Christianity Notes

Today there are more than 20,000 Christian Sects, which range from the far left to the far right, from Independents to Catholicism. With such a wide range of sects two questions may come to mind; the first is can they all be correct in what they believe and more importantly do or do not do and secondly, is it what Jesus intended as He is accredited with starting Christianity for the most part?

Did Jesus come to start a new religion called Christianity or did He come to allow all to be engrafted in to the promise as outlined in Hebrews, which would make peoples God's people or Jews (which is what Jew means)? Unfortunately "Christianity instead of bringing unity" has brought division. The modern role of the Christian Church is to send people out to start church building. In Jesus time and in the time of the first apostles when it spoke of different churches, such as the church of Ephesus or Corinth for example, it was referring to the body of believers there and they usually met in peoples homes.

The point of it all is in asking the question, "what would Jesus do?" Jesus did not build building or even teach to build buildings. Today instead of what Jesus would have done church buildings are built and usually articles of incorporation are filled, which then becomes partners with the state and the government by doing so and if that is done then they, to be incorporated must follow the law. The other thing is churches today are either run by a board of directors and sometimes they are called deacons, which does not necessarily mean they are a part of the five fold gift ministry.

Life with God through Jesus is about walking a particular path, giving up our lives for the life of Jesus, to be brothers with Him and seeking after God. It is about loving God and if we love God the sign of that love is to love others and care about them. A child of God or God's people seek after God and not only walk with God, but walk with others as we are of the same spirit and on the same path, working with, loving and caring for others. In contrast we have the modern day church and each church is right in their own minds, which is why there are so many different churches. Their first priority is to pay the mortgage, bills and the staff, then what is left is usually either held in reserve for lean months or may go to help others. Is that what Jesus would do?

Jesus took twelve people and walked with them and trained them and even in many cases provided for them. Jesus spent much time in prayer. In fact the more prayer that was happening the more miracles that happened and the less preaching there was. Today there is more preaching and teaching and few miracles if any. If we are not going to do what Jesus did, then can we really say we are following Him or His example?

Is there a problem with saying a person is a Christian? Communication is dependant on two variables, the first is the person speaking the word and their understanding of what the word means and secondly the hearer in what they understand the word to mean, which may be two very different things. For example, lets say we are talking to a Muslim and they think the word Christian means a person that comes to kill people because of the Holy Crusades. To them that might be offensive, if not scary. Admittedly this may be an extreme example, but it is an illustration of how people may see or hear things differently and if we want to communicate with the other person it would be important to be understood.

The problem is that words have changed their means over a period of years. It has changed because of how the words have been used to describe something. For example the word believe means today to simply accept it as true, when in scripture when that word believe was used, it was actually meaning trust, which means more than accepting it as truth, but actually relying on it and living by it or trusting in it. For example two scripture verses. The first comes from Proverbs, "trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge Him ( which means seek after God for an answer) and He will direct your path." The second scripture comes from the book of Acts, which states "believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Believing in something does not mean they trust it, just means they believe in something.

One typical answer of how they define being a Christian is to be "Christ like." The problem with that is that if someone is trying to be "like" something, then they are not that something, because they are trying to be something, which means they have not arrived at that place yet. Either one is exactly like something or they are not and it makes it confusing to the hearer of what is being said. The difference in being something or trying to be something is much like the difference between night and day, which introduces the possibility that there are levels of being a Christian from 1%-100%. Either one is speaking for Jesus or they may not be.

Do we want to be understood or are we trying to be vague? Being vague allows for inconsistency in actions or deeds. For example; I tell you I am a Christian, which means Christ like, which is from being 1% like Christ or being up to 100% like Christ and a carbon copy as Adam was created in the Image of God or Adam was a carbon copy of God's Spirit. Adam was not 1% of God's Spirit, but a carbon copy or 100%. The same with Jesus either we are 100% and are representing Him all of the time and doing exactly like He did or we are just doing it when it suites our needs or desires. The reason that this is important is that about 1/3 of the worlds population professes to be "Christian," which means what exactly?

To say that one is one of God's people eliminates the confusion as they are either speaking for God, committing God and His will or they are not and if not then they are not God's people. Is a person in a given place to represent themselves and their will or Gods'?

Believe: "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Today the word believe means:

intransitive verb1 a: to have a firm religious faith b: to accept as true, genuine, or real <ideals we believe in> <believes in ghosts>2: to have a firm conviction as to the goodness, efficacy, or ability of something <believe in exercise>3: to hold an opinion : think <I believe so>transitive verb1 a: to consider to be true or honest <believe the reports> <you wouldn't believe how long it took> b: to accept the word or evidence of <I believe you> <couldn't believe my ears>2: to hold as an opinion : suppose <I believe it will rain soon>

When the New Testament was written the word meant trust or to have faith in (aggressive, not passive) or seek after. Example Proverbs 3:5 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your path."

