Leroy -vs- The law
The title of this book may seem a bit strange to many in the religious practicing part of the world, and I’ll admit, it also seemed strange to me as well when I first wrote it.
The reason I choose the name is because of a phrase I’ve heard most of my life coming from the pulpits, that is, “The law of God is done away.”
You are thinkin right now about this, I can read your minds. You’re sayin to yourselves, “We don’t say God is illegal, only His laws that govern morality, wisdom and how we treat our fellow man.
I guess I’m bein just a bit foolish thinkin you can separate the two, God and His immutable word.
You might also be thinkin right now, “My pastor is a whole lot smarter than you and he says, the law is absolutely done away with!” You may be right about him being smarter than I am, matter of fact, most folks are probably on the upper scale of the IQ chart way above me.
The thing is, there is this thing that’s been around for most of the last 3500 years and it’s a whole lot smarter than all of us put together, it’s called the Bible. You know the thing that sits on the end table that gathers dust all the time. It was probably given to you when you were young or when you got hitched to your lovely gal (or handsome man).
Just kidding about the dust thing, I’m sure you most likely dust your homes once in a while, and it’s not like you don’t know what’s in the book after all, Right!
You can quote scripture from here until the cows come home; you know where everythin is in the Bible. You can go straight to where it talks about Christmas, and Sunday, and especially where Jesus promises us our immortal soul will fly immediately up to heaven after death.
People tell me all the time they know that stuff is somewhere in the Bible, they’ve read it, and it’s there in them pages, by George.
Since I was old enough to walk on two legs and drink milk out of a bottle, I’ve been told the law is done away. We are now free at last from the burdens of the law that was placed upon mankind for thousands of years by the gray haired grumpy old God of the Old Testament. It wasn’t until that handsome, sweet, young Jesus came along in the New testament that we were finally relieved from His Father’s onerous burdens.
Like any good carpenter, Jesus got Himself a hammer and nailed those terrible laws to the cross. I’m sure you religious folks have heard that as well, if not, then it’s in:
Colossians 2:13-14, in which Paul states,
13 “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. 14 And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross”.
After readin this it reminded me of a time I asked my pastor about the law, and you know what he told me? He said, “Ron quit worrying your fuzzy big head about all this stuff. There are some things in the Bible that are just mysteries, we ain’t supposed to understand them”
Now I thought about that, he was a minister after all, so I said, great! I then happily got in my car and headed home, not given things a second thought, when all of a sudden there was sirens and lights behind me, it was the law!
So, the policeman stepped out of his car and walked over to my car and said, “ license and registration please.” You know what I said to him, yep, you guessed it, I said, “Sir haven’t you heard the law is done away and I don’t really have time for this right now, I have to be somewhere you’re not.”
You know, I don’t think that policeman was a religious fellow, because he didn’t seem to understand what I was talkin about. I’m pretty sure he didn’t attend the same church I was, because he didn’t know my pastor and didn’t seem to care what he said.
He did tell me in a kinda forceful like manner, the law wasn’t done away, and I was about to suffer some consequences of my denial to show him my license and registration. I parted lettin him know I would be gettin in touch with my pastor to show him the err of his thinkin.
After a stern talkin to and being called a few choice words, not to mention a hundred-dollar ticket, I began rethinkin this law thing. He told me man’s laws were enforceable, and he don’t take into account God’s laws.
I began wonderin, “why are man’s laws enforceable, but God’s ain’t?” But it does say the law was nailed to the cross? I figured, like any good ol’ boy scout worth his salt would do, I would dig deeper, because a shallow hole reveals nothin.
I had already heard what my pastor said about the law, and all that got me was a ticket. I wondered, if he really knew what he was sayin?
He also mentioned it was some New Testament thing, the old book followed the laws of God, but the new book don’t need them.
It seems to my overworked brain that we had some confusion goin on here about what was law and what ain’t, and my pocket book could vouch for that. It gets even more bafflin for this ol’ country boy, when I read in the very last chapter of the new book, we are suppose to keep the commandments.
