Jesus

Stoicism

Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Napoli, 1969) - BEIC 6353768

Paolo Monti, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Here are some ideas that are connected to stoicism.

  • a well-lived life
  • virtue
  • wealth is not good or bad in itself

You can read more about stoicism in the link above, but these three points are sufficient for this discussion.

At first glance, stoicism may seem to be a lot like Christianity … a well-lived life … virtue … and even the Bible does not condemn wealth but says that “the love of money is the root of all evil (I Timothy 6:10)”.  That scripture is often misquoted, money is not bad, but it is how money is used … to bless or control … for good or for evil.

Stoicism sounds close to Christianity, but there is a major difference;  what it lacks is the new birth through Jesus Christ.  In the beginning the Lord God created man.  Man was tempted by a being named the serpent that had been thrown out of heaven for trying to take the throne of God.  Man listened to the serpent, disobeyed God,  fell from all that God had given Man when God created Man (Adam), and Man lost the authority and blessings that God had originally given him.  Sin, sickness, and death entered the world.

God had given the world to mankind.  Because of that, jurisdiction over the earth had been given to mankind (until a set point in time called the Second Coming).  God could not just take the earth back to correct the Fall … that would be a kind of theft and God cannot break his own law “thou shalt not steal”.

Psalm 115:16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.

 

Man could not solve the problem himself.   The only way to legally remedy the situation was that God had to come in earth in human form (Jesus), pay the price for the penalty of sin on the cross, die, be buried, resurrect, descend to hell and take the keys of death and hell from satan.   Jesus then showed himself alive and then ascended back to heaven.   As Jesus ascended, he returned dominion, or the authority to have to dominion, back to mankind.  Jesus had purchased back what was lost in the Fall.

It is up to each individual to come to Jesus, to repent, to be born again,  and to receive what Jesus did and operate in it, but it has been already given by Jesus.  Along with that, the potential for blessings such as healing instead of sickness was purchased by the stripes Jesus took on his back.  What was lost in Adam’s Fall was regained by what Jesus.

Going back to stoicism, the problem is not that it talks about a good life or a virtuous life or that money is not bad, it’s how you use it.  The problem with stoicism is that it neglects the new birth.   It neglects a relationship with Jesus Christ.

It is possible to leave a pretty decent life.  There are people who avoid drugs, alcohol, the brothels, pedophilia and work hard and have a traditional family and live a decent life.  However, without being born again, there is no connection to God through Jesus Christ.

A person can have a decent secular life and still miss the life of God.

That is the problem and omission of stoicism. It is a “thief and robber” because while it may sound good … a good life … virtue … it robs a person of the new birth and a relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ.

And stoicism is not the only philosophy that has this inherent error. Even going to a church week after week, volunteering, giving offerings to the church and doing all sorts of other good works, if the individual lacks the born again experience, the relationship with God through Jesus Christ, then there is still something lacking.

In the passage below, the Pharisees were the church-goers of the day, they were the religious leaders. Yet they missed having a relationship with Jesus. God in human form stood before them, and they wanted to kill him. We have a term in modern language … he missed it or she missed it or they missed it … sin is called missing the mark and they missed it. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

Jesus said,

John 10:1 Verily, verily, I say you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.

3 To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.

4 And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.

5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.

6 This parable spake Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spake unto them.

7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.

8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.

9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.

12 But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep.

13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.

14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.

15 As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.

16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.

19 There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.

20 And many of them said, He hath a devil, and is mad; why hear ye him?

21 Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?

22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.

23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.

24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.

25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me.

26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.

30 I and my Father are one.

31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.

32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?

33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?

35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;

36 Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?

37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.

38 But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

39 Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand,

40 And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode.

41 And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spake of this man were true.

42 And many believed on him there.

 


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Believe & Cast not away your confidence

Brooklyn Museum - The Accursed Fig Tree (Le figuier maudit) - James Tissot

Isaiah 7:9 … If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established.

 

Matthew 9:29 Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.

 

James 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

 

Mark 11:22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

 

Hebrews 10:35 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.

36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

37 For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry.

38 Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him.

39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

 


A blog post can only introduce a topic but not cover it in depth. For more study on various topics, click here for links to various Christian ministries.

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Jesus Drives Out the Moneychangers

Brooklyn Museum - The Merchants Chased from the Temple (Les vendeurs chassés du Temple) - James Tissot

John 2:13 And the Jews’ passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

14 And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:

15 And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;


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Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

Guercino - Doubting Thomas - WGA10951

John 20:29 (KVJ) Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

 

There are forces and powers we deal with every day that are unseen such as gravity, electricity, and the wind. There are other forces that are constructs of man that can be described mathematically or described by theory, such as economic theory or political theory. You can’t actually see them, but you can see the results of them in operation. There are invisible forces such as love or hate, kindness or jealousy, loyalty or betrayal. Again, these are unseen, but they can be felt and/or their consequences viewed.

What is in operation in the United States now? It is a force called demonic. Satan, called in the Bible by various names…the dragon, the devil, the serpent…is behind the extreme evil.

