Can we be blind?

[Peds nurse]

Hello people!

In the Bible, when Jesus graced us with the presence of God, the religious leaders didn't recognize Him. They were blinded by their rules and regulations of what they though a proper follower of God should be. They placed the rules above God Himself, forgoing love and grace in the process.

I am wondering if we do that now? Do we hold so tightly to our moral codes and divisive doctrines that we become blind to the very presence of God? Do we hold those things so dear that we compromise love and grace?

[ttruscott]

Hello people!

In the Bible, when Jesus graced us with the presence of God, the religious leaders didn't recognize Him. They were blinded by their rules and regulations of what they though a proper follower of God should be. They placed the rules above God Himself, forgoing love and grace in the process.

I am wondering if we do that now? Do we hold so tightly to our moral codes and divisive doctrines that we become blind to the very presence of God? Do we hold those things so dear that we compromise love and grace?

Love and true morality/righteousness will never displace HE who is love and grace. Those who are religious but which won't follow when GOD makes a right angle turn are self-righteous, not truly righteous.

We must stand upon that which we believe and have put our faith in as true. It is no harder to live with a Christian who is not listening to the Spirit than it is to live with reprobate sinners. That is, it is our calling to love sinners and to do our best for them as we can. Sometimes the best is to stand against their perversions of ideas and habits. Sometimes it is best to wait while they work it through on their own, wrestling with GOD.

Stay true to your calling and know that whether GOD is sending you to Egypt to learn of your slavery to sin or to Gethsemane to be pressed into the oil of faith, you will go.

We don't need to know HIS plan for us, we just have to live it because our lives are HIS plan for HIS legitimate Children.

[Overcomer]

I think it's possible to stand on the Word of God in love with grace. But it's easier to do that in person than in a forum like this. Here we have only words. Nobody can hear the tone of our voices. Nobody can see the smile on our faces. And nobody really develops proper relationships in cyberspace. And I think the latter is the key.

In the real world of my life, I establish relationships with people --Christian and non-Christian. Over time, we always end up talking about our beliefs about God, morality, what happens when we die, etc. The conversations arise naturally and, usually, pleasantly. People know that I care about them as human beings and that even in disagreement I'm not going to stop caring about them. They also know that, when they get in trouble, I'll be there trying to help in any way I can.

Are there modern-day Pharisees? Unfortunately, there are. Legalism is still alive and well in too many places. But I always hope and pray that non-Christians will not dismiss Christ, Christianity and Christians because of some rotten apples in the barrel.

[Peds nurse]

[Replying to post 3 by Overcomer]

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, everything you just said, and agree 100%. I do think that people can pick up our tone here. I think we can have a hint of smile between our words of grace. We can know people's hearts as opposed to just their opinions or belief's. I just got to know yours....and I am impressed!

Blessings for a wonderful day!

[Overcomer]

Thanks, Peds Nurse. Blessings back atcha!

[Yahu]

Hello people!

In the Bible, when Jesus graced us with the presence of God, the religious leaders didn't recognize Him. They were blinded by their rules and regulations of what they though a proper follower of God should be. They placed the rules above God Himself, forgoing love and grace in the process.

I am wondering if we do that now? Do we hold so tightly to our moral codes and divisive doctrines that we become blind to the very presence of God? Do we hold those things so dear that we compromise love and grace?

Absolutely, Phariseeism is rampant in the church today.

Yeshua covers this error in Rev 2 in the letter to the church of Ephesus. It is the very first problem in the list of 7 letters to be overcome.

Rev 2:1 Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks;
2 I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars:
3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
6 But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

This church is all about finding error in others that don't measure up to the tests of their religious requirements. They do reject those truely in error but also reject those that don't measure up to their religious requirements and are told to REPENT.

If they don't, the lampstand is removed from their midsts, ie they loose the Holy Spirit's presence in their congregation. They become a dead church that follows religion, not the Holy Spirit. They lack the fruits of the spirit.

If they do not overcome, they are refused access to the tree of life!

Rev 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

Being saved doesn't grant access to the tree of life but following his commandments does. Those that fail to overcome this error will be among the least in the kingdom.

The problem and rewards granted to the overcomers of Rev 2&3 are progressive. The rewards become greater and greater. The lowest level reward is to eat of the tree of life. The highest level reward is to share the throne room with a position of authority within the kingdom. The 7 letters is a list of 7 errors to overcome and represent a maturity scale for the individual christian and the 'lack of love' of the religious is the bottom of the scale for believers.

Pity those that fall into this error.

[ttruscott]

Hello people!

In the Bible, when Jesus graced us with the presence of God, the religious leaders didn't recognize Him. They were blinded by their rules and regulations of what they though a proper follower of God should be. They placed the rules above God Himself, forgoing love and grace in the process.

I am wondering if we do that now? Do we hold so tightly to our moral codes and divisive doctrines that we become blind to the very presence of God? Do we hold those things so dear that we compromise love and grace?

