…whose god is their belly”

Phillipians 3:18-19

(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)

From ancient Hebrew we understand that the anatomy of the human body is used to "allegorize" the basic mental and physical attributes of humanity. The “belly” in the scripture above refers to the seat of the emotional and instinctive parts of the human psyche (the stomach is the source of physical life, the intestines the instincts, the kidneys are the seat of emotions, etc. All these organs are in the belly). This includes things such as need, lust and desire. It also includes emotional responses to the things that give rise to our learned “tastes” that come from experience. That means the root of addictions lies in what the Hebrew mind referred to as “the belly”. The Biblical use of "belly" is to describe that which comes forth. One concrete use is the birth of a child that comes forth out of the belly. In many cases the use of "belly" is allegorical. Therefore, anything associated with the belly will be transformed into something in the character of the individual, or concretely into their life.

If that is the case in this reference, then it is possible to understand further what the Apostle was writing to us about

The phrases in this passage suggest to us carnality as a way of thinking. The behavior of such a person will become distasteful to others because of habitual craving for things. Lest we think that this is related only to drugs or alcohol, it must be pointed out that it relates to any addicting thing. It does not have to be foodstuffs or any other material consumable. It can be anything related to the emotional context as well.

A short list of these will bring to mind the power that this phenomenon has over people.

We can start with the obvious:

-Drugs that affect the psyche
-Foods that affect the psyche including intense flavorings or over consumption as a response to the psychological discomfort of hunger, or as a simple lust for variety.
-Mind altering environmental factors such as music or even vocal chanting
-Stimuli: such as sexual ones, or egotistically inflating ones, or any other form of
gratification, especially self gratification.
-Athletic challenges which give a sense of command to the individual where physical skill or strength produces the euphoria associated with self-reliance and self-ability to overcome.

to the more subtle:
Recent research suggests that many young people are completely addicted to gaming because they can win often. This produces the same chemical responses in the brain that winning a major goal in life would cause. The result is that young people who are naturally impatient and without resources are now able to receive the psychological gratification of winning. This boosts the ego and supports self-importance internally while reducing or eliminating the responsibility associated with the real gaining of personal ground. This then results in irresponsible behavior.

Research also points out that a chemical stimulus in the brain is responsible for the triggering of energy bursts, emotional outbursts, and feeling of superiority or self-aggrandizement and is a result of certain types of music. This stimulus can be so intense as to elicit physical changes and in the mentality of the individual over time.

This leads us to the following realization: sensuality is larger in scope and meaning than just sexual responses and desires. Sensuality includes all of the psychological needs for stimuli from any addicting phenomenon.

One of the most important and effective sources of sensuality for virtually any age group is television and it’s originator, the movie. This form of stimulus is so pervasive and so intense that there is little hope of spontaneous recovery. It takes more than 20 days of complete abstinence before the struggle to avoid it begins to diminish. The combination of sound, visual stimulus and story line produce the greatest non-chemical narcotic available today. Demonstrations of non-sensuous material, even Bible oriented material, can lead to over-stimulation and sensuality. In this fashion it is possible to avoid negative material and propaganda but still be addicted to the source.

This lust to satisfy the mental addiction of entertainment is from your "belly". The attempt to obtain both material and time to use in this fashion costs the home many thousands of dollars in equipment and materials, and untold costs in terms of time.

The important thing to recognize about sensuality is that it can come from a variety of sources and is caused by several different mechanisms; but because of the effect in the brain, it is a powerful mechanism and is entirely addicting. According to the Apostle Paul this makes us an enemy to the cross of Christ. What that means is that our life is not a testament to the saving Grace of God. We are an open epistle read of all men, and the story is not about salvation:

Rom 16:17
Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.
For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple

The effects of sensuality are described clearly in the epistles. It is important to note specific things about the sensual:

Jude 17-19
But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;
How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.


James 3:13-17
Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.
But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish.
For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

The sensual person cannot display godly wisdom, cannot avoid contention, and will not be a partaker of the fellowship of other Christians. The sensual person is marked. Their walk is after the things they are addicted to, that they are placing above God. The result is clear to everyone who observes the life of such people. We are warned to stay away from such as they will be the deceitful mockers of Jesus Christ and all that follow Him, given the opportunity.

