The Sea of Death (Yam HaMawet)

This story is about the "Sea of Death", but these first few pictures represent the modern day Jordan River Valley in Israel, and show us what the area of the "Dead Sea" might have looked like before its destruction approx. 4000 years ago. In Genesis we see a description of the whole area of the Dead Sea before its destruction:  Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah)

like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar.

The area of the Dead Sea that was once a beautiful river valley, is approx. 10 mi. wide and about 30 miles long moving South towards the Arabah.

The surface area of the lake now measures approx. 230 sq. mi. or 600 sq km.  A very large area that encompassed the five thriving cities that are described in Genesis, including Sodom and Gomorrah.

Apparently the river valley being extremely productive like the Nile valley in Egypt, could have sustained an immense population. Some estimates of ancient river valleys like in Egypt are as much as 8000 people per sq mi, but conservative estimates put the figure around 2000-4000 per sq mi.

Which means there could have been a population of around one million people inhabiting the area of the Dead Sea before its destruction.

Genesis 13:12 says: "Abraham settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the valley, and moved his tents as far as Sodom".   But the cities of the valley were not destined to be there much longer.  When the Angels visited Abraham, the cities only had a few hours left, but they did not know it.

Genesis 19:24-25  Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

Genesis 19:27-28  Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord; and he looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and toward the land of the valley, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace.

Peter wrote: He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter.

Also Jude writes:  Just as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

It is estimated that the Dead Sea area contains approximately 37 billion tons of salt, and it could be argued that most of that salt was deposited at the time of the valleys destruction, essentially God rained fire(molten salt) mixed with brimstone(burning sulfur) creating a large scale salt bath furnace.  

Salt bath furnaces are used in today's industrial processes to quench and temper different kinds of metal, it is a valued process because of heat distribution, temperature control, and permeability.  It is estimated the amount of salt in the Dead Sea area would have created a Salt Bath Furnace 300 sq.mi in area, and 120 feet deep.  Essentially a "Lake of Fire".  (Abraham beheld the smoke of the Valley ascending as the smoke of a Furnace).

Perhaps this is why Jude writes that they "underwent the punishment of "Eternal Fire".  It not only would have utterly destroyed every thing on the ground, but would have lowered the level of the valley, while at the same time making it impossible for anyone to inhabit the area permanently.

After all it does record that when the Lord was raining judgement upon the valley, Lot's wife stopped, and looked back, and the destruction overtook her, and she became a pillar of Salt. Was this an example of actual Hell fire?

Four thousand years later it still remains an absolute waste land, nothing grows there, and nothing lives there, the only ones that go there are tourists, and those who harvest minerals like salts, and potash for fertilizers and such. We can see why it was named Yam HaMawet by the people that lived in that region.  The surface of the Lake is approx 1400 ft below sea level, and the deepest part of the Lake is about another 1000 ft, so its around 2400 ft below sea level at its deepest point, whether the valley was a lot higher than the entire rift originally or if it was blow torched down further into the earth at the time of its destruction is impossible to know. But in order for there to have been a beautiful river valley like there was, the river would have had to continue on southward instead of just stopping in a dead lake surrounded by hills. 

Many companies sell the "Dead Sea Salts" as health products, like San Francisco Salt Co. The thought of the residents of the "self proclaimed homosexual Capital" of the nation, smearing on their skin the ancient residue of incinerated homosexuals, definitely puts a dark ironic twist on the end of the story. But is this the end of the story of the "The Sea of Death"?  No, actually it is not the end.  The Bible tells us that when Christ Jesus returns to reign over the earth from His Royal City of Jerusalem for a thousand years, there will be a river of life that comes from His throne and it heals everything wherever it goes, and it says that it will go through the area of the dead sea and continue all the way to the ocean, and it will make all the waters fresh, and it will be teaming with creatures, like all the creatures of the great seas. It will once again be a lush fertile valley, to be lived in and enjoyed by all those that make Jesus Christ their King.

