JESUS AND HIS DISCiPLES

Abraham, Isaac, Jacob each had a personal relationship with the Creator who called them into a special relationship with Him. Even before their era, the Hebrew Bible chronicles the relationship between God and many people beginning with Adam and Eve. The narrations about these relationships between God and individuals; and between God and ethnic groups all help us to understand how God has interacted with individuals and groups of people. When we read the Bible we can understand a little about God, but we can't really know Him.

Second hand information is fine in its place, and we certainly can have faith because of what we learn, but that is not the same thing as knowing a person and having a relationship with him or her. We can't get to know God in Jesus Christ the same way we can know a family member or friend, but those who knew Jesus in person did know Him that way. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can come to know God in Christ, too.

This is a different kind of experience than that of a relationship with a friend, spouse or family member, but we when we come to know God personally we can find a wonderful and special relationship. 

In John 13:34b-35, it is recorded that Jesus said, "Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Those statements beg the questions, "What did Jesus mean when He told His disciples to love each other the way He loved them?" "How did Jesus love the people closest to Him?" and "How did Jesus demonstrate God's love?"

In the Gospels we find a lot of answers to these questions. When we first read about Jesus encountering His disciples, it is evident in some cases that Jesus has chosen them carefully. He has observed them, and knows about them. That is probably true for all of them, but we read about the original encounters that Jesus had with several of His disciples including Peter and his brother Andrew; James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee; Matthew, Philip and Nathanael. 

As told in the Gospel of John 1:35-42, one example of Jesus’ discernment about the men He chose to be His disciples is the narration about Philip and Nathanael coming to be His disciples. The day after Jesus’ baptism, John the Baptist and two of his disciples see Jesus walking nearby. John the Baptist proclaims,” Behold the Lamb of God,” indicating to his disciples that he means Jesus, so the two disciples follow Him. One of these men was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.

Then as related in (John 1:43-51), on the next day Jesus goes to the Galilee and encounters Philip from Bethsaida, which is also the hometown of Peter and Andrew. Jesus calls Philip to follow Him, and then Philip tells his friend Nathanael, “We have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” (John1:43-45) Nathanael is skeptical and answers, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip tells him to come and see. And when they are approaching him, Jesus declares about him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael wants to know what Jesus means by this comment, and Jesus tells him that he noticed Nathanael when he was speaking with Philip under a fig tree. Nathanael thinks that this is amazing, and says, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”(John 1:49) In reply Jesus asserts, Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You shall see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.” 

This is all a bit preliminary to answering the questions I posed above:

"What did Jesus mean when He told His disciples to love each other the way He loved them?"

"How did Jesus love the people closest to Him?"

"How did Jesus demonstrate God's love?”

So, I will come back to the topic tomorrow. I wanted to start by writing about how Jesus met and got to know His disciples. As is obvious from John’s narration, Andrew, Simon Peter, Philip and Nathanael all followed Jesus because they believed that Jesus could be the Messiah. But this was only their introduction to Him. As time when on, as we have mentioned previously, the disciples were witnesses to the signs and wonders that Jesus performed in His ministry. But let’s look more at how Jesus demonstrated God’s love tomorrow, okay?

The Lord's Prayer

In Matthew 6:7-15 this is how the Jesus told His disciples how to pray -- 

"Jesus said, 'When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

'Pray then in this way:

Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And do not bring us to the time of trial,

but rescue us from the evil one.

For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.'"

This has, of course come to be known as the Lord's Prayer that we pray in worship services and privately. As members of the Body of Christ in the world, praying it connects us together and for each of us as individuals, praying it can be comforting and uplifting. Nevertheless, it is possible that because it is so familiar, that we might pray it without thinking about what it really means. 

Because we pray it so often, we may not always remember what Jesus says before He tells His disciples what to pray. He admonishes them that they do not need to go on and on with many words in order to get through to God. He reminds them that God knows what we need before we even ask. And sometimes we might wonder why we need to pray at all if God knows what we need before we ask. But often we just try to do everything on our own and the Lord would rather that we count on Him for all we need. When we pray and trust God to help us, we are opening a channel to receive what God has for us. 

And while it is important that we pray the words that are part of the scriptures, we can also look at the Lord's Prayer as a model for a way of praying. BY that I mean that when we pray, as Jesus taught, we see that the first part of the prayer is a recognition of who God is and the power that He has in heaven and on earth.

