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SeLahGirl Chats About Life
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Last Published: 9/24/2008 9:07:00 PM
February 2008
Friday February 29, 2008
Permalink Posted by: SeLahGirl at 1:59PM EST on February 29, 2008
In light of my recent blogs, it floored me yesterday as we began to read a new chapter in our US history book. THE GREAT AWAKENING was the topic. The situation of our nation then seems to be a mirror image of today. Have we come full circle in our faith? Is it possible that we are on the verge of a new awakening? I am undone concerning the similarities of the church then and the church today in our nation.

Here is an excerpt:

As the American colonies grew and prospered, they gradually fell into a state of spiritual decline. By the 18th century, many churches practiced a cold, formalistic Christianity. Most people claimed to be Christians, but few had ever accepted Christ as personal Savior. Even many ministers remained lost in spiritual darkness. Colleges founded to train young men for the ministry, such as Harvard and Yale, contributed to this decline by turning Christianity into a mere intellectual exercise and combining theology with the pagan ideas of ancient philosophers.

The spiritual decline was especially noticeable in New England. In the past, only those who had given evidence of personal salvation could become full members of the Puritan Churches, but by the 1660's few of the younger generation met this qualification for church membership. To solve the problem of dwindling congregations, many New England churches in 1662, adopted the HALFWAY COVENANT, which provided that descendants of church members could be admitted as members with full privileges, except for participation in communion. The Puritans hoped that this covenant would extend the influence of the church and encourage more visible conversions in the future. Instead of the church changing sinners, however, sinners began changing the church. A historian of Connecticut described the situation:

The forms of religion were kept up, but there appeared but little of the power of it... It seems also to appear that many of the clergy, instead of clearly and powerfully preaching the doctrines of original sin, or regeneration, justification by faith alone... contented themselves with preaching a cold, unprincipled and lifeless morality.

... Gilbert Tennent attacked the real problem with America's churches when he preached a sermon, ON THE DANGERS OF AN UNCONVERTED MINISTRY, in which he expressed the damage done by the preaching of unconverted ministers.

... The most powerful evangelist of the Great Awakening was the English evangelist George Whitefield ... after trying asceticism, denying himself all but the worst sorts of food and clothing, he began reading religious books and seeking the advice of friends. Slowly, he began to understand that there was no way he could earn his salvation. He wrote in his journal:

Above all, my mind being now more opened and enlarged, I began to read the Holy Scriptures upon my knees, laying aside all other books, and praying over, if possible, every line and word. This proved meat indeed and drink indeed to my soul. I daily received fresh life, light, and power from above. I got more true knowledge from reading the book of God in one month than I could ever have acquired from all the writings of men.

... although Whitefield quickly became the most popular preacher in England, the ministers of the established churches disapproved of his evangelistic messages and barred him from their pulpits. Undaunted by opposition and determined to spread the gospel, Whitefield began preaching outdoors.

... Whitefield used his abilities to reach all kinds of people -- rich and poor, educated and unlearned, upper class and lower class. He preached to black slaves in the colonies and wrote a gospel tract for American Indians. He founded an orphanage in Georgia and showed a special interest in reaching children with the gospel. His influence indirectly prompted the founding of some 50 colleges in the US. He is remembered as the most powerful voice of the Great Awakening, and his influence on American history lives on.


My disturbing experience in the contemporary, trendy churches of today greatly reflects the state of the church just before the US fought for her independence. It was on the heels of the Great Awakening that God's favor rested on this nation once again.

You can feel the level of evil rising as the heart of our nation pulls itself away from the shelter of his presence. He has promised that he would never leave us, that nothing can pluck us from his hand... but our nation is choosing to walk away from him. And a step in any direction out of his presence moves us (and those we love) closer and closer to chaos and misery. Look around you in America. It grows darker every day in this post-Christian nation. It will only grow worse, the further we move away from God and his principles as the church remains distracted with navel-gazing.

The church then, is the church today. Ungodly leaders ripping apart the lives of good and Godly people, teaching ridiculously insane idealism which only serves as chains to weight people down with eccentric forms of Christianity. They have become EVERYTHING they have complained about in the traditional church. They claim to free people from religion but in reality they use well devised strategies to manipulate them into bondage. They claim to be working for the Kingdom of God but their idea of the kingdom is their own selfish ambition to wear a crown that labels them as trendy and cutting-edge. False Humility... blah! don't even get me started. No wonder it makes God want to vomit.

Godly people forbidden to teach in the churches, silenced, stripped of their calling and pressured to leave the church and wander the streets. Pulpits and Sunday School teachers teaching a LIFELESS MORALITY rather than the fundamentals of the faith and the Word of God. Disregarding the commands and principles laid out by God himself as being out-dated and as irrelevant as last year's clothing fashions.

yes, we are in trouble. you... me... the church... our children... our nation... the Christian world.

The battlelines have moved from the streets outside the church's front door to among the pews and the pulpit. You can't be popular with the world and you can't be popular with your leadership... you better be concerned and ONLY concerned with pleasing God rather than man.

Jesus warned you would be put out of the church. In the desperate hour of the church then, Whitefield was put out of the church. Today, many other saints of God are being put out by ungodly leadership... it's not a time to be popular with the ungodly... it's time to devour the Word of God, to press hard to search out Truth, to be merciful and just and wise ALL THREE... and to refuse to be silent whether in the church or in the streets.

Who will be the voice of the Church in this hour?!
Who is willing to let their ministry/title die for Christ?
Who is willing to let their popularity among the leadership/congregation die?
Who is willing to pull the plug or flip the switch themself?

Can you let go of everything and everyone you love and die to all that you have built and served and ministered to for Christ?
Can you entrust to God what was his all along?
Can you trust him to not forget you in your nothingness?
Can you continue to testify of his goodness in the face of injustice, in the face of so much evil (even from within the church)?

to die...

to have nothing
to be nothing
to empty yourself of everything

that's what we were called to.
that's our common bond.
that's how we reflect Christ.
that's what it is to truly live.