On the other hand, the person who is not sensual will have the meekness of true wisdom from above. They will not be forward and will not be self-willed. The spiritual minded person will attempt to foster understanding, cooperation, and will portray the other characteristics listed by James: being first pure (not deceitful), peaceable and gentle, full of mercy and good fruits (good works and success in ministering to others) fair and not hypocritical in their lifestyle.

James is clear about one important point: where sensuality is, every other devilish work will eventually be found.

Sensuality is the gateway where those who will loose their salvation may pass, initially.

Fasting is a mechanism for diminishing the effects of the “belly”. An overwhelming stimulus to eat begins after a few hours without food. It is necessary to stop this “belly” response in order to accentuate your connection with heaven and disconnect from the instinctive drive to eat. It is necessary to exert control over the stomach which attempts to use your psyche against you to provide the nourishment the body craves. Being willing to not listen to the craving of your system for the things that spring from your “belly” makes it possible to sense what springs from the river of living water, which may have been displaced to the background when we wander from the path we should be following.

I believe that we are commanded to fast, in part, to show that we can control the instinctive and addictive urges within us. Knowing that you can control, at least for a time, the addictions of carnal nature will produce in you the desire to shun other addictive behavior because you sense an increase in spiritual contact with heaven. The Bible declares we are given power over sin, and this must include addictive things.

John 7:37 -39
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

Jesus said that “out of your belly will flow rivers of living water”. This is another application of the word "belly" to indicate the effect of the rivers of living water. This is terminology from Judaism, where water is a reference to the Messiah (that which comes from above) and indicates the real meaning of the phrase. This living water will satisfy all physical need for the things that were previously fulfilled by sensuality; including any type of psychological crutch or addiction. All carnality is replaced with the power of this salvation. The "River of Living Water" is in sufficient supply so that you will not ever run out; that which prevents the stimuli from your carnal nature overtaking you will always be available, and an excess provided to you that can be directed toward others.

Power over addictive behavior is the blessing of salvation. Jesus addressed this particular point in His declaration that we could be free indeed from the lusts and addictions of carnal human nature when we are saved.

Pressures of Life

I am not currently active on this blog for several important reasons. I have not had a moment to even consider writing what God has put in my heart to place on this page. I have been writing it down, but not taking the time to fill it all out just yet.

After October the first, I will return to actively writing on this page. Until then, I think the following link is important enough for all of us to read and ponder, for the message is crystal clear and extremely important.

The point is at the end, and believe me this is an excellent example of the meaning of service.

God Bless

Place a copy of this link in your web browser. It will take only a few minutes to read.

http://www.eielson.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123111092

Today has been a good day...

I went to work, taught my classes, and came home. I have talked with my daughter about a pet turtle, and even went to PETCO to look at several. She really wants a pet to take care of.

I have prayed today, and God was never far from my mind. Even though I was talking about thermodynamics and other physics-like subjects with students, my mind was not really altogether on my subject matter.

I did not really notice the time that went by today. It seemed to be a hazy experience, like being in the Dentist chair breathing gas- you go through all the motions and even respond correctly to questions, but the experience seems insular. I know I talked to students, and even gave advice on changing classes for a student.

Nothing today was different from yesterday, except that my mind has been working without my permission on a different problem. A different drum beat is sounding in my ears today. My heart has been changed somehow without a good medical reason.

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon going to a facility that cares for the elderly and the infirm.

I helped with the Nursing Home ministry Sunday afternoon, and I met a few people. We sang songs, and I spoke for a few minutes about the salvation brought to man by God that, even though the heavens and Earth would pass away, would never be abolished. Then I spoke about the need for salvation and how salvation can be had easily through obedience to the Word of God. After telling the group about Peter’s instructions for salvation, we closed the service.

Afterward, a man sitting in the very back asked to be baptized. We talked with him, and as he was very elderly, carefully explained repentance and baptism to him. He insisted that he needed to be baptized.

So, yesterday the Pastor and I checked this man out of the facility, brought him to the church and baptized him in Jesus Name.

This gentleman is very aged, and suffering from senility to a degree. He was a helpless individual with no future to speak of. He could not dress himself or get around. Carrying on a conversation was difficult. His time left on Earth may be short. Yet he adamantly wanted to be baptized. He said he wanted all that God had for him.