Revelations 22:
14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. 15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.
I had to go and get a handful of aspirins after readin this verse. I just kept thinkin, “How can the law be done away with, when I can read in the very last page of the Bible where those that keep His laws are blessed.”
I was sensin, the problem might be in how words are used that makes things so confusin. In particular the word commandment instead of law. Now I had heard somewhere there was ten commandments given to Moses by God on a mountain top, not once but twice. I had always been told if somethin was worth doin once, it was worth doin again, guess God believes that as well.
I was also rememberin there were 613 other laws in the Old portion of the Bible which were called judgments, statutes, and ordinances.
So, are all of the laws and commandments gone from the books we are goin to be judged by? I had another thought that caused me to grab a head massager and vibrate my brain till somethin fell out. Isn’t a commandment the same as a law, and ain’t it enforced just like with judgments, statutes, and ordinances?
If all that didn’t make you want to just go sit in the stock tank and soak your head, I happened upon more verses from the New book that made this mess, messier.
In Matthew 5:17 it says:
17 “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. 18 For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. 19 Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
This is the boy that everyone says is fixen His daddy’s mess, and here He is sayin he ain’t fixen nothin. In fact, the son is goin to make them even more permanent.
One jot and one tittle ain’t a board game like some of my kin think it is, even though Walmart don’t have it. I had to explain to those hillbilly’s it means a tiny quantity of somethin.
I couldn’t wait to show this to my pastor; I thought he must have overlooked it with all that fund raisin he has to do. He told me, of course, he knew those verses were there, but I was readin them wrong. Man, this religious thing is hard, I see what it says and am being told, I can’t see what they say.
My pastor told me, the word fulfilled meant, his son fulfilled the laws, so we don’t have to follow them any longer. “Now, ain’t that simple?” he said to me.
“As simple as trying to drive in a crooked T-post” I thought. If it was fulfilled, then why did He also say, till Earth and heaven pass away, not one of them jots or tittles will pass away. I’m fairly sure, I’m still here on Earth, unless that preacher is lyin to me about that as well.
It seems, the deeper I dug the more worms come crawlin out of that hole. Well, in the country if you have worms, it can only mean one thing. It’s time to go fishin, and in my case, I was fishin for some truth, so I began by lookin at the, ‘nailed to the cross verses.’
I began by lookin at some of them other translations to see what they said. I’ve always been a King James kinda guy, but a good friend said them fancy speakin yankee’s sometimes say things differently.
Sure enough, in a translation called The King James Version (KJV), also known as the King James Bible (KJB) or simply the Authorized Version (AV), is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England. Man that takes the breath right out of you tryin to say all that in one sentence, but it says:
Colossians 2:13-14
13 “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. 14 And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross”.
Now what a simple country boy like me can glean from these words is the law killed that man on our behalf, because the law said someone had to die for high crimes and misdemeanors. Our sins, our crimes were erased by His sacrifice, the law saw that, but the law is still alive and well, in my common sense way of thinkin.
You know what else this old country boy figured out on his own? Everyone else still thinks the law of God is alive and functionin just fine, as I do, they just don’t know it is.
Now follow me on this, because I’m goin to show you somethin better than a first-place sheep at the county fair. You know all the hellfire preachin ministers that make you feel guilty every Sunday, so as to make you want to empty your wallet into the collection basket?
They go on about you sinnin and stuff, like they’ve been followin you around all week watchin every move you make. They keep tellin you week after week, if you don’t repent and be saved, you’re going to HELL! (HOLLERING MINE.)
Now stop and think about that for a moment, because I truly don’t think they have. How can someone go to hell for sinnin, when they say at the same time, the law is done away, or nailed to the cross?
Makes as much sense as fishin in a dry creek because them words in that dusty old book keep tellin us things differently.
Like in the them letters written by a fellow called John where he says.
1 John 3:
4 Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.
