BTZ Blog

People who accept religious institutions as the Church of Jesus Christ, and accepts that the institution is infallible will believe whatever lies institutions teach to be the gospel truth.

Some people are so busy pointing out the inconsistencies and flaws in other people they fail to see the same and bigger inconsistencies and flaws in themselves. Let him who is flawless be the first to point out the flaws in others. If we followed such advice we would would be so busy righting our own flaws we would not have the time to condemn other people in their flaws.

Proof-Texting outside of the contextual setting context of the story to prove one’s interpretation of scripture as a means of trying to prove that one’s understanding of God is right and that all other people’s understanding of God is wrong, presupposes that God and His ways are not beyond man’s understanding. Proof-Texting outside of the contextual setting leads to creating God in the image of man, and gives people a false conception of Who God is. God is not a project of man’s imagination, man’s limited imagination is unable to comprehend God. Man is made in the image of God...God is “NOT” made in the image of man. God is far better than the image we create of Him. Not only is He far better than the bad image that some people attribute to Him...He is also far better than the good image people attribute to Him. God is GOODER than you think!

Why is it that religious self-righteous people become very indignant when their doctrine and their view of God is questioned? Because they live in the deception that God is as they think He is, they are unable to consider or imagine that God is much better than what they or anyone else thinks He is. He is beyond human comprehension, therefore we ought to stop creating God in our image by thinking we have got Him all figured out. The scripture tells us that God created us in His image, we do not create God in our image by limiting Him to be what we think Him to be! What sort of gospel allows a person to believe that God is as is believed by people who are influenced by denominated indoctrination?

Jesus' harsh words were directed at people whose self-righteous judgmentalism and condemnation were directed at other people. To those Jesus directed His most severe words were to the self-righteous religious-know-it-alls, the judgmental condemning Pharisees and Sadducees...those who did not see themselves as sinners but rendered that charge to everyon e else that did not keep to their religious pattern. He characterized such people as "blind leaders of the blind," "hypocrites," "fools" living in their folly, "white washed tombs on the outside" but vile on the inside "a brood of vipers" snakes ready to spread their venom and "children of the devil" carrying out his deception. Such is the way Jesus saw the hypocrisy of the religious elite who kept His children in bondage. Notice to whom Jesus showed the most kindness and compassion. Sinners who were involved in immorality of all types such as, prostitutes, adu...

Jesus says: "Unless you hate your mother and father, you cannot be my disciple."..."Unless you prefer me above all others in your being and in your doing, you cannot be my disciple" Jesus says: "You cannot serve two masters, you will love one and hate the other."..."You cannot serve two masters, you will prefer one over the other." In fact, we often see people serving two masters and emotionally loving both. If an alcoholic stops drinking, to save his family from the destructive results of his problem, he is hating alcohol and loving his family. According to the Semitic tradition of hyperbole, this is true, but emotionally, the man still loves the alcohol, and fights cravings every day. 2 John 1:5-7, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this...is...love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in l...

The bible states, "God hates ALL who work iniquity." Now, the haters of sinners use this scripture as a poison arrow to pull from their hate quiver to shoot from their crooked bowed mouth to accuse God of hating the way they understand hate. Be very careful how you use that statement, this is where hate mongers get slippery. If a believer gets out of line and begins to declare that God loves the people of the world enough to die to save them through Christ, they will whip out that scripture and slam it on the table. Psalm 5:5 clearly and plainly states: God hates ALL who work iniquity. That leaves us in an perplexing situation regarding scripture, one that without correct contextual understanding leaves people saying God hates sinners, therefore, we as believers should hate sinners as well. Thus, the judging and condemning of people who do not believe their understanding of scripture continues.  Paul said it very plainly: Rom 3:23, ALL HAVE SINNED, and come short of the...

Let's continue looking at the story of Esau. First, it begins with God's "love" toward Jacob and God's "hate", (not man's hate) toward Esau each manifested at the proper time: Gen 25:29-34, the story; One day, Jacob was cooking some stew, when Esau came home hungry and said, "I'm starving to death! Give me some of that red stew right now!" That's how Esau got the n ame "Edom." Jacob replied, "Sell me your rights as the first-born son." "I'm about to die," Esau answered. "What good will those rights do me?" But Jacob said, "Promise me your birthrights, here and now!" And that's what Esau did. Jacob then gave Esau some bread and some of the bean stew, and when Esau had finished eating and drinking, he just got up and left, showing how little he thought of his rights as the first-born. Now the Prophecy is fulfilled. Esau probably had no idea that he was making a ...