Next, in the prayer is the acknowledgement that it is God who gives us the sustenance to live, the food that we eat. After that comes the request that God will forgive our sins just as we forgive those who have sinned against us.

Finally, when we pray as Jesus taught s, we ask that we will not be tempted to sin and that the Lord will deliver us from the evil one. In each part of the prayer it is not so much that we are asking the Lord for something that He may or may not do for us. Each phrase is really an acknowledgement of what the Lord is always ready and willing to do for us, but because of the free will that god has granted to all human beings, we need to ask in order to receive.

The way the prayer sounds to us sometimes, it may seem like we have to beg God to do all that we are asking in it. But that is no the case. Jesus taught his disciples how to pray using that format to make clear to them what God wants us all to know and understand about who God is and what He wants to do for us.

When we do not have an active prayer and meditation life, we miss out on so much. The Lord wants more than just a formula prayer and prayer when we are desperate or in trouble. God loves each one of us so much, and He wants us to be able to open our hearts to hear the loving assurances that He has for us. So we can begin our prayer lives with the Lord's Prayer and prayers based on its model. But after that the most important thing is to spend time listening with our hearts and receiving the peace that God has for us no matter what is happening in our lives. 

As we get to know the Lord better and understand that every good gift and provision in our lives comes from Him, we are able to praise Him and thank Him with hearts full of love and joy. 

More than anything else, the Lord wants you to trust Him and be open to Him so that you can live in loving relationship with Him. That relationship begins with prayer, and we are blessed that when Jesus' disciples asked Him how to pray, that He taught them and they passed it on. Nevertheless, they had the advantage over us of living with him day by day and knowing Him personally. 

All that was written down in the Gospels cannot really disclose completely what that was like. But even though we could not have been there at that time, we are blessed that the Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to us. And because of that we, too, can live with the Lord day by day and get to know Him. We can be aware that He is by our sides and in our hearts all the time. We can count on Him no matter what is happening, and as we get to know Him, He reveals Himself more and more.

As ever, Beloved, you know that my hope for you is that you will allow the Lord to reveal Himself to you so that you will come to know how much He loves you and how He will always take care of you and provide for you. 

I praise Him and thank Him for all He is and for all the ways He loves us, and I ask Him to continue to bless and keep you and all those you love.

WHEN FREE ENTERPRISE IS CORRUPTED

Traditionally the only ways that businesses have interacted with politicians has been through lobbyists. . . or campaign donations . . . or maybe when politicians are retired or otherwise no longer in office, they take positions in companies or in law firms that represent companies . . . or some of them even become lobbyists and spokespeople.

But the founders were leery of our politicians and statesmen becoming unduly influenced by businesses and by foreign governments, and our ethics as a nation have always been such that if we feel that there is bribery or illegal and unethical influence that a politician succumbs to, we have always thought that was wrong.

But we are in a new era. A billionaire businessman and his billionaire advisers and cabinet members have taken over the highest office in the land. In the recent past that businessman has been involved with business interests all over the world, and he refuses to divest himself of those interests. He also refuses to reveal anything about his finances in the way that every president in the last 20 years has been glad to reveal on behalf of honesty and transparency.

This is all wrong on so many levels.

First of all, we have to suspect that he knows much more about his business interests than he knows about politics and international relations. He has demonstrated over and over that he has no interest in briefings and no concept of American foreign policy.

No matter how many advisors he has who supposedly do know about all this, we have a right to expect a president to really be the president.

Next, there are already deeply disturbing indications that people in his campaign and in positions in his new administration have been playing fast and loose with one of the most dangerous rogue nations in the world -- Russia. Since coming to power, Putin has invaded the former Soviet territories of Chechnya, Georgia and Ukraine with impunity.

For ten years, from '79-'89, the Soviet Union fought the Afghans in order to be able to build a pipeline through their territory to be able to get Caspian Sea Oil out to an Indian Ocean port. There are estimates that the Caspian Sea oil reserves are the largest and most easily accessed oil and natural gas resources on the planet. But Russia has always had a problem because there are hostile nations on their borders and on the borders of the Caspian Sea.

From the time of Detente with the US in the 70s, US oil companies and other companies involved in building pipelines and oil and gas facilities have been involved with free enterprise business with the Soviet Union and since the breakup with the government of Russia.

