Do not get drunk with wine – NOR with the Holy Spirit.

Eph 5:18-21
And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart,  giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,  submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
ESV

This scripture is often taken and added to Acts 2:13 But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

From this is brought a theology that we should seek to get drunk on the Holy Spirit. But is this a reasonable teaching to draw from these two verses.

Let me give a few bullet points to shed doubt on the teaching of drunkenness and then expand a little.

1. Jesus never got drunk on the Holy Spirit and He is our example.

2. We have two and only two verses to support the teaching.

3. Rom 12:3 tells us to think with SOBER judgement – that you cannot do when drunk.

4. 1 Thess 5:6-8 So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober…

5. So we have two scriptures for being drunk and two for sober. The second sober scripture expressly says that we are of the day and do not get drunk. Here Paul could have done what John Crowder would definitely do and encourage what he calls Holy Spirit drunkenness. BUT Paul does not.

So, what can we conclude. Well, in Acts it was only the mockers who accused them of drinking. So not a credible witness group. Peter then says in verse 15 that they are NOT drunk. Again, Crowder and others would be shouting to Peter – TELL THEM ABOUT BEING DRUNK IN THE SPIRIT. But Peter was silent on this. I think it only reasonable to conclude that Peter did not say it because he did not believe or practice it!

In fact, if you compare a video of one of these drunken preachers in action with Peter, it is clear that there is no comparison. Peter was not drunk on anything. He was sober and rational. He spoke clearly with logic and argument and by the power of the Spirit.

So this first scripture clearly disowns the holy drunken teaching.

Then look at Eph 5:18. On examination it becomes clear that the sentence started in verse 18 does not end there. It goes on all the way to verse 21.

Verses 19-21 explain the behaviour Paul is instructing as an ALTERNATIVE to going out to get hammered. It is clear to an impartial reader that this is an ALTERNATIVE not an EQUIVALENT.

To clarify, I could say to my teenage son – don’t go out on the piss tonight – go to the football game. Or go get a nice meal and take in a movie.

I am not telling him to get drunk on football or food. Not even to get drunk on a movie! I am clearly giving him alternatives. Alternatives that will give him pleasure fulfilment and satisfaction. At the football match he may even act in some ways similar to drunkenness. Showing excitement and strong emotion. But it is altogether different.

In the same way, being filled with the Spirit of God is altogether different from getting drunk.

Two people can go out for an evening. One to get bladdered/hammered/pissed/slaughtered etc. The other to enjoy a few beers or maybe some good wine.

For the one the alcohol really doesn’t matter. It’s just a means to the end of getting drunk. To the other the alcohol is everything and if they happen to get drunk, it is just a side effect not a goal.

This travesty of ‘Christian’ teaching, encouraging ‘drunken’ behaviour, is doing the former. It makes the pleasure of being drunk the goal and the means to it just something to be used. It places all the emphasis on the effect, not the Effector. That in itself should make us suspicious.

Now, why did Jesus have the Holy Spirit. Acts 10:38 says the result of God being with Jesus was that he went around doing good healing all oppressed of the devil. It fails to mention that Jesus was in a drunken stupor whilst doing it!

Luke 4:18-19 tells why the Spirit was upon Jesus. In essence to do good to people. It does NOT say that the Spirit was on Jesus do he could dance around and have a drunken party.

We should be like Jesus and use the gift of God the same way Jesus did. Sure we’ll get excited sometimes.  We’ll laugh and cry and rejoice. We may even act a bit wild or exuberant sometimes. But these are a symptom of the joy inside us at seeing God’s Kingdom come on earth.

I suggest that if Jesus intended us to enjoy drunkenness as a key value, then it would have warranted a short phrase in the Lord’s Prayer. This covers all the key issues of our lives, but is silent on this doctrine. NO this is not the linchpin of my argument – just a minor addition bit of evidence.

The 1 Thess 5:6-8 should be the final nail in the coffin of this teaching as it takes the issue of drunkenness, exactly as Eph 5:18 does – and shows clearly that we are not of those, as drunkenness is of the night and we are of the day – so be SOBER. Again, were this teaching true, Paul would have not told us to be SOBER but to be DRUNK on the christian equivalent of booze.

Now, if we remember that one of the names for the devil is Leviathan, which is the twisting serpent and that the first time we meet this serpent in the bible it twists the words of God, we will be on the lookout always for religious teachings – teachings that have the appearance of being good – but are actually twistings of the bible. And this will SCREAM out to us as a twisting.