Keith Green said it well...
NO COMPROMISE.
Thursday February 28, 2008
Permalink Posted by: SeLahGirl at 1:06PM EST on February 28, 2008
Is so much separation in the church a good thing? When we separate children and teens and the elderly, is that a good thing? Yes, it would seem wise to offer venues where each group can enter into discussion and ministry that is relevant to their age/gender needs. But what of unity, what of nurturing relationship, and teaching respect for one another in their age or in their youth. It is necessary for all to be honored and respected, old and young.

How can parents come to understand their child's spiritual struggles and growth if they are never in a small group setting with them? When is there truly opportunity for teens to unburden their heart and to share what they have gleaned from their parent's testimony and the testimony of the entire world around them (Christian and secular)? Such things need to be discussed in mixed settings as well as peer-group settings. Otherwise, parents fail to train and over-see their child's spiritual growth. Getting them vaccinated, taking them to the dentist, getting them insured to drive... physical mandates by the laws of men. But what about the spiritual mandates in light of the law of God? We don't set them loose in their physical needs, why should we believe a secular world that tells us to neglect their spiritual needs? We protect them from sexual perverts that seek to rob them of their innocence... why would we subject them and give them over to moral perverts?

We need to wake up!
We are killing our kids. We are passing thru the hands of Molech.
Being afraid of appearing unkind by secular standards has made us afraid to protect those most precious to us. Not making waves, has allowed the ungodly to drown our children in a sea of moral decay!

What if there was a small group where people encountered their peers, and another group where they encountered relationship and understanding beyond age? We coddle our youth to think that they should always be entertained, and then we complain because they are unable to sit in a mature group atmosphere and listen/participate/grow. Every intimate teaching setting.... we send the children off to classes, we send the teens off to the youth building, we sit in our adult classes... and we all remain divided and non-communicative in any real and relevant way.

We are afraid to gently guide teens from off the wall tangents back to a solid core of belief. It's just not politically correct or humanistically accepted or nauseatingly kind. We smile and say,

"hmmmm... that's an interesting thought, tell us more. Okay, good for you, I can see your point, that makes sense, that's one way to look at it, there are people that would agree with you, good for you that you have loved people in their sin and made excuse for their sin, you are so kind and merciful, yay young person that you are saying anything at all, that you are in church at all, that you feel good and positive about the off the wall tangent that you have embraced as Christian, that you have heard this abstract thought from God for yourself or at school and it makes total sense to you -- even though it totally contradicts the Word of God and the very character and goodness and holiness of God."

And we adjust the Bible to become a book of stories and myths based on ancient cultures that are more or less irrelevant unless they somehow emphasize some warm fuzzy that has tickled their fancy. Only what caters to the eccentric seems relevant to much of the contemporary church. It sure wins them favor from a lost generation, and puts warm bodies in their cool foldout chairs and livingroom style sanctuaries.

what?

I sit baffled by much of what I am seeing and hearing in every church I enter into lately. The so-called cutting edge, culturally relevant churches, the emergent church.... There is no standard of Truth in the church. Being eccentric and creative are more important that being like Christ... The Bible has been chucked out the window or buried under self-esteem books by trendy gurus calling themselves Christian leaders and experts. They know little about Christ or what he said or taught, yet they claim to speak for him and to know his heart. Christ actually warned about such false teachers springing up everywhere in the last days, along with gross deception and manipulation thru the words/speeches of arrogant men and greedy movements.

You can study the Bible all day long with Satan by your side reading aloud, but you can miss God just as surely. When you see the Bible as words on a page, as another text book, as a Christian reference source that people are free to give or take... you will never grasp the character and person of Jesus Christ. The Bible is alive, it has a Spirit that pervades it and that causes it to breathe and literally speak. Not like some electronic voice reader on a computer... it speaks with passion and conviction and anointing because it is God that speaks. It is his Word, what he has said and is saying. It is alive. The Bible is not inanimate no matter what seminary scholar or trendy Christian cult teacher claims that it is. It lives, it speaks, and the Spirit of God interprets. Word and Spirit cannot be separated or it becomes a dead faith. Both are required to hear from God.

I had a dream that the academic world had been taken over by werewolves. Everyone was mingling in a block party and small groups were being called into a frat house one by one and brutally attacked with much blood. They were given drugs and told that it would make it easier to bear by the people that were about to devour them. Then in packs they would jump on each group of three or four and infect them with their evil until they became one of them.

No one was fighting back, no one was objecting. There was a secret fear among them but they all chose to deny it and not to speak of it. They played the game and pretended to enjoy the party (all the while dreading their turn). They went willingly when called, knowing it was the end for them, that they were about to join themselves to evil. I could see everyone and everything that was happening and I was whispering to a group of teens that I knew, how to move thru the crowd to avoid being called forth. But the fear and danger were great.

The dream jumped and we were all in a very large church. A few of these werewolves walked into the church, then more and more and more trickled in. No one objected, no one acknowledged their presence, so their numbers continued to enter and increase. The congregation was in denial, though you could feel their fear level rising.

I was in disbelief and was angry that the people of God seemed so cornered and helpless against the attack that was coming. I knew that they would transform into evil at any moment and lunge upon the people of God. In my anger I stood and began to yell, "you will not touch the people of God. You have no power here. No right to be here. Leave in the name of Jesus." I began to call upon God. I began to declare how wonderful and all-powerful he is. I began to see him clearly instead of the situation around me until I forgot where I was for a minute as I was caught up in worshipping Him.

When I once again became aware of where I was, all the werewolves, all those evil people were gone. I was amazed at the power of the name of God. I stood in shock and kind of laughed in surprise. I had cried out in my fear and anger, and claimed the authority of God over the situation. And the presence of God rushed in and drove the evil out. I woke so fascinated and awe-struck by our God. It was a good dream.

But thinking on it, the congregation never changed. They never moved, they never joined in, they never responded in any way. Even after the evil had left, they continued to stare straight ahead and not even acknowledge what God had done. No thanks was given to him. Nothing. Just a hint of relief that their fear level had come down a notch.