The word to the Church at Laodicea is not just to that church but is also to everyone who share this sin... Rev 3:14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:...17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

Can we be blind? We sure can, even as a congregation. Blindness refers to the inability to understand Spiritual values, to discern the truth of the Spirit or to hear the voice of the Holy spirit. And blindness comes with nakedness, the symbol of their being uncovered by righteousness so they stand naked in their sins. [In Genesis 2:25 and 3:1, the word `arm is repeated, used once for A&E being unclothed and once to describe the serpent's evil as crafty or subtle. It is no accident they were blind to the serpent's evil, and the lie in the truth he told.]

I think that every so often GOD tells HIS true church to make a right angle turn so that those who listen to HIS Holy Spirit and who follow will indeed follow HIM but those who do not hear HIS voice but who love HIS religion will be left going the same old direction. But after every progressive revelation the new way inevitably becomes full of those who love Churchianity more than following so it all happens again.

Can we expect another Church dividing "new revelation" in the end times / last days?
Daniel 12:9 And he said, Go thy way Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end.

Daniel 12:10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand.

From 12:9 we can see that the disclosing or unsealing of the angel's words (12:7) will not happen until the time of the end.

Therefore, we can say with assurance that this verse bears witness that there will be an unsealing, disclosing or revealing at the time of the end.
Therefore may I once again suggest that, in the end times, we will be given a new understanding, that is, a revealing of that which has been sealed previously.

This verse also tells us that the understanding of the new disclosures will not be possessed by everyone, but that this blessing will be possessed only by the wise, that is, the purified. I also suggest that because the verse says that it is the wise who shall understand, some in-depth study might be required to understand the new disclosures, that is, that these new revelations will not be blinding visions of light, but that they will most likely appeal to our reason. Stated another way, they will be doctrinal, that discipline that requires so much discipline.

And from the NT too:
John 16:25 These things have I (Jesus) spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father.

Which time was Jesus referring to? Was He speaking of a time more in the future (say like this time)? Well, if it was a time more in the future, then He would be referring to a future doctrinal revelation, would He not?

I guess that one way to tell the time of its fulfilment is to ask ourselves whether we (that is, our educated commentators) yet plainly know of the Father, or whether we do not have it so plainly yet?

In other words, do we understand the Bible plainly, or does it yet speak to us in proverbs?


Revelation 10:8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: "Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land."

9 So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey." 10 I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour.

Very interesting, no? As a sign of the last days, a "scroll" or KJV "little book" a diminutive form of the Greek biblos or in English, bible.

Since 'book' or 'scroll' denotes writing to me, I suggest that eating is a metaphor for reading the scroll and is used so we can get the analogy of sweetness and bitterness/ sour taste into the metaphor.

To continue with the thought would take us to: I read the words on the little book and at first I thought they were very wonderful and gratifying (sweet) but later as I dwelt upon their meaning, I found them hard to digest, (sour in my stomach), that is hard to accept in their full meaning.

This leads me to consider that in the last days a new revelation will be learned that at first seems great but then makes us scared or dismayed as we learn its implications.

In the context of the next verse:
Revelation 10:11 And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings. This person who read and studied until he understood the words in the little book must go out and be a prophet from the Lord, probably teaching us the words/ideas/revelation of the little book.

Since we all know the warnings of Rev 22:18:
For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

I'd also suggest that this new revelation is probably more correctly called a new understanding of a previous revelation similar to the way we got a new understanding about the Messiah from Jesus and the Apostles.

So I guess we had all better be open to a theological explanation of God's reality about the Church and/or the world, one that is different from all previous explanations we have been taught.

Might not such an occurrence put the Churches in the position of the Pharisees, stuck on their old understandings of the theology of the scriptures and rejecting the new understanding written in the little book?

It is funny that people say "it is not in the scriptures" when they really mean "I was never taught an understanding or interpretation of the scriptures in this way."

[Yahu]

The word to the Church at Laodicea is not just to that church but is also to everyone who share this sin... Rev 3:14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:...17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.

I would have to disagree. You are equating the blindness in Laodicea to the same thing as the OP.

That was not the error in Laodicea. The problems are progressive in the 7 letters. The Laodicea church has already overcome the 6 previous problems.

The error of the Philidelpian church (the previous letter) was their 'lack of strength'. The Laodicean church has overcome that issue and is operating in the power gifts BUT they are misusing those gifts for personal gain instead of for the kingdom. They are overcoming the enemy's spiritual forces BUT doing so to make themselves rich and their lives easy. They avoid any trials and tribulations. By overcoming those trails they gain in heavenly riches but they are poor.

I would equate that to the error of the Word of Faith movement where they teach using the name of Yeshua to claim promises and blessings when they don't qualify for them. When you seek the kingdom of Yah first, the desires of your heart are not for personal gain but for gain in the kingdom.

That doctrinal error is the spiritual blindness in the Laodicean church.