Why? Well, drunkenness is listed by Paul in Gal 5:19-21 as one of the works of the flesh. Something which wil prevent those who practice it from inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven.

So, let’s see how many of the works of the flesh can be substituted into Eph 5:18 and sound good.

Do not be sexually immoral, but enjoy sexual relations with the Holy Spirit.

Do not gossip, but gossip with the Holy Spirit.

Do not be debauched, but get debauched on the Holy Spirit.

Do not envy, but envy in the Holy Spirit.

Do not have orgies, but have Holy Spirit orgies.

Do not have dissensions, but have dissensions with the Holy Spirit.

Avoid sorcery, but enjoy Holy Spirit sorcery.

Avoid impurity, but be impure with the Holy Spirit.

Does this make the point? You cannot take works of the flesh and make them ‘good’.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paul’s Thorn in the flesh

What was Paul’s thorn in the flesh? It’s a well kept secret in the church – don’t want too much truth out there spoiling our religion.

We say you’re a pain in the neck. That doesn’t mean discomfort just above the shoulders. In England we say for heavy rain ‘it’s raining cats and dogs’. 1000 years from now some historian may think that we used to have literal dogs and cats falling from the sky!

It’s in the Hebrew culture..

Num 33:55-56
But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell.
Judg 2:3
I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.

Both talking about a people group who are your enemy causing trouble.

So it’s clear that thorn in the flesh or thorn in the side is a Hebrew saying, not to be understood literally.

If we accept that Paul’s thorn in the flesh was a people group who were his enemy it seems clear to me that this was what he called the circumcision party. The religious Jews who were infiltrating the church to bring it back to having to obey Jewish laws.

God said He wouldn’t stop that religious spirit in the church. He wants us to fight it. Why you may ask? Well, Jesus never cast out a religious spirit. He cast out every other kind, but not that. Actually, Satan’s fall when He was Lucifer was a religious fall – he wanted to be worshipped along side God.

Adam and Eve’s fall was also religious. They had been made already like God, but the temptation was that if they ate the fruit they’d BECOME like God. So they wanted by their own works to become that which God had already made them, which is at the heart of religion.

Why are some not healed?

The only explanation you’ll find in the bible is from Mat17 Mark 9. The problem is weak faith in the healer [oligopistia] or in some manuscripts unbelief [apistia]. This unbelief is like the father in the story – Lord I kind of believe (I believe you can do it for other people in other places or at other times, but I am struggling to believe that you can do it right here right no for me). So the meaning of apistia is very close to oligopistia – a weak though willing faith.

Jesus’ offered solution in Mark is prayer – ie bring the boy to Jesus which is what they had done. I haven’t quite figured out how that works for us, as is seems that the prayer still requires the faith that I lacked.

The solution given by Jesus is having the right kind of faith. Faith like a mustard seed. That means faith that may start small, but it is a living growing faith that puts down roots to take nourishment from the soil and leaves to photosynthesise energy from the Son [of God} and grows into a sapling and in time into a strong tree. [Parable of the mustard seed].

This is the only explanation the Holy Spirit chose to put in the bible. The only occasion where this question is asked in the bible. So, though the answer may be unpalatable to some or seem incomplete to others, I cannot find any further explanation in the bible, so I reject all the other answers given.

All of that being said, there were times when it was the faith of the sick person that healed them, not Jesus’ faith. So clearly the faith of the sick person has a part to play. I do suspect that fears or unbeliefs in the sick person could be pulling in the opposite direction of our faith as healers, making it more difficult for us to get the healing into them.

For example, if a person is drowning, thrashing around trying to save themselves, and a lifeguard comes up to save them, the drowning person needs to relax and entrust themselves to the lifeguard.

If they do not, they may prevent the lifeguard getting hold of them to save them.

If the sick person does not trust the healer or has fears about the healing process or what may happen if they’re not healed – or healed, maybe that makes it harder to get them healed.

This opinion has been formed from personal experiences plus stories I have heard told by others.

I put this thought forward like Paul did – I do not say it is from the Lord. It is my opinion, and I think I have some wisdom in it.

Why does it work that when someone is told they need to forgive in order to get healed, healing gets released to them following forgiveness?

I think that it is NOT the forgiving that makes a difference. It is the faith released in the sick person who believes that when they do this they will be healed.

Curry Blake teaches that it is not the method that matters, but faith. Wigglesworth had faith in the method of punching out devils. I say others have faith in the method of looking for roots. They find a root and then faith for healing is released.

