Theocentric Musings

  Christians should be the last to label people. All of those we read about in scripture could have been labeled in one way or another, mostly negative, and yet God had an amazing purpose in store for them all, regardless of their past or present status, and saw them simply as His beloved. We need to stop cursing other with labels and simply see them as "His beloved." The very least that would happen is that there'd be a lot less drama.

  Forgiveness should be a hallmark of a Christian.

  A grace-less Christian, is a Jesus-less Christian.

I was asked a great question on Facebook about taking a peaceful stance in 1941, and if we would have let evil run it's course there wouldn't be an Israel today, and if we can just stand by and watch terrorists wipe the Jews off the planet. Now the first assumption is that God couldn't supernaturally protect His people, but instead of opening that dialogue, I answered a different way, below is my  response and I decided to share it because I am sure the person who asked this question is not alone in these thoughts when it comes to my endorsement of peace: Isn't all life sacred? Is 1941 the catalyst for people devaluing life, hating different people groups, cultures, or nations? We can go even further back, because 1941 wasn't the worst "evil", when we check history, Hitler killed much less people than Mao Zedong. Hitler and Stalin combined didn't come close to Mao, but do we pontificate the lives of those Mao killed like many do the Jews, or are thos...

I find is so disturbing that many Christians their faith and their salvation is found not in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but in Father, Son, Spirit, Bible, Israel. When did we become a people that worshipped idols? Are we really like the Israelites worshipping a golden calf or 2 or 3? The Bible points to Jesus as Savior, the Bible is not however your Savior. Israel is a people tha t God loves, Israel is not however your God. To belittle the majesty and splendor of God by forcing Him into a box, or a book, or claiming that not to show reverence and worship as demigods a people who choose to deny His place as Messiah means you are against God is absolutely, factually, scripturally, and indisputably codswallop. And then to actually denigrate and slander those who love Christ, and Christ alone as Savior, and choose not to engage in idolatry of any sort, is disgusting and such anti-Christ behavior.

If your religion and your god causes you to believe the life of a Christian or a Jew is more important than the life of a homosexual or a Muslim, and you can be smug and callous about their loss of life, your religion is as false as your god is.

One of the greatest tricks satan pulled on Christians is getting them to read Jesus through the lens of the Old Testament, instead of reading the Old Testament through the lens of Jesus.

This is a great post by way of my friend Frank Viola, you can visit his blog here, http://frankviola.org/2012/05/21/howtocorrectanother/ , enjoy: How (Not) to Correct Another Christian By Frank Viola When I was a young Christian in my late teens, I was “rebuke-happy.” I had no problem confronting and correcting the faults of others. The people I looked up to modeled this to me, and I benightedly followed their example. I knew the Scriptures well; so I was cocked and loaded for bear with my Bible verses in hand. Some of my favorite texts at the time were those in Proverbs that say wise people love reproof and fools hate it (Proverbs 9:8; 12:1; 13:1, etc.) As I grew in the Lord, I came to some painful discoveries. One of them was that I had no idea how to correct another believer in the spirit of Jesus Christ. And I did more damage than good with my “corrections.” Another was that God didn’t want me correcting everyone else, even when I spotted faults and flaws in others ...

My friend Sue Beach with a magnificent post, I have to share: DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE IN GOD? This may shock you but I do not believe in the Christian god. In fact, I do not believe in the god of ANY religion. They are ALL FALSE GODS!!! I worshiped a man made god most of my life. I was raised in a strict Christian religion. I was baptized as an infant, attended church regularly and tried to follow all the rules. Like a lamb being led to the slaughter, I beli eved all the crap I was told from the pulpit about god. I "loved" a god I really did not know. Then I lost my infant daughter, Christine. I experienced a gut wrenching pain that no parent should ever have to endure. I sought comfort and answers from the god of my religion but I only became more confused and hurt. I was told that god had a greater purpose for taking my child and I needed to trust him. I was told that his ways are above our ways and there are just some things we cannot understand. I was told that go...

