BTZ Blog

A difficult part of being a believer is dealing with other believers who believe if you don't believe the way they believe, you are not a believer.

Grace is the outward manifestation of the inward peace and harmonious relationship of the soul and spirit that is united in a relational relationship with God through Jesus, given to the Church by Paul to express the character, mercy, forgiveness and love of Jesus and the purpose of God in the death and resurrection of His Son for the community of humanity.

I wonder...If people who are so adamant in contending with people because they do not line up with their doctrinal stance, would instead shine for Jesus, have a greater influence on people for the kingdom of God? Would people be more godly, if instead of portraying Jesus as a fighter fighting through them while they are fighting over their view on what is correct doctrine, would instead let Jesus shine through them as the lover He is.

I only ask this because it seems we’ve lost touch with a true, holistic understanding of communication, believing as long as our ideas are theologically or philosophically true, we can present those truths through an offensive methodology. If you ask me, it’s a trick. In a perfect world, people would make decisions about what they believe ... based on it’s philosophical merit, but that isn’t how people decide what is true at all. The truth about how people decide what is true is simple: If a philosophy creates a person that affirms my intrinsic value as a human being, it has merit, and if it doesn’t affirm my intrinsic value as a human being, it does not have merit. Now that doesn’t hold much water in terms of deciding how to live, and yet, that’s how most people come to believe the ideas they believe. And God knows it, because God designed the brain to work in exactly this way. That’s why God emphasizes doctrine and love, or better, doctrine IN love. The beautiful thing about the g...

I wonder...if we as believers would live the simplicity of the gospel we know to live, such as, "love your neighbour as yourself", do good to those who despitefully use you", "judge not", "condemn not", "care for the poor and needy", "be at peace with each other", "love one another as Christ loves the Church", etc... would most of the complex theological and doctrinal barriers be taken care of?

People spend a lifetime searching for the meaning to life without finding it. We need to realize that without people in life there would be no meaning to life to find. That means that each and every person in life has meaning that they bring to life thus, to search for the answer to the question “what is the meaning of life” is futile, because people themselves are the answer to the meaning of life. People are the meaning of life so much so, God sent His Son to people to give them life eternal because people mean so much to Him. Does that mean that without people, God would have no meaning? How much do people mean to you!

There are many people in Christendom that are so focused on trying to understand the second coming of Christ, they have failed to give time to understand and comprehend the awesomeness as to the comprehensiveness of His first coming and His purpose for the community of humanity in the present!   Also, many people are so fixated on interpreting the bible in the present, fo r the present, in light of what they believe...they misuse the bible in order to formulate what they believe. Their interpretation in making the bible say what they want it to say lends support and credence to their belief system that allows deceptive deceptions to be accepted as truth by their supporters. Understanding His Second Coming for the future is IMPOSSIBLE without understanding His First Coming for the present!

The time you set aside to spend with your family and friends is the most valued treasure that you can amass in this lifetime.   In far to many cases the true value of such family and friend moments are not really treasured until after the moments become only a memory.

I don't expect everyone to understand the spiritual relational relationship journey I am on with my God my Father. I don't expect everyone to understand my understanding of scripture in my departing from some of the traditional interpretations that are out there. I don't expect everyone to understand my understanding of who and what is Church due to my nontraditional stance regarding Church.. Then again, I don't expect people to expect that I accept or agree with their understanding  because it is the traditional accepted understanding and succumb to their fear mongering and ridicule because of deviating my from the traditional . The validity of something being correct or incorrect is not based on tradition. Being traditional does not ensure that all tradition is wrong...NOR does it ensure that all tradition is right! If tradition is viewed through the Jesus lens and is found wanting, it is time to question the tradition as to its validity of its acceptance a...

Theology and Doxology are foremost in the institutional church. Loveology and Graceology are foremost in the Church of Jesus Christ.

When people are controlled by apathy, greed and fear the path to deception's trap is short and the bondage of enslavement is ensured.

It matters not how many people are united by the unity thread of religious conformity and meet in buildings called churches, it does not constitute the unity that Jesus prayed for nor is it the Church that Jesus is building!

The real indication of a relational love relationship with God is measurable by the quality of the relational love relationship we have with people. If we fail to develop a love relationship with people, no matter how far up the hierarchal ladder we may climb, no matter the religious titles that preface our name, no matter the theological degrees that follow our name, no matter how dynamic a preacher we think we are, no matter how much worldly acclaim we may receive or worldly possessions we amass, we will have spiritually accomplished very little for the kingdom of God. According to scripture it is love that substantiates we are disciples of Christ.   