How can people who believe they are so right, be so wrong when it comes to the understanding and interpretation of scripture and the attributes they ascribe to our loving God?  Because of the way they believe the meaning and understanding of words are the way God means and understands them to be and if God understands words the way they do in their narrow mindedness, their understanding must be correct. They become self-appointed "Doctrinal Police" armed with hate verses that they shoot from their mouth anything that does not fit their narrow mindedness in understanding scripture, Let's take a look at the word "hate" and see why the sinner haters believe God hates sinners and makes them feel justified in their hate mentality.  Rom 9:13, As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. According to them, it cannot be any plainer. God does not just hate the sin, but the sinner as well. Case closed, it is as plain as the nose on your face. ...

A scripture in the Bible that as believers would do us all well to understand with clarity. Isaiah 55:8-9 reads; For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. From the rendering of the passage, it is fair to say that whatever man's understanding of hate and its consequences are, God's knowledge and understanding of hate is righteously far beyond the puny brain power of man who figure they have a handle on scripture and use the verses about hate to bring God down to their level of understanding that essentially makes God into their image of who He is. This is the height of idolatry where the self-appointed-knowers of God become are idol and deceive many to bow to their perceptions about God.    Have you considered that when you read about God's "hatred" of sinners, and you attribute your personal, hum...

"God hates sinners" is the proclamation of many fear mongering preachers and people who are deceived by their contextual misuse of scripture by believing God hates people which gives believers the right to judge and condemn sinners as one individual did in response to my post "Are Lovers of God People Haters". And the ironic thing is he and all who believe God hates people use bible verses to prove their right to hate. Here is a quote by Matt Slick, "The sobering fact is that God is so holy and righteous that He hates the sinner (Psalm 5:5; Lev. 20:23; Prov. 6:16-19; Hos. 9:15). Some say that we should say that God only hates the sin but loves the sinner. But, the above scriptures speak contrary to that." Can you imagine that because a person is HOLY and RIGHTEOUS is the reason to HATE PEOPLE! Would that not make God, the supreme Holy and righteous one, the SUPREME HATER of PEOPLE...how absurd! Angelo Sanchez says this, "You say t...

If we refuse to forgive, if we have no compassion, if we are not loving, if we have no kindness, if we have no peace, if we hate, judge and condemn people we fail to realize that we are disconnected from God and that we a are a part of each other and as Mother Teresa said: "belong to each other."

Somebody has said, “you can safely assume that you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the people you do.” I am in agreement with that statement!

People who hold to the view that God is a hater of sinners hold to the view that God will love  people if they change from doing bad to doing good.  However, God's gospel of grace says God will change people because He LOVES people. People who promote that God is a hater set themselves up as knowing the mind of God in that His grace, mercy and love has limits. This brings God down to the level of human understanding and makes God into our image and disregards the fact that God's ways are higher than our ways.  This creates a religious dread zone that allows the God hates you people to contextually misuse bible verses to spread the lie that God hates! If we puny humans think that we can imagine any imagination that understands the imagination of God, "whose ways are higher than our ways", that places a limit on His love we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. I am utterly convinced that God's love exceeds any imagination that man might have of it....

John the Baptist said; "Jesus must increase while I must decrease" (John 3:30). Yet today we have leaders and preachers promoted to positions of power and prominence that are the envy of CEO's of secular companies. Pastors have become "Pa-star" celebrities. The walls of their palatial homes, offices and edifices are filled with memorabilia of themselves and their accomplishments. It would seem that these pa-stars and the people who consider them celebrities are doing what is in their power to increase their "spiritual idol" at the expense of Jesus' increasing! Instead of spending time in God's presence to know God so His Holy Spirit can work through them, much time is wasted begging the pew-warmers, couch-sitting TV watchers and the revival-go-meeting attenders to give money so their work, which they call God's work, so it will continue. What we need to do is prostrate ourselves before God and ask for forgiveness and strip off the power-...

The bible in the hands of angry, judgmental, condemning, unforgiving people is the same as lies in the mouth of liars who are guilty of turning untruth into perceived truth that is accepted by many as genuine truth. There is nothing more deceiving than untruth presented as truth coming from the mouth of people who believe they are truth keepers and bible believers, who back up the lies they present as truth due to incorrect bible interpretation while believing they have correct bible understanding.

No wonder there is so little understanding of kingdom living and so little knowing of the Gospel of Grace in christedom...most religious doctrine is based on the illusion that they know, understand and interpret the bible correctly, when in fact they interpret it in light of what they believe rather than letting it formulate what they believe.  Therefore, people live in illusional ignorance instead of contextual illumination. To have our heads screwed on right, our hearts in the right place, an open mind and to think for ourselves rather than have others do our thinking for us, is a formidable weapon against illusional ignorance that traps us in deceptions deceit. 