Contrary to what it may seem like, there is not really any free enterprise in Russia. Everything is controlled by the government and private citizens have wealth only if they have connections to the government. All commerce, and all relations with countries and businesses outside of Russian territory are controlled by the Russian government.

So the issues surrounding Flynn's resignation and how the administration has been involved with Russia from even before the election are very important and we must have answers about it all.

If the Republicans in Congress are going to protect this administration from what is definitely unethical and possibly treasonous, then we are really in trouble.

So far only the Judicial Branch has been able to call the Executive Branch to account . . . what defense do we have against Congress?

As I keep writing, we have our work cut out for us, and with God's help we will overcome.

JESUS AND THE LEAST OF THESE

In the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25:31-46), Jesus makes some startling statements about the activities of people who belong to the sheep nations and the people who belong to the goat nations. Jesus says that at the Last Judgement, the Son of Man (another name for the Messiah, the Son of God) how those who are naked, starving, oppressed or imprisoned—the least of these whom He calls His brethren—are being treated is what counts. Jesus says that the Son of Man will judge out of His identification with people who are in need or oppressed as if what has happened to them has happened to Him. 

This level of caring and identification reminds me of what God says to Moses when Moses encounters the Lord at the burning bush as told in the third chapter Exodus. In that passage, after introducing Himself to Moses, the Lord explains, “I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I know their sufferings . . . ” (Exodus 3:7) The verbs in Hebrew in this statement indicate that God is very attentive to th7e conditions that his people underwent as slaves in Egypt. Not only does He see what is happening, not only is He attentive to their cries of pain and grief, but in addition He KNOWS their sufferings. The Hebrew verb that is translated into English as “knows” in this case is the same word that is used concerning the way a husband and wife know one another. It means more than just understanding something or someone—it means the kind of identification because of loving someone and caring deeply about them.

In the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, Jesus is talking about the same level of love and care that God expresses to Moses in the third chapter of Exodus, but there is a difference because of the incarnation. I believe that when the Living God, the Almighty Creator of the Universe, the infinite, all-knowing divinity, the true and only God, became incarnate as the human being Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ (the Messiah), God came to know and understand human beings in a unique way. There is a difference between the understanding intrinsic in knowing something—even as the omniscient and omnipresent God knows—and understanding and identification because of first hand experience. Because of God’s incarnation we don’t have to imagine that the Divine who is invisible and may seem remote can understand what we as human beings go through here on Earth. Jesus was here and experienced what human life is like in the flesh. 

This is a mystery and may be difficult to understand or to get our minds around. Nevertheless, since this is a point of faith, we can come to believe it with the help of the Holy Spirit. When I was a child and I heard the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, I can remember being shocked to hear what Jesus said. Thinking about the reaction of the people of the goat nations when He tells them that when they ignore those who are in need or suffering, I imagine that they seem to think it is unfair that Jesus says how they have treated the people they ignore is the same as allowing the Son of Man to suffer as well. At the same time, I think that the people of the sheep nations who take care of those who are in need or suffer might be awed to know that when they take care of those who are in need or suffering, it is the same as if they are taking care of the Lord.

Since the beginning of Lent we have explored who Jesus says He is and who we believe He is. The Holy Spirit reveals Jesus to us, and we come to know God in Christ not just by reading the Bible, hearing sermons and reading or listening to Bible studies. We get to know the Lord because of experiences we have with Him as we grow in loving relationship to Him. These may include how something in a sermon or Bible study speaks directly to us concerning something that is going on in our lives. We also may come to know the Lord in prayer and meditation so that something we may have questioned becomes completely clear. Or we may be suffering or in need in some way, and receive the help that we need to deliver us, or so that we are provided what we need. Even when that help comes from people we know — or from strangers, we can be sure that the Lord who loved ves us in behind the blessings we receive.

God loves you and knows everything about you. He knows what you need and is able to do so much more than you can even think to ask Him. If you don’t believe that, all you need to do is give Him a chance to show you. 

Whether you believe it or not, our spiritual journeys are the most important part of our lives. God reveals Himself to us in exactly the way we need to know Him. When we have doubts and lift them up to God, the Holy Spirit finds ways to answer those doubts and to help us to be sure that God loves us. And when we come to know God in Christ Jesus and receive Him as our Savior, we leave the existence that we have known and enter into the abundant life that Jesus promises all who come to know God in Him.