The people of God need to view the Church from a different perspective. People need to stop seeing the Church as a building to go to and perform certain rituals in on a Sunday for two hours. Church needs to be seen as people identifying with Christ and taking on His identity in daily living. Church is not about the rituals of religion, is is about relationship with Jesus. Sunday-event-driven-meetings are more about the verbalization of doing, but seldom translates into the action of accomplishing.  The scriptures declare that the Church is the salt of the earth. Now salt sitting in a salt shaker will never accomplish the action of salt, it only acts as salt when it is out of the shaker and unto what it was intended to come in contact with to activate its salt action. Only then is it purposeful. Institutionalism has kept the Body of Christ inside a salt shaker called the Church that has prevented the Church from being the Church in action in life living!Church does not happen w...

Church is not about people conforming to the rules and regulations of a religious organization in order to be accepted as a member of a denomination by agreeing to agree with their particular belief system and attend the weakly, weekly event-driven-meeting that is called Church.  Church is a people, the community of the redeemed living in the community of humanity working with Jesus to accomplish His Father's will for people in the community of humanity, by people in the community of the redeemed in their daily living of life.  This community of the redeemed is not held together by the signed agreement of its members, established by meeting certain qualifications that are set out by a denomination for denominational membership.  No, the Church is a community of believers who are held together by the power of God's Spirit because of a relationship with God the Father through Jesus the Son that gives us membership into the community of the redeemed through His blood....

The institutional churches have become a theological training center where the doctrines, codes of conduct and creeds of a particular denomination are taught to validate the beliefs of that denominational institution and a place where people will convert to that denominational faith.  The modern church, whether large or small place an emphasis on quantity and membership.  The Church that Jesus is building places emphasis on quality and relationship.  Jesus Himself stressed that "narrow is the way and few there be that find it." We have one instance recored in scripture where Jesus used a whip...to drive religious people out of a building because they were using God as a means to meet their own selfish desires. I wonder if Jesus came in His humanity once again, would He take a whip to people because of the deceptive actions that are taking place as His Gospel?

There are myriads of faiths in this world all containing people that would die for the particular faith they believe in. Please know this...just because a man would die for the faith he believes in does not mean that the faith he believes in is right! Many a person who have died for the faith they believed in has died in vain because the faith they died for is false! If you are willing to die for your faith ensure the faith you die for is not a vain faith!

If you fear death in dying...it is a testimony to the fact that you fear life in living! He who is at peace in living will be at peace in dying!

No matter how far untruth is hidden inside truth it is still untruth and it is a lie!  Such deception has deceived people into accepting lies as truth and liars as godly, and as a result of that distortion untruth has led to the formation of many a false doctrine.

Sometimes in seeing I don't see clearly and by closing my eyes I can see better. Sometimes in hearing I don't hear clearly and by closing my ears I hear better. Sometimes in speaking I say what I should not say and by closing my mouth I speak better. Sometimes by listening rather than speaking I understand better. 

Don't be a dark cloud that darkens someone's day. Be the rainbow that brightens their way. Reach out and touch someone with a hug and a smile. For love and forgiveness is the mark of God's child. Unselfish acts of kindness are miracles that are real. Bringing inner tranquility that no devil can steal. We may not know the lives we touched because we cared. By showing God's mercy and grace by the loved we shared. Remember if you fear to forgive and love, you will not find forgiveness or love.

Man's intolerance towards that which he does not understand breeds criticism, judgement and condemnation.  In the wagging of the tongue...when it comes to interpretation of scripture...that  misunderstanding response causes people to wrongly understand the purpose and the role of the Church in the community of humanity.  I have found out that listening to understand brings much contentment when my misunderstood understanding is finally understood. In that moment of understanding I am set free from my misunderstood understanding prison to the freedom and pleasure that the joy of understanding brings. Contentment is accepting that which I do not understand without getting angry or casting judgement and condemnation on the person whom I think is misunderstood in his understanding. Don't despair, if we are in the shadow of misunderstanding that means that the light of understanding is shining somewhere. Eventually you will move out of the shadow of misunderstanding t...