As he went down in the water, he was focused on the process of holding his nose and breath. When he came out of the water, there was a pronounced change in the look of his countenance and he was emotionally stirred. He said “in the name of Jesus”. He was so happy, and quietly went with me back to the car for the ride back to the home. When I witnessed the change in this man, at the same moment a change occurred in me also.

He listened and obeyed the Word, just as a small child would. He simply accepted what he heard and obeyed.

I have had a good day not because everything is the same, but because everything is different.

I have constantly wondered how this man has been faring, and how the other residents are doing at the nursing home. I have stopped several times today and asked God to care for this man and his needs. I wonder right now how he has done today. I have known this man a total of 48 hours.

What, you may ask, is so profound?

God has answered a prayer today.

My heart is totally changed, completely switched around. I have not worried about work or bills or even food. But I have constantly been thinking about how our newest convert is faring. How the folks at the home are doing.

You might be curious about my mental state right now, but I am fine. Never better.

You see, I have been praying that God would open my heart and fill it with compassion and care for the lost as much as possible. I asked Him to let me “see with His eyes” when I look at people. Just one time, just so I can sense the need of people and feel a small portion of the love that God gives to us.

I now realize that God allowed me to meet this fellow at the nursing home, and help get him to the church, and He let me see the change in his life in order to let me “see”. It has taken me a day to figure it out, but there is no doubt. I cannot shake the feeling in my heart. I cannot get the image of that change in the face of this man out of my mind. I feel such an intense desire to go back and talk to each one of those folks in the home. To find out how they are doing. Is all well with them today?

I think I know to a small degree how God sees a lost soul, and how He is concerned. A small measure no doubt, but enough. I am changed forever.

Strength from Weakness. Unity from Diversity.

As I sit here tonight thinking about the kingdom of God and my opportunity to be in it, I have decided that there is a strange connection between me and everyone else in the kingdom with me.

Consider that each of us is so different. I am a small person with a small life; I am not powerful or terribly skilled and I have no inheritance on this Earth. I am limited in thinking ability and vision; even though I have tried to expand my horizons, I am terribly limited.

I look to my left or right and I see similar people, entirely similar yet different. We all hail from wildly different backgrounds and have tasted defeat and shame and maybe only a little success as far as our society would estimate. Many of us have had the test of time upon us and have failing parts connected in the same fashion, while others have yet to taste time and run around with boundless energy with no particularly useful point in mind.

I have skin of a particular type, while my brother standing next to me has another type. He likes certain types of food, and I appreciate another. My musical tastes are not really quite like yours, I am certain. In the workplace this demographic can lead to small and isolated groups who do not work effectively.

So what is it that makes me want to find my place next to you in a worship service, work along side you in the Spanish ministry, toil to help in a kitchen or just encourage our neighbor? Why am I anxious if you miss a service and no one knows why?

Why do I concern myself that you are having a hard time with your rent, or that another of you has a child in trouble, or that young person over there is in need of a mentor? Why do I care that your Aunt has cancer and wake myself early in the morning to pray for this stranger?

How can such a mishmash of weak human diversity ever be used of God or be useful in the kingdom of God?

What causes us to work together in any way, small or large, to affect any thing in God’s plan to find the hurting and the halt? We are all wholly ineffectual taken alone.

Unity.

We are all tied together by the hope within us. We are all seeking the same thing. We all want to find God in our lives everyday so that we can hear Him say “well done”. We gladly throw ourselves at His feet, right next to each other, elbow to elbow, so that we can find His presence in our lives. “Where two or three are gathered together…”

He gives the weak strength.

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with
wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. (Isa. 40:29-31)

Inroducing...

This is my grandson Joshua. I have shown this photo to everyone at church and at work who would hold still. Now I am providing this image to you so that you can see for yourself how engaging and charming my grandson must be. Resist if you can.

For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes. Psalms 119:83.


During the days of the ancients, when traveling across the wilderness in search of pasture or water, the family resided in a woven goat-hair facility; a tent. Several scriptural references resort to simile and analogy based on the tent. When God spoke to Isaiah in chapter 40 verse 22 he was alluding to the phenomenon of seeing star-like points of light in the roof in the daylight, just as the stars are arrayed in the outside sky at night. This passage uses the and as a way to connect two statements conveying the same idea. So the sentence after the semicolon is repeated using synonyms:

It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

The goat-hair weave of the tent roof would keep out water because the fibers swell when wet. The roof would allow ventilation when dry and this was important as well.

