiscate and kill you, take comfort that none of that is personal.

It is just something to do to those who are different: to the odd ones who stick out and don’t belong.

In the end, it is nothing personal, nothing personal at all.

Calling it for What it Is: A Cockroach in the Icing (Hand to Hand with Agent X)

Agent X with the Fat Beggars School of Prophets has been fighting the establishment for a long number of years: decades over the issue of the church taking in the homeless.

To that effect, Agent X has mostly lost the battle with the churches as simply put; all those ‘good’ people don’t want to mingle with all those ‘bad’ people.

In easy terms: the homeless are a group of cockroaches that stream out of the woodwork and do nothing but contaminate the beauty and purity of the church buildings and congregants.

Nobody loves a COCKROACH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As much as we Christians say we love others and love all and possess the love of Christ: WE DON’T!

Sorry, but I call things the way I see them and we simply haven’t arrived when it comes to intimating the love of God through His son, Jesus.

We make excuses: we appear inept. We are afraid and reticent. We can’t bear to focus on the ugliness of ‘those people’ as we are afraid we could BECOME like ‘them’.

God forbid that we should have to drink a bottle of ‘Old Crow’ or smoke a cigarette butt found on the wayside or eat a discarded Twinkie or mingle with those who smell of drugs, alcohol, stink, urine and grime.

We have become so infused with avarice we are unable to see the Lord humbled with His masses, those outside the church: the dejected.

And in that process we have also put our Christ in the same image: the dreaded, despicable COCKROACH who spoils the entire cake.

After all, who can eat that cake after the musky cockroach has travailed along it’s perimeter? Dirt =people and they are all one and the same if they are outside a particular social class.

They have nits and dirt and bad breath and sores and wounds and toothless and matted hair and bugs and a stench that simply will not rid itself without the agent of bleach.

And that is why Agent X loses His battle which is our battle for we are too comfortable watching God work on:

Touched by an Angel or Highway to Heaven

It is there we can sit back and watch God perform his Hat and the Rabbit tricks that so amuse us with heart warming epics and morals.

Only with those guys,we don’t have to go there.

And in the here and now, where are we: Where do we stand by Agent X or with Tom or with you or me or them or with anyone who has been cast aside?

Let’s just say I won’t hold my breathe if I have to count on the church to pull me through. They are too busy watching it on television.

In the meanwhile while waiting on my earthly salvation: I’ll have to dwell with the rest of the roaches until such time as someone recognizes that Jesus is here, down there with us on the peripherals. He is here alongside with the rest of us roaches.

Thank God for the Gospel of Salvation and for His son, Jesus. I wonder who next will speak for those who are there asking to come into HIS FOLD? My guess, it’ll be simply another cockroach calling in all the others into the Kingdom of God…Who will lead the way?

The Death of Jesus (“A good Day to Die.” Chief Dan George)

Matthew 27:50–53

Aside from the tear in the curtain of the temple at least one of the grand occurrences is the rumbling of the earth and

the opening of tombs whereas the saints arose and then walked the streets of Jerusalem and presented themselves.

This is not much said for such a spectacular demonstration of power: only a few words in illustration of the important event: RESURRECTION.

One could ask the question—did these saints ever die again?      A good question and we are not told the answer. We can guess that they later ascended into Heaven with our Master, but this is only an hypothesis. Obviously, had they hung around, more would have been written about them.

Of course, the news here in the death of Jesus is that Jesus conquered DEATH. 

In the death of Jesus, immediately upon His death and thereafter, the incredible feature is that all we see is LIFE!

And with Jesus’ resurrection and ascension we witness a promise of eternal life and evidence to it therein.

Jesus is life. The death of Jesus is life and the hope and future with all believers is LIFE.

Even today,in the absence of any good news: poverty,disease,death and more---we still possess the inheritance of God’s kingdom through His son, Jesus, the Christ.

The choice is a simple one:  the knowledge and wisdom of this world, or the truth and guarantee of our Lord, Jesus.