As people we are placed on earth for a purpose and that purpose is for us to learn that we are in need of each other and to work with each other in helping each other. To many people only realize their purpose for living when they face dying, they then finally realize there is no greater purpose to be on this earth than to LOVE and be LOVED!  Man's purpose is to love God and in turn love people as God loves them...for without people and without love there would be no need for us to be on earth...in fact there may be no need for there to be a earth at all! 

God is not behind us for the purpose of holding us back, though He is behind us watching our backs! God is not ahead of us for the purpose of dragging us forward, though He is ahead of us and knows what we face! God is continually by our side, walking with us on our relational journey with Him to empower us to work with Him in fulfilling His purpose for humanity. God is not so interested in bri ... nging people to heaven, as is the aim of the established instituted denominational church system. God is more interested in bringing heaven to earth through His CHURCH, the body of Christ, by His CHURCH being the Church in living life daily and filling the earth with His glory! Christ's purpose for going to the cross was not just to redeem people to make them ready for heaven, it was more to make us ready for earth in making us the express image of His humanity by being infused with His life and being the temple He abides in. Have we forfeited God's purpose by accepting the in...

  Don't stop showing kindness to people because people stop showing kindness to you! Don't stop befriending people because people stop befriending you! Don't stop forgiving people because people stop forgiving you! Don't stop helping people because people stop helping you! Don't stop loving people because people stop loving you! Don't refuse to do what you can do, because you can't do what you cannot do! Don't do unto others as they do unto you..."Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

More often than not we cannot protect people from the storms of life that come to us all, and more often than not they do not need our protection from them. History tells us that most people come through the storms of life stronger and wiser than they were prior to going through them, but we do need to support them through the storms. However, what people need is protection from the judgement and condemnation that comes from the forked-tounge of the "holier than thou" self-righteous people's misunderstanding of what is right, and the scare-tactics used by them to try and get people to believe the way they themselves believe. That protection is found in God's great grace, mercy and love found through Jesus' redeeming-redemptive-redemption and the completeness of His finished work on the cross.  Jesus died on the cross, NOT to condemn people to hell as the judging condemners do. He died to redeem us through the mercy and grace of God because of His great  lov...

Many people in institutional settings choose to remain silent for fear of ridicule, rejection, judgment and condemnation by the institutional hierarchy and their peers within the organization. If they raise questions regarding doctrine and practices that are contrary to the historical, contextual scriptural setting or contrary to the nature of Jesus, they fear being blackballed and facing excommunication.   This fear renders people imprisoned behind prison bars of their own making that are impossible to break free from as long as they are controlled by this fear tacit of the guardians of religious institutional doctrines.   The golden silence that fear of retribution spawns solidifies false doctrine and renders people dumb who wish to pursue correct doctrine, because of the injection of fear!

People in Christendom today who are living in confused confusion have nothing to offer to people except confusion!  Confusion is borne out of ignorance...ignorance is borne out of pride...pride is borne out of self-righteousness...self-righteousness is borne out of arrogance...arrogance is borne out of fear. These are all characteristics that characterize someone who is living in deceptive's deception while believing they are living in truth.

If we would live without pretending we would not be so condescending. If we would listen without speaking we would not be so offending.  If we would speak without judging we would not be so condemning.  If we would love without expecting we would not be so rejecting.

Contentment of spirit and a satisfied mind are not found in the GETTING...Contentment of spirit and a satisfied mind are found in the GIVING! GIVING is a way you know you have a heart of love and in GIVING you will never fail to receive contentment and satisfaction.

Some people think they are profoundly smart. This is evidenced by their arrogance in believing that people who do not think and believe the way they think and believe are profoundly dumb!  Take heed, trying to prove that you are profoundly smart may instead prove the profoundness of your dumbness!

My greatest strength is not in the knowing of other people's weakness and vulnerabilities, it is in the  knowing of my own weakness and vulnerabilities!

A person who has nothing left but money, is indeed a very poor person. A person is never so rich as he is when he is blessed with a loving family and faithful friends and is at rest in his head because of a satisfied mind.  Money cannot buy peace of mind!

From the time a person is conscious of comprehending and understanding for himself, he is easily convinced that man spends the bulk of His time busying himself with the busyness of what is meaninglessness rather than the busyness of what is meaningful!

Suffering for what is important and of value is one thing, but to suffer for what is not important and of little value is is to suffer for the wrong thing and is suffering in vain. People are the most important thing on earth. This is borne out by the fact that that God saw fit to send Jesus to redeem mankind, therefore to suffer for people is valour. There are far to many people suffering in vain!