Creational Perception Ratio

Prov. 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. 

Mankind loves to explore, to seek the truth about everything, and there are many things to discover.

When we are seeking the truths of the universe, whether it be Physics, Philosophy, Religion, or any of the specific sciences, we need to understand that these things are discovered through our personal perception of the facts of the matter, whatever it may be. They are unlocked so to speak with logic, complete logic.

A mans logic is only as good as the accuracy of his perception.  So lets have a look at perception and see how it can be influenced.

Lets say that I am looking at a beautifully hand crafted table that is approximately five hundred years old.  To me the table is beautiful, it has the appearance of age, and I have been told that it is five hundred years old.  These are the obvious facts of this situation.  I am not a highly skilled master craftsman, nor am I a expert dealer of antiques,  so I readily accept the information that I have been given as being true.

The real truth of the matter in this situation is that the table was created by a highly skilled master craftsman just one week ago, a master craftsman who is highly skilled in creating replicas.  To me the table looks old, and I had no specific reason to doubt the information that I was given.

Also in this situation there are other factors that can influence my perception, like maybe I am looking to buy a old table, or maybe this table matches some chairs that were handed down to me by my family, whatever the reason is, it creates an agenda that can adversely affect my perception because it creates a need, so that I am more apt to believe that the table is old because I want to believe it, because it fits my agenda.

This example was of an inanimate object, but what about a living example? How can our perception be altered, or manipulated by a living thing?  Let us use a human example, actually the first human example which would be Adam.

The Bible says that the first man was formed out of the dust of the earth, and God breathed life into him, and he became a living soul.  Although we have never seen this actually happen, we can certainly understand this explanation, essentially God made him, and then animated him, so that he was a living man, he was not a baby, he was a fully formed grown man.  He may have looked like he was twenty five years old, I don't know, in any case he was an adult male.

So knowing this information, if we had been standing there two minutes after Adam was created, we would be looking at an adult man, and if we say that perhaps he looked twenty five years old to us, that would mean that in our perception we would think that he looked twenty five years old, but in reality he was only two minutes old.  So we see that time is relative to perception.

In other words, in this situation, because Adam appeared to be twenty five, but he was only two minutes old, we could say that he appeared to be 6,570,000 times older than he actually was, because there are 30 two minute increments in one hour, times twenty four hours in a day, times 365 days in a year, times 25.

So we can see that if our logic does not contain the essential ingredient, which in this case would be the actual Biblical account, we would naturally think that Adam was a lot older than he actually was, and this fact uncovers a ratio, a perception ratio that helps us understand that something (that is a created thing) can have the appearance of great age.

The Bible says that the universe is a created thing, in all its beauty, wonder, and vastness, it is still just a created thing.  The Bible also says that the entire universe exists inside God, and that He maintains it from moment to moment.  It also says that He created the Heavens and the Earth quite literally 6000 years ago, if we apply the same ratio that was demonstrated with Adam, we could say that the earth and the universe appear to be 39.4 billion years old, but in reality it is just 6000.

Also if we add the fact that the original world was destroyed by water, tectonic action, upheaval, and mass volcanic action, we see that these things can affect the logic of those that are trying to sort out the facts of the matter, without having all the pieces to the puzzle, and actually leaving out essential portions of the equation.

So we see that if perception is lacking essential factors, then it is flawed, and can never achieve the correct answer, or in this case the ultimate truths of the universe.

What are some of the other aspects that can affect someones perception that is trying to see the truth in this situation? What are some of the negative aspects that could adversely affect a persons perception causing their logic to be distorted?

If a person did not want to believe that God created the Universe, this would definitely create an agenda that would adversely affect their perception, and damage their logic, considering the fact that it is very obvious that the universe and everything in it was wonderfully engineered and created intentionally.

