I used to think love was just a fairy tale. A story from a lectern. A postcard read from someone else's dream. And I was supposed to accept that.
I was supposed to read someone else's Love Letters about a Life and a Love and a Family - and sit in my chair on a prescribed day and swoon, and then go back to my "real" life. I was ordered by the human conductor of machine-life and ceremony to simply accept that the bedtime stories were sufficient and "God doesn't Work that way anymore." The chief of the marionettes says, "Just show up and pay me money and I'll design a show to make you feeeeeeel like God's Dream is still true. Attend and go home and I'll get you a new coke line ready for next week so the story will feeeeel real to you, even if there is no resemblance between how we live and the life and priorities and church and functioning of the church bought by Jesus' Blood and Empowered by His Love and Spirit in the Bible. The Dream is past, the "WHOLE NEW LIFE" Jesus brought and demonstrated from Heaven and Declared by the Angels... That Life is only meant to be a postcard now." Or so they will tell you. And that is all most can show you, since that is all they have in their lives.
I used to think love was just a fairy tale. A story from a lectern. A postcard read from someone else's dream. And I was supposed to accept that.
BUT SUDDENLY..... I SAW JESUS HIGH AND LIFTED UP, AND MANY WORLDWIDE WANTED NO MORE POSTCARD READING CEREMONIES. Some are content with reading someone else's mail describing someone else's love of Father and Life in His Family, daily. But, maybe YOU are one who desires FATHER'S Dream -- JESUS' DAILY LIFE WITH OTHERS WHO CHERISH Him, AND IMPART HIS FRAGRANCE.
"Even now, child, I LOVE YOU and have marvelous Plans for you! Let no mere man steal your crown! Let no mere man, with conniving or fear or apathy, or desire for wealth or power, let NO mere man contradict My Dream -- MY INTENT for MY Body, MY Bride, MY Church!"
The Bible has seldom been DESIRED PASSIONATELY and OBEYED WITHOUT RATIONALIZATION AND COMPROMISE. "It's just a postcard," they say.
"NOT SO!" saith the Lord of Glory, resplendent in RESURRECTION LIFE that Jesus STILL desires to pour out! His forgiveness is only meant to be UNTO the Life of His Spirit within us -- the same Daily Together-LIFE He Lived, and still Lives!
For generations and centuries, instead of bowing before Jesus and the FULLNESS OF HIS DAILY LIFE TOGETHER AS HE LIVED AND LIVES IT, some with things to gain or things to hide, "the buyers and sellers," have found it more convenient to borrow external forms only, with rituals and ceremonies and holy men systems that are copied from heathen religions and superstitions, fleshly preferences, Wall Street, Madison Avenue, Hollywood, Vegas, and Sodom. For those who want to feeeeeeeel but not be Changed or challenged, and abhor the Command to "take up your own cross daily" to "lose your life that you might have one" -- true Christianity can never be as attractive as the rearranged forms borrowed from other religions and pleasures.
For those who will NOT so easily discard HIS DREAM, for those who look deeply into HIS eyes and their fear and selfishness melt away, BRAVO!
To LIVE HIS DREAM requires that we first take the Bible more seriously than pleasing mere men, or cowering under their immediate namecalling and threats that they use to protect their empires of position and pesos.
From 175 countries, beautiful people of every background and race have expressed to us in various ways, "We have held this Dream of His in our hearts for many years already! Thank you for daring to verbalize it and daring to move towards Jesus and His Dream for His Bride's Life! No more 'blowing the dust off of a postcard' from long ago - Jesus is ALIVE! He's RISEN! And UNCHANGING! We want to share His Dream, no matter the Cost of the Pearl of Great Price!"
And so, will you join Him and accept NOTHING LESS in the place where you live, your home, your neighborhood, your family, your workplace, and the religious organization near you?!
For more resource and clarity about what ISN'T, and MUST NOT BE... and THEN how you may "Build and Plant"
You're invited to dig deeper into the depths of the Riches of who Jesus really was, and Is!