Now I’m no genius as we’d established earlier, but it sure seems like we’ve got a barrel full of them conundrums. You know this John fellow had a buddy named Paul that wrote somethin just like this, it’s in another letter called:
Romans 5:13
13 For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
You see what I’m talkin about? How can you be convinced the law is done away by the same folks that keep tellin you your goin to burn in hell forever for breakin the law?
Makes you walk away with your head shaking like a bobble head in someone’s redneck truck. Not that I’m a redneck mind you, those boys are from a different part of the county.
I had found all this stuff in that New Testament and just wasn’t sure what to do about it. I decided to go to the well one more time and try and resolve the issue, yep, you guessed it. I went back to my pastor with all these questions and verses. He told me when I had finished presentin it to him, I must have forgotten to duck too many times walkin under low beams or branches, there was somethin wrong with my thinkin.
He also said, if I didn’t stop diggin into this, I could find myself somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I thought, at least that would be a place to start findin the truth, because truthfully, the pastor’s well, keeps offerin waters that are awful muddy. I’m not sure anymore if he is just fibbin or he doesn’t know what he is sayin, but it don’t make any sense.
I spent a few days chewin the information I was readin and couldn’t resolve the matter, it was like tryin to straighten out tangled fishin line, after a while you just want to cut it and start over with fresh line.
That brought me to my buddy Leroy, he wasn’t too religious, but he had a good head on his shoulders. Leroy had told me in the past he believed in God but didn’t have time to go to church with all the huntin and fishin he needed to do.
I asked him what he thought about the law? He said as soon as he got wind of the game warden, he would drop his fishin poles and get out there.
No, I mean God’s laws, not man’s! (Hollering mine.) He then said to me only three words, “I’m under grace.”
“Grace, what’s this grace thing?” I asked. He then went on to explain to me his ex-wife use to tell him that all the time because she went to church every Sunday. So, he thought what was good for the goose was good for him.
He now hunts and fishes all week long not worryin about going to hell, because he went and got himself saved and baptized, now he’s under grace.
You know that made perfect sense to me somehow in the whole crazy mess. He gave me the verse where I could find that information, so when I got home, I looked it up.
Sure enough, there it was in that book called Romans: 6:14
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
Maybe Leroy is on to somethin here, I had to admit, it was a pretty convincin argument. But then, I read the verses just before these and they brought me right back to the confusion I was in prior to speakin with Leroy.
Romans 6:12
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
I guess my wife was right again, you can’t read only part of a map and find what you’re lookin for, you have to read the whole thing.
It seems we have a choice to let sin reign in our lives and accordin to the book, sin is the transgression of the law. So, my buddy Leroy chooses to sin, I hate to tell him there ain’t enough grace in the world for that choice.
As I read more, because I wanted to know more, I found where grace ain’t a new thing like Leroy thought.
Many men were under grace, men of the old book, men who were thought to be good ol’ boys back in the day.
Guys like Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, even Rahab, that misguided lady of the evening. They were all men of God who were under grace, but also considered God’s laws extremely important and necessary.
In the case of Moses, he messed up one time and suffered consequences like you ain’t never seen. He wasn’t allowed in the promised land. Can you imagine walking all that way and you ain’t allowed to visit the place you took all them people to?
Him being under grace and all, one would think, one little mis-step would be overlooked. It was just a small infraction in the scheme of things, just hittin a rock to get water for the people. I know he did it without God’s consent, and he was somewhat aggravated at the time, but we’ve all done much worse, right?
As I was goin over this, I found another verse in the new book. It seems every time I find some reasonins for goin one way the book pulls me another way.
James 2:10
10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
So, it don’t matter that Moses was under grace, he sinned and even though we may think its was a lot to do about nothin, it was everything to God. That is worth considerin long and hard over, maybe takin the time to whittle a 2×4 down to a toothpick kind of time.
As I dug the wormy hole deeper and deeper, I found other verses concerning the laws and they made me scratch my head like falling asleep layin in an ant bed.