  

Romans 1:20  For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

An agenda that purposely excludes God is completely ridiculous, and yet men continue to resist accountability to God, or even acknowledge that fact that there is a God that is actively involved in every single persons life on the entire planet in the sense that He is graciously drawing all people to Himself despite their resistance.

We can see that if a man tries to use the creation to disprove the Creator then that man has become completely foolish in his logic, and has adopted a science of failure, because his calculations can never achieve truth, being twisted and skewed by agenda, and lacking the primary portion of all equations.

Considering the facts of creation, to believe that the Universe was somehow brought into existence by some kind of mindless organizing constructive explosion could only be formulated by someone that is one click above a drooling fool, and yet the most prestigious colleges have professors that practice this kind of false knowledge because of their agenda.

Speaking about Mankind in general, the Apostle Paul said:   

Romans 1:21-22  For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  Professing to be wise, they became fools.

So we see that it is possible for men to be extremely intelligent, and knowledgeable, and yet be extremely mistaken and foolish because of adherence to an agenda.  Even though a man may be very sincere in his beliefs, at the same time he can also be sincerely mistaken, and this is what Paul experienced on the road to Damascus, and it is the same lesson that all men must discover in order to see the light of the truth, and find their way out of confusion.

In order to discover the truth one must never leave out the main ingredient to the equation of the universe, and that main ingredient is Jesus Christ, He is God, and always has been.

Polychrist Syncretism

The founders of our nation were not perfect, but they were very intelligent men that understood human nature, and history. They had the benefit of hind sight, they were able to see the noble attributes of the civilizations of the past, and also the failures. They chose to pattern their new government system after the noblest, and most successful system that they could find throughout history, the one that had been perfectly tailored for liberty and freedom, and their choice was the old Republic of Rome, before it became an empire. 

Rome did not start out as a republic, but rather a monarchy. It was a monarchy for 250 years, and then a republic for about 500 years, and then a empire for the remaining 450 years until it was dismembered by turmoil.

It was the republic system that made Rome extremely strong, but the conversion to an empire started its slow decline, and the founders of our nation considered this when they wrote the fail-safes into the foundation so that it would be impossible for a popular political figure to acquire that much power in a constitutional atmosphere. 

Even in Rome's beginning as a monarchy it was strong, and it grew, but when it became a republic it was practicing representative government, and syncretism in its religious system which made it extremely cohesive,and alluring, which created a very conducive environment for solid growth. 

But what is syncretism? Why is it so important for creating a stable National System? 

Beatitude Series, What Is A Disciple?

1. Poor in spirit.

Disciple:   A person that subjects himself to the disciplines of another.

There are many religions in the world today, and all of them have specific beliefs, and practices that make up all of their own disciplines that they must adhere to in order to achieve what they seek.  In this series we are primarily concerned with the disciplines of Jesus Christ, so we will not list all of the false religions, and their disciplines.  We are going to explore the disciplines of Jesus Christ, which are the primary principles that a follower of Christ must adhere to in order to be considered as a true "Disciple of Christ".     Matthew 5:1 is the beginning of Jesus' explanation of the key attributes that He considers as essential components for Believers that are endeavoring to be His disciples:

"When Jesus saw the crowds, He went up on the mountain; and after He sat down, His disciples came to Him."  Matthew 5:1

Because of the miracles that He was doing, and the things that He was saying, news of Him spread quickly, many people were curious, and came to see Him.  Also there were many who wanted especially to hear what He was saying, because they wanted to be His disciples, and they drew near to listen.  We are going to do that in this series, we will examine the Beatitudes, and see exactly what He was/is saying.

The Lesser Of Two Evils

Seventy four years ago, on December 8, 1941, the day after a surprise attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor, the United States Congress declared war on the Empire of Japan.  Immediately Japan's allies, Germany, and Italy declared war on the United States.  Five days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Congress formerly declared war against the governments of Germany, and Italy.  In less than a week we were formerly at war against the governments of three powerful nations and their allies.