Life is to short to waste time trying to live someone else's life or by some institution's rules and standards. So many people are brainwashed by man-made doctrines that is the result of some man's interpretation of what they think the bible means based on what they have been taught from other people's perceived understanding.  Don't let the numbing noise of other people's opinion drown out the still small voice of the Spirit or your own inner voice.  Don't let the religious mumble-jumble of the religiously mumble-jumbled people prevent you hearing the Spirit's voice in your heart, have the courage to follow your heart's intuitional leading. Living a life of love for people, is not the same as living the life of other people to gain their love and acceptance!

Just because something is stated truly does not mean it is a statement of truth. For example...if I repeat something that is verbatim, what I repeated verbatim is stated truly, but it may not be a statement of truth. For many hundreds of years many people were told the earth was flat, any repeating of that statement was stated truly but, it was not a statement of truth because the earth is not flat. Therefore, failing to separate what is true from what is truth opens us up to deception by accepting what is stated truly as a statement of truth when it is not. Therefore, to understand the bible contextually and correctly it is imperative to separate what is true from what is truth. If we don't the subtleness of deception is accepted as truth and the formation of false doctrines occur. Matthew 27, 46 states...And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Here we have a q...

Integrity is not doing the right thing knowing that people will know that you did the right thing and see you as a person of integrity and respect you. It is doing the right thing whether knowing or not knowing that anybody knows you are doing the right thing...you're just a right thing doer. Integrity, has no need of man-made rules to govern or regulate it.  With Christ as its Head and Holy Spirit led, neither does the Church!

I find it sad that in the religious system so many useful people spend so much valuable time and energy on learning and sharing useless information and doing useless things that are useless as far as living gospel reality is concerned. Unless useful people do their doing with the glove of love from a heart  of love, even the useful is useless uselessness. 

If we fail to do what we have to do when it should have been done, we leave ourselves open to not getting done what should have been done. But, the more time we spend lamenting over the things we could have done and should have done...the less time we will have to do what we still can do and should do. What lies in your ability to do also lies in your ability not to do. To do or not to do is entirely up yo you!

The wrong in being wrongly done, is the wrong not to forgive the wrong-doer nor consciously forget the wrong that was perpetrated against you by refusing to remember it. Forgetting the wrong is not so much about the wrong being eradicated from your mind as it is refusing to dwell on the wrong when it comes to your mind.  That is the way to FORGIVE and FORGET!

So many meaningful people are involved in meaningless living thinking they are meaningfully engaged in the kingdom of God. Though they think they are doing meaningful things that are meaningful to God in the doing of rituals and rule keeping endeavours, they are doing it in a meaningless religious daze, this is because they are doing meaningless things while thinking they are doing the meaningful things because the things they do are good. It is not the doing of good things for God to please God that will give meaning to life living, it is loving people the way God loves them, by gracing them with compassion, kindness, mercy and forgiveness that gives meaning to life living. We are satisfied with pats of the back for doing good things from our religious peers and hierarchy, but, if the good we do hinders us from doing what's best, then the good we do is the worse of the better that we should do and is meaningless!

People can tell how much you trust God by your worry meter. Worrying distorts the mind and never solves anything and your worry meter is topped out. Your frustration and agitation works its way out and your actions portrays what turmoil your mind is going through. If you worry a lot...your trust in God is not. The more your trust in God the less you will worry.

The cross and death of Christ is evidence of God's wrath poured out against sin. Not that Jesus was sin...He took upon Himself our sin so we would could be free from paying for our sin. Sin...ALL SIN...is is paid for in full, through the complete work Jesus finished on the cross and validated by His resurrection. Now the LIVING JESUS, is proof positive of God's forgiveness, mercy, grace and love. Jesus died and was raised to life again to give us the Gospel of Grace, grace that is greater than all our sin! 

The key that unlocks appreciation and fulness of life is GRATITUDE!    It turns our not-enough into enough. It turns our inability into ability. It turns our selfishness into selflessness. It turns our unforgiveness into forgiveness. It turns our unkindness into kindness. It turns our peaceless-ness into peacefulness. It turns our love-less-ness into lovingness. It turns our uncomfortableness in comfortableness. It turns our painfulness into painlessness. It turns our hatefulness into hate-less-ness. It turns out joylessness into joyfulness. It turns friendlessness into friendliness. It turns confusion into confusion-less-ness. It turns our hopelessness into hopefulness. It turns our humble-less-ness into humbleness. It turns our ugliness into beautifulness. It turns our frowning into a smileing. It turns our sorrow into joy. It turns our house into a home. Gratitude can do this because GRATITUDE is THANKFULNESS!

Through every heartache that tears you apart, Jesus, the man of sorrows has a part.  Not in causing the pain you are going through, but to share the pain that is placed on you. Though your skies are dark and grey, follow Christ...He will never lead you astray. Never forget that as St, Agustien once said;  "God loves each one of us as if there was only one of us." And that love is there with you no matter what you are called to go through, keep following Him and your grey skies will turn to blue.