This decision should be an easy one: choose LIFE with Jesus.  The value of our souls are the same as with the saints of ancient days.  We too shall walk and give testimony to others now and after death.  For with Jesus there is only one word to describe our mission...and that word is life through Jesus that He gave by virtue of His blood on the Cross at Calvary.

Unless you Repent

In Luke 13:1 and then again in Luke 13:4 we see where two tragedies occurred and life lost.

While Jesus assured us that the people did not die in accordance to their sins, he warned for us all to repent or else it could also happen to us. Most would not see this as a good omen. (If you have any sense)

First, While Jesus was in Jerusalem when the tower of Siloam fell, it looks as if he could have prevented the accident but didn’t. The second is that we can not assume tragedy occurs as a result of God distributing punishment in reference to sin.

Okay. Admit it. Some of this sucks. Of course, we can ask why? We can ask why God does not intervene and save us, when we are his children. This is a very natural question.

Whereas the Galileans came to sacrifice, Pilate choose to demonstrate his wrath and thus, the Galileans died in slaughter. Do we witness some parallels?

Is there a similarity with the inferno of the Twin Towers on 911? How about where Isis decapitates the heads of Christians? There is more, but this should be suffice to gain the message. And the message is:

More important than our life or death is that we regard God first in all things and strive to gain merit for positions in Heaven.

Of course, our life here on earth is important: God said our creation was good. However, even more important are our lives eternally.

Yes, I know this doesn’t help much when we’re suffering. Nor does it assist at all at the lost of a loved one or loved ones.

Yet, out of all of that, we are to trust God as Job trusted God in his times of trials.

Jesus warns us to repent: and what should we repent to?

We should repent to the very word of God that saves us from condemnation into righteousness. And in this process we are to lose our life, figuratively and literally in order to gain one presented by God Himself.

In the meanwhile, all kinds of crap is going to happen and continue to happened. And while this all must take place, we should never lose faith in Jesus or in His Father who sent Him. With Jesus we will live forever.

 

Mark 3 1-6 My allegorical Reiteration (Fat school of Beggars goes to Bat)

And then Agent X and His followers went to church; yet the powers-to-be were there to test him.

“Is it lawful to assist a homeless man on the sabbath?” they asked Agent X.

“The question here is NOT the sabbath. The question is the value, the worth of God’s Children on any day.”

And so they wished to boot out Agent X and all his men as he and his followers defiled the desires and wishes of the church.

And then again, Jesus was struggling on the streets of Lubbock with no one to champion His cause. Jesus concluded that all had forsaken Him and His people for the churches cursed His existence. Among the harsh cold streets and whispering of the wind: God’s voice could be heard for the forbearance of His Holy Spirit. In that day even those who walked among the righteous shuttered to think of the wrath in the last days of that building and those who roamed it.

At last, Jesus found His home and it was out and away from the church he founded and loved so much. Once again, He found Himself alone.

A Skinhead and two Bears (No Goldilocks there)

2 Kings 2:23-24         Elisha Is Jeered

23 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” 24 He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.

Elisha was one really powerful and cool prophet, but apparently he also suffered from some anger issues. Okay, so it’s not okay to make fun of a prophet, but then again: you kill 40+ kids as a result?

Can you imagine if we reacted this way either at church or at school? One can only guess that kids weren’t as bad back in those old days as they are today. Today, we’d have a complete carnage if guys like Elisha were around.

Yet, what have learned since those old biblical times whenever one of God’s elect would cry out to Him such as a Samson or such? Do we see a king who claims to be God turn into worms such as we witness in the New Testament?

In fact, the entire opposite is true in reference to how Jesus told us to respond ot adversity. He tells us to LOVE those who oppose us.

Okay, try telling Elisha or Samson or King David that. We might even suggest this to Joshua prior to him killing thousands upon thousands of those who didn’t wish to depart with their land.

Even with the change coming into age with Jesus, this does not give one the right to demonstrate disrespect to His prophets. In the end, God will not be mocked and who is to say some have been forfeited over the years because of their stance on the creator and His people.