The United States was being attacked from east, and west.  Our people, and allies were being eliminated in the Atlantic, and Pacific.  The "Axis Powers" were bent on the destruction of the United States, and our allies.

At the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor there was astonishment, fear, and anger.  There were no words to describe the level of outrage, and the collective trauma that the country felt.  When President Roosevelt gave the "Infamy Speech" the next day after the attack. His words, and courage crystallized, inspired and galvanized the resolve of the American people.  What followed was the greatest mobilization of technology and resources that any nation has ever accomplished.

The last part of the original declaration of war reads:

 "The President is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war against the Imperial Government of Japan; and, to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States."

All three declarations of war ended with that statement and all of the country's resources were brought to bear.  Immediately President Roosevelt secured the aid of the country's industrial magnates, and almost overnight the nations factories were retooling and stocking for the manufacture of military vehicles, airplanes, ammunition and hardware.

President Roosevelt asked all citizens to join the war effort to build a "Great Arsenal of Democracy." He assured the nation that this unified effort to build ships and airplanes would out-produce and overwhelm the enemy.

Very soon the combined industrial force of the entire nation would be focused on creating everything that all the branches of the military would need to launch their concerted campaigns throughout the Pacific, Atlantic, Europe, and every place that they were so desperately needed.

In the days and weeks that followed the attack at Pearl Harbor, many men immediately joined the military and the rest of the able-bodied men would eventually be drafted into all of the branches of the service.  The nations forts and reception centers would swell with recruits ready for training.  These events would cause a desperate shortage of workers for the existing factories and those that were being hurriedly built everywhere in the country. Production was in full swing, all the factories, the other essential businesses and community services were all gearing up for "round the clock" operation.

The men who lost their factory jobs in the 1930s Depression Era, were now either joining the branches of military service or getting new high paying war effort jobs in all of the new factories, hour by hour the country was becoming more powerful.

In the 1930s women were discouraged from working outside the home, in fact 26 states had laws prohibiting women from working factory (male) jobs, and said that those women would be "destabilizing homes" and  "stealing" jobs from the men who needed them to support their traditional families.  This dynamic was about to change drastically in the 1940s.

The women who held very low paying "women" jobs during the 1930s Depression Era, were now being welcomed into the higher paying factory jobs of the war effort.  Also the men who did not qualify for military service (too young, or old, physically handicapped, or "didn't like girls") were getting the factory jobs too.

But with all the available people going to the factory jobs, there was still a tremendous shortage of workers.  Because of the bigotry of the Industrialists and Politicians, the minorities were purposely overlooked, and the industrial war propaganda machine set its sights on the white homemakers.  A finely tuned assault on the moral core of the nation was about to begin.

One can't help but think that if the industrialists and the government would have abandoned their bigotry, and sincerely welcomed all the minorities into the high paying factory jobs at the outset, the common bond of the war effort would have been sanctified in that respect, and would have greatly aided a natural integration, and the healing of old wounds, maybe even making the pain and suffering of the time, and even the eventual Civil Rights Movement unnecessary. 

At first the Homemakers resisted the call to the factories because they knew how important their role was.  They were the heart of the country, the guardians of the wisdom of the ancients, the Champions of temperance, and Truth.  They were the very anchors of the psychological and moral health of the nation. 

Most men did not want their wives working outside the home, nevertheless because of the great need for workers, the propaganda to get them out of the homes, and into the factories increased. Television, movies, newspapers, magazines, books, and radio all joined in on the propaganda effort,  1942 would see stories and songs about women answering the call like Rosie the Riveter. The stage was being set, and the minds of a entire generation of young people was about to be unwittingly poisoned with the apple of Industrial Feminism.

One by one the Homemakers of the country were leaving for factory jobs, the children were given over to the institutionalized public school system, or the newly created factory day care centers. In just three years there would be 18 million women (40% of the female population of the country) working outside the home.