Because God created us in His image...for Himself...we will be a restless people until we cease from striving to be loved and accepted by Him by law keeping or by performing for Him to gain His favor, and come to a place, even in our failures, of confidently abiding in Him by trusting Him and truly resting in His love.  You see, we were not meant to become someone perfect for God, we were meant to know Someone...God Himself through Someone who is perfect...Jesus, His Son! That knowing God does not come to fruition because we are without flaws, for we are human and imperfect. Yet, we can know God because He showers us with His grace, mercy and love through Jesus Christ, the perfect One, who is our righteousness! WOW! Such is His Gospel of Grace! Even with our flaws we are perfected in His love!

The institutional church loves so-called measurable quantifiable successes, and statistical measurements to satisfy their head office hierarchy and keep them from pulling the plug. Denominations that are in decline decide something has to be done to turn things around. Many turn to measurable programmed membership drive events as the only hope for a reversal of the decline they find themselves in. Many denominations become preoccupied with trying to reach some kind of agreement over a measurable program they can use to measure membership increase. To raise caution regarding measurement solutions at such a time will get one labeled an enemy of positive change or a lazy good-for-nothing who is unconcerned about the decline in membership the "church". The way that institutional churches determines moral obligation and the viability of a denomination is that the end justifies the means in that there has to be enough members to financially support the operation of the busines...

People are not so much interested in knowing how much you know about the Bible that lets them know that you want them to know you are biblically smart. People are more interested in knowing how much you know about caring and how much compassion, how much forgiveness, how much kindness, how much mercy and love you have in your heart. You can know the Bible without living the Bible, but you cannot live the Bible without knowing the Bible. Living in the Living Word is much more effective than speaking the written word.

Life living would be an awful frustrating lonely ordeal were it not for friends, for friends offer encouragement that help us get through life, and they are the only things from this world we can hope to see in the life hereafter.

The breeding ground for mistake making is FEAR!   Acting from a fear based mentality will usually lead to mistake making because of the inability of one to make decisions objectively

As a blogger I realize that I will never be so good at my written communication that 100% of my readers will understand or agree with my conclusions. My written communication skills are such that there will always be people who will not understand what I write or where I am coming from regarding the topics I write on.   Some will comment on my posts based on conclusions they ho ld to due to the environmental culture they are in, and if I write something that contradicts their environmental influences, though they are ignorant of the topic written, they discredit what I write even without a understanding of what is written. I must understand that these type of people will always be around, I must also refuse to be discouraged and not let naysayers discourage me and steal my right of an attempt to communicate.

The centrality of the gospel is not in Sunday-go-meetings, it is not in the attending of conferences and conventions, it is not in seminars or seminaries,  It is not attending healing crusades or revival meetings, it is not making people fit for heaven by joining  a  "church" or judging and condemning people consigning people to hell. The centrality of the gospel is not even the Bible! The centrality of the gospel is Jesus, the cross and His resurrection, and what was accomplished for the community of humanity through a new creation, the redeemed community of God...the CHURCH... It is Christ RISEN and GLORIFIED, abiding in His redeemed community empowering the redeemed community as His redeemed people work with Him. He is our companion in the relational journey of daily living His kingdom reality in the earthly realm to benefit the community of humanity in influencing them to turn to God through His grace and love, which draws people unto repentance.

The way things are, are the way things are, but that does not mean the way things are, are  the way things will be...Unless...people don't forgive you and accept that you are not the mistakes you make. Judging people by the mistakes they make, will contribute to mistakes ruling their life, and the way things are, are the way things will be in their future. But, people who love you will never judge who you are by the mistakes you make therefore, the way things are, are not the way things will be. All people have the right to make mistakes, but I do not have the right to judge that people are the mistakes they make.

A life living relationship where reality is better than your euphoric and rapturous dreams, is to experience living a life in a relationship of love, compassion, understanding and forgiveness. You are indeed blessed if your living reality is desired above your best dreams!

Why is it so difficult for believers to believe the extensiveness of God's forgiveness? Is it because of a inadequate understanding that His grace and love is thorough through and through, or a refusal to trust that He has made us His perfectly righteous children in His Son?   Is it because we do not think of ourselves as forgiven of our present sinning in that  His forgiveness applied only to our past sins and in an effort to conceal our present sinning we prefer the facade of pretending to be good decent people by pretending we do not sin. But the fact is saints sin! Our pretense of being so good that we do not sin may make us look good in the eyes of the religious hierarchy and be accepted as good enough to join the sect of our choice but, it is not pleasing to God!  It seems that after behaving good for a day or two, we begin to feel like we are a pretty good person and we begin to feel self-righteousness setting in and we are deemed to be "good chri...