Something is wrong in the church of today. I can't put my finger on it, but God is busy setting all things in order. He will not let it continue for much longer. His mercy is great, but he will not let injustice prevail any longer than absolutely necessary. Grace has a time limit, and I fear that we are nearing the end of it.

The church is divided on many levels.
Perhaps by sheep and goats.
If so, we had better begin to make up our minds who we want to be because neither can balance on a fence for very long. We must pick a fold to call our own which defines who we choose to align ourselves with... or we will fall hard and face the consequences of a lukewarm faith.
Tuesday February 26, 2008
Permalink Posted by: SeLahGirl at 12:38PM EST on February 26, 2008
13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

16Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. 18Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. 19He has lost connection with the Head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

20Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? 22These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. (Colossians 2)

OH I LOVE THE CLARITY OF THIS PASSAGE!!!

My son came home from college the other day and insisted on sharing what he and a friend had read that morning during their daily prayer/Scripture reading. He does not read my blogs or my thoughts in my journals. But what he shared was so in tune with so much that God in speaking thru a myriad of voices.

Christ freed us from the law of sin and death. He removed the weight of the condemnation brought about by the law as we walk in a cursed world in a sinful state in need of mercy each day. But the church has put the weights back upon us, it has weighted us down in many instances just as the Pharisees did. Some leaderships have guilted us into worshipping them and all that they dictate to be the law of God.

FALSE HUMILITY!

What a tool of Satan in this hour. It is eating away at the hearts of the people of God, corrupting many and crippling others. Claims and attitudes of such piousness, ranting at people that they have passed judgment or that they have failed to forgive, when they take a stand against corrupt and abusive leadership. Pushed and coerced out of the synagogue -- people are being pressured or shamed into leaving the church when they stand falsely accused by a leadership and it's cronies that are eaten up with selfish ambition masked in false humility.

Am I angry? emphatically YES.
Pray that the Lord would:

1 Answer me when I call to you,
O my righteous God.
Give me relief from my distress;
be merciful to me and hear my prayer.

2 How long, O men, will you turn my glory into shame?
How long will you love delusions and seek false gods?
Selah

3 Know that the LORD has set apart the godly for himself;
the LORD will hear when I call to him.

4 In your anger do not sin;
when you are on your beds,
search your hearts and be silent.
Selah

5 Offer right sacrifices
and trust in the LORD.

6 Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?"
Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD.

7 You have filled my heart with greater joy
than when their grain and new wine abound.

8 I will lie down and sleep in peace,
for you alone, O LORD,
make me dwell in safety. (Psalm 4)

A segment of the church has lost connection with the Head, with Christ.

It reminds me of the time that a couple of the disciples wanted seats above the others, just as many leaders/cronies in the church today want to be seated above the laymen of their congregations:

24When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. 25Jesus called them together and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. 26Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." (Matt 20)

And many in the congregation (duped by a spirit of false-humility and their worship of angels/leaders) go along with it. Participating in the murder/excommunication of anyone that gets in the way. Don't point fingers at the Catholic church when the Protestant church is struggling with the same sin. I am very much Protestant, but sin is sin.

And again when Jesus rebuked the church leaders of his day for coming up with all kinds of ridiculous rules and regulations that enslaved people to obey the whims of men and eccentric visionaries:

1Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 3So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.

5"Everything they do is done for men to see: They make their phylacteries wide and the tassels on their garments long; 6they love the place of honor at banquets and the most important seats in the synagogues; 7they love to be greeted in the marketplaces and to have men call them 'Rabbi.'

8"But you are not to be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. 9And do not call anyone on earth 'father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. 10Nor are you to be called 'teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ. 11The greatest among you will be your servant. 12For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

This brings revelation to these passages in light of what is happening in portions of the contemporary/emergent church today. We are reliving such error in leadership and so the passages of then come to life today. It's not the literal sense of calling someone teacher or father... it's a matter of the heart and acknowledging the authority of that leader/teacher as though they are equal to God. Pastor-worship, Leadership-worship, Teacher-worship... other gods, little gods... sin.

Basically, Christ seems to be saying, hear them and respect them as speakers and representatives of the One who spoke the Scriptures... but not as though they are the One who spoke it. Do not call them Father or Teacher in your heart as though they are the authors of the word of God. They are not. They are mere men. They are just as lowly as the guy who cleans the bathroom or directs traffic in the parking lot, or folds the newsletters at the door. Love them and SERVE WITH THEM as brothers/sisters in Christ... but do not SERVE FOR THEM as though the people of the congregation were made to be their pawns seeking to please them rather than God. Christians had better return to seeking the favor of God rather then the favor Pharisees, or God will give them what they seek and let them choose other gods (as well as the consequences that go along with such sin). Free will.

You have ONE FATHER. You have ONE TEACHER, ONE TRUTH. Obedience and loyalty and commitment is to him and to his word only. No one, no matter what title they hold or what they insist you call them.... no one is to be exalted above any other person in the congregation. Their decisions and rules are to be held accountable by the body as a whole, not just among a couple of their buddies that call themselves a board -- and that use spiritual authority to justify when Scripture is violated and people (even children) are spiritually abused and terrorized. PHARISEE SPIRIT!!!

The Kingdom of God is a monarchy, that the Church is subject to with joy.
But the church as a functioning organism is a democracy -- a system governed by several voices and committees, where each person is granted the right to be heard and treated justly according to the commands of the King that it is subject to.

The preaching of the Kingdom of God has been distorted by many so that it has become a kingdom of men, men claiming equality to God. But they were never given that measure of authority... they were given a measure of authority to represent... but never the authority to claim what belongs only to God.

HOWEVER, pay diligent attention to vss 2-3 in that last passage:

2"The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. 3So you must obey them and do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.