Because the war lasted several years the mass media industry tried to keep the morale high, and the USO was doing its part to help out too.  Many of the women succumbed to loneliness, and found love at work or at the USO clubs.  Over the years many servicemen would receive "Dear John Letters".  Many men would come back to a empty home.

September 8, 1943 the Italian surrender is announced, on May 8, 1945 the Germans would unconditionally surrender to the Allies. On August 15, 1945 the Empire of Japan would unconditionally surrender several days after atomic bombs were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.  A concerted effort by America, Britain, Russia, and all of the Allies brought about the end of World War II.

Victory was finally achieved, but the cost for America, and the allies was extremely high.  In the end with all tolled (people killed in war or murdered by the Axis Powers) would be over 61,000,000 worldwide.  Both America and Britain each suffered approximately half a million of their people killed in the war.

After the war was over, 5 million women would have to be let go from factory jobs to make way for some of the almost 10 million men that would be released from military service over the next two years. The women that had to leave the factories immediately went into the lower paying, more traditional female jobs like Nursing, Commercial Service jobs, School Teacher, Textiles, etc.

The Industrial Feminism of the 1940's would evolve into the socialistic political feminism of the new-age, the moral core was damaged beyond repair.  The young men and women that survived the war, and the ones that grew up during the war would become the dysfunctional "baby boomers" of the short-lived Golden Age of the 1950's, and the turbulent decades that followed. Like in Tolkien's novel of the time, the shepherds of the forest were so influenced, and distracted by their duty, the Ent Wives became lost, and were never found.

The Homemakers of the 1940's were made to think that they were choosing the lesser of two evils, but the ramifications of their wrong choice would resonate increasingly through the following decades, and the women that made up the moral core would eventually pass into history, and the legacy of the godly Homemaker would almost vanish completely.

The religious organizations had failed to dissuade racial bigotry and feminism in the 1940's.  Their coffers were being filled with 1940's war bucks.  Because of their building and financial agendas they would continue a legacy of failure in the 1950's, not speaking out against feminism and materialism.  The 1950's would see a dramatic increase in divorce, and other social disorders. The social practices of the institutionalized, secularized public school system would unwittingly add to the dysfunction because the children would be conditioned for divorce by having multiple "dating" relationships during their teenage years.

Because of their turbulent history and extreme losses during the war, the collective paranoia, and irrational distrust that would be deeply seated in the Soviet Union would prove to be extremely contagious and last for decades.  More young men would die during the Cold War Era, the Commiphobic leaders in the US Government and military, utilizing the weapons and equipment left over from World War II would wage the Demofrenetic wars of the 1950's, and 1960's, which would cripple the morale and psychological health of an already damaged nation.

The 1960's would see an astounding increase in feminism, abortion, secularism, divorce, substance abuse and other gross immoral behaviors.  Because of compromise, the Religious Organizations would continue to decline, and develop heretical doctrines concerning feminism, materialism, divorce and remarriage (religious adultery).  Also because of the early baby-stage psychological damage brought on by the dynamic of non-cognate, indifferent, abusive, or missing fathers, many young boys and girls would have their lives destroyed by extremely adverse psychological behaviors, like homosexuality or immoral heterosexual behavior.  Because these behaviors were developed at a very young age by the dysfunctional dynamics of the damaged society, most of the young people would be led to believe that they were actually born that way, and the impotent, dysfunctional Religious Organizations, because of their financial agendas, would turn a deaf ear to millions of children who were crying in the dark.

The dramatic increase in divorce during this time would continue to see huge numbers of divorced parents vying for the affections of the children, all the while running down one another to justify their actions, creating a spoiling atmosphere of non-accountability. The children would be permanently damaged psychologically by this poisonous hypocritical environment, and they would act out the frustration, anger, and pain throughout their lives in various adverse behaviors.  Also the nation's prisons would fill with angry, abused, and neglected youth, who had turned to crime.