The place of persistence in healing ministry

Sometimes persistence is needed when healing does not come so quick. Check Mat 8:24. Jesus spits on a blind man’s eyes, lays hands on him and asks ‘Do you see anything?’ Answer – I see men like trees walking – in other words I have vision but without focus – a partial healing.

Word of Faith teaching would say that Jesus here acted in unbelief!!!! Because the ‘correct’ answer would be for Jesus to tell the man to ‘confess’ a full healing. WOF does not allow a second ‘prayer’ or action. Jesus broke WOF rules here! Jesus did not make a positive confession. He accepted that the man WAS NOT FULLY HEALED.

May I make a plea that when people are not healed, we follow Jesus’ example, not WOF or similar doctrine. According to Jesus, the man was not healed when he was still partially blind. So don’t go around say sick people are already healed, or were ‘healed 2000 years ago’.

Accept, like Jesus did, that they are NOT healed and DO like Jesus did – treat a second time.

Now, Jesus with perfect full grown mustard TREE faith, acted twice. I think therefore we can reasonable expect sometimes to have to act more than twice.

As an example, consider hammering a nail into a wall. The strength and skill of the builder are key to how quickly this nail will go in. So is the weight of the hammer! If the wall is particularly resistant, one may have to hit the nail dozens of times.

I was in a slate mine in North Wales recently. They had to drill holes by hand to place dynamite to get the slate out.

Some holes would take an average 4 hours of solid work to finish, but bigger ones would be 10-12 hours.

Five minutes into the process, progress would be almost impossible to measure and they could give up saying this is having no effect. But it was having a small effect. Persistence in the correct method produced eventual results.

With modern tools and machinery, the same job can now be done in a fraction of the time.

So when you have ministered and think you see no change, it may just be that you cannot measure the change.

Of course, to return to the nail analogy, it does matter that you are hitting the nail! Persistence will not help if you keep missing the nail. And if you are using a screwdriver instead of a hammer, persistence will not help. So it is best to ask the Holy Spirit if you’re using the right tool for the job.

As an example from my ministry experience, I had a woman come to our booth at a New Age Fair. Her problem was back pain. So the first thing I did was check her legs. One was about 3/4″ short/long. So I commanded it to grown. NOTHING. Again. Nothing. So I asked another of the team to help me. Again nothing!

So I got them to stand up, laid hands on the back an commanded healing. Pain reduced. I them got them to sit down again. Legs were still uneven. I commanded growth and almost instantly the leg grew out.

So it seemed that there was an issue to deal with in the back to release the leg to grow,

Later that day another person came with back pain. This time I started on the back. NOTHING. I tried everything that usually works. Nothing. So then I got them to sit. Uneven legs, so I grew out the short leg. It responded quickly and easily.

When she stood up, her pain was a lot less and a command of healing finished the job.

So on this occasion it was the uneven legs that had to be dealt with first!

In both instances I think it would have been pointless ‘persisting’ with the initial treatment.

Conclusion. If one thing isn’t working, try something else. And if all else fails, ask the Holy Spirit to show you how to treat the condition!

 

What were the tithes for that the people of Israel were commanded to offer?

Kazik Kowalski asks the following questions about tithing – questions that you are unlikely to get answers to in many churches – as the conclusion would undermine their cherished theology. And we don’t want to allow the bible to get in the way of our theology, do we?

(1) Why were tithes instigated?
(2) Who had the right to accept the tithes, and under which conditions?
(3) Who had the duty to pay the tithes, and under which conditions?
(4) For what were tithes used?
(5) What effect, if any, does  tithing have on those covered by the New Covenant? Where in the NT does it explain how they should apply the practice of tithing, given that none of the answers to q1-4 can be directly applied to them.
(6) How do standard tithe teachings measure against the Word Standard?

I have not answered each of these directly in this post, but I believe that I answer them through the course of this teaching.

It is not my understanding that tithes were for the temple. They were

1. For the Levites, since they had no land, no income and no inheritance. Num 18:21-22 “To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting

2. For a (possibly drunken) annual celebration where God explicitly gave permission to use the tithe to buy wine and strong drink. Dt 14:22-27.
3. Once every 3 years a tenth of that years produce to feed Levites plus the poor. Dt 14:28-29

So the modern teaching that the tithe should be given to the local church to support all the expense and work of the church has NO linkage to the purpose of the Jewish tithe system.