As I wore the ink off the pages of my Bible, I asked myself, “What laws are we squirmin over?”
I heard one of preachers on the TV say, just before he made a real hard push about a money tree or somethin like that. Well, he said the Levitical laws were the ones mostly done away with. He said that was because the son had sacrificed himself for our sins. No one around here would do that, and I got some pretty good neighbors and family.
But that dusty old book has a way of not letten a fella give up, it’s like a wife that won’t stop nagging about tobacco chewin in the house, always wantin makin you do the right things.
I just kept readin that book, and again, it brought me to thinkin, them laws, they were given before the Levitical priesthood came to be.
Those Ten Commandments were guidin men before they were given at that Mountain called Sinai, and that priesthood, it don’t even come on the scene until after Moses came down from that Mountain with stone tablets in his hands. So, them so-called Levitical laws were given years later into the Israelite camping trip.
My other friend, one of the Jewish fellers, told me
them Israelites weren’t never goin to obey God, no matter what. So, them sacrifices were started so God wouldn’t have to destroy them all.
God tried and tried to get them fellers to obey Him, but they had heads thicker than my cousin Hershel. Them folks made a contract with God before He gave them that law on that Mountain, but those people’s word weren’t no good. So, God began promisin them, there was going to be a new contract made with them, and other people like us here in the south.
That is why the book speaks of a new contract by that old prophet in Jeremiah 31:31-33.
31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 32 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
It says, all them are goin to know God, but I don’t think my preacher knows Him as well as he thinks he does.
Maybe, I should add them Pharisees in the mix, the ones that wrangled lies of their laws into something like a knotted rope, causin the death of Jesus. Them good ol’ boys didn’t properly obey God’s law like they were supposed to, and them sacrifices were happenin then.
You know, I think all they were worried about was money, because the son, Jesus, he ran a bunch of them money changers away from where them sacrifices were taken place.
Another thing I learned from that good old Jewish feller, them sacrifices, they’re goin to be doing them again one day, that’s a promise in the Bible.
Zechariah 14:
16 And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. 17 And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. 18 If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they shall have no rain; they shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. 19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.
20 In that day “HOLINESS TO THE LORD” shall be engraved on the bells of the horses. The pots in the Lord’s house shall be like the bowls before the altar. 21 Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and Judah shall be holiness to the Lord of hosts. Everyone who sacrifices shall come and take them and cook in them. In that day there shall no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.
I’m seein this book so much differently than I ever had before. I’m learnin about somethin called the millennium rule of Jesus, that’s what the verses I just read are talkin about.
I’m also learnin that God doesn’t change anything, not any at all! We know that, because of a feller called Malachi in chapter 3:
6 “For I am the Lord, I do not change;
Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.
7 Yet from the days of your fathers
You have gone away from My ordinances
And have not kept them.
Return to Me, and I will return to you,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
“But you said,
‘In what way shall we return?’
So, them people don’t know about God either, because God is askin them to return to Him. I think my preacher needs to read this, because he keeps sayin His son changed things.
At the same time, the Father’s son says in the letter in John, a real good old Boy.
John 14:15
15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments.
I was told by another friend that’s still listenin to my former preacher, them commandments the Son is talking about, they are now just two.
I said, “Get out of here, Really?” “Yea,” he said, “They’re like powdered milk, they’re condensed.”
He was tryin to tell me the Son only has two commandments and they’re in:
Matt 22;37
37 Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
There they was in large bold letters on the pages of my Bible, can’t deny them, won’t deny them. They were spoken by the Son to His disciples and folks standing around listenin.
That had me really puzzled until I discovered a thing people use to find other verses in the Bible, it’s called a reference, and it was in my Bible all along, who knew?
It seems them words were spoken way back in them books of the law, I think that Jewish friend of mine called it the Torah, which he said means law.
I found them using that reference thing in the law book called Deuteronomy 6
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.
6 “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart.