A life built on hope, love and forgiveness is far better to pursue than a life built on despair, hate and grudge holding. To live life without hope is to die an agonizing death while you live. 

Though you are tossed about on the storms of life. Thought the clouds are dark and heavy laden down with strife. Over the waves of adversity and through the the darkness of the night the bright promise is shown. I will never leave you, never leave you alone! "No never alone, no never alone, I promise never to leave you, never to leave you alone"

Grace is based on "God has done it"...The law is based on "you do it." Grace brings freedom in Christ...The law brings bondage to a system. Grace is God conscious...The law is sin conscious.   Grace is Love forgiving when we fail...The law is harsh and demanding when we fail. Grace does not free us to sin...Grace frees us from sin and provides the power not to sin. Grace is what Jesus gave us. The law is what Jesus fulfilled. GRACE is greater than all our sin!

If we sow hatred, judgment and condemnation, we cannot reap contentment, peace and love. The best way to treat your enemy is with kindness and love, this will transform him, or them from being your enemy to being your friend. And great will be the Peace thereof. 

I wonder, if the nations of the world prepared for peace as much as they prepare for war would we experience the peace we fight for but never find? Peace is not found by fighting for it. Peace is found by loving for it.

God made you on PURPOSE, for a PURPOSE, to accomplish His PURPOSE therefore, your life is not without PURPOSE. PURPOSEFULLY PURPOSE in your heart that you will accomplish your PURPOSE by fulfilling God's PURPOSE for your life. God PURPOSELY PURPOSED that you PURPOSELY work with Him to fulfil His PURPOSE for the community of humanity by doing your part to fill the earth with the glory of His love and grace.    

Is not the following quote sound advice for not being deceived by the deceit of deception? "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it."  "Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumoured by many."  "Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books."  "Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders."  "Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations." Care to make a guess at who's words I am quoting?

The most exercise a lot of self-righteous pious people get is: JUMPING to conclusions without knowing the truth of what they are jumping to conclusions about.  RUNNING people down because of not believing what they believe, even though they do not understand what the people they run down believe.  SIDE-STEPPING the responsibility of contextual understanding when it comes to interpreting scripture.  PUSHING their beliefs down other people's throat. STRETCHING the truth to line up with their thinking. SQUATTING anything that does not agree with their doctrinal views.  THROWING people into hell-fire by their judging and condemning. This type of exercising does not cause them to lose weight, it causes them to lose out with God and with people!

Religious experiences experienced during programmed-event-driven meetings, no matter how solemn or boisterous the atmosphere, does not resemble true Church reality. What passes for Church in Sunday-event-driven meetings is so far removed from what Church reality is that it fails at even being a cheap imitation.  Some institutionalized churches bring in big name speakers, big name singers and set aside time for special meetings and call what takes place in these event-driven meetings, "Church reality". The meetings are set up by denominational organizers who, in no doubt,  want to do a great work for God, but fail to see that Church reality is about God doing His great work in and through them in their living life 24/7. Institutionalism has reduced the Church of God to a popular belief or assumption that has evolved around man-invented ideologies, is accepted as the norm and is confined behind the four walls of a building doing event-drive-meetings, while God is looking f...

To survive the difficulty of the adverse circumstances we find ourselves going through in life living, we need to praise joyously, pray fervently, forgive bountifully, laugh exuberantly, eat healthy, dance gracefully and love extravagantly. 

A person who:                               Judges people.                  Condemns people.                Criticizes people.                             Money Driven.              Holds grudges.              Is unkind to people.                Unfriendly to people.                Forgives conditionally.          ...

If we as believers believed that the illusional truth taught by the different “church” leaders as the gospel of truth, was truly truth, there would be little hope that the truth of the true gospel would be accepted as truth, because when the deception that was accepted as truth for so long it is...as far as the delusional leaders are concerned...truly truth!

The ability to see beyond your circumstances sometimes requires that you close your eyes and dream. To move beyond your circumstances sometimes requires you act on the dream you have dreamed. When it comes to our circumstances it is possible to see farther with our eyes closed than we can with our eyes open.

The Catholic Encyclopedia states and I quote; "As the Church expanded and various institutions arose, it became necessary to make laws which would insure the proper and permanent support of the clergy. The payment of tithes was adopted from the Old Law." Tithing is not a New testament mandate as is mandated by what is known as the institutional church. It is a form of manipulation and control to support the institutional system and its paid professional clergy.