Why is it there? It is because the United States overall is apostate. It was founded by Christians who came for religious freedom and to freely serve their God. It was founded by those who believed that there was a God and that freedom was the freedom to obey God, to obey the will of God for their lives. The Founding Fathers belived in the importance of God in the political arena.

And this is, of course, why satan attacks the church.  Why are Christian churches attacked?  It is because Jesus, the head of the Church, paid the price on the cross to redeem mankind and take them out of satan’s hand, individually as each individual turns to God in repentance, desiring to be born again and become a child of God rather than of the devil.  It is only within true Bible-believing Chrisitian churches where the power of God exists through the name of Jesus, the Blood of Jesus,  and the operation of the Holy Spirit where there is the power to deal with satan.  This is why you see attacks on Christianity and not other other temples of religion.

Jesus is the only one who laid out the real stakes, the bottomline truth of what is occuring when there is evil.

John 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

 

Sometimes the Bible is called a storyline.  However, it is actually a history of the world.  It is history that explains that this world was created by God.  God created man and woman and put them in a garden.  God’s enemy, who had been previously thrown out of heaven for attempting a coup for God’s throne, shows up in the garden and tempts the one appointed by God to take of the world, Adam and Eve his wife, to disobey God.  They did, they lost their job, they were cast out of the garden, and satan, the dragon, the devil. became the god of this world.

Easter, which is coming up, is the story, and history, of how God, the creator, legally solved that problem.  As God, God can do anything…except break his own laws.  It was a jurisdictional problem.  God gave man earthly authority.  Man lost it on earth.  Sin, sickness and death entered the world on the earth.  Out of love God came to the earth in the form of Jesus to redeem mankind back.  There are many ways to view Jesus, many aspects of Jesus’s life and ministry.  He was a healer, a teacher, a prophet, a friend of sinners.

But he also died on a cross, his life and death fulfilled many prophecies, and he became the Saviour of the world, “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev. 13:8), the sacrifice for sin (I John 2:2).  But what does that mean?  Jesus legally, in the justice court of heaven, solved the legal problem of how to reconcile a holy God with sinful man.  When you get through the theological understanding, that is the bottom line.  That is the message of Easter. Understand the message of Easter, and be born again.

2 Corinthians 5:20 Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God.

Isaiah 53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

 

The underlying forces of this world are either inspired by God or inspired by satan, the devil, the thief of all that is good.

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

 

Man chooses, as Adam and Eve chose, to serve God or the devil.  On this earth, the devil continues the coup that was unsuccessful in heaven.  The devil tempted Jesus at the beginning of his ministry.

Luke 4:1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

7 If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

8 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:

10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:

11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

12 And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.

 

The devil still tempts mankind to turn from God and worship satan instead.

When obvious evil is occurring in the earth, behind it, the devil is manipulating people who can be manipulated to succumb to evil suggestions.  Jesus came to return to mankind the ability, through the power of the Blood of Jesus, the name of Jesus, the Word of God, and the redemptive work of Christ the ability, the strength, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil.  When there is outright evil, that is the opposite of overcoming the world, the flesh and the devil. (I John 2:12-17)

Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:

4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.

6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

 

The Bible gives us the knowledge and understanding of what is behind evil, and how to overcome it personally if we turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and become a child of God.

 


A blog post can only introduce a topic but not cover it in depth. For more study on various topics, click here for links to various Christian ministries.

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Singer “Previously Believed Jesus Was a ‘Silly Story'”

Singer M.I.A. Says She Received ‘Biggest Backlash’ of Her Career For Saying ‘Jesus is Real’


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A Type of Jesus, the Lamb of God, and the Blood of Jesus

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John 1:1 (KJV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men 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 lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word was made 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 bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me.

16 And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace.

17 For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

18 No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

19 And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?

20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.

21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.

22 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself?

23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.

24 And they which were sent were of the Pharisees.

25 And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?

26 John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, whom ye know not;

27 He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.

28 These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.

29 The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

 

Exodus 12:1 (KVJ)  And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying,

2 This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.

3 Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house:

4 And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.

5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:

6 And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.

7 And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

8 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

9 Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.

10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.

11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s passover.

12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.

13 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.

 

Repost: The Passover Scene from The Ten Commandments (1956)


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In the Name of the Lord, We Set Up Our Banners

Jesus

JesusYeshua2.svg

Not too long ago, a little boy asked me to play a board game.  I agreed.  He pushed the instructions toward me and told me to read them.  I asked him about one of the playing pieces.  “What does the flag stand for?”

He was quick to inform me in a rather definitive voice,  When you capture the flag, you win.

A little child shall lead them.

Psalm 20:5  We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God we will set up our banners: the Lord fulfil all thy petitions.

 

In a Bible Dictionary, Peloubet’s Bible Dictionary, “banner” is referred to under “ensign”.   Among the definitions it says this: “probably resembled…a figure or device of some kind elevated on a pole…such as…the king’s name.”

And who is the King’s name?  The name of Jesus.

And so when the authority of the name of Jesus is used over a situation, when Jesus is Lord, the victory is won.

When you capture the flag, you win.

Short Clip of Kenneth E. Hagin, The Authority of the Believer


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Repost: ANCIENT CHINESE RECORD ON THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS!


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