From Christ began the union of the Divine with the human nature in order that the human, by communion with the Divine, might rise and also become Divine.
Jersak and Hardin,
Stricken by God?, 49
Origen, third century

HAVE YOU EVER
Done everything exactly right … ?
You know it was right because
God had told you what to do,
How to do it,
Why and when to do it
And He told you
“Go ahead, do it afraid,
Just do it
Now!”
So you stepped out
And, as God’s representative,
You said what needed to be said.
And, BOOM !!
You got blasted for it,
Raked over the coals,
Insulted for your vocabulary,
Insulted for your audacity,
Insulted for your conviction,
Insulted for your obedience,
On and on, ad nauseum!
You had been out there supporting
But took the brunt of the punishment.
My question for you is this:
How long did it take you then
To wake up and realize
You had just stood up
For God?
How long did it take you
To hear
“Well done good and faithful servant!”
And smile?

…..WHO/WHAT ARE YOU?
…..(by Dr. Robin Starbuck)
Go along with me on this one. Please make a list either on paper, on your computer or even in your head. It’s not a trick and nobody will ever observe it. Who or what are you? A Republican/ Democrat? a father, a mother, a child, a singer, a dancer, a baseball player? a victim, a victor? a soccer mom, a secretary? a businessman,…? who are you? Done yet?
Now what was atop the list? I know, I know, I didn’t say that the order was of any importance; but, actually one point was critically important: if you had said first and foremost “I am a Christian,” the whole rest of your life would have been impacted.
NOW HERE COMES THE R.E.A.L.L.Y. IMPORTANT PART: if you bring to Christianity Your preferences, Your demands, Your requirements, you are doing a huge injustice to yourself and to Christianity as a whole. For example, if I say “I don’t accept this or that aspect of Christianity” because it doesn’t fit my political, socio-economic or cultural upbringing, then I am one of the gazillions of people throughout time who is trying to redefine Christianity, shaking loose the stuff that I don’t want and vying heavily for stuff that I would like to see added to the admixture. By failing to generalize or universalize my personal leanings to fit Christ’s mandate, I am … get this … working on the side of the so-called “devil”!
True Christianity can heal the world of every ill that man is heir to – but not by meddling with the blueprint!
One thing that I can say that could really cheer you up, though, is that you can go into your private place with God and ask to have His divine Plan revealed to you in a way that you can understand and appreciate. God doesn’t want to withhold any of His goodness and perfect love from you.

A life lived in protest to a thing is a life still controlled by the thing it protests. This feels like freedom, but it’s an illusory freedom that can only exist in a universe where that which antagonizes you, and that you therefore protest, is still in control.

Real freedom is discovering a universe that exists outside of the thing you once protested’s control, and ultimately lies in realizing that said thing does not actually exist. One can, from the outside, be an advocate for those still inside, but their lives are no longer controlled by that system. One can even reenter the system as an alien and stranger in order to rescue those calling it home without coming back under its tyranny.

There is a massive difference between these two ways of being.

If I protest toxic religion from within its walls, my protest is more or less a way of dealing with my chains. I’m not truly free, for even my protest is a sign of my enslavement. Real freedom is realizing there is a world beyond, finding it, and then having the ability to come and go from my old world as I please, and then only with the intent of helping those still stuck inside of it.

I often look back and see that some of my most passionate cries against religion were just my enslaved groanings. I still lift up my voice, and still cry aloud against the evils of certain systems, but there is a difference within these days.

As I’ve said before, freedom comes in layers, so never settle for the layer you find yourself in.
~ Jeff Turner

Faith for walking on water starts with realizing you do not have to try to get out of the boat but understanding that all the Faith of God is already in you! In the beginning God gave us Total Dominion over the earth. If we are always trying to see whether or not it is true instead of simply believing what God already said, then we will fail. His Faith is our Faith; we do not wait for it to grow; we use it!
~ Tim Heart

Tim Heart: All the faith of God is already in you!

I urge anyone reading this to ponder it very deeply. Truth is true even if no one ‘gets it’! RJS

Buddhism says “do the eight-fold path”
Islam says “do the five pillars and live a righteous life”
Hinduism says “adhere to the four yogas”
Judaism says “live by the Law of Moses”
Mormonism says “get baptized and fulfill the church ordinances”
The Watchtower says “serve and obey Jehovah for assurance of salvation”
Roman Catholicism says “do the seven sacraments”
Protestant legalism says “make Jesus Lord of your life and promise to turn from sin”

Jesus says “DONE”. Just believe and receive….”

[If the work of Jesus is finished, why is there a need to believe and receive?
There was an urgent need for belief when the country was in imminent danger at the time of Jesus and the apostles’ preaching before the utter destruction of Jerusalem. But what is the imminent danger now?]