Accordin to my reference, them words were spoken two more times in the same book of Deuteronomy once in chapter 10, and again in:
Deuteronomy 30:6 where it says:
6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live
So, we have three other places the words used in Matthew 22 are used in the book of the law. Nothing new, nothing’s changed. It seems to this ol country boy, it’s like gettin in the same car I have everyday for five years, but with a new set of tires. Car is the same, engine runs the same, but the new tires makes it run smoother.
To me the law is just like that, God is the same, His words haven’t changed, but the law is a little different now, it wasn’t done away with like so many of them preachers want you to believe.
The law is the new tires, makes Gods word work better, because its elevated to a spiritual law, that still covers the physical. If not, then how can we sin? The truth is, we can’t unless there is God and law.
So, have the Sunday mornin preachers convinced you God is an illegal alien partly because he wants us to obey the law.
Now, when I say illegal alien, I’m not talkin about the folks coming into our country illegally? Even though, that’s breakin the law of man. Not at all, I’m talkin about God, He has somehow been found illegal in our churches, schools and government. Now how do you suppose that happen in a supposedly Christian nation?
Did the great citizens of this nation or world make a law of their own that overrides God, that says God’s word doesn’t matter; what He says just isn’t enforceable.
Did we create a sanctuary world that tells God, stay away, your off limits here? Your laws don’t apply in our lawless community.
Let’s say my confused preacher is right as rain about all this and God has done away with the old law. Why treat the God of the Old Testament like He was senile, like He don’t know what He was doin? Is it because people just don’t like what He had to offer? It kinda seems like we treat God like a used car salesman, every time we see him comin toward us, we turn the other way to avoid him.
I had a friend once that was the nicest and smartest person in the world, at least in the county anyway. Well, this friend of mine wasn’t the most pleasant feller to look at and the ladies weren’t at all attracted to him. In fact, they turned and ran the other way when he would walk up, they treated him like an alien.
Later on, my friend became rich feller tradin cattle and sellin eggs to the local market. Age had smoothed out some of the ugly on him and he didn’t scare people near as much. He was the same feller, but circumstances made him look like an entirely different feller.
Two things made him more desirable to the young ladies, the dreams of having lots of money and thinkin he was different than before.
It wasn’t until he supposedly changed that they wanted anything to do with the feller. It was a downright shame to see all them gals chasin that feller around and thinkin he loved them more than the others.
I tell this story because I see how we’ve treated God much in the same ways. We treat the God of the old testament like an alien, like he brought the plague, maybe that’s a bad analogy, He did bring the plague at times in the past. Okay then, Christians don’t want anything to do with that God, how’s that?
There is just one small hitch to the whole not likin the God of the Old testament thing. Turns out, just like my friend, it’s the same feller everyone is shamelessly chasing around today.
Yeah, I’m serious, and Yeah, it surprised me too! Who knew both are the same feller? Turns out though, they are and I know this because of, you guessed it, the Bible.
So if the Father in the Old Testament is an illegal alien, then the Son is too, wrap your head around that little tidbit.
Let me show you, we’ll start in: John 1:1-18,
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.
Now that’s interesting if you ask me. Says this logo’s feller talked about in John chapter one, He made everything, why didn’t my preacher tell me that? I kept readin to see who this logo’s person was and is.
6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe. 8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 9 That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
They keep tiptoein around who this feller was but I’m getting a strong feeling, it was the Son called Jesus. If I’m right, He created all that was created, breathed life into the first family Adam and Eve. He was the guy, He was the main God of old and new, what a revelation, one I need to share, but first, I want to finish these verses.
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
15 John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ”
16 And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
I knew if I kept readin, it would become clearer for me, the word, that logos feller became human, that’s what flesh means, for the fellers back at Lucy’s café.
See what else it says at the very end, no one has seen the Father at any time. Hum? Seems like them people that saw God ain’t seeing the Father after all, so who was it they visited with and talked to?