How is Jesus different than religion, as men "practice" religion? Did Jesus hold pre-programmed pre-planned staged “services”? No. Did He have "bible studies"? Heavens no. He LIVED, and Lives! Such a thing as that is found nowhere in Jesus' Life, even in the sixty years of His Church in the Bible. Interesting?!
Life then, and now with Him, is very different than today's religions - as most think of, and experience "church" in their worlds. Did Jesus "take up collections" from the crowds? Did He really initiate building religious buildings, and paying salaries to a special caste called pastor, reverend, father, or clergy? Oh, NOW we're in trouble. :) Just askin'. :)
Ever notice how questioning the human buildings and hierarchies can get you actually slandered and even murdered? Acts 7:48-59, Mark 15:29, 14:58
Wow. They take their buildings and power and money seriously, regardless of how God feels about all of that! Whew!
Did Jesus REALLY have a certain day on the calendar for "attending" Him? Of course... He did NOT. But, we think He does now? Hmmmmmm. A little hocus-pocus verse plucking is the best anyone can do to justify such a practice as "attending" a speech and singing time, on a certain day, starting at some time and ending at another, with pre-practiced "worship" entertainment and an uninterruptible "sermon" by a pre-determined more-holy person. That would, like other earthly world religions, be designed to leave humans in control of their lives, and a mere man or board in control of money and decisions - instead of Jesus in control of everyone's daily lives, schedules, possessions, preferences, loves, and decisions. "Ritual is the last refuge of the scoundrel." Jesus said HE must have the honor of all things and all days and all ways - not any human or "tradition that nullifies the Word of God" - if they desire Him for Eternity.
So why the shallow substitute of superstition and ritual and caste systems of "automatic sermon-givers"? Since the Bible justifies and documents no such external "attendance" and forbids any religious holy-man presider as other world religions use as a crutch, why DO it? Is it troubling to anyone that in the sixty year Biblical record we find the day "sunday" is only mentioned twice in all of those years from Pentecost to the end of the Bible? Sixty years - it's not part of their lives to have a holy day, but now we can add that in and call it Biblical? And neither of "the only two times in the New Testament" mentions anything to do with "services"! One would have to manufacture a "service" out of what was just their lives.
Is it troubling that there are no titles used between or towards God's People EVER in the entire sixty years of the Recorded Record, though a thousand opportunities were present to do so? You know it would be done in today's religion. But WHY? And why is it that you're never TOLD this fact of no such titles or "services" are present in 60 years in the Bible, while in those "services" and "bible studies"? That should be very eye-popping. There must be a reason such important truths are withheld from the average Christian. Control and money are nearly always the reasons such "omissions" occur. And the proof of this is that hostility is directed towards anyone who dares to look at the Bible and the Life of Jesus as the Standard. When honest questions, desiring Biblical answers even accidentally do some cow-tipping of the Golden Calves, watch and see the name-calling and black-balling happen in a heartbeat. It is still "the Stone the BUILDERS have rejected" that has become the Chief Cornerstone.
If it's JESUS we're interested in understanding and living and PLEASING, rather than slumping into a mere copy-cat of attendence-based world religions (with a slight rearrangement of doctrines and titles - but no substantial Testimony of Life and Love daily), then it all matters and is worth talking about if we want HIS fruit. :)
What JESUS has done is VERY different than tweaking the day of the week to "attend" a shrine or temple or cathedral from one day to a different day. HIS Life is very different than calling the clergy holy man at the top of the pyramid by a different "title" than other world religions do.
Jesus brought to earth something radically Different, if the Bible and His Life and the Church He began are the measurement. And if the Bible and Life of Jesus are NOT the measurement, who would dare to place themselves and their preferences above God in such a way?
It's actually kind of funny in a way, isn't it, that so many things we've always been told about "Christianity" aren't even in the Bible? :) Weird. eh?
It would be like someone saying they are a committed Muslim, but they don't really care much what the Quran says, or about taking literally Mohammed's teaching. They may be religious, but it's NOT Islam if they don't find important what the Koran and Mohammed say about specific things, and just make up their own stuff that contradicts the tenets and basis of what the founder had begun. In our case, our Founder was the One who created the Heavens and the Earth, can heal the sick, raise the dead, command "laws" of Physics and Nature, and forgive the sins of those who abandon their daily lives into Him. His name is Y'shua, Jesus.