As ever, my prayer for you, Beloved, is that if you know the Lord, that you will continue to open your heart, mind and soul to Him so that he is able to draw you closer to His heart and so that you can enjoy the abundant life in the fullness of joy and love that he offers both now and for eternity. 

And, Beloved, if you don’t know God in Christ yet . . . or if you don’t believe at all that God exists, I pray that you will open your heart and mind even a little bit so that you will give God a chance to begin to show you not only that He exists, but that He loves you more than you can imagine. 

May the Lord continue to bless and keep you and yours, today, this week and always.

NOT CHOOSING HATE

Some people who voted Republican have expressed horror and unbelief concerning the alt right rhetoric and activities of the new administration. They have been making excuses for the way Bannon's handling of dt during the campaign and since he took office. 

They don't take it seriously that as a nation we are in trouble because there has been a kind of a coup by people who represent the worst impulses and practuces undegirded with hatred.

What I find hardest to understand is why the people who are supposedly not racist and mysoginist and only car about wealth don't see what the focus of this administration is. 

They don't see the possible consequences of the hatred that is driving the alt right.

So therfore there is collusion by everyone responsible for this administration being in power and perpetuating the hatred and persecution they are bringing about. The longer they act like they don't see it or believe it, the harder it will be to fight the evil and triumph over it.

We are in trouble and we have our work cut out for us.

SPIRITUAL BATTLE LINES

SPIRITUAL BATTLE LINES

In other writings I have mentioned that when I was on active duty working with F-15 pilots who intercepted Soviet bombers off the coasts of Alaska, one summer a squadron of F-15 pilots of the Israeli Defense Force came to fly against us in some exercises. 

I was in the lower 48 visiting relatives at the time, so even though I didn't get a chance to meet the pilots, I heard about how it was when they were there. As a parting gift they gave us a big photograph of Masada from the air with F-15s flying over it. Embossed in it were the words, "Never Again."

At that time in the mid-80s, the United States had not yet used the F-15 in combat, but the Israelis had. The pilots I worked with told me some stories about their combat missions and the performance of F-15s that had been shot up. One story celebrated the compensation by the advanced avionics of the jets that allowed a pilot to land his plane safely after one wing was almost totally demolished by an anti-aircraft missile. 

But my pilot friends were more amazed about a story they were told that was more mystical than technical. The Israeli pilots said that just as Elisha and his servants had seen them above the Golan Heights, during their air combat battles, they had seen the chariots of fire.

And of course both in the biblical narration and in the reality of the war in Israel, God brought victory.

So it is important to understand that even when spiritual battle lines have been drawn, the battle belongs to the Lord, and He always has the victory.

We can rest assured in that knowledge as we move forward to work against all that is going on right now that is causing so much divisiveness and turmoil. The Lord has always known that it would be like this, and He is in charge.

During the Civil War when a woman asked Abraham Lincoln if he believed that God was on his side, he told her that the only thing that was important was that he made sure that he was on God's side. 

And his Second Inaugural Address, he noted that both sides read the same Bible and prayed to the same God. 

We are in the same kind of situation now.

Maybe as Rob Reiner said, this is just the last battle of the Civil War. One way or the other, the battle lines have been drawn, and we have our work cut out for us, Beloved.

TELLING THE TRUTH IN LOVE

I am trying to write this in the most loving way possible, because I truly feel sorry for the people I love who are so delusional to think that this new administration is on the side of righteousness and should continue to be supported. 

Jesus said that Satan is the "Father of Lies" and I was thinking about how much this administration's leader lies and how he applauds them when they lie for him on media programs. And how the people who voted for this administration continue to support him even though he blatantly lies all the time -- just to shore up his own sick ego.

In reply to some of my posts, friends who seem to completely believe his lies and continue to support him and the policies of his administration that include persecuting people who are Moslem, taking away health care from people who otherwise have never had any, supporting and encouraging racists and the activities of white supremacists, and taking away funds that keep our environment healthy, as well as other activities that certainly cannot ever be in line with the teachings of Jesus who said that any time that people were not helped when they were in need were neglecting and hurting Him, not just those people.

The most important thing we can do now is pray. Because certainly the Lord will answer our prayers and help us work against the madness and nastiness that has taken over the White House and that the majority in Congress is colluding with to the detriment of all but the alt right and the wealthy.