HOWEVER, there is an interesting warning from Samuel about what will happen if you choose to have a King (Appointed leadership in charge – even if appointed by God). That King will take the tenth of your grain and vineyards and of your flocks. So he will demand a tithe from your capital as well as income. And it will be used to fund his infrastructure and all the staff he appointed to run his Kingdom.
1 Sam 8:10-18

This does sound a little like how church leadership teaches its members today?

As an afterthought, the temple did not exist when tithes were begun. So by definition they could not be given to the temple. It only happened in Solomons day – and it was funded out of offerings not tithes.

On our main purpose

When anyone says that they are making X to do Y, then Y is the primary purpose of X. It may well be that X can be used for other things. It may also be that in time, Y is no longer the main use and Z takes over as primary purpose.

So, in this case X is mankind and Y is to rule over the earth. We can come back to whether there is a Z.

Gen 1:28 is where God gives man his first briefing. Any competent manager [yes I know God is more than a manager, but he is our Boss] will ensure that in the initial brief the main points are covered.

Here the instructions are:

1. Go forth and multiply, which as you say is necessary to the scale of the task. Humans have done this rather well. Christians in most parts of the world are rather poor though.

2. Replenish the earth and subdue it.

3. have dominion over all living things and the earth itself.

This is God’s explanation to man of his purpose. Y.

One of the things creeping on the earth was the serpent, the devil, so the rule / have dominion over the devil and, by implication, his works, is built into the primary purpose as stated by God.

Note that nowhere here does God mention worship. Which does not render worship as unnecessary, but does clearly not include it in Y.

Why did / does the earth need to be replenished and subdued? It was made good, and by the time man was made it was very good.

You only replenish things that have been depleted or used up and subdue things that are in rebellion or out of control.

So what is the outworking of point 2?

Farming would be one – watering the land where rain is lacking. But why is there lack of rain? Because of sin coming into the world and the devils actions.

But one of Jesus’ big priorities in his mission was healing (Luke 10:38 plus all the stories of healings). Much sickness is due to the body wearing out – disk problems, heart conditions, loss of eyesight/hearing. So replenishing those things on the earth means healing those sick.

What is in rebellion or out of control? Much. Why is it so? The overall teaching of the bible seems to say that the devil is behind most trouble on this earth, or people infested with his demons. John 10:10 and the demon possessed man in Luke 8:30 would be two examples to show this.

Therefore i conclude that attacking the devil and his works is at the heart of the initial command in Gen 1:26. I say that it is consistent with Luke 4:18-19 – the reason Jesus gives for the Spirit being on him. Who are the oppressed and captives and what oppresses and en-captures them? I suggest that this is clearly talking about sicknesses that oppress and trap people, plus devils that need casting out.

So this Luke 4:18-19 is totally consistent with Peter’s description of the life of Jesus in Acts 10:38.

Also it is consistent with the instructions Jesus gave to the 12 and 72. Go,heal the sick, raise the dead cleanse lepers cast out devils and preach good news to the poor. Freely you have received freely give.

Jesus did not say that he was given the Spirit to facilitate worship.

One of the last things Jesus spoke was John 20:21-22 As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you. 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

So we are sent exactly the same way as Jesus was sent. And given the same Spirit for the same purpose. Not for worship but for doing good to those who need God’s love and help.

I suggest that you cold summarise Luke 4:18-19, Mat 10:8 Luke 10:38 as replenishing people whose lives are depleted due to the devil’s work and subduing his attacks on people.

Thus these verses are totally consistent as outworkings of Gen 1:26,28 and the main purpose of Jesus’ three years was to do these things. Clearly, the ultimate main purpose of Jesus’ life was the cross – to defeat the devil, enable salvation by his death and healing of sickness at the whipping post (Is 53:6). And his main purpose, based on the information in the gospels, seems to have been to outwork this and preach the gospel of the kingdom.

If we are to be like him and sent like him, how can we be different.

Has our main purpose been changed to Z – Z being to worship God?

First, I know of no scripture to say it has.
Second, the rhetoric above, which I trust is much less weak that the original précis, demonstrates clearly that doing the works of the Kingdom and overcoming the devil was Jesus’ No 1 priority, and thus remains ours.

On a final note, if someone has totally fulfilled their primary purpose, but failed to address their secondary tasks, that is always excusable.

‘I am sorry I did not do thus and thus, but i was concentrating on my main job’.

So as long as we spend most of our waking life in worship and enjoying God’s presence, doing all the other things is relatively unimportant and living as a hermit would be a viable option.