Drinking water, milk or wine was kept in a skin with one end plugged, usually by a small end of a horn or other hard material. When inside the family home, the bottle hung from a tent pole, and inside the tent was an open fire. Since the tent was made of woven goat hair, no chimney was used. Often the top part of the tent was filled with smoke from the fire.

The animal skin would, over time, pick up the residue of the smoke that would ruin the taste of the fluids kept inside. Eventually, the skin would shrivel up and harden, becoming useless.

The day comes when you also seem pretty much useless. Having a bad day is a fairly common event for the “grasshoppers” that inhabit the earth. In fact, God writes that He sees our inability and remembers we are just “dust”.

There are many who suffer physical debilitation because of accident and aging. Disease can turn you into a useless “water skin” as far as the eye can tell. David knows this well. His statement in the title passage tells about his experience with the impact of the decay of a human body.

Remember God’s statutes. God is faithful to remember them. One of those statutes is important to remember when you feel like a smoke damaged water skin.

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. (Isaiah 40:28,29)


The Psalmist is telling of the ruin that all people will have in life, yet he is encouraging you to maintain your integrity with God and remember “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” Sometimes, at the weakest points in our life, God makes even a small smile from you blow open the doors of hope for some hapless “grasshopper” without a chance for help in the whole world, because you exert HIS strength.

What, Wrong Already? Part 2

The Orthodox Church (founded in the book of Acts of the Apostles) suffered attack immediately upon its formation. The Apostles worked with the churches scattered about the region by writing epistles which included an effort to refute and warn against this heretical attack on the doctrine of the Apostles. Sound doctrine was established by these letters and they have in turn informed us of the proper message to follow. There is very little of that “Orthodox” Church left in the modern religious world today. Most of modern religion espouses a corrupted and heretical theology when compared to the text of the N.T. There are churches who claim they are “Orthodox”, but the meaning of that word defies the application. The leaven of the Pharisees has had it's effect through the age of Christianity.

Any change in the way God related to man over the ages was initiated by God and not by man. When a change occurs, we are informed by the Word of God and not the whim of man. Changes that will occur in the future have already been described in the Bible for us so that we may know what to expect and how to respond accordingly.

That the post-apostolic writers were writing after the ancient language concepts had fallen from common usage is clear in this regard. They were writing from a Greek translation of the Biblical texts of their time and in a more modern societal frame of reference. As they were clearly not inspired of God to write these things, which try to change how God and man are to interface, we can regard the post-apostolic era as a theologically error-ridden period in which the history of man changed the face of Christianity through Greco-Roman logic, and law but did not improve our understanding of the true nature of God. Jesus also criticized the Pharisees of adding to the word of God and destroying the original traditions of the law by the uninspired legal rationalizations of the written Talmudic tradition (the mishna is the oral tradition). A large part of the hatred by the ruling Jews for Christians was this disregard for their Talmudic and kabalistic tradition. In this present age, any group who promotes the fundamental Apostles doctrine in the original form is likewise brought into disrepute and hatred.

Careful examination of the apostolic creed (initially published by an African lawyer, Tertullian) produced during this era, and those creeds written after it, show no concrete language at all. The words used are all abstract and give no real understanding in any basic way of who God is. It has led to confusion and great strife, not only among Protestants and Catholics, but within the Jewish religious community and individuals of Islamic background as well. The Torah of the Jews is clearly and rigorously monotheistic.

The passages from the Quran referring to Christianity and Jesus Christ describe great conflict with a theological construct formed in this post-apostolic age of un-enlightenment, the doctrine of the Triune Godhead. Several passages describe Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, as if she were considered part of a pantheon of a triune Godhead. The passages demand that Islam should disregard this status and proclaim that she is a mortal only and that there is only one God: “And when Allah will say: O Isa [Jesus] son of Marium [Mary]! Did you say to men, "Take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah?" He [Jesus] will say: "Glory be to you, it did not befit me that I should say what I had no right to say.”(5:116). This is because these words in the Quran were written down about 500 years after the apostolic age, and the community of Christians in the town where the author of this book lived were already beyond the monotheistic point of view of the Apostles and well on the way to a dogma of intercession by Mary and the Triune or composite Godhead based on certain details of the Gnostic heresy.

