EXISTENTIAL RIGHTEOUSNESS (4)

Man’s toil of righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6)

(…continued from part three…)

4)            Unknown to most Christians, as earlier explained, is the egregious anathema of the definition of ‘filthy’ (found in Isaiah 64:6), which is ‛êd (ayd): ‘the menstrual flux (as periodical); by implication (in plural) soiling.’ Beged (behg’-ed) is the Hebrew for ‘rags’ meaning: ‘treachery, deceit; garment, clothing (used indiscriminately).’ It was an unfortunate loss, that Adam plunged humanity into, unquestionably. Disobedient sinfulness eroded Adam’s righteousness, engendering a spiritual spillover of unrighteous existentiality unto every Adamic accouchement. It became extremely difficult for the Adamic nature to please God in this garb of sinfulness. “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven;” explained Jesus in Matthew 5:20.

                But all was not lost, all thanks be to God who bestowed an existential Image of Himself on the day six of Adam’s creation. Man had the eternality of spiritual survival implanted into him, just in case he decides to follow the right path in his future life of sin. Why would God say to the murderous Cain in Genesis 4:7 “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door”? The feminine noun, ‘sin’ is regenerative. It is the Hebraic chaṭṭâ’th (khat-taw-aw’): ‘sin offering, sacrifice, expiation.’ And what is ‘lieth’? It is râbats (raw-bats’), meaning: ‘to crouch (on all four legs folded, like a recumbent animal)’; and that was the solution: “bring a sacrifice of a recumbent animal (sheep or goat): and I, the LORD God will forgive you, Cain,” was the divine solution to the sin question. Cain decided not to be a follower of Christ. Doomed, he became, for all eternity.

Purchase of regeneration very, very costly indeed.

                God, as a Businessman, will never lose His capital. He always makes sure of that. He knew that, unlike the progenitor of the antediluvian miscreants, some of the Adamic stock would come to Him for salvation. Those ones would ignite the soteriological gene in them, and make their way to the Saviour, Jesus Christ. They will see the Light, after having believed the word of the saving grace. To them is the reservation of celestial regeneration midwifed by God, the Holy Spirit. Amen. Romans 1:17 “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.” Where comes the faith? It comes from the Word of God, Jesus Christ. The righteousness bestowed upon Christians does not come as an earned reward from a spiritual toil. Romans 4:6 “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works;” because it is something God decided, based on an act of faith from an individual. “Imputeth’ is the Greek logizomai (log-id’-zom-ahee): ‘to reckon, count, compute, calculate.’ Based on our ‘righteousness,’ impaired by our carnality, it is nothing short of ‘menstrual rags’ as offensive as the fig leaves apparels of Adam and his wife.

Not having mine own righteousness…but that which is through the faith of Christ (Phil. 3:9)

                 “Not having mine own” found in Philippians 3:9 has Scriptural corroboration in Psalms 130:2-4

“Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. 3) If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? 4) But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.” God, having walked with Israel, had engendered certain consanguinity. This reality emboldened David to ask for God’s ears. Access granted, an existential righteousness prompts an appeal to the Divinity, and in a so to speak manner, the rhetorical question of the third verse becomes so apropos. Knowing that all was not lost, the sanguinity of the fourth verse is a conclusive facticity.

                Romans 9:29-33, “And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha. 30) What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. 31) But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. 32) Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; 33) As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”  What the legalism of the Jewry stance could not achieve is easily accessible to the supposedly hopelessness of the Gentiles: they tread the Scriptural path of faith. While Israel struggles with the mercilessness of the legalistic chambers of Mosaic institution, born again Christians are enjoying the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. A righteousness of faith ignition is the right standing that faith has enabled us to share with the LORD God. Amen.

                Jesus puts it very succinctly in Matthew 9:13 “But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”  Temple sacrifices are of the Law, which cannot lead to eternal rest in heaven. The phrase, “which is of the law” from Philippians 3:9 receives corroboration from Galatians 3:10-14, “For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. 11) But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. 12) And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. 13) Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14) That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

The Bible insists: no man is justified by the law which has become a curse, when not totally observed; and that the promise of righteousness comes through faith.

                Get born again by saying this simple prayer.

“Dear heavenly Father, I come to You now in the name of Jesus Christ. I believe in my heart that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sin. I believe that You raised Him from the dead. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and I receive Him now as my Lord and my Saviour. I give God all the glory. Amen!”