Is tithing still for Christians.

We need to establish some ground rules before discussing this.

1. The Old Testament is written to Jews and is the Jewish scripture. It may still apply to Christians, but we have to ask whether the teaching of Jesus or Paul changed and whether the cross changed it.

2. If the bible teaches something, we have to take it precisely as taught. We cannot modify it to suit our tradition without scripture clearly changing it.

For example consider the Sabbath. That is defined as Friday evening to Saturday evening. If one wishes to observe the Sabbath, that is when it must be done. So when christians observe ‘their Sabbath’ on a Sunday, that cannot be legitimate without a scripture changing the day of Sabbath – and there is none.

So, if we are to teach tithing, it either needs to be that which was given to the Jews and done exactly as the Jews did it, or we need New Testament scripture to support a change.

What is the Old Testament rules on tithing?

1. 10% of your growth is given to support the Levites who have no inheritance, no property and no other source of income. The full time priests.

2. A second 10% is put aside throughout the year for a feast. Dt 14:22-28. This money is to be used to purchase whatever your heart ‘lusteth for’ KJV – including wire or strong drink. So God endorses and approves the drinking of strong alcohol in a religious feast to celebrate himself. Bit of a problem for the teetotal ‘christian’.

3. The tithe belongs to the Lord, all the balance belongs to the one who tithes.

So how do these stack up against New Testament teaching?

1. There is no mandate anywhere to give this tithe to anyone but the Jewish Levites. Nowhere does the NT say that this is to be transferred to a local church. Actually, in the NC we are all priests, so if anything, we could be the recipients of our own tithes.

BUT there is no basis to tithe to the Synagogue (church). Synagogue was always funded out of offerings.

Thus tithing to your local church has no NT mandate and is not obeying the Old Covenant.

2. For some reason this tithe is never taught by the church!

3. In the New Covenant we are bought with a price 1 Cor 6:20. None of who we are or what we have is ours any more. 100% already belongs to God. We have died with Christ in baptism Rom 6:4 and dead people don’t own anything. How can we give to God that which is already his, unless we take back ownership of the balance, thus denying the New Covenant.

Acts 2:44-46 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

This early believers attitude to their possessions goes far beyond mere tithing.

So there is no basis for christians to adopt and modify the Jewish practice of tithing, unless we can find some teaching in the NT.

In Acts 15 Paul has taken his gospel of grace to the leaders of the church. His message is that gentiles are required to have faith in Jesus, not to obey the law of Moses or and Jewish laws. They Council of Jerusalem makes the following declaration.

Acts 15:23-29
the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. 24 Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, 25 it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26  men who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. 28 For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: 29  that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.”

What is totally clear from this is that they did NOT decide to include tithing and something to impose on the gentiles. When Paul reports on this incident in Gal 2:10 he reports that ‘they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do’. Note that remembering the poor is NOT part of the tithe as commonly taught in christian churches.

But it is clear from these two scriptures that tithing to a church in NOT for gentiles. Giving to the poor is.

In other places Paul asks people to make gifts and says each should decide what to give, without compulsion and give willingly and cheerfully.

In all the the NT from Acts to Revelation you cannot find a single reference to tithing or given 10% of anything.

From all this it is clear that christians do not tithe and the church tradition is just that – an unbiblical tradition.

 

Some will say that whilst tithing was never imposed on believers, 10% is a minimum standard. However, there is not a single scripture that says this, so it has the status of unbiblical tradition.

Jesus did endorse tithing at least once in his ministry, but that was speaking to Jews who tithed and Jesus said then that the law remained in place ‘until all is accomplished’. We now know that he was referring by that to the cross when he said ‘it is finished’. So tithing was still in place for JEWS during the life of Jesus. But we’re not Jews and Jesus has died and risen..

Abraham tithed before the law. Yes, once and once only. You cannot use something done once to support a teaching to do the same thing throughout your life and again, you need scripture to prove that Abraham was our example. There is none.

Of course, if someone wants to be part of an institutional church with leaders and expenses, then like any other club, it’s fair for them to pay membership fees. It is morally wrong to take all the benefits of a church and not expect to pay your share. But that is not tithing and those institutions never existed in the early church.

 

 

 

 

On fasting – another blast at a sacred cow.

Where in the NT does it say that fasting is to boost your prayer life or actually that fasting is for anything.

All of this is a massive sacred cow that is yet to be properly destroyed.