You must obey the Scripture being preached, the Word of God. You must respect leadership offering the same measure of honor and mercy and love that you would others in the congregation. But you do not obey or model the hypocrisy or false-humility or worship of leadership that they preach and intimidate with. Remember, that you are accountable to God for your own actions in how you respond. Anger is not a sin, but it can lead you into it if you lose sight of God and all that he has truly commanded in Scripture. Love and Mercy above all. You can defend Truth and Justice and still maintain Love and Mercy. We are commanded to. We must read and know what the Word of God says for ourselves. If you're not reading it and asking God for understanding, keep your mouth shut.

-----------------

you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. (Matt 23:23)

We are commanded to not judge, but we are commanded to practice justice.
Judgment and Justice are two entirely different things.
Thursday February 21, 2008
Permalink Posted by: SeLahGirl at 4:12PM EST on February 21, 2008
He called us beautiful..

(John 5:19-23)

19Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. 20For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, to your amazement he (the Father) will show him (the Son) even greater things than these. 21For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. 22Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

The incarnation is an amazing thing, so far beyond our understanding. To be fully God yet fully man... who can understand such a thing with the limited finite mind that is our nature. But God can bring understanding, glimpses of truth, wisdom and knowledge thru the leading of his Spirit as we seek to know him more and more.

A body was prepared for Jesus (as mentioned in my thread DID I JUST THINK THAT OUT LOUD?). Jesus had always existed with the Father, the Trinity has always been and will always be, imo. They co-existed (what's the triple word for that anyway?) -- Father, Son and Spirit. Like an egg with shell and white and yolk. Like the shamrock with three leaves joined in one stem. Just as the Holy Spirit was sent after the resurrection to perform a specific role as comforter (one who walks beside us to help), Jesus came to earth as a man to perform a specific role to fulfill the will of God (even tho it cost him much).

When Jesus was on the earth he spoke of the Spirit of God being WITH MAN, but that he would soon be IN HIM (as happened at Pentecost in Acts). And then he says in another place that the Spirit of God will not always strive with man (in his sinful state). I believe that there is a distinct and definite timeline of grace, a door that will close, an offer for a second chance at life that will end, and the role of the Spirit of Comforter will perhaps change after all is fulfilled and restored. idk.

I also believe that just as the Spirit performs different roles at different times, so Jesus performs different roles, and the Father as well. It is not such a foreign concept in my mind. We often talk of wearing different hats in our own lives. With all that God performs, he must don a million or more new hats a day. Just consider his many names. He performs the role of healer and provider and savior and the list is endless.

I believe that Jesus came to earth as Christ laying aside much of his power and might as God. I believe he walked this earth as a man like the rest of us (but without sin). He did not sin willfully in anyway and he did not sin unknowingly in any way, and he did not sin by omission of any detail concerning the perfect will of God. He was sinless.

I believe his Spirit, his being, his soul, his spirit man... was God and unchanged. But I think he received the wisdom and insight of God only as much as he sought it as a man. I think the plan of God was revealed to him as he entered into times of prayer and study of the Scriptures. I think he showed himself approved by God, pleasing him in every way, because in his Spirit he sought hard after the will of the Father. I think as he pressed himself to enter into consistent communion and intimacy with the Father God, more and more wisdom and insight was imparted to him (see the underlined portion of the verse above). And I think we are granted the same right to approach the throne of God and receive the same measure of insight to perform the will of God right where we are today.

Before the cross, we did not have that right. But after the cross, by way of the bridge that Christ provided for us to get back to the throne of God... I believe we can approach the Father and he will give to us all that we ask. I believe that because I know that Christ is seated beside him and intercedes for us just like a lawyer on our behalf. And thru our requests and their discussion (Father Son and Spirit) of our right and authority purchased by Christ... we can have all that Jesus had when he walked on this earth.

We can do anything and more that Jesus did when he was a man with limited understanding (again, see the underlined portion above). I think just as he pressed in closer to the Father and was given the master plan, that we can press in and God will reveal much to us... always in the right timing. Even Christ does not know the hour or the day that he will go to claim his bride from the earth. Only the Father has that information according to Scripture. There are roles and purposes that are so far beyond our understanding, even among the God-head.

Jesus as a man understood the character of God thru prayer, studying and meditating on the Scriptures (Torah), and thru the leading of the Holy Spirit. That is how he saw what the Father was doing as he states above, that is how he knew how he was to walk thru this life, that is how he understood the calling and commission that he had been sent to perform. And that is the example that we must follow in order to understand what God is calling us to perform in the earth.

By following Christs example of communing with the Father, we can press in and receive all things from the Father in the name of Jesus. We are not divinity, but we are given the authority of divinity by Christ. Just as a bride, a queen, can command under the authority of her husband, the king -- we as the bride of Christ, can command under his authority according to his character as his representative, as a part of who he is.

Imagine that! It ties my brain in knots every time I get a glimpse of it.
Christ lowered himself to join himself to us. Not just for some random temporary act of kindness, but he entered into a marriage, a binding contract, an eternal bond with us... whores and murderers and liars and thieves and brats and selfish betrayers, arrogant and rebellious and ugly.

He lifted us up and called us beautiful.

He spoke our beauty into existence, and suddenly we began to change. Just as the fall in the garden sent an eerie creaking and groaning thru out the earth and death and decay immediately arrived in the chill of a strange gray wind... all was reversed. Jesus spoke our beauty forth as GOD forgave the sin of mankind on that cross and immediately something changed... we changed... a clean and refreshing wind began to blow... and restoration began to manifest and the Light of the presence of God upon the earth walking with man chased away the gray chill that had settled so thick upon us.

He declared that we are beautiful.. and everything changed.

That is the power of our God. He speaks and life springs forth from what was dead a moment ago, What was unseen because it did not exist, is suddenly seen and real and present. He looks at us and sees the good things he has planned for us and he declares that that is who we are. And the darkness releases us and flees from us. And we are changed. We live. Not because of our own righteousness, but because he has come to clothe us in his righteousness. He has put the ring on our finger and the robe upon our shoulders. He has sought us out, rescued us from all evil and from ourselves, and he has led us to this place that is so far above the low place where we had fallen.

