Thursday, January 2, 2025

The Good Of The Father (Chasing The Dead)

 




With Christ have I been crucified, yet I am living; no longer I, but living in me is Christ.  Now that which I am now living in the flesh, I am living in the faith that is of the Son of God, Who loves me, and gives Himself up for me.

Paul to the Galatians 2: 20, Concordant New Testament 


Most kids, when growing up, have a pretty good idea of what they want to be when they get older.  Be it a fireman or a pilot, many young people began thinking about future plans from an early age.  I was no different.  Yet for me, it was more about that which I DIDN'T want to be when I got older.  Growing up I had the belief that I would never be the man that my own father was.  I had seen that movie, and I wanted no part of it.  I had watched my own father disrespect my mother and act out according to what he wanted to be.  In the end, my mother ended up raising two kids on her own while my father tried his best to remove himself from his family.  No, I never wanted to be like Him.  As I got older and became more involved in the mainstream church (mom was pretty religious), I began to realize that the church itself had a habit of remembering that which was lost as well.  From a pretty early age, I began to hear sermons about how I used to be.  Now, even back then, I knew enough to know that my dad was indeed a sinner.  For adultery was one of the major crimes a person could commit in Gods eyes.  But each and every week I continued to hear of how bad I had been.  That I, too, was a sinner.  Was I indeed cursed to be like him after all?  This was my first experience of the church focusing more on who we WERE  than on who it is that we are in the Father.  The apostle Paul points out the fact that all indeed have sinned {Paul to the Romans 3:23}.  I have listened to many a pastor point out this passage as they continue to convince their congregations that our sins still lay before us.  Yet few of these so called church leaders stop and proclaim the truth which Paul speaks in the following verse.  That although we were ONCE sinners, it is by the grace of the Father through Christ Jesus that we no longer carry that sin with us {Paul to the Romans 3:24}.  Paul knew the truth about sin, obviously those in the mainstream church leadership missed that point altogether.  So it is that the church, despite knowing of the redemption we share in Christ Jesus, continue to preach the existence of sin in our lives.  They continue to chase the dead.  


For you died, and your life is hid together with Christ in God

Paul to the Colossians 3: 3, Concordant New Testament 


Being a late bloomer in knowing Christ, I will admit that I never knew that I had died before.  That I am now living my new creation in Him {Paul to the Corinthians (2) 5:17}.  I've never heard any pastor whisper these words from the pulpit.  We died?  What blasphemy is this?  Well, it's the same blasphemy which has been spoken by the apostle Paul, whom the mainstream church celebrates as one of the greatest defenders of Jesus of all time.  I recall a friend, a former pastor, who recalled that his knowledge of the words spoken by Paul in Galatians 2:20 were but Paul's own words concerning himself.  That Christ Jesus could never dwell within sinners.  Once again, the church chasing the dead.  Are we to ignore these words of Paul simply because they seem outlandish to us?  I'd say no.  For we know the truth, we celebrate the fact that Christ Jesus came and died for the sins of man {Johns Account 3:16-17}.  Did Jesus miss a few of those sins when He died on that cross?  Again, the words spoken by Paul tell us otherwise.  For Paul has proclaimed that Jesus died to sin "Once for all time" {Paul to the Romans 6:10}.  Paul knew in his heart that Christ gave Himself not only for his past sin, but for those of the present and future as well.  There is NO plan for Jesus to return again to give Himself over and over for sins which we continue to confess in error.  What's done is done, and Jesus has already paid the price for that.  What those in the mainstream church leadership continue to speak is based simply upon what they imagine the truth to be.  Even so, I've had a difficult time struggling with the possibility that those in our church leadership have been willfully engaging in the deception of Gods children for centuries.  But that is a topic for another day (But, google the Nicene creed if you're at all curious).  The truth which has been instilled in our hearts is that we are no longer sinners, but live a life in union with the Father {Johns Account 14:20}.  But I guess that goes against the church narrative.  


~Scott~ 

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