Yet, our standard remains: Love ye one another as I have loved ye as you love one another. Too, love your neighbor as your self.

Truly, most of us including myself have a long way to go before reaching the earmark called for by Jesus. As for me: it rests much easier with my spirit to see the bad guys get their butts whipped such as with the case of our friend the skinhead.

Yet, Jesus explains to us: to change and to adopt His spirit: one in which loves and forgives.

Indeed, we have a long way to go before we arrive at that point.

Throw the bums out!

James 2:3     If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, “Here’s a good seat for you,” but say to the poor man, “You stand there” or “Sit on the floor by my feet,” (CONTINUED IN THE BIBLE)

Perhaps no one is better equipped than James, the brother of Jesus, to speak not only on the condition of the poor but how we as Christians should address and treat them. James instructs us to love and pose a high regard for the poor. You can’t get it any more clear than that.

As Americans, and as Christians, we have a large tendency to blame people for their own poverty. At times this is highly conscious, and other times perhaps an inward bias as in America we are considered the land of unlimited opportunities. At times, this statement may be true but that does not allow for hard times and conditions.

Nonetheless, James does not limit or impose preconditions on possessing a high regard for all people as opposed to the rich.

Over and over again, James exhorts us to demonstrate our faith in reference to how we take action for others. James is indicative of the fact that he is not so much concerned with theology as with the obedience and people submitting to the commands of the Christ. In this case we see the kingdom is not so much as an object of thought but as an option and duty of performance. This being simply: put your money where your mouth is. That is how James explains faith: through direct and deliberate action. At times, this means people sacrifice for others. It doesn’t mean throwing a dollar into the collection plate. It means getting all. How much more so is it important to avoid favoring the rich?

By yesterday standards, most middle-class people of America would be considered the rich. In some respects, that would mean you would have to avoid you.

How do we come to grips with our responsibility in Jesus? The answer is simple. We are told to seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all the rest shall be added. To denote our plus and minuses in this performance we merely have to put the balance scale to the very words of Jesus. I trust that most of us would fail to measure up to the highest standard Jesus calls us to be.

In looking down on the homeless, the forgotten, the sick, the widows, the prisoners and more… We all risk to fruits of our salvation in terms of how we treat others. The gold standard: love your neighbor as yourself is all one needs to know the difference between right and wrong.

Yet in our own time of need there is but one answer and that answer is nothing short of mercy, for in our time of crisis there is no question of merit. We know at that time we are deserving for a strong sense of survival dictates right and wrong. How much are we this way when it comes to others?

That Dirty Rotten…

We have all heard this at one time or another. These are the words and worse—for those who were once either our friends, or our soul mates.

How can this be?

At one point in our life or more we thought these people were the greatest people on earth and at another time, the most horrible.

Both of these statements can’t be true. While it is true that people can change over time, more than likely what has changed is our attitudes.

Downing the other person and criticizing them, running them into the ground simply is NOT right. Oh, I am sure we are justified enough to say all the bad things we can think of about the person, but in reality this is more than likely only our present perception.

Just because one might determine they can’t live with another person or associate with them, doesn’t make them the fiends or terrible people we purpose.

At one point we thought the other could do no wrong. That they were perfect and beyond approach. However, with a turn of events, we believe they can do no right.

This is not the Christian way. We were told to love one another, not all EXCEPT those we previously loved.

The attitude of unforgiveness and vengeance sucks.

This is nothing more than bitterness and hate. And most of the hate is a result of the feeling of rejection.

In the wild process of defaming the other person we might just one to provoke an introspection and realize perhaps there are issues with our self we simply need to correct. Perhaps we simply need a more gentle hand.

Or is it we can not get over the hurt and pain and dejection from another that we must fight back with all our worth?

We see this in some: once bitten, not only shy, but out with a full vengeance for ALL people. “THERE WILL BE BLOOD!” we say and demand.

But this is all childish and unbecoming a Christian.

So then, in the end which do we choose? How will we react? And what will be our true testimony for Christ and to others?

The answer lies within each of us and will speak for itself. Hopefully, we will all choose to forgive.