Seriously! We have to pray and then work with God's help against this.

EXTREME CULTURAL DIFFERENCES

I have been thinking a lot about cultural differences in the last few weeks of turmoil and dissension, because of all of the ways that the new administration is targeting groups of people of whom they do not approve based on ethnicity and religious faith; lifestyles; and whether they are champions of people who need health care and help, and/or the environment -- or for equal rights and opportunities for minorities and for women.

As a young girl growing up in a suburb of Chicago, I was part of the dominant culture of our nation, but there were three distinct cultures represented by my four grandparents: English, Italian and Pennsylvanian Dutch. Three were immigrants and the fourth had an ancestor who came to the the Massachusetts Bay area in 1633.

As baby boomers, we grew up in an era of passionate liberal protests -- the Civil Rights Movement; the Viet Nam War protests; and women's liberation. We were anti-establishment and suspicious of our government.

But here we are again.

And it occurred to me that the biggest cultural difference we have in our nations is between the people represented by the majority of our citizens who voted for Hillary Clinton by about 2.4 million voter over that minority: those who voted for the current administration.

Today I saw a symbol of the divisiveness and polarization that is tearing our country apart when I passed one of those huge American flags you sometimes see along an interstate highway. I was shocked that it was flying, because no one with respect for out nation and our flag would have allowed it to be raised and waved in the brisk wind that was blowing today. More than three or four of its stripes were separated from the stripes next to them and raggedly lurched in the stiff breeze. It reminded me with sorrow how our country is torn up.

Sadly, along another interstate around here I have many times seen an even bigger Confederate flag. I thought about how the one that is torn apart and disrespectfully displayed, and the one that represents one of the most shameful part of our nation's history are symbolic of the extreme cultural differences evident here these days.

There is a power struggle going on and the stakes are the highest they can be for a nation that was "conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal," as Abraham Lincoln interpreted the ideals of out founders and the way those ideals had been under attack, especially at the moment he spoke those words while dedicating the Gettysburg battlefield and honoring those who fell there.

Many people I know who are part of the culture connected to the new administration are upset over those who are part of the dissenting culture. One of the biggest problems I see is that they claim to have no conception of why the rest of us are upset.

But it seems so self-evident to me. I think it may be that they just can't imagine being in anyone else's shoes, or if they are able to do that, they have no compassion for their plight.

They seem to block out any empathy for minorities including native Americans who are the sons and daughters of people who for generations have not had the same kinds of opportunities that white people take for granted.

They can't seem to put themselves in the place of the newest groups of people who are doing exactly what their ancestors did fifty years ago . . . or a hundred years ago . . . or like my great great great great great grandfather did when he came to the Massachusetts Bay area to escape religions persecution and turmoil and start a new life in freedom.

They don't seem to be able to imagine themselves living on a minimum wage and/or working for a company that does not offer health care benefits.

They don't seem to be able to open their hearts to people of the same gender who love one another and have made a commitment to spend their lives together.

They seem to cut themselves off from understanding why a woman would be in the kind of difficult situation when she would decide not to bear a child. (And when they post how many babies have come to this life over the years because of the decisions their mothers have made, they neglect to imagine how much more of a burden their would be on our broken society that is not helping to provide for people who are homeless; that does not make sure that all children have access to decent educational opportunities; that has gone out of its way decade after decade to deny health care benefits to huge numbers of people--except for the last seven years or so; and that perpetuates systemic racism.)

It's sad. But it's also shocking.

When you can't seem to "walk a mile in the shoes" of another person, it comes down to an inability to "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." You are ignoring the needs of "the least, the last and the lost." Your lack of compassion leads to a kind of selfishness that announces, "I have what I want and need, and I have worked for it, so everyone else should do what I do, and it's their fault if they don't have what it takes.

So, yes . . . we have our work cut out for us because so much that this administration has done and has promised to do in collusion with the majority members of Congress will cause huge amounts of harm and grief and destruction of the ideals and highest ethical practices upon which our nation was founded.

What can we do to change the minds of the people of the other culture and help them see and understand and help and be more compassionate. Probably we need to start by praying for them. But if praying for them and trying to convince them about what we believe is true, we have to work against them as we are beginning to do.

But we must work harder.

We are on the defensive, but we have to get pro-active and be more creative.

Now is the time.