Married to Christ.

Stop and think about that.
It can be mumbled in our busyness or theorized in our ignorance or said a million times out loud.
But when we truly stop and remain still before him...
as the words resonate from our thoughts
and begin to permeate thru the core of our very being
soaking deep into those intimate places of our heart...

our strength begins to leave us
our breathing becomes so still and
so completely dependent upon his voice.
we listen intently and yet
we hear almost unconciously
as he speaks to us
and guides our very breath.

breathe (he whispers)

and our thoughts race
as we are humbled
as we weep for joy
as we feel as though our heart will burst within us
as we laugh and dance
as we look deeply into his face and

we blush.
Wednesday February 20, 2008
Permalink Posted by: SeLahGirl at 12:32PM EST on February 20, 2008

2 Timothy 4

 1In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

Tuesday February 19, 2008
Permalink Posted by: SeLahGirl at 12:35PM EST on February 19, 2008
Go to http://www.myspace.com/ayieshawoods
and listen to the song called DAYS

DAYS by Ayiesha Woods

Ever had a day
When you're on such a spiritual high
When you're feeling strong cause you've got all of heaven on your side
Ever had a day
When your confidence is high
And you feel like nothing can make you fall or even compromise

But what about those days
When you're not feeling so strong
And you cry ‘cause you don't know what to do feeling like you're all alone

What about those times when
When so much is on your mind
And everything you've tried to forget
You just can't seem to leave behind

Don't you wish that every day was an easy day
And there was nothing that you couldn't do
But if every day was an easy day
You'd never be able to say that Jesus brought you through

Ever had a day
When tomorrow didn't count
And you were caught in the moment
On cloud nine without a doubt
Ever had a day
When you knew yesterday was gone
And there was nothing that even mattered 'cause you already knew you won

But what about those days
When you just don't understand
And just when you're getting up it seems you're falling down again
What about those times
When it's not so easy to believe
When doubt causes you to only go by what you see

Don't you wish that every day was an easy day
And there was nothing that you couldn't do
But if every day was an easy day
You'd never be able to say that Jesus brought you through
Saturday February 16, 2008
Permalink Posted by: SeLahGirl at 2:42PM EST on February 16, 2008
a friend of a friend (whom I've never met) just sent me a dream and asked for my thoughts about the symbolism and anything I felt the Lord might be speaking. It was a dream about her disdain at being required to take a shower with several people that she knew were really gross in sin, mixed with other people including her husband and several Christians she knew. She couldn't bring herself to do it.

She ended up being run all around by people on van trips and across fairies to participate in mundane details of ministry. She was very frustrated with everyone and everything because she was supposed to be getting ready for her wedding day. Thru all of this she was making arrangements for the wedding, the cake, ect... but she ended up with not enough time in the natural to get her shower and get herself ready. She woke up very panicked and frustrated and afraid of missing the wedding altogether.

The thoughts that came to my mind were...

-----------

The dream seems to strongly expose what that unpreparedness involves, partially at least. The church has separated itself from the very people that it is supposed to be here to minister to. Traveling on faries and in vans is riding along with a form of godliness (a Pharisee spirit, Matt 23) but not really doing much for God. Again, as in the other dream, we have let the busyness of a religious (Christian) life tie up our time and frustrate our peace. And time is running out. The wedding day is approaching, the Bridegroom could come at any moment.

The church has wasted too much time with trivial things while the broken-hearted and hurting continue to cry out for food and relationship and hope. Jesus wouldn't bother with 80% of the things the church currently holds as necessity in ministry. Measuring the church today to the example Christ set for ministry in Scripture is like comparing an apple tree to a piece of apple artwork. One lives but one is dead. No matter how pretty it appears. It is time for the church to clean up and hear the leading of the Spirit as he brings all things back into alignment. The vision of the church has gone a little eskew, but God has come to discipine if necessary (always with love). But a trip to the woodshed is in order for much of the church ^_^

The shower scene just seems to emphasize this whole thing. It is distasteful to be in intimate fellowship with the unclean, and yet that is where Christ lived most of his life while on the earth. It is a place of fear and tempation and attack and injustice and yuck. But..... when that place is a place for all of us to come clean -- then it may actually be something God is requiring and commanding us to do (he never promised us comfortable relationships and 4-star accomodations -- he promised the opposite during our time on this earth). We all need a bath, daily, no matter how clean or dirty we are. In the presence of God, in the church, in ministry, among the family, with the people of God... that's where that cleansing takes place because that's where God is.

If we want to be prepared and on time, we're gonna have to be unafraid to be in personal, intimate, and vulnerable situations with the unclean. Our hearts must remain separated, and yet... our hearts must reach out to theirs. We can't hold them at arms length, they can smell the stench of fake love and so can God. We must be wise as serpents, but we must be about the Father's business -- genuine love. It is a delicate balance. But just as Christ came to us and embraced us and ate with us and fellowshipped with us in community despite our sin and our ugliness... the church must do the same. We were them once, and we would be the same again were it not for Christ.

The church has better get real about loving God and loving people
... or she will not be ready when the Bridegroom comes.
Many of us may just miss our own wedding.

just my thoughts as I read over this in the presence of Jesus.
I pray the Lord would confirm only what he is speaking.
Love in Christ <3

------

one other thought. Your spouse is sometimes symbolic of your physical man, while you represent your spiritual man. Since your husband was in the shower, but you were not.. it simply emphasizes the fact that many in the church are going thru the motions in the physical (for appearance sake, again, Matt 23)... but their heart is unwilling to come clean and to truly love the unlovely.

yikes O_o
Wednesday February 13, 2008
Permalink Posted by: SeLahGirl at 3:14PM EST on February 13, 2008
There is healing in the camp!

(John 5:13-18)

13The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there.

I love this about Jesus, he was always so brilliant in understanding how people would react. If he had allowed the guy to unmistakably know who he was up front, it would have hindered Christ from being able to do what he was really wanting and needing to do -- to be about the Father's business of teaching and preaching.