I remember that old reference thing again, sure a helpful little part of the Bible. It took me to a another scripture my preacher never talked about, it’s:
1 Corinthians 10:1-5
Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, 2 all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 all ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. 5 But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
Just like my friend, we find it’s the same feller, just circumstances have changed. Now he’s a likable guy because they think there is goin to be riches in their future and God loves them more than anybody else. He loves them so much, they can go around being ugly and disrespectful to everybody else.
They may be pretty on the outside like a lot of women are but they’re ugly on the inside like the Bible says about them pharisees fellers.
Matthew 23:27
27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Their mamas must be really proud of them, bunch of hussies. You imagine growin up shunnin that feller when you’re young, then runnin after Him later on sayin things think He wants to hear just to become His bride, just shameless.
Well, my reference didn’t stop there, it gave me some more scriptures to go and look at. I tell you these reference things and another book called a concordance are secrets preachers need to quit keepin.
But it said in another letter that Paul feller mailed to Colossians 1:15-18
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence
How in the world did we miss all this stuff before? Makes you want to go to the local pub (Irish lingo) and tell all your buddies about it. Man, this is good stuff, wish I had known about it before.
I keep wonderin why my preacher wouldn’t talk about it? We talked all the time about things that ain’t in the Bible, like Christmas, Easter and Halloween. We would dress up the church like it was something real special, sing songs, exchange gifts, and on and on, which none of it is in the Bible.
Yet, he won’t explain these verses, it’s like GOD IS AN ILLEGAL ALIEN! HOLLERIN MINE! I guess I’m gettin somewhat frustrated over all of this, and why shouldn’t I be? We keep traditions, but ignore who God is, makes one grateful to have found the truth, but angry, it has been hidden all this time in plain sight.
It’s them traditions, that are makin this hard to understand and hidin who God is, I know it. Jesus warned them Pharisee fellers about this kind thing, don’t appear it did much good though.
Take a gander at these verses:
Matthew 15: 1-11
Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus, saying, 2 “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”
3 He answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 5 But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God”— 6 then he need not honor his father or mother.’ Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition.7 Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying:
8 ‘These people draw near to Me with their mouth,
And honor Me with their lips,
But their heart is far from Me.
9 And in vain they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”
10 When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.”
Now my Jewish friend, he told me the Pharisee fellers had this tradition about washin your hands several times before and while you ate. I could relate to that, because my mama would also make me wash my hands and behind my ears before I came to the supper table.
But these fellers got down right mean about it, and they thought it bad manners to disobey. Mama just spanked us, so we didn’t disobey very often, not on purpose anyway. Mama wasn’t mean about it neither, she always said it hurt her worse than it hurt us, somehow I don’t believe that though.
Well, Jesus got steamed a bit at these fellers for puttin those traditions before the laws He created, and He told them so.
He said they were teachin doctrines and commandments of men before the truth, and that’s exactly what my preacher seems to be doin.
He also said, it ain’t what goes in the month that was going to hurt us, like a little dirt off our hands, wish my mamma had read that, but it was what comes from out of the heart that becomes the problem. That kinda reminds me of the words I was talking about earlier in that book of the law.
Deuteronomy 30:6 where it says:
6 And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live
If mama had just loved me instead of spankin me for dirty hands, I might be a different person altogether. The point is, the things the Pharisees were all twisted up about was stuff that wasn’t in the book of the law anyway, it was stuff they had made up, and were demandin that folks do what they called traditions.
Don’t get me wrong, traditions can be fun, and real pretty, but so is a pig with lipstick at the county fair, accordin to Leroy anyway.
No matter how fun or pretty they are, Jesus says they should never become more important than the truth. But pretty and fun wins the day it seems, even over the objections of our Messiah and savior.
My preacher didn’t make that clear to me when we read these verses, he was stuck on tryin to say they mean we can now eat pork.