In Mat 9.15 Jesus says that you cannot fast without mourning and you cannot mourn when he is with you. He will never leave us. Do the maths.

If you have an addiction to something, it may be necessary to abstain from it to break the addiction. For example chocolate or gluttony. If you wish to abstain from food to break a habit of over-eating, then that’s fine because Paul says that we do don’t allow anything to be our master.

But check Col 2:16-23. It demolishes fasting.

Col 2:21 “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch”

and the kicker:

Col 2:23 These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

Note rules like fasting have an APPEARANCE of WISDOM.

But

They HAVE NO VALUE TO STOPPING….THE FLESH.

So teaching that we fast to overcome our flesh is against the NT! AND – there is not a single NT scripture that says it is.

In the Sermon on the mount – addressed to unbelievers – Jesus says what they should do when they fast – at a time when his disciples were not allowed to fast.

Twice in Acts it is recorded that fasting is done – but that’s a narrative, not a teaching. Maybe they got it wrong by fasting – other mistakes were made by them and the bible is never shy of recording mistakes.

CONCLUSION – If you can find me a single scripture that instructs a New Creation son of God to fast and explains how and why, I will start to think about it. If stop I hope we stop trying to give life to this dead tradition of men by inventing reasons to fast that are not in the bible.

On Fasting – or not fasting

Mark 2:19-20 As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

Note CANNOT. That is an absolute word. The only get out clause allowing you to fast is if the bridegroom is not with you. But Mat 28:20 does not allow that option.

So why do teachers seem determined to find excuses to keep teaching us to fast? It is beyond me. There is not a single verse in the NT teaching anything about wither how or why to fast.

Matt 9:15 Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?

Here Jesus gives an absolute link between fasting and mourning.

It could be you’re fasting as a consequence of mourning and therefore don’t need to fast, because you will not mourn.

Or it could be that you cannot fast without mourning accompanying it.

If you want to reject Jesus teaching here – where else in the NT do you base your teachings?

“We fast to kill our carnal body” they teach – but never with any scripture to back it up!

Get your theology from the bible people. Please.

Does God share His glory with us?

God has said, “I will not give My glory to another.” This scripture is taken by many and twisted out of its context to make many other scriptures a lie.

I recently saw the following quote which prompted my writing of this blog:

“Now get this clear: the vessel never becomes the liquid, nor the liquid the vessel. I add this because we humans are so proud that there creeps into us the idea that we can be deified. That is blasphemy. There is no such thing as self-deification, except that of Satan, the pseudo-God, and what we share with him. The divine can dwell in the human, but forever the human is the human and the divine the divine. God has said, “I will not give My glory to another.” That is the vital importance of the vessel illustration: we are forever the container; He is that which we contain. That relationship never changes.+ Norman Grubb – The Key to Everything

Moses’ face shone so bright with the glory of God that he had to wear a veil [Ex 34:29-34]. God seems to be happy to share his glory with Moses. Then we have John 17:22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them. Jesus (God) giving His glory to us.

What is the verse quoted above? Is 48:11. But what is the context? From verse 1 God is talking about the things he did. Then he says in verse 5 I declared them to you from of old,
before they came to pass I announced them to you,
lest you should say, ‘My idol did them,
my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’

So here the contrast is between saying God did it or my idol did it.

Clearly the idol is the ‘another’ God will not give his glory to.

Then we have Is 42:8
I am the Lord; that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to carved idols.

Again clearly talking about giving his glory to idols.

Now consider Is 60:2
For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will be seen upon you.

God’s glory will be seen upon us – maybe it’s just lent to us and not given?

Another scripture to consider is Rom 8:16-17 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be GLORIFIED with him.

Now let’s consider if we remain mere human. John 1:12 those who believe are given the right to become sons of God, NOT born of flesh but of Spirit. 2 Cor 5:17 we are a new species that had never existed before – so by definition not human since that is a species that HAS existed.

And not mere container separate from the content – 1 Cor 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

So we are in Christ – 2 Cor 5:17 again calls us IN Christ – so He is the container and we are the contained, yet Col 1:27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

So He is in us, we’re in Him and we’ve so joined with him that the two can never be separated.

And yet again, we have Christ in US our hope of glory – clearly the glory of God being given to us – unless we claim that the Christ in us has first been stripped of His glory!!!

 

2 Cor 3:18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Here Paul is remembering Moses’ face shining with the glory of God. It comes from the Lord, so God is doing this – transforming us into the image of the glory of God in an increasing way.

I am NOT forever a container – I am forever a son of God.