(…to be concluded…)

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You will get the concluding part 5 here

EXISTENTIAL RIGHTEOUSNESS (2)

(…continued from part one…)

2)

               Genesis 15:6 reads, “And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.” It was strictly a show of righteousness being run by the Divinity. Unbeknown to Abraham, God opened a bank account for him. When Abraham decided to put all his eggs, unlike the philosophy of mankind, into one basket –of faith— God entered it into the file of righteousness. The psalmist wrote, “He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” [Psalms 23:3]. He could not have penned this verse of soteriological phenomenon without the inspired contribution of the Holy Spirit. All one does is just following the Shepherd. This ‘following’ is irrefragably of a spiritual significance. The good Shepherd, as the Eternal LORD, can only work an eternally secured salvation for the creativity of His wrought ‘image’. Amen.

               At the Eden Garden fall, did man not try to get himself equitably garbed? His foliated garb was absolutely an unprepossessing falsehood. Probably a pool of still waters helped to mirror the insane design of his chosen apparel. As the unmistakable voice of His Holiness pierced through the atmospheric serenity of the Garden of Eden, unrighteous instinct told them to run for cover. Right-standing impaired! It is in this light I introduce Isaiah 64:6  “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” Ṭâmê’ (taw-may’), the Hebrew for ‘unclean’ means: ‘impure (ethically and religiously).’ ‘Righteousnesses’ is tsedâqâh (tsed-aw-kaw’); rightness (abstractly), subjectively (rectitude), objectively (justice), morally (virtue) or figuratively (prosperity).’ ‘Filthy,’ ‛êd (ayd), is ‘1. the menstrual flux (as periodical). 2. (by implication) (in plural) soiling.’ ‘Rags,’ begged (behg’-ed), is defined as ‘treachery, deceit;  garment, clothing (used indiscriminately).’

                Isaiah agrees with my submission that sinfulness is the bane of our Adamic predicament. The perfectly created man did commit the unrighteous deed, and became as unrighteous as his tempter, Satan the Devil. From that ominous day, we have become unclean, ethically and religiously. The religious stance of our being, it must be understood, actuates worship. If we should stop worshipping God, our spiritual tie to Him suffers the destruction engendered by the sheer separation. It, in reality, translates into death –alienated from Him forever! Death, therefore, is simply a cut off from God, who, essentially, is life. Impurity is a harbinger of unrighteousness. To maintain the unrighteousness of Satanism, Lucifer must introduce and ignite a vigorous religiosity in man’s psyche.

Filthy rags [Isaiah 64:6]

                An unrighteous essence pollutes every deed of actuation. White corn seeds will produce the same colour of a prepared pap. Right? Yes! What happens when the cooking receptacle is treated with a smeared soot before the preparation of the corn meal; what will be the colour of its exhibition? Black? Yes, simply on account of its pollution! Man’s righteous essence got tampered with, when the ophidian spirit of Satanism got the woman of Eden to believe his mendacious chicanery. No matter the best of favourableness tied to an intention, as long as it does not produce the redolence of the Spirit of truth, the Third Member of Divinity, it is doomed for unfruitfulness, before the ultimate Judge. This explains why “all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.”

                Will it not be judged as treacherous as a coup d’état, if a woman should walk up to the dining table of an emperor and slaps the table with her heavily soiled menstrual pad while the monarch is enjoying his breakfast? Can righteousness receive an engenderment from Satanism? Many teachers of the Bible do not even know how despicable the term “filthy rags” is. There is no way one can please the LORD God in this fallen, Adamic soul. It is continually in antagonism with the Good God. The Creator saw this putrefaction, so, the Scripture revealed the words of Genesis 6:5-6 “And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6) And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.”

                The good deeds of fallen man emanates from the spirit of wiliness. He only wants to satisfy the diablerie of his conscience. A make-believe heart of philanthropy is the shenanigan connivance of Satanism. It is believed that the leaders of the occult and of religions tell the adherents to engage in generous alms giving; believing that it will make up for the evil deeds of their dark lives. Is it not an insulting act trying to please God, still steeped in the incorrigibility of ones satanic heart? “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” [Galatians 6:7]. The word ‘mocked’ is the Greek mukterizo (mïk-tee-riy’-zō): ‘to make mouths at, i.e. ridicule.’ And the good news is that this righteousness can be regained. If it is an impossibility, Jesus would not have told Nicodemus, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” [John 3:16]; seeing it is a mark of showing faith –in the name and the finished work of Jesus, the Saviour— that gives man eternal life.

                Get born again by saying this simple prayer.