I believed that and followed along for a long time, but I just don’t see the words sayin that anymore, especially when I stop and consider, it was Christ that said don’t eat it in: Leviticus 11:24
24 ‘By these you shall become unclean; whoever touches the carcass of any of them shall be unclean until evening; 25 whoever carries part of the carcass of any of them shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening: 26 The carcass of any animal which divides the foot, but is not cloven-hoofed or does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. Everyone who touches it shall be unclean. 27 And whatever goes on its paws, among all kinds of animals that go on all fours, those are unclean to you. Whoever touches any such carcass shall be unclean until evening. 28 Whoever carries any such carcass shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. It is unclean to you.
He’s talkin about eatin pigs and things like that, we ain’t suppose to be eatin them, Christ said that. Now, my buddy Leroy, well he’s a pig eater from way back in the woods and he wouldn’t stop eatin them for love nor money. Until, he got this terrible pain in his foot that wouldn’t go away, he could barely walk around the house, and he sure couldn’t go huntin or fishin.
His wife got tired of trippin over him while he was crawlin around the house like a baby, so she drugged him to the doctor. He found out he had what was called gout in the foot and it was caused by eatin too much meat, especially pork, so he had to quit eatin pigs just like Jesus said to do.
Now this is quite the thing, the Creator of the world tells everyone not to eat certain things and the reaction is to eat those very things. It ain’t until some doctor tells you to quit eatin them that it become a serious matter to someone, can’t figure humans is all I can say.
Makes you wonder, if keepin God’s laws and ways, makes one an illegal religious person? You tell your friends and family, “Hey, I quit eatin pork, shrimp and certain bugs, and they look at you like you’re an alien from another planet.
Then, you throw in the fact that you’ve discovered Sunday ain’t in the Bible neither, and they go ballistic. “It’s the Lord’s day for heaven sakes,” is what they yell at you. “How can you reject the Lord and his resurrection?” After I got the pages unstuck from my Bible, I discovered some interestin things about that as well.
You know we ain’t suppose to go to church on the 1st day of the week? I’m dyin if I’m lyin, it’s really true. The Bible says, we’re supposed to go on the 7th day of the week, I know that is hard to believe but that’s what it says.
How did that get turned around I wondered? It seems there was this feller in 300 AD or there about called Constantine and he’s the rascal that did the changin. He changed the 7th day to the 1st day of the week, they called it the day of the sun or somethin like that. Them people back then were all into tans or somethin, because everything was about the sun.
December 25th is always the birthday in sun worshipin cultures come to find out. Makes one wonder what son Christmas is all about, the Son or the sun?
I know people get confused and they go and ask their preachers and they’re told to quit worryin their fluffy heads about it and listen to them. Well, I tell you, I quit listin to my preacher, he’s gotten too many things wrong.
Now I’m an alien in my own house in my own town, in my own county, because I choose to follow a book of words given to us by God. I know, how crazy is that? You go along with being illegal by the definitions of the Bible and everyone loves you, you’re the life of the party. But when you become illegal by following the way of God and all of a sudden that huntin trip takes on a new meanin.
There is another law in the Bible no one ever considers, it’s called the Law of Unintended Consequences. Now it’s there I can assure you, you’re just not seeing it written down. Assuredly as the Messiah steppin out into the universe, where there was nothin that existed before, and brought the Universe into being.
Says that by the way in:
Hebrews 1:1
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
Once the Messiah started creatin, He began by puttin into place physical laws that would govern the universe and this world.
Unchangeable and undeniable laws, that cannot be whimsically broken by men nor angles unless God allows it to be so.
True, there are some cases in the Bible where the law of physics were bent but never broken. Just like Leroy’s head, it’s bent but never broken. One of them examples and my favorite is the floating AX head found in.
2 Kings 6:
And the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “See now, the place where we dwell with you is too small for us. 2 Please, let us go to the Jordan, and let every man take a beam from there, and let us make there a place where we may dwell.”
So he answered, “Go.”
