Inasmuch As Ye Keep My Commandments

A man was talking about his shop, which has not been doing much business lately, and the conversation turned to being blessed for keeping the commandments of God. He did not think keeping commandments would help, since many other shops were also having difficulty since the pandemic began.

Why would a person want to have the same problem as others, when it is entirely possible to prosper and help others?

The Lord God of Heaven can do many miracles, including helping our businesses, even through the current pandemic.

Inasmuch as we shall keep the commandments, we shall prosper in the land;
But inasmuch as we will not keep the commandments, we shall be cut off from the presence of God.

The Voice Of The Lord

The strange thing for me is, sometimes people hear stories about me getting to the Lord, and then they want to ask questions, so that they can also get to the Lord. From time to time, people gather around to find out how I got to the Lord. I tell many amazing experiences, and how I did it, and the seekers are often amazed and motivated to also have those experiences, and they can, if they follow the process of how to get there. And this is where I usually lose them.  

For some strange reason, seekers can feel the Spirit of God when I tell of experiences, and they can even get an undeniable witness that it is true, they can even believe that I followed the method described in the scriptures to get to the Lord, but they get rather upset when I suggest that they can have the same experiences by following the same pattern. Then of course, for suggesting that they too need to follow the commandments, I get called all sorts of interesting names, fallen prophet, etc.

From time to time, I still do have experiences with the Lord, and I am still directed in doing the work I am asked to do. Even today, I have heard the voice of the Lord, and no matter what people say, I will not deny the method/pattern/process/programme/way/walk/road/gospel, or whatever way someone wants to describe it, of how to get to the Lord. Messiah taught us the programme, and it is Messiah's programme that works. Messiah's programme is the ONLY programme that will get to the Father!

It is an amazing experience to get to the Lord. And, I never know exactly what to say to seekers. In my best possible voice I say, the Lord's way works. Just humble yourselves to the Lord's way, and you will have the promises expressed in scripture; all those who humble themselves before the Lord's way, will receive not only the Lord, but the Father also. Those who fight against the Lord's way, will receive neither the Son, nor the Father, not in this life, nor in the next.

Taking Offence

 In the scriptures, the term "Offence" often refers to doing actual harm to someone, but in our culture today, people often take offence when no actual harm was done.  Offence is often taken just because a person has an emotional response to an outside stimuli, and can even be taken from their own imaginations of whatever they assume is happening.  This obviously places the person who takes offence when no harm was actually done, into the category of a controller, manipulator, etc.  Remember, this is when no damage was done.  Yet, a person who does damage to others, is an offender.  Even though it is up to the person who was harmed to forgive, the person who did the harm is also required to repent.  This reveals an interesting thought; To even take offence when the damage was intentionally caused, seems a poor choice, since we are trying to follow the example of the Saviour and forgive, which is not always an easy task.  Yet for our Lord's sake, we must try!  

My advice is simple; Do not take offence when the offence was not intentional.  Do not take offence when the offence was intentional.  Instead, try to solve the situation, so everyone can move forward.  

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Hoe Your Own Row

"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?  Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?  Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."  

~ Matthew 7:3-5

I see this scripture as great advice, to be in a better position to help others!  

I grew up on a tobacco farm.  And one of the biggest jobs in the summer was to hoe the weeds out of the rows of tobacco.  This job had a strange aspect to it though.  As a person walked down the rows all day long looking at sand and tobacco plants with the odd weed, the mind started to play tricks.  The mind started to self-correct what it saw, into what it wanted to see.  In other words, the mind started to miss seeing the weeds from time to time.  Then upon looking back, the weeds were visible.  But, if a person never looked back at their own row, then they would never be able to see their own mistakes.  

I remember watching others hoe their rows, and pointing out when they missed a weed.  My uncle would have great patience with me, but from time to time, he would point out all the weeds I missed.  “Hoe your own row,” he would say.  The more I watched other people’s rows, the more weeds I missed in my own row.  The more I watched for mistakes in others, the more I could not see my own mistakes, the more my own row suffered, the slower I worked, and the slower my own skills improved.  

My uncle was very good at his job, and would take several rows to the end of the field, then work his way back down our rows, helping the work get done much more effectively, while still placing us in the situation to improve our skills.  He could see that the most effective way to help someone, was to watch his own rows first, then he was in a unique position to help others, without hindering their own development.  

This principle applies to many areas of life, and by looking at our own hearts and not trying to catch others in their mistakes, we can increase our own skill, and be in a much better position to effectively help others where we can.  

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Father's Desire For Us

I was trying to think of how to explain the Gospel in a different way, so that it would be easier to see what Father is actually trying to develop us into. But I do think there is a false doctrine that keeps getting in the way, that of God's magic wand. Even though the Gospel is about progression, about becoming, about overcoming, about developing, creating yourself into the person you would like to be, I often hear the belief that, even though I am not perfect, God will just reward me. In other words, the false doctrine of the magic wand is still prevalent.