In the 1970's, and the decades to follow, because of the psychological damage done to the young boys, millions of them would be eagerly drugged into submission by the medical industry, so they would fit nicely into the institutionalized, secularized, federalized, unionized, feminized public school system.  This would be instrumental in creating a generation of resentful, feminized, chemical dependant new-age dysfunctional males.

For the next 40 years, because of cowardice, and the compromise with wealth, materialism, feminism, and adultery, the clergical religious organizations would become completely apostate, being little more than religious social clubs, that could scarcely be called Christian.  Because of the hypocrisy of the religious organizations, almost an entire generation of young people would abandon the organizations to search for Truth.

During this time the secularized US government, would sacrifice more American lives trying to stabilize the oil-rich Middle East. Struggling with the power of Islam, they would once again understand why their Roman Republican ancestors coined the phrase "Hubris brings Nemesis" (Arrogance brings enemies that cannot be defeated).

Whether or not this is the beginning of the final confrontation of the North, and the South (Greco-Roman civilization vs Islam)  is difficult to ascertain.  Some milestones have been reached, while others have not.  In any case the solution to the spiritual problems of this nation has not changed.

Women entering the workforce of men in the 1940's causing them to abandon their vital role as Godly Homemakers, has proved to be the single most destructive thing that has ever happened to this nation.  Feminism, divorce, abortion, and the resultant apostatizing of the American religious base, have altogether effectively  destroyed more people than all of the wars combined.

Although difficult, the solution is, and always has been, very simple.  People must acknowledge the Truth, humble themselves, and subject themselves to it, and repent.  Only then will they find forgiveness, deliverance, and healing.  Jesus once said "If your right hand makes you sin, cut it off, and throw it from you".  I think this particular scripture applies to our sin as a nation today.

Knowing, as the scripture says, that the road to Hell is large enough for all of the nations to fit onto it, we should try very hard to acknowledge what has happened, so that we will understand how dire our situation is.  As a nation, May the Lord Jesus help us find repentance.

Liberty

liberty  n, pl -ties 

1. the power of choosing, thinking, and acting for oneself; freedom from control or restriction.

In themselves Liberty, and Freedom are very good, they are highly prized, and exalted by most cultures, especially by ours.  Liberty is not achieved easily, and is difficult to hold onto, because there are many who would try to take it away.  There are those who think that everyone has to be controlled, and that they themselves have been "chosen" to control everyone, and we, as a people have always been able to keep those who would dominate us in check.  In fact our nation's system has "built-in" safeties to ward against such individuals because the founders knew human nature very well, and provided for it in the foundation.

Nevertheless Freedom and Liberty can be very dangerous to the person that is not responsible with such power, in the sense that they become like the proverbial "man that had too much rope". Jefferson once said "A Republic cannot survive unless God is the King",  an amazingly true statement, and all of the founders understood that Liberty is an extremely powerful thing, and it must be maintained with temperance, and self control based on godly principles.  Each person controlling themselves with principles that promote, and foster a healthy environment where Justice, and Truth can thrive.

Knowing this information one might ask, "Is there anything more important than Liberty?"

Two Sides of the Coin of Destiny

In every conflict there are at least two opposing sides, and there are those who encourage it, and profit because of the conflict, the powers who would desire to fan the flames of conflict in order to create schemes that they can use to manipulate, and fabricate an atmosphere in which they can achieve their agendas.

In our time now we are seeing the fruition of the seeds of ancient conflicts that have been growing, and cultivated for centuries.  We are seeing conflict forming, and the polarization of the modern world.  Ancient conflicts, hatreds, bitterness, and feuding, that has been cultivated, orchestrated, and refined to produce the desired effect for the enemies of Truth.

We see the polarization of North, and South beginning with the collapse of Alexander's empire, and the formation of the various Kingdoms that would eventually evolve into two great empires, one in the northern regions, and the other in the southern regions.  The two great Empires having two distinct, and diametrically opposed ideologies.  The perfect situation, and atmosphere for conflict.

