Theocentric Musings

    Something to think about. When Jesus walked the earth the biblical scholars at the time witnessed Him healing and accused Him of healing by the power of darkness. That's their first thought, it must be darkness. Their "god" kills and destroys sinners, commits genocide and various acts of wrath, according to them, so it can't be God loving on sinners. Their perception of God was so warped they truly believed the most delusional things. Yet, people refuse to believe that the writers of scripture in the OT had a warped perception of God as well, which influenced their writings and we should use Jesus as the litmus test for what God would or wouldn't do. We have members of the body that believe He chops off His own limbs for some greater purpose. A shepherd never abuses sheep, they are much too valuable. Don't be brainwashed into the same warped perception people currently have.

Many times I get accused of "following man" due to what I share, and my beliefs. The interesting thing about that is that almost 100% of the time it's an accusation from people who's core beliefs have only been taught by "man" the last 100-150 years or so. If you study history you would find that most modern beliefs were taught only by man and usually they served a purpose, 9 times out of 10 a ne gative purpose, fear, oppression, control, superiority complex, judging, hypocrisy, us against them, slave/master relationships, man on a pedestal, etc.   My beliefs are actually historically in tune with the church fathers, the ones who wrote scripture that people have placed on the highest pedestal, yet when you espouse the beliefs of those that wrote that worshipped bible, you get told you are not biblical. Confused yet? Yeah, I don't get it either. My beliefs, and what I share from wise men and women of God, empower people, they guide them into heali...

Yes, what about all the wrath in Revelation? My friend, Richard Murray , answers your questions, please take the time to read and learn. The search for Truth should always be worth a few minutes of your time: WHAT ABOUT ALL THE WRATH IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION? by Richard Murray The purpose of this discussion is not to explain ALL the mysteries of Revelation. Rather, I want to highlight the key dynamics of how to read, interpret and understand the book in light of what we now know about God's goodness. Revelation is the "final exam" for understanding the goodness of God. If we don't already know the nature of God, we will never understand the book of Revelation. As Revelation 5 clearly shows, ONLY the divine nature and wisdom of Jesus is WORTHY and ABLE to unseal and open the mysteries of the book. People usually advertise Revelation as revealing a God who is incredibly violent, wrathful and destructive. Yet, is this true? Is this violent image the true ...

Jesus is the same, yesterday, today, and forever... Numbers 15:32-36 Penalty for breaking the Sabbath One day while the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they discovered a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. The people who found him doing this took him before Moses, Aaron, and the rest of the community. They held him in custody because they did not know what t o do with him. Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must be put to death! The whole community must stone him outside the camp.” So the whole community took the man outside the camp and stoned him to death, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Mark 3:1-6 Jesus Heals on the Sabbath Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand. Since it was the Sabbath, Jesus’ enemies watched him closely. If he healed the man’s hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the deformed hand, “Come and stand in front of everyone.” Then he turned to his critics...

I've always found it interesting that those who believe God kills, steals, and destroys to teach us or train us, wont practice what they preach and teach or train their children that way. Hmmmmmmm... Prove me wrong... I dare ya... Or... Be humble enough to realize and admit that those negative things were attributed to God by a people that didn't have a full revelation of who He is and Christ showed with crystal clarity the character of God and His desire to heal, set free, and give life to the world, not a chosen few, and His manner of doing that was through love.

My friend Derek Flood with a great observation: Now let's talk about sin and hell: I don't mean the trivial "did you ever tell a lie" nonsense. I mean real harm, real brokenness, real hurt. Do people do really hurtful and horrible things to each other? Yes, they certainly do. Are people hurt and broken? Yes, more than you know. Abuse is real. Rape is real. Starvation is real. War crimes are real. In short, there is a "hell" right here that many ... people are in the middle of, and that matters, and we should care. This idea of hell right now is vital because it means we need to care about people's lives right now, and not just about life after death. I believe in that, too, I hope for heaven with all my heart, I long for eternity. But life here matters. People matter. That's why Jesus spent all his time caring for people and their very real needs. When we have a theology that makes all of that a waste of time then we suck the life right out of ...

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,...

I enjoyed this, by way of RefineUs Ministries, http://refineus.org/the-worst-thing-with-your-past/ : Author Brennan Manning says this in his book, Abba’s Child: In a futile attempt to erase our past, we deprive the community of our healing gift. If we conceal our wounds out of fear and shame, our inner darkness can neither be illuminated nor become a light for others. What if your past could be leveraged to heal? What if your greatest failures could help others avoid failure? What if the wounds you’ve accumulated could be healing balm to others who are wounded? What if the abuse you’ve experienced could set others free from the pain of their abuse? What if your addiction could be a catalyst to liberate others? What if freedom, true freedom is found not in trying to hide our past; pretending like nothing happened, but in running head first into the darkest parts of our past. It is there that Jesus’ light shines brightest. Fear will tell you to hide. Shame will demand you keep quie...