Father is trying to teach us how to develop ourselves into gods. And to do this, we need to have the skills of a god. This means we need to learn, to practice, to become good at those skills. There is no magic wand! The instructions (commonly known as the commandments) are given to us so we have our choice to develop ourselves as much as we want. As we follow the instructions, we become more and more pure, in heart, in mind, in body, and we pierce the veil. So, it is entirely up to us, how much we develop.

For example: It is terribly difficult to pierce the veil with impure thoughts. If a person has filled their thoughts with contemplations of bad images, then when praying: what do they see? The instructions of God are instructions to make us pure. The instructions of our Heavenly Father are there to help us become pure, so we can stand before God, and do what He does.

So, instead of worrying about punishment and reward, or the magic wand, we need to understand that it is up to us to become what it is we want to become. Instead of thinking, God will reward me, by waving His magic wand over me, and letting me go to the Celestial Kingdom, make yourself into a Celestial being. Become celestial! That way, anywhere you go, you will be Celestial. Anywhere you go will be Celestial! When Father comes to the earth, the area immediately surrounding Him is Celestial. Just as it was with Moses, and Joseph, the Glory of God shone round about them, as if the groves were on fire, yet nothing consumed. It can be the same with you! It is not about getting a reward of going to the Celestial Kingdom, it is about becoming a Celestial person. Father cannot shake pixie dust on us and make us Celestial, that would violate agency, but He can show us how to be a Celestial person ourselves, and we can then be just like Him.

We really need to get this doctrine into us, so that we can progress, and fill the measure of our creation. After all, we were created to become Gods!

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Transference

I feel a great deal of compassion on those who have come out of churches that are led by popes and presidents which hold absolute authority over the eternal welfare of their constituents.  Often these folk, who come out of such churches, go through a grieving process(shock, denial, bargaining, guilt, anger, depression, acceptance, etc.), and are suspicious of anything that may or may not resemble the society from which they fled, and thereby spend all their time looking for fault, instead of looking for the good in all things.  This transference is a very common phenomena, requiring specific treatment options.  These unfortunate people spend their time pulling down all those who may have something to offer for their healing, and in so doing become twice the child of hell than those who once ruled over them.  The victims have become the persecutors!  God cannot justify those who do evil to others, just because evil was done to them.  He most certainly does not justify the degradation of the innocent, just because an evil person took advantage of you.  In fact, even Justice herself stands against you seeking to pull down those who have risen up.  Only a coward would go after someone who did them no harm.  If you are so right, stand against the doctrines of the church which did you wrong, instead of picking on those who have helped you.  Stand up for the doctrines of the Messiah, be forgiving, kind, loving, merciful, etc.  Even forgive those in the previous church who have wronged you.  Repent now, before it is everlastingly too late! 

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Selfishness

3. Don't be selfish; don't try to impress others.  Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves.  

4.  Don't look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.   

Philippians 2:3-4  NIV  

Life in the Gospel is often an adventure.  Even though we go to church to find peace, to rest, to recharge, it is often the most difficult part of the week.  In church, are all kinds of people.  There are many selfish people that are only looking out for themselves, and can really only see their own situation in life.  And so we hear the comment, "I do not like going to church because the people there are not living the Gospel."  Well, this is true!  Many people do not live the Gospel.  They are much more interested in just looking out for their own interests, making themselves look good, taking advantage of others, etc.  And yet, that is what we are here for.  Who will help these people if not you?  Who will show forth a good example, patience in long-suffering, to help these selfish people, if not you?  

We often want to serve God, and sometimes dream about being sent to a foreign nation, returning in triumph like Jonah, having converted the entire city.  And yet, here are the Ninivites, right here at church!  Can we have patience in long-suffering, always showing forth good examples to those whom the Lord has placed in our lives?  Can we strive with the members at church, until all of them are converted?  

"But these are not nice people.  They insult me, they hurt me, they spread rumors about me.  I have never done any of those things to them!"  Yes, of course!  Sometimes others are oblivious to the evil they do, and other times, they know very well the evil they do.  But what about us?  We need to do right before God.  We need to be good, no matter what the other members do to us.  All this and more happened to many in the Scriptures, good people being beat, tortured, imprisoned, and even killed.  Yet, they kept the faith!  Even our Saviour kept the faith.  Are we better than He?  Let us be good, even when bad things are done to us on purpose.  

Let us give up our selfishness, and keep striving with those who are not yet converted to the Father.  Let us be humble, for they are worth as much as we are.  Let us not look to our own self-interests, but look to their eternal salvation.  

Remember, we are only here for a short season; we can do this!  

May God bless you all.  

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