What to do with the Holidays?

What are we, as Christians, to do with the holidays?  Are we to avoid them, follow Old Testament holidays, go full bore into all the holidays and all of the trappings that go with it or can we make them our own.

What is a Followship

A Followship is a network of Followers,  Followers of Jesus Christ,  people who are humbly, selflessly, lovingly, and thankfully following Jesus' commandments,  seeking to become disciples of Christ by subjecting themselves to His disciplines,  Jesus Christ Himself defining their reality in every aspect of life.

A Followship is not an organization,  it is a family of followers, following their Father the Lord Jesus hand in hand, and shoulder to shoulder, being bound together with the love of the truth of the Gospel, and the obedience of His commandments.

People who are seeking to fulfill the Lords commandments, order, and desires, making Him first in their lives above all else, and seeking to be set apart from the desires, and trappings of this world, and always (as strangers, and sojourners in this life) seeking to simplify, purify, and strengthen their walk with the Lord.

This Family focuses on following, not just fellowing,  Jesus said "whoever does the will of God is my brother, and sister, and mother".   A persons true family are the ones who keep the Lord's word,  and help others to do so.   We desire to foster an atmosphere of discipleship through humble obedience, and strict adherence to the Lord's directives, no matter how difficult it may seem, and in this sense a followship is not generational, or sociogenic, but seeks to be a family of true believers, not a social club made up of religious friends, and  relatives.

A Followship does not practice hierarchy,  it does not have to, because the disciples are led by the Spirit of Christ Himself through obedience to the Word,  and as the Lord Himself said "call no man father, leader, or teacher",  in the Spirit there is only one Father, Leader, and Teacher, and that is Jesus Christ Himself, who was, and is, and always will be God Himself.  We believe in the gifts of the Spirit of Christ, and that He gives the gifts as He wills, He can give to anyone any gift He pleases at any time, so we believe that all Followers (at any time the Spirit of Christ chooses) can be apostles, teachers, healers, prophets, and leaders, and that these gifts are for all of us that believe, and obey.  We believe that these gifts are not "owned" by any believer, and that the Lord Himself is the only one who "owns" anything,  and Him being the owner of all things, gives good gifts to those who obey Him.

The Followship has no Temple, it is the Temple, each follower being a spiritual stone that makes up the Temple worldwide, whoever they are, and wherever they are, they are the Temple of God in Christ.  May the Lord Jesus bless, and guide all the Followers, Amen.

American Polytheism

When we explore the religious practices of the ancient Greco-Roman world we see that they did not practice different religions, but they practiced many different versions of the same religion. Basically honoring various gods with temples, rites, and various rituals, and tributes, which is referred to as polytheism.  They had many gods and many temples.  Each god had unique attributes and had control over certain aspects of life, and the world.  Each one would be sought at different times depending on the circumstances of the individual seeking help from the gods, or wanting to honor, or worship a god for a specific perceived blessing that was received.

It has been recorded in the history books that Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in the fourth century AD.  This is a misrepresentation of what actually took place and what the Emperor was endeavoring to accomplish.  He did not convert to Christianity.  What he actually did was he converted Christianity, and adopted the Christian God to the religion of the Empire.

He did not remove all the other gods from the Roman religious repertoire, he merely added another god to the list of very important gods in the Roman religious experience. We see many pagan aspects of this fact when we examine the main religion that eventually emerged from Constantine's corruption of the truth.  The Roman Catholic Church developed as a result of many pagan practices mixed into the corrupt "Christian" framework that Constantine fabricated. It was some years after Constantine that the pure pagan polytheistic practices were removed comletely, and the Roman Catholic Church became the dominant religious influence in Europe.

Letter to the Churches

Dear brothers, and sisters.