Jesus knew that as soon as people realized that he was the one who had performed the miracle, the church leaders and curious onlookers would bog him down forever with jealous disputes and debates trying to disprove what had happened. He didn't have time for that at that particular moment. Scripture doesn't tell us exactly why. But there were probably divine encounters (that are not recorded btw) that he was to fulfill before the silliness of men's hearts attempted to hinder all that was really important.

Rather than walking away from this man, whose pain had truly moved Christ with compassion, he -- BAM -- healed him, and then disappeared into the crowded downtown to help some other people before attention-grabbers and gossip-mongers got in the way of him ministering to anyone else that morning/afternoon.

14Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, "See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you." 15The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.

I think that after Jesus made sure that every divine encounter had happened that was possible, and all the others that were in his heart were taken care of and helped or discipled... he found the guy and finished ministering to him. Jesus wasn't just about the physical needs, he was so much more about the spiritual needs of people. This second encounter with this man, was far more important that the first. The first brought relief to his body so he could live this brief vapor with a little more joy. But it was the second encounter that would ensure eternal health and joy for this man.

I don't know why this guy went straight to the church leaders. Perhaps, he just didn't get it, or perhaps Christ never impressed him not to. It could have been that the guy feared the church leaders and was threatened with being put out of the synagogue if he didn't provide the whole of the story as soon as he figured it out. Maybe Jesus heard thru the grapevine that this guy had been threatened and the poor man was searching for him in distress. Perhaps that is why Christ came to him to reveal his identity and to remind him to refrain from sin. idk. Either way, Jesus knew that revealing himself to this guy would draw the fire of the the church leaders. But Christ was not afraid/hindered/intimidated from doing what he deemed was right and necessary.

16So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. 17Jesus said to them, "My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working." 18For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

The Jews had swallowed a camel and were swatting at gnats as Jesus states at one point. They were gobbling up huge things that were way more than necessary as spiritual nourishment, creating laws that were burdens to people rather than encouragement and direction in their relationship with God. They were concerned more with forcing people to blindly obey doctrines and the teachers of the doctrines, rather than teaching and encouraging them to obey a God who loves them, who cares for their physical and spiritual well being.

They swatted at gnats, disregarded any portion or item of the law that they in their arrogance deemed small and unimportant. They ignored the prompting of the Spirit and commands of God regarding things that convicted them of their own sin or that lessoned their influence and power of intimidation over the people. They twisted and manipulated the commands of God so that they could stand in positions as though they were God, as though they were to be obeyed/feared as God. It was a tyranny, it was not of God, it was arrogance and sin. It was the spirit of rebellion spawned by Satan from the beginning when he tried to exalt himself above God. What idiots we can become, what blind guides, when we walk in pride and arrogance. We will fall like lightening from the heavens just as Satan did no matter how adamantly we profess to be working for the Kingdom of God. Make no mistake about that.

Jesus said that his Father was always at his work, even to that specific day which was the Sabbath. That means that even God works in some sense on the Sabbath. Later Jesus explains further that the Sabbath was created to serve man, not the other way around. The Day of Rest is not to hinder or restrict men from doing good or obeying God thru service and compassion. It is something to be honored, a blessing to enjoy, to maintain health, but it is not a bondage meant to hinder us from performing the will of God.

Jesus states that he follows the Father's example, and that is why he also worked on the Sabbath by serving and helping this man. The need fell on a Sabbath. A need whose resolution was dependent upon that particular afternoon/moment... Christ could not walk away from helping this man just because his moment of need came on a Saturday afternoon. Jesus remembered the Sabbath, and he kept it Holy by performing the will of God without compromising his own health or the health of anyone else.

How ironic that the congregation tried to kill Jesus for making himself equal to God and calling God his Father. When this is exactly what the church leaders were doing. They were making themselves equal to God. So much so that the loyalties of the people and their congregation was willing to protect their church leaders and to take up offense at anyone that challenged their authority or their commands. They accused Jesus not based on the Scriptures, but based on the teachings of their church leaders. Otherwise they would have heard what Christ was saying and discerned in their spirits that Christ was Truth and that (unlike the church leaders) Jesus was in fact God.

But they were infected with the same blindness that seems to be attacking the church today. They could only see the vision and teachings of men. Scripture paled in the presence of the leaders that they worshiped as their gods. That's why the guilt is not just upon the church leaders in such situations. It remains the sin of the people/congregation just as much.

Their worship of leaders, is worship of other gods.
Their worship of leaders, empowers men to think more highly of themselves than they should (which opens the door for them to abuse the people that are beneath them).
Their worship of leaders, empowers Satan to use them all to wound and scatter the flock, to steal and to kill all who have believed/trusted in the safety of the fold.

Wolves in our midst... this is a picture of what it looks like.

But there is a good shepherd that watches over his sheep, and such wolves will pay a hefty price.
And there are servant shepherds that have heard the voice of the good shepherd. Such faithful shepherds are not only called to expose the wolves, but they are the ones who will rescue the sheep from the very mouths of those wolves. They are the beautiful ones who will minister to the sheep that are left bloody and wounded. They are the ones that the favor/anointing of God rests upon, and whose strength will not fail in the hour of need.

There is an army of such shepherds that God has prepared and he is calling them to rise up.
They are equipped and called to minister specifically in this hour of the church. They are empowered to apply healing balm in the name of Jesus, they are empowered to restore life and strength to those that have suffered attack -- been left for dead. Just as all seemed hopeless in Elijah's day as he lay under that Juniper tree... God has prepared servants/prophets/shepherds for this hour that no one was even aware of. God was not taken by surprise. He has heard our cry and he will not turn away from us. He will restore and has restored his people, his bride. The church will rise up whole and well -- and with great power and beauty.

The Good Shepherd wields his staff with great skill, and no enemy will stand in his presence.