3 Then one said, “Please consent to go with your servants.”
And he answered, “I will go.” 4 So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees. 5 But as one was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, “Alas, master! For it was borrowed.”
6 So the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” And he showed him the place. So he cut off a stick, and threw it in there; and he made the iron float. 7 Therefore he said, “Pick it up for yourself.” So he reached out his hand and took it.
This is an example where God’s physical laws were bent for a purpose, but not permanently broken. In truth only God can break the laws of Physics, and only God can change anything about Himself.
So, the laws of unintentional consequences come into play. Men say God changed, and God says he never changes: Hebrews 13: 8
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9 Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines.
Now the unintended consequences occur when man and God clash because of man’s dumb ideas. Kinda like two tractors headin straight for one another, when they hit things happen, bad things.
We are told what those things will be in that old book of the law, Deuteronomy 30:11-20
11 “For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off. 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend into heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ 14 But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.
15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, 16 in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, 18 I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; 20 that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
The consequences of not followin God’s way was a direr outlook for Israel. I know many pastors today try and separate the past and present by sayin this was Israel and don’t apply to Christians today. But, just like birds without wings, that don’t fly because of these verses found in Romans 2:28-29
28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
Nothin wrong with being a little bit Jewish I always say, after all our savior was Jewish, oh, that hurt. I know some don’t like it when you say Jesus was a Jew, messes up that whole perception about Jews and what they believe. Truth is, Christianity came from Judaism, not the other way around, that’s why it’s called Judeo-Christian and not because they were Kung Fu fighters.
Let’s get serious now; I presented the argument the way I did to persuade some to take another look at your Bibles in hope you would see some tidbits of truth you weren’t aware of. As Paul said to the Corinthians in his second letter, 2 Corinthians 9:19-23
19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more; 20 and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win those who are under the law; 21 to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law; 22 to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I might by all means save some. 23 Now this I do for the gospel’s sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.
It’s not my intentions writing this booklet to solicit your money nor a following, I write in hopes to bring a few to the truth of God and his will. I know many will reject my words and you may also reject these words. I can only say this; I pray God opens your eyes one day to His truth.
Since it is only “those who do His will and obey His commandments that have the right to enter the holy city of God, of Jesus and the Father,
Revelation 22:12-15
12 “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”
14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city.
15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.
Keeping the laws of the ten commandments will not make us the aliens to God, only to those that don’t keep His holy laws. It is only those who will not keep the ten commandments that are denied access to the Kingdom of God.
Remember this as well, it specifically shows that those who break one of the least ten commandments is guilty of breaking them all and will find themselves outside God’s holy city. As Elijah once told the people of Israel in 1 Kings 18:
21 And Elijah came to all the people, and said, “How long will you falter between two opinions?
If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people answered him not a word.
How long will you let tradition rule the way you view God? How long will it take for you to really examine the Bible in a truthful way?
If you are going to follow traditions at least be honest about it. If you’re going to observe Sunday over the Sabbath at least be honest about what you’re doing.
Christians make their bones, as it’s put, in being honest, why aren’t you honest about what you believe?
The Bible is full of warnings about magic and demons and other alien things, and the seasons are designed in ways that make these very things cute and lovable. So, we humans lie to our children and they lie to theirs; the question becomes, can anyone be truly honest anymore?
Luke 18:8
6 Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. 7 And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 8 I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?”
Will Christ find faith or a world of liars calling themselves Christian? I know this is a hard question and one you may not want to answer, but if you’re reading this, you must have seen something, please don’t stop here with this booklet.
Read your Bible without the help of an outside force like a minister, he or she will only deny God’s words confusing you.
My parting words are this, no man can save you, no man can forgive all your sins, your salvation is in your hands, and yours alone.
With that in mind do you really want to trust something that precious to someone who only cares about filling pews and the coffers?
Your choice, not mine, I have to worry about myself, and I can’t take your place before God, you have to do that on your own, so, God bless you on your journey in life.
Also read: “Two Gods, Two Churches, Two Doctrines”.
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