Word: "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing cometh by the word." Today for the most part the word refers to the Bible and when it was written it meant "Jesus" as He stated that He was the Word, Truth and the Light. The first Bible was not in print until 1611.

Jew: Today the word Jew means a race of people or religion called Judaism . When the Old Testament was written the word Jew meant "God's People," and what made them God's people is they sought after God as Abraham did.

Israel: Israel today means small country in the middle east. When the Old Testament was written it meant the dwelling place where God's people lived (where ever they lived as the moved as a people or a group.

Salvation: David in the book of Psalms talked a lot about salvation, but used the word in terms of making a statement. For example "the Lord is my shield and buckler of whom shall I be afraid?" Salvation in David's time meant to walk with God to be saved on a daily basis. Today one may say they are saved, because they believe they are saved, but may not necessarily be walking with God and representing Him or fulfilling God's purpose for them or may not even know their purpose or calling. Which brings up a good question, is it important to know Gods calling or purpose for that person to be saved? It would seem that salvation would be walking in that calling or purpose for the person.

Church: Today the word church means a building. When the New Testament was written it meant body of Christ. The intent was to invest in people and not buildings or land.

Teacher: Couple things to remember about the ministry gift of teaching in the five fold gift ministry as it is probably more significant than even apostles, because what is the least is the greatest and the greatest the least.

Today in the modern church the ministry gift of teaching has diminished and the more it has diminished the more church buildings have been built investing in brick and mortar than in people. Teaching when done properly brings the will of God at hand of how it is supposed to be as it is the teacher that not only helps equip the saints for the work of the ministry, but also prepares the next generation, so while the future is in the hangs of the church it is the teacher responsible for preparing the saints for the battle that is here today so the body of Christ can lean to overcome instead of avoiding obstacles.

The teacher in the Five fold gift ministry teaches the student to seek God and wait on God for answers and helps each student find their ministry gifts and purpose in the body. To much of the church today is run with the mind and the physical realm is not reality, but it is the spirit realm that is reality. The teacher teaches the student to walk after the Spirit and not walk in the flesh.

The good teacher goes to scripture and pulls out of scripture examples of every day problem and how to overcome those problems in the spirit realm and once manifested in the spirit realm become reality in the flesh. Healing happens in the spirit realm first and then manifests itself in the flesh, which is why sometimes it works and sometimes healing does not work depending on how a person is ministered to either in the spirit or the flesh.

Christ: Has several meanings such as: Messiah, The Anointed one, etc, but also means Christ, having a head and body where Jesus is the Head and those that belong to Him are the body of Christ walking in His ways.

Study: "Study to show thyself approved a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." Study when Scripture was written meant to prove by, living it and not just studying it as a student, which is what is meant today.

Repentance: Today simply means "I am sorry." In scripture repentance means I am so sorry I will not do it again no matter what it takes and go a different path.

Sin: Today means a list of do's and don'ts. Sin when scripture was written meant missing the mark. Sin is an archery term, which means being less than perfect. The only way one can be perfect is to walk in love and be motivated by the heart or Spirit of God. Anything less is sin. Do we do things as a condition of the heart or our minds? Motivation has a lot to do with the condition of the heart, because either the motive of doing something is selfish and about self or is about doing something for others. If it is about self the we are the god of our own lives.

***Note: If we are of God then we are over no one, which is where equality is and freedom, because when people are over others then they are not and cannot be free. We in no way are criticizing people that call themselves Christians or Christianity. The purpose of all of this is to seek God for the real truth about life and why we are even here and if you seek God from a position of having nothing and being nothing you will find that God will confirm a lot of things and that is a big difference. We are not even saying we are right. We are saying seek God for the truth and be led by His Spirit, because those led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God and that is what salvation is really all about. From a position from wanting to be like Jesus and or God, we are not over anyone nor do we criticize what others may do. It is not just about right and wrong, but about love and seeking the truth.

We also are not saying that people should stop calling themselves a Christian or give up their churches. We are saying that any of us and all of us only have one life to live and each of us should seek God for the truth of it all, because "God is a spirit and those that worship Him, do so in spirit and truth," and if one does not know what the truth is it is difficult to walk with God or know which way to go in life. We all in the end have to give an account for what we do on earth and either we went in a better direction being led by His Spirit which is love or we have been acting, being dominate and over people. Christianity says they are God's people and because of that are correct in what they do. A Jew is God's people and we know we are goofy, which is why we need God for everything including direction, guidance, correction, provision, love, acceptance as family, safety and other things not mentioned. As a Jew or one of God's people we come to understand that life is rather unbearable without God and the way to get to God is through Jesus. He is the way and the gate.