It may be "a" religion, but is it really "Christian" if what Jesus and the Bible say are just optional? Really? Is making stuff up to accommodate society and fleshly preferences, contradicting and disobeying and rationalizing away clear Teaching and Commands from Jesus and the Bible - can that really still be called "Christian"? No more than a Muslim can believe Mohammed was a Myth, Mecca doesn't matter, the Koran was never meant to be literal, and your soul goes to a garage in Buffalo when you die. You can't arbitrarily make up your own religion, borrow a fish logo and call it "Christian" if it looks nothing like Jesus' Life and the Church HE began with His Blood and Spirit and Word.
We're really just talking common sense, and Biblical sense here. Many today have come to naively assume that whatever they see around them "must" be what is true, just like Santa and the Easter Bunny. Even if it is not in the Bible, and the fruit is abysmal, if they grew up doing it or seeing it - then their sentiments overrule their commitment to Truth, to their demise. By their own statistics, they kill nearly as high a percentage of 18 year olds - as Pharaoh and Herod killed newborns in their days. Isn't it at least worth ASKING what needs to Change? Or is that heretical? :) You decide.
So who IS Jesus, and what then does His church, His Body, His Bride LOOK LIKE?
Want to come even more towards Him, too, wherever you live? For more than 25 years together, we have. We just want to join those millions worldwide of the last 2000 years who have wanted the REAL Jesus, and to live in Him - the Warrior-Lamb, the King of all kings, the Vine, the Door, the Way, the Life!
Many have spent their daily lives, and even sacrificed their earthly lives at times, for this pursuit of the Living Jesus. Many have paid the highest price possible for having Jesus' passion: "consuming zeal for the Father's HOUSE."
Explore with us!! Things CAN change in the Body of Christ! We can! We will for the Lamb! Come on!!
Here's another weird thing. JESUS and HIS LIFE would be very attractive to any honest person who "loves the Light." ANYONE would be drawn to Jesus, and His love and holiness and truths, if they recognize in their hearts their deep need of Change - for and in Messiah, the Deliverer.
But, because of religion and its distorting lens, many millions of honest men and women have been turned off, or scared off, by attendance-based "religion." And rightfully so, in a way. Think about it.
In religious organizations and events where Jesus' character, love, obedience, truths and His LIFE are not cherished or embraced - and are not "put into practice" - there is nothing "attractive" left for a discerning person.
Did Jesus really come to Earth from Heaven to "establish" social events, religious attendance, conscience salve, flesh-moving music and videos, slick programs and speeches, money-begging, hierarchical control, showmanship and entertainment, buying and selling of religious wares, superstitious ritual, empty traditions, falsified emotional placebo, and the often-resulting lifeless lives? That would not be Jesus.
He didn't do that then, and HE hasn't done that now.
The simple Biblical JesusLife called "church" and Christianity, the Biblical Life of Jesus and His daily loving, and telling, and LIVING His Word together (in "a hundred mothers, brothers, sisters" intertwined joined and knit together Life), and all around - has been replaced by something quite other, in our culture. That's everyone's choice, of course, but His Fruit does not accompany religions He has not authored, do not follow and heartily love and obey His Words, and yet use him as a "logo".
To those who turn down religions of externals and attendance and shows, and those who won't turn a blind eye to the contradictions, Bravo. :) To those who are holding out for the LIFE of JESUS, expecting to daily experience Him along with those in whom He lives... BRAVO!
The "great cloud of witnesses" and all the Angels of Heaven SHOUT together to you, "HOLD OUT for JESUS. As with the Pearl of Great Price, hold out for what is HIM!"
Jesus is AMAZING and wonderful EVERY DAY. You can't ATTEND Jesus. He is LIFE together in His People, His Body. That's what the Bible says, AND what those who knew Him experienced (1Cor.12, Eph.3:8-10, 5:27, Acts 2:36-47). If it's not that, it's not much of Him at all. He's real, and He is ALIVE again. And if He's involved, it SHOWS in daily lives Together, as it did