There is healing in the camp.
In the name of Jesus.
Amen.
Monday February 11, 2008
Permalink Posted by: SeLahGirl at 2:40PM EST on February 11, 2008
I'm not up on theology, I couldn't even tell you what I am in such terms, but I have read my Bible and I believe every word in it. And I pray constantly for God to give me understanding. Something occurred to me today that has baffled me as to whether it could be, or if it even matters in the big scheme of things. I have thought alot over the past year of what it means to be created in the image of God. And then today, I'm not sure what led to it, but something came to mind as I considered the bloody battlefield in the church (emergent church thread) in recent years...

There was war in heaven long ago.
The angels were created with free-will which allowed them to chose whether to join Satan in his rebellion. Perhaps there was a whole working thru that warfare in heaven that was removed from us as mankind, and yet tied to us.

Perhaps the rebellion didn't take place until the plans were spoken that God would create Man in his image. Before the actual physical creation occurred. Perhaps, there are things that are spoken in those heavenly places before the throne of God that we cannot understand at this time. All that I am about to say is merely speculation and thought of possibilities, I'm not saying this is a doctrine or even TRUTH. I am trying to understand the truth in terms of what matters for us now and what we cannot know until we stand before God.

But maybe somehow the angels were given roles to play or privy knowledge in the creation and the plan of God for mankind. But the rebellion caused them to be put in chains and removed from those roles. Not that that diminished God's ability to fulfill his plan, it merely complicated things (complicated things in our small minds, not in Gods).

I know the character of my God and I know that he does not change in matters of integrity and justice. Whatever happened in heaven between him and the angels, perhaps the consequence requires a playing out over a certain time frame just like the plan of salvation that he is working out for us in this lifetime and world.

Angels have a free will. But angels cannot procreate (multiply souls). They are not offered a plan of redemption or salvation. There are unique differences between angels and people, though there are things about us both that allows us to be considered sons of God. We are both special creations to God. He loves all his creation, but we are the only ones that he came to save and to redeem back into fellowship.

those are key thoughts to what I'm thinking...

There was a war in heaven in which Satan rebelled against God, "why?" ...no one really knows except that it was rooted in arrogance and he tried to elevate himself above the authority of God. He fell from heaven, yet in Job we see that he still has access to appear before the throne of God as the accuser of the brethren and to ask permission to tempt us. So I think his fall from heaven was a loss of any measure of authority in heaven, as though he was cast out of the boardroom of God and not privy to any more information concerning God's plan for mankind or anything else.

But knowing God's Just character, something must have happened in that heavenly conflict that caused God to withhold arresting Satan and sending him straight to the lake of fire. Something that we are not to know at this time, but something that Satan used as a tactic to delay his sentence. God is bound to his word, so he waits, and he remains faithful to whatever point of His Justice that Satan has taken advantage of. Not that Satan wants redemption (which isn't even possible for him or any other angel) he just wants opportunity to manifest his hatred to God as much as possible before dying the second death. The second death removes him from the presence of God for eternity... so his meanness until that point is his rant and spewing of hatred toward God and all that God loves... mankind mainly (but also the earth, nature, the angels, all that is good in the eyes of the Creator).

So because of his playing on the justice of God, Satan remained running around heaven and earth. And just as he convinced a third of the angels to rebel against God, he tempted mankind, who also chose to rebel thru disobedience. God cursed everything that allowed itself to be used to accomplish Satan's corruption of all that God called good. He was bound to justice and Satan knew it. He knew that if he could infect the children of God with corruption and sin... a holy God would have to judge them as sin.

Satan was basing it all on his experience of causing God to have to judge a third of the angels and to bind them in chains separated from him. Satan saw how it hurt the heart of God to have to do such a thing. He was soooo looking forward to seeing the hurt he caused God for having to judge his precious mankind in the same manner. But he was not privy to the fulfillment of God's plan for mankind... the concept of God as savior was a foreign thing to the angels, especially Satan. The thought never entered his head, it was incomprehensible. It had never been done, and therefore never existed as a possibility or even as a thought.

Satan must have wondered for years and years as to why God was requiring the blood of animals. He must have thought God was simply delaying judgment because he dreaded having to judge the children he loved so much, the ones created in his image. Satan must have scratched his head in much confusion as Israel was chosen as special and marked for something... I can just see him fumbling thru his ignorance and his arrogance trying to understand what in the world God was doing making all these promises to Isreal that seemed impossible and senseless.

But then the moment came, and all of heaven stood in shock and wonder, as Christ stepped out of the person of God and into a body prepared for him on the earth to perform a role that was beyond the understanding of any creation in heaven or in earth. Like the rib taken from Adam's side, Christ-God removed himself from the God-head and lowered himself under the Father's will to go to be with Man...

selah....

I can just see Satan on the earth screaming and stumbling on the ground, scurrying to back away from the Light that walked from heaven into the dark domain on the earth. Suddenly every evil thing Satan had devised and resided in was illuminated and unmasked as the corruption and sin that he had infected it with. Heaven rejoiced at the vision and manifestation of the miraculous... while hell and the devil screamed in confusion and terror because God had come to earth to save and redeem and restore us, his children, those made in his image.

And then one by one, he touched us and changed us and offered us redemption, and one by one we have made that decision to reflect the image of Christ once again -- so that the Light increases daily and Satan's terror and power and death-grip on God's beloved is broken as God reclaims his children one by one.

I've always thought the time-frame was set simply for us. But perhaps the time frame is based upon when Satan's time is up and God fulfills whatever manifestation of justice Satan has held Him to in order to delay his own judgment. Judgment day marks not only the closing of this time of grace offered to mankind, but it also ends Satan's delay of his sentencing. All things will culminate in that one moment to eradicate all sin from God's creation and everything that has married/joined itself to it.

There was war in heaven that was connected and reflected in the earth -- because we are connected to God and we reflect the image of Christ. However, while Satan stirred up that war in heaven, you and I didn't start this war on the earth. For us, Satan brought the war to Adam and to us, and we (mankind) chose to join him. But God...