As ever, Beloved, no matter what you believe, I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you and yours.

THIS I BELIEVE . . .

There is more than one interpretation of the Bible and the word "Christian" belongs to many different kinds of people of many different cultures and many different ways of looking at the world and at their various individual histories and individual and/or collective relationships with God in Christ Jesus. 

I really believe that God has an absolutely unique relationship with each and every human being . . . and that each one of us can come to know Jesus as the Holy Spirit reveals Him to us -- and that we are complerely free to have a relationship with God, the divine Creator or not -- and that in whatever way we are able to access the spiritual -- and be aware of who each one of us is in Spirit, God understands.

I firmly believe that God became incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth partly to break down the narrow interpretation of God's laws and make an unrestricted access to The Divine as opposed to the restrictions present in the era, and especially the ways that the leadership of the Temple kept people from being free to worship because of the myriad of judgmental customs and hoops to jump through that had multiplied over the years. The faith that came out of the experiences of their culture and history had become religion of works righteousness rather than faith in God and emphasis on His mercy and grace. 

God's relationship with the Children of Israel and with other people and ethnic groups in the Bible demonstrates that God deals with each individual and with each nation in unique and specific ways according to the historic setting and the cultural world views of the individuals, families and nations chronicled.  

Jesus taught and demonstrated a new reality based on God's direct interaction with human beings.  He taught about the Kingdom of Heaven that was brought to Earth when He was born. He demonstrated God's love, mercy, and forgiveness through the ways He loved and related to individuals and groups. 

The miracles and healing a He brought about made it clear that He was of God and from God. By His suffering, death and resurrection, He released all human beings from sin and guilt. God's intervention thorough Christ Jesus paved the way for each person to receive deliverance from sin and death by recognizing Him and receiving God's grace.

So no matter what sin anyone commits and no matter what sin is committed against any person, up to and including the destruction of life, God has already forgiven all of it for each and every person. But a person receives forgiveness from God in Christ individually. There is not a way for any person to ever say that another person has committed an unforgivable sin. 

And no one can give God's forgiveness to you. God has already bestowed it and you have only to receive it. No one can take your forgiveness away from you, either. And no one can condemn you, not even your self, because God in Christ has already forgiven you. 

So when people decide that they have the right to keep anyone who has free will in Jesus Christ from doing what she or he wants to do with her or his own body, it is sad. They have missed the most important part of the Gospel.  We have been given freedom in Jesus Christ. No one can take that away. Even people who are imprisoned physically are free in Jesus Christ because of the love of God. 

Human beings were all given free will by God from the earliest time of their creation, but complete freedom only came from when God became incarnate in Jesus of Nazareth. 

It's sad when anyone tries to take that liberty from sin and death -- and the freedom to have an unimpeded relationship with the Living Loving God from any other person. Women are just as precious to God as men are, and each individual person is just as important to the Lord as any other person. 

So the bottom line is this. No one has any right to say that they know better than another person concerning that person's relationship with God. And before God, each sin is as heinous as any other sin, yet Jesus died to cancel out the punishment for every single sin by taking them all in Himself. 

In all of this we see God's amazing love and mercy and complete understanding of all human beings and of each one of us. God is for us because He loves us, not because of what we do or don't do. In Psalm 139 it says that before we each come to be incarnate, God already knows everything that will happen in our lives. 

He knows how we will love and He knows how we will sin. He knows what will be done to hurt us and He knows what it will take for us to recover. He knows whether or not we will be able to believe in Him and He knows what it will take to convince us to believe.

 But no one has the right to tell us what to believe and no one has the right to tell us how to live our lives.

The people who believe in the right to bear arms believe that no one should take that right away from them. But that is not biblical. It is only for the Bill of Rights. If people try to tell them that it's possible that registering gun ownership and restricting the type of weapons would make a difference in how many weapons are used to kill innocent children and other people, they flatly refuse to even listen, demanding that there is an unfettered right that should have no restrictions so that their weapons can be used against people any time they see fit.

But there is a higher law than the Bill of Rights. And that is the law of freedom in Jesus Christ undergirded by God's sacrificial, unconditional complete and eternal love. It is guaranteed by God to each person and no one can modify it or change it. Only the Holy Spirit can truly reveal all of this to each person's heart. 

May the Lord continue to bless and keep you and yours, now and always.

❤️❤️❤️