1 Chronicles 21:1 was written approximately 400-500 years after 2 Samuel 24:1. It began to be revealed to the Israelites who satan was and the power he had. They began to see how his actions were not determined, used, nor "allowed" by God. This was further revealed by Christ in scriptures. This is what led to an earlier scripture attributing an action to God and a latter attributing it rightly t o satan. This is not something that requires a PHD in theology, yet many with PHDs don't recognize this. If you simply research the Jewish beliefs you see what they were, and you see how they still influence Christianity today in a negative way. As a prominent Rabbi writes: It is very important to understand the difference between the Jewish understanding of Satan and the Christian understanding of Satan. First of all, in doing a quick search of the Hebrew and Christian bibles, we find a remarkable difference. In the Jewish bible (Tanakh), we find three separate refer...

This is one of the most important things I will probably share, other than the gospel of course. It was written by my friend Richard Murray. You owe it to yourself, and your children if you have any, and your families to read, pray, hear from the Holy Spirit with absolutely no emot ional biases, even if it goes against any and all teachings you've heard, and let Him guide you to Truth. If you allow Him that freedom in your life, your life may change. Please understand and be humble enough to accept that many times that voice we think is God's is our own subconscious, emotional, biases speaking.  Please give Him freedom to speak and guide you, even if you think you already do, humor me and clear your mind. I've walked this path and had to learn true humility before Him. WHAT DO WE TELL OUR CHILDREN ABOUT THE KILLING GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT? Before I answer that question, I want to propose a thought experiment which will highlight how important this issue is,...

You know, this mentality that is rampant in Christianity of hoping Jesus comes soon and people have a "Calgon, take me away" moment, although understandable, really needs to die. Look, here's the problem with it, and it's been proven by human nature, anyone that is waiting to get "out" of something will never put as much effort or handle the responsibilities as well as someone that's "in" someth ing for the long haul. It's true at work, in marriages, in any relationship actually. Unless you are completely in it for the long haul, you're going to put a halfhearted effort in. We can convince ourselves in our mind otherwise, but it's the reality of how our mind frame affects us. So, yes, this world is bad, not as bad as the past despite what people believe, but it is bad and yes getting away from this fallen world would be nice, but your mentality has to be that you are here for the long haul, no matter how long, no matter how b...

I've found people question why I don't get into debates with them on my page, they make their own assumptions about me not studying scripture, me writing my own bible, I'm trying to silence my critics (when my page is public and they are free to abuse me), etc. I decided to address this and explain to those that wonder that I don't really entertain theological debates because most of the time it' s pointless, most people are not likely to change their minds, it can just end up dragging on and on, and to me it is a complete waste of time. Most of the time you can tell someone that is humble and really wants to learn or has a real question, as well as those that humbly want to express a different view. You also can tell real quick those that just want to fight and call you names. I also don't play the scripture "tit for tat" game, I tend to stay clear of answering someone's use of scripture to prove their point with another scripture to prove my...

Christians have to remember when it comes to their theology that many of their doctrines could actually be traditions of man or interpretations influenced by their own emotions, thoughts, or biases. We can also affect our interpretation or doctrines by how we envision God, that's why it's important to have a correct view of God as Father not as destroyer, or you will color that image into all that ... you read, Holy Spirit or not. There have been various revelations as time progressed since the writing of scripture, some true, some not so. To be so close-minded and dogmatic about your beliefs without acknowledging that your beliefs may in fact not be as accurate as you believe them to be does Jesus a disservice. That is why we must be always open to learn, but in that same respect if things are centered around killing, stealing, or destroying, we should really take pause before receiving that as truth. Yes, I know, our walk is by faith, that includes faith in our belief...

If eating meat sacrificed to idols is ok according to His Word, then eating halal foods, dressing up for Halloween, and having a Christmas tree doesn't make a Christian a pagan. If you have a problem with it you have a weak conscience, it doesn't make those who indulge in these things satanic or false Christians in the least bit. Out of love Christians should not purposefully flaunt these things i n front of those who take offense, and those who take offense also should not actively seek out those who do these things to complain about it. Put simply, this theology of man that keeps being spread at various times of the year and causes nothing but puffed out chests, false judgments, accusations, and discourse needs to stop, it's not Biblically supported. Read: 1 Cor. 8:1-13

But in my own life it was only when I came to the end of self-effort--when I saw that I couldn't do all the things that Christians are supposed to do--that I gave up and turned to the Lord. When a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. When we stop trying to do it ourselves and rest in Jesus, trusting Him in us to live the Christian life, we are no longer blinded by the veil. - Juan Carlos Ortiz