God in his mercy and his JUSTICE, made a plan of redemption for those that were born into that war zone. We cannot use the war as an excuse for our sin... because Christ has come to make a way for us to have PEACE again, to be restored to fellowship with him, to free us from the sin and corruption that we were born into...

Yes, it's not fun being here in this war, but here we are. We were actually born into existence before we became babies, we were actually born the moment that God saw Mankind in his heart, you existed before he even spoke you into a physical existence. He couldn't just erase you, he knew you and the beautiful things he had planned to bless you with. There is no way to understand how that works.

God didn't want to send each of us into the war zone. But we were already in his thoughts and in his heart, we already existed, our births were already done before they were manifested on the earth... God knew that he would have to send us because the process of our existence (life) had already begun, he couldn't erase an eternal soul once he thought it into existence and he had loved it as his child. God doesn't throw away his kids, it's against his nature... He lets them choose to leave, but it is not without great sorrow and agony of heart for him.

Satan laughs, he loves hurting the heart of God.

We are created in the image of God, because we can procreate. But spiritually we are created in his image because we can play a part in the salvation process, in multiplying souls back into the Kingdom/Family of God, in the gathering and reclaiming and harvesting of the children of God... we can claim the blood of Christ, his authority to remove Satan's death-grip on people and situations, AND we can tell our story of how Christ came and paid a great price to free us from the war, from sin, from being eternally in bondage to a place he never intended for us -- separated from him and his love for us.

Jesus came to us as God and Man. Jesus came to us as God/Christ to fulfill the role of the 'ANOINTED,' the one given something from God to say, the one sent to fulfill/handoff a divine plan/commission. Jesus came to us as Man to re-establish our authority, our place of sonship to the Father, to the Family of God. When he became a man, he was the only man that could enter heaven, the presence of God. He was the only man that was without sin.

Jesus entering into the dirt of this world as a baby... born in that humble stable... was like when Adam took his first breath from God and life entered the dust of this earth in the form of a man. There was no other man. There were no other people. He was the only one, he was without sin, he walked and talked with God, in his immediate/intimate presence.

But then, Adam sinned and infected all of us, so that we are born into corruption and a sin nature.

But do not be sad, because God did not forget us nor forsake us, though we were ugly and consumed with wanting our own way... God came to heal us and to restore us to relationship with him -- not according to our lowliness, but according to how he saw us when he first thought us into existence in his thoughts and in his heart, not according to the muck and yuck that he is cleaning off of us daily, but he restores us to relationship as beautiful children born in his image, children that he has called holy and good, justified, heirs to the Kingdom/Family of God.

Adam failed, but then Christ came as the second man, the only one.
Adam died leaving an inheritance of sin and corruption.
Christ died, leaving an inheritance of a paid debt and of freedom.

Jesus resurrected was God as God had always been.
Jesus resurrected was Man as God had originally created him to be.

I've got to stop. My housework calls.
But my thoughts continue to wander with all of this.
Like I said, some of this may be off, idk. I'm just thinking out loud.
But what if much of it is true. I can't wait to ask Christ about it all face to face someday when we're all hanging out with him in the new earth. In the meantime there is much to do.
^_^
Monday February 4, 2008
Permalink Posted by: SeLahGirl at 11:50AM EST on February 4, 2008
Buying Some Time

(John 5:11-12)

10and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat."

11But he replied, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.' "

I love the clear contrast here. The law felt no compassion for this man in verse 10. But the GOD/MAN did in verse 11. The Pharisees did not feel the compassion of a Savior, they were too caught up in enforcing the cold legalism of the law. But Christ had come to perfect the law and to personalize it. He was the author of the law, and by being God with us, he is able to communicate it to us in ways that allow us to understand. He waves his mercy as Savior because it is more important to him that we understand what is being required of us, than to slam us under cold stone.

Oh he will judge sin and all that brings harm to his children, make no mistake, he has to.
But he is so patient and slow to anger. He gives every soul every possible chance to embrace Love rather than inflicting hurt on themselves and everyone around them.

There was a time when we answered to the law, but God became man so we could answer to the giver of that law, so we could understand the heart of it, the necessity, the beauty. He wanted us set free from being ruled by a list of laws. He wanted our hearts to taste and see the goodness of the law-giver, so we would be free to obey his laws rather than forced to. Choosing/wanting to do something makes us free. We would never understand the beauty of obeying him had we not first understood what it was to live without him, to be separated from him, to know him from a distance.

You cannot truly appreciate something or to walk in humbleness of heart until you see and understand what life is like without it. In the Old Testament, the world lived without Christ, without a Savior, without the fulfillment/explanation of the law. But then, Christ came. And the beauty of the law was revealed because the law-giver had come to explain all things. To make all that is good real and understandable and do-able. He changed us, and he extended mercy to us. He is the only one that could.

He made a safe place for us in his presence where there is mercy and mediation.
He withheld judgment of sin, until we had the chance to be free from it. He made a way to freedom and gave us the power to choose it. After making that choice, judgment must come, and all sin must be removed.

Refusing that freedom in Christ, Holding on to sin... we sentence ourselves to death.
Christ came to set us free. He suffered and died to do it. That pretty much explains the extent of his love for us. He was so far above us, yet he lowered himself willingly and passionately. He knew it was the only way to save our lives, so there was no question in his mind. What more can he do to prove himself? What more will it take to convince people that God loves them? God becoming one of us and dying on a cross in our place is already beyond anything reasonable... such a demonstration of love is lavish and waaaaay over-the-top.


The law says that all that is selfish and arrogant so that it doesn't refrain from hurting people (because causing harm to people goes against the heart of God)... must die.

Christ came to set us free from the law, by buying us some time, by buying us GRACE.
This life is that time of Grace, a time to choose a new life, a new destiny, a second chance.
He saved you and me from a life that leads to death,
And he offers us a new life...
a life with a totally new and clean start...
the best of LIFE that will literally last forever...

2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8)

12So they asked him, "Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?"

yeah, that's my question...
who is this fellow, this Man, this God,
this Jesus?

I know who he is to me.
but who is he to you?...