To be separately segregated into separate groups based denominated denominationalism, is to be out of relational fellowship with other members of the body of Christ because of voluntary segregation. This deliberate refusal to be in a relational relationship with all of God’s people is to sin the sin of schism. This sinning is a deliberate choice of the saints, who claim they are not sinners, by refusing to be one as Christ said His Father and He are one. The response by sinning saints is that we are united in Jesus by being born again, which is a true fact. But, if that is what  Jesus was talking about, His prayer for unity was an unnecessary prayer for the people that God gave Him and people who would come to know Him. Why, because if the unity He prayed for is a spiritual unity, it is automatic upon receiving Him thus, no need for the prayer in John 17:20-21  “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 that all of ...

You cannot eradicate hate by hating, the only way to eradicate hate is by LOVING!

Wanting Jesus to be a protective shield to ward off the storms of life will not prevent you from experiencing life's storms. However, Jesus will be there going through the storms with you and give you perfect security through the life’s storms. Storms, they never come to last, they come to pass and pass they will.

To Not Believe the Gospel of Grace is not to Believe the Gospel of Christ! Grace is Not a License to Sin, it is the Power to Overcome Sin! To Despise Grace is to Despise Jesus! To Limit Grace is to Limit Jesus! To Know Jesus is to Know Grace! To Not Know Grace is to Not Know Jesus. To Not Know Jesus is to Not Know God. To Not Know God is Not to Know the True You. Is it possible to be a professing believer without believing the Message of God's Grace ?

If we cannot find in in our heart to love people we meet, it is because our heart is love empty. The feeling of being loved is only trumped by being loving to people! To fuel up a love empty heart to be full of love, we must love lovingly!

Never be religiously bullied into silence regarding questions you may want answered regarding accepted religious doctrine that fails to line up contextually with the scripture’s meaning of the story. If you do, you are opening yourself to deception’s lie. Never allow yourself to be a product of someone else's religious philosophical persuasion without realizing you will be a product of man’s philosophy instead of God’s truth. Never let man’s religiosity define who you are, if you do you will become as confused as they are. Let Father God define who you are and become like Him, He is not the author of confusion.

I have been taught that the Holy Spirit is the sin cop that monitors the believers living and convicts the believer when he falls into sin. Religion taught me that Holy Spirit brings conviction of sin to the believer. Does this mean He looking over my shoulder with ears cocked listening to hear if I tell a lie, and in all honesty there have been times that I have lied. Yeah I did lie, so have most, if not all of you, so don’t pull your religious guns  loaded with out of context bible verses and shoot me full of judgment and condemnation while acting so pious yourself!). I know the Holy Spirit is other roles, like comforter and teacher, but is He the sin cop we have been taught He is? In my mind, He was there making sure I lived above reproach and just waiting to convict me as soon as I made a mistake, then report His findings to almighty God, who then would punish me for my sin. Wow, what a perverted gospel that is! But what if Holy Spirit doesn’t convict believers of sin? What if ...

The openness and freedom we are to enjoy as children of God by the provision that Christ secured by His finished work on the cross is unattainable by our sewing together fig leaves to cover our openness as we hide in the bushes of religiosity that shields us from having a honest, open and love relationship with God our Father and Jesus His Son.  As Adam and Eve busied themselves sewing fig leaves together to make them feel they were now worthy to stand in God’s presence, thinking the God could not see through the fig leaves, we busy ourselves obeying and doing religious duties to be clothed in righteousness so we are worthy to stand in His presence. The freedom of being ourselves before God and people is masked by the doing of religious performances, using “Christian” vernacular, covering our humanity with religious spirituality thinking we are revealing a part of ourselves to others that we deem worthy of their acceptance. We go even so far as thinking our reli...

He who loves religion more than truth interprets the bible in light of what his belief system dictates and loves his denomination more than he does Jesus, and loves himself more than others.

The bible though read a lot, it is examined little for its historical, cultural and contextual setting. The result is interpretational understanding in the form of doctrines are being taught a lot, but are examined little for the validity of the intrepretational doctrines being of God. Some of the doctrines taught are man-made doctrines designed to support certain man-invented-beliefs to keep God's people under human control and in bondage to a system of rules and regulations. Thus, the scriptural admonition to "Study to show yourself onto God a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Tim. 2:1)