“Dear heavenly Father, I come to You now in the name of Jesus Christ. I believe in my heart that Jesus is the Son of God. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sin. I believe that You raised Him from the dead. I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and I receive Him now as my Lord and my Saviour. I give God all the glory. Amen!”

(…to be concluded…)

Click here to read part 1

Read part 3. Click here

How To Get Born Again (part three)

Getting born again is God’s invention to salvage the lost souls who have a desiring heart to come back to the Creator. It is a system which has helped man to retrace his steps back to the Eden righteousness. With just one prayer all of man’s sins are wiped off: past, present and future sin are forgiven (Ephesians 1:7; Acts 3:19; Hebrews 10:18; Colossians 2:13; 1John 2:12; Isaiah 43:25).

That God had designed a reviviscent blueprint which entails a spiritual rebirth was alien to the scriptural intellectualism even of Nicodemus. Methinks the Nativity manifestation of the Incarnation is a pointer to an eventual spiritual parturition of God’s children. How is it that only the Bible reveals this soteriological truth? Only the Bible has the containerization of theological truths and what is more, it is the very Logos (Jesus Christ) who taught the possibility of a spiritual rebirth. No religious sect gives a definite doctrine on how to gain a citizenship of heaven.

“Just ensure that you keep out of evil deeds and heaven is your sure bet;” is what many traditional religions teach. It, no doubt, runs diametrically opposed to Isaiah. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” This is the prophet’s declaration in chapter 64 verse 6, speaking the truthfulness of the mind of God. The word ‘righteousnesses’ is tsedâqâh (tsed-aw-kaw’): ‘rightness (abstractly), subjectively (rectitude), objectively (justice), morally (virtue) or figuratively (prosperity).’                                                                                      All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags

The things we pride our lives in, God judges as ‘filthy rags.’ ‘Filthy’ in Hebrew is ‛êd (ayd): ‘menstrual flux (as periodical); by implication (in plural) soiling;’ and ‘rags’ is beged (behg’-ed) ‘a covering, that is, clothing; also treachery or pillage.’ The prompting psychological energy for every act of man must have an ignition from the Holy Spirit in order to be garbed in the divinely decreed righteousness found only in the accomplished work of Christ. Imagine all the sweat that goes into all the triumphal news coverage of your philanthropic exploits being judged as ‘filthy rags’ when tended as the winning evidences before the Almighty Judge: all because Jesus Christ is not involved?

Hindu’s Jivatma

The Hindu religion believes that, “Since heavenly abodes are also tied to the cycle of birth and death, any dweller of Heaven or Hell will again be recycled to a different plane and in a different form per the karma and “maya” i.e. the illusion of Samsara. This cycle is broken only by self-realization by the Jivatma.” How many cycled people can, with all truthfulness, share their heavenly or hellish experience? The Bible says that, ”And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:” (Hebrews 9:27).

According to the Book of the Dead, which reveals the ancient Egyptian religion, departed souls would undergo a literal journey to reach Heaven, along the way to which there could exist hazards and other entities attempting to deny the reaching of Heaven. Their heart would finally be weighed with the feather of truth, and if the sins weighed it down their heart was devoured. This Egyptian belief runs contrary to God’s protocol. 1Corinthians 15:52 reveals how afterlife journey takes place, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”

Accordingly, Bahá’ís view life as a preparatory stage, where one can develop and perfect those qualities which will be needed in the next life. The key to spiritual progress is to follow the path outlined by the current Manifestation of God, which Bahá’ís believe is currently Bahá’u’lláh (the founder of Bahá’í Faith). Bahá’u’lláh wrote, “Know thou, of a truth, that if the soul of man hath walked in the ways of God, it will, assuredly return and be gathered to the glory of the Beloved.” The puzzle here is: which God? Is Christ Jesus involved?

Bahá’í’s idea of heaven

The Bahá’í teachings state that each soul can continue to progress in the afterlife, but the soul’s development is not entirely dependent on its own conscious efforts, the nature of which we are not aware, but also augmented by the grace of God, the prayers of others, and good deeds performed by others on Earth in the name of that person.

What I would need to know is this: which God is Bahá’u’lláh manifesting, Allah, Brahma or Jehovah? Bahá’u’lláh means ‘Glory of God’ and his original name is Mīrzā Ḥosayn ʿAlī Nūrī born November 12, 1817, Tehrān, Iran.

His name invokes the identity of Christ. Is he Jesus who must of necessity be involved in the salvation of the lost soul of mankind? He is not. He does not meet the spiritual requirement.   (…to be continued…) 

Click to read the 2nd part