For a long time I have felt that something was going to happen, like we are on the brink of some great event, I don't know if you have had that feeling too, but I am beginning to understand what I have been sensing.

In our American culture there is great apostasy, apathy, deception, and distraction. Our culture struggles heavily with greed, materialism, and the most destructive ... immorality, and sensuality. These cultural poisons have found their way into the American church, and have been tolerated for so long now that the destructive heresies that they propagate are seen as normal, and are even perceived as  being innocuous.

Culture series: "Good is Evil and Evil is Good" What women are facing in this culture

We as humans, in our own hearts, and minds, are able, and willing to justify anything that we deem necessary to our perceived happiness or survival. We lie to ourselves, and others, and even to God. We, with a great deal of time and effort, fabricate dreams and visions that are tailored to justify and benefit our own selfish and ambitious purposes. The level of depravity in these areas goes way beyond our scope of control and understanding. So that left to our own ways, we are always doomed to failure in our perception of true equity and the reality of our true identity.

The Milk of the Word

"For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.  2 Corinthians 2:17

For six thousand years now mankind has been creating all sorts of religions, and gods, and objects of worship.  Worshiping the sun, moon, and stars, things on the earth, and things that they have made with their hands.  Men, from the beginning, have turned away from the truth, and they have fabricated many religious "systems", and ways of worshiping their gods. Like at the Tower of Babel, they built a high tower to reach to the heavens, so that they could touch the heavens, become great, and make a name for themselves.  This was the beginning of the great false religious system of the world.  It was halted and postponed by God, when He confused their language and separated them, dispersed them, and they became the nations, migrating to every continent.

Religion, in the great empires of the world, has always been used to appease and control the masses, giving the people what they need to satisfy their hunger for spirituality, the hunger which we all have, because we were created by God.  Only the fool does not recognize this. This recognition by the peoples of the world, that there is a God,  creates a need for religion to satisfy the obvious need for spirituality.  Therefore the whole world has become full of religions, all false, except for one.

Adultery Temple

Psalm 50:16-18
16 But to the wicked God says,
“What right have you to tell of My statutes
And to take My covenant in your mouth?
17 “For you hate discipline,
And you cast My words behind you.
18 “When you see a thief, you are pleased with him,
And you associate with adulterers.

wick·ed    adjective 1. evil or morally bad in principle or practice; sinful; iniquitous.

Wickedness has plagued the church for many centuries, and there is always the struggle between good, and evil.

Culture series: "Good is Evil and Evil is Good"

What men are facing in this culture.

"Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery and he who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery."
Any man that marries a divorced woman, and thinks that he is a Christian is fooling himself and allowing himself to be deceived by the world.  Make no mistake, you will not make it, just as the word says:
"Can a man take fire in his bosom?"

If you are married to a divorced woman you are going into your neighbors wife.  Why?

Revival - Leaving the Roman World Behind

Genesis 10:32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations; and out of these the nations were separated on the earth after the flood.

It is fascinating to consider the things that happened to mankind after the great flood which took place approx. 2350 BC. About one hundred years after the flood, God confused the language of all the people and the tower of Babel was abandoned. The peoples being separated by all the different languages began to migrate to all the corners of the Earth. We have no idea exactly how many people were alive at that time. Evidently they migrated in every direction. The people that went to the north and west became the Indo-European peoples from which came the Mycenae peoples and they eventually became the Greeks. Also there were the various peoples that populated the coast lands all throughout Southern Europe. Some of these were the Latin speaking peoples that settled on one of the hills of the future city of Rome, on the Palatine hill, about the tenth century BC. From history we can see that they were a very organized and resourceful people that became a powerful kingdom at first, and then became a republic around 500 BC. Ancient Roman society has contributed greatly to government, law, politics, engineering, art, literature, architecture, technology, warfare, religion, language, society and more in the Western world. It is the religious aspect of the ancient Roman world that I feel is necessary to explore in this paper.