The Roman Emperor Constantine had made the Trinitarian Godhead theology into Roman law in 325 A.D., about 200 years before the Quran was written. Islam is a strictly monotheistic culture and cannot align the concept of the trinity with their understanding of a single, all-powerful God.

Interestingly, a well known atheist of the 19th century, Friedrich Nietzsche, complained in a published philosophical treatise written as a refutation of the Trinity, that modern Christians did not understand their own God. He was actually ridiculing his father, a Lutheran bishop who professed the Trinitarian doctrine, by pointing out the confusion generated by a non-Biblical discussion of God in terms of this logic. Even this nihilistic philosopher and atheist understood that the logic of the post-apostolic age was corrupt and cannot truly represent the Godhead of the Bible. Many people today suffer from the illusion of a God of multiple personalities or even that Jesus is a descendant of God somehow and part of a pantheon of god-like personalities because of this post-apostolic logical analysis of the incarnation.

In 1669, Isaac Newton was appointed Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of England (now called Trinity) in Cambridge. As a requirement of that office, Isaac Newton had to be an ordained minister of the Anglican Church.

Typical of Isaac Newton’s method, he was unaware of the details of that office and so read up on it. After completing his historical study to his satisfaction, Newton was prepared to resign his position at the university as he objected to the doctrine of the Trinity. He writes, “The doctrine of the Trinity is a fraud, perpetrated by lawyers and bishops in the third and fourth centuries.” As Newton was a devout Christian, he was prepared to be dismissed for this intransigence against the Church. He remained in that position only because he received special dispensation for his view of the Trinity. The following is an excerpt from “Wikipedia” a public domain encyclopedia: “… However, the terms of the Lucasian professorship required that the holder not be active in the church (presumably so as to have more time for science). Newton argued that this should exempt him from the ordination requirement, and Charles II, whose permission was needed, accepted this argument. Thus a conflict between Newton's religious views and Anglican orthodoxy was averted.” Isaac Newton was arguably the greatest mathematical genius ever known to man and clearly a very great natural philosopher. He was also able to ignore the common theology of the day and find out for himself what history had to say on the matter of religion in general and doctrine in particular. This required no genius, but the determined effort of a curious person. A careful study of post-apostolic history will provide anyone the necessary information required to allow the same conclusion about the development and application of the trinity concept.

Against Heresy

The Apostle Paul warned that no one should believe any new doctrines taught after the Apostles doctrine of the N.T. church that was already established: “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” (Gal. 1:8) This was so important that it was given unusual emphasis by repeating the whole statement again. In Hebrew culture, repeating a statement is much like suggesting that the consequences of the statement are dire indeed. Paul is pointing out to the church Bishop that there will be no other acceptable gospel than that which had already been preached, and there will be no other doctrine that is acceptable for mankind if not identical with the Apostles doctrine preached in the book of the Acts. The gospel of salvation is not founded in any epistles of the N. T. and it was not preached to all men in the history of Jesus Christ found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. That ministry was reserved for the Jewish nation only. Salvation’s plan for the Christian era was not revealed even in the forgiveness offered to the thief who was on the cross of crucifixion beside Jesus. Gospel salvation was preached to all men who seek entry into the kingdom of God only in the book of Acts in a plan following the words of Jesus requiring men to be born of the water and of the spirit. The post-apostolic modifications of N.T. theology are not acceptable, and to accept it, is to become accursed.

Any future changes in the relationship between man and God is carefully outlined in the Bible and does discuss the ending of the grace of God toward man. This change will occur just as God’s relationship with man changed at the flood, after the covenant with Abraham and after the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are to be prepared for that eventuality by accepting the grace of God now, for the change of this relationship with man is one of judgment. The wrath of God is turned from us at this time, but in the future sinful man will not be spared His wrath. The time for obedience to the plan of salvation to access the grace of God is now. The Bible declares that now is the day of salvation. (II Co. 6:2)

Passages in the Quran that refer to Jesus Christ:2:87; 2:136; 3:45-46; 3:54; 3:59; 4:156-58; 4:163; 4:171-72; 5:17; 5:46; 5:72-75; 5:110; 5:116; 9:30-31; 17:111; 19:20-22; 19:33-35; 19:88-92; 23:91; 43:59; 61:6; 61:14; 66:12; 2:253; 3:52; 3:84; 5:78; 23:50; 23:117; 33:7-8; 42:13; 43:57-64; 43:86; 57:27.