Simon Yap

A CONVERSATION WITH CHUCK Chuck Crisco RE. SALVATION & UNIVERSALISM
Robin Starbuck : Chuck, I wonder if you could clarify an issue: Could you tell me which, if any, of these three sentences is accurate:
■ Salvation for everyone came at the cross but that generation of people in Jerusalem in AD70 were not included because THEY adamantly clung to Old Covenant law. …?
■ Salvation for everyone came at the cross but that generation of people in Jerusalem in AD70 were not included because God/Jesus/Father was acting according to Old Covenant law. …?
■ Salvation for all began at AD70. …?

Chuck Crisco: Great question Robin Starbuck. Depends on which use of the word salvation one is using. If you mean was everyone included in Christ at the cross, and was everyone spiritually “saved” as in Eph. 2, the answer is absolutely. Paul’s use of “saved” in that chapter says it happened for every human being where we were ALL included and joined to Christ so that his new life became humanities new life, his resurrection, ascension, being seated, etc. was objectively everyones WHEN it happened to Christ. When he says, Saved by grace, through faith, and that not of yourselves” he is talking about Christ’s faith, not ours. Christ’s faith was God’s gift to us. He included us in Christ so that Christ’s faith counted on our behalf. (in chapter 4 he says that is ONE faith (meaning Christ’s) regarding forever-heaven, etct.
BUT those who did not believe, stayed under the old, even though they were objectively free from it.
So when you see passages that seem to talk about many are called but few are chosen, or “few there are that find it”, those ALL refer to the fact that God promised he would save (different use) a remnant of Jews out of that last old covenant generation. He promised to rescue some from the coming wrath OF THE LAW on the city, and the system.
But it is sort of like us saying today that you are saved and “going to heaven” BUT there is a tornado coming that will destroy your city, or maybe your cult church. So God sends Jesus to save HIS people (the Jews) from THEIR sins (that would cause them to stay in the city). But while he has forgiven them… they ignore it and run headlong into the judgment that was promised.
I know that is not a perfect illustration. But because we don’t differentiate between the two (saved from the wrath of the Law that was coming) and saved- eternal going to heaven, all inclusive adoption of all humanity into the God-head… where he takes away the sin (singular, not plural, meaning the power that separates) of the whole world, people don’t know the difference often.
Did that make sense, or does that just cloud it up even more? Have you read this article?
http://www.anewdaydawning.com/…/which-saved-are-you…

Sonny Floyd Cutler: So good, pastor!

Robin Starbuck: Your very thoughtful and informative response, Chuck, did in fact clear up a number of things for me and left me wondering more than ever how we, as educators, can change the world’s screwed up notion of what universalism is and isn’t. It’s almost as vulgar as the unfortunate adjective I used! I’ve read your blog with great interest several times, searching for a way to force people to understand that we are not what their heavy, religion-laden, and wrong notions of the “U” word are. We just want everyone to celebrate their total God-given freedom now. But if they don’t believe it exists, then it almost doesn’t for them. I’m especially interested in ESL people and how to usher them through that paralyzing ‘U’ block. It’s really a beautiful word with a beautiful, all-inclusive meaning. Thank you again, Chuck Crisco for your kind response. May I copy and share it?

Sonny Floyd Cutler: I asked chuck what the “u” word meant a few weeks ago because I’ve also heard it defined as many things. I guess that’s why I don’t like labels. Someone’s perception of Universalism might be different than mine.

Robin Starbuck You may not like labels, Sonny, but I HATE labels! Lol. They’re so cruel and … well …. wrong!
Nathan de Vries: Funny to label labels wrong [tongue emoticon!]
Robin Starbuck: Lol ol
Robin Starbuck: BTW, the link that I was trying to establish between my original 3-part question and the need to rescue universalism is that if any of the 3 choices above were accurate, it would show that NOT ALL were included, ergo, no universalism!

I have wonderful news – Creflo is listening to (reading) us! He’s got it right too: “Hermaneutics is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially of scriptural text.”

Creflo cares what we have to say ♡ ♡ ♡ . When you read the Bible, you need to be aware of who is speaking and to whom. That’s content. You need to be aware of the time frame – 2,000 years ago. And you need to know about the Jewish, Roman and Greek cultures. All of that’s context and it’s all relevant.

Creflo explains all of this very clearly and with dignity: We need to be alert when we quote the Bible. It sometimes quotes Job, and Elias, and even Satan!

We live in God. He lives in us. Omigoodness, what else do you want?

Give up any and ALL r-e-l-i-g-i-o-u-s ritual. Throw it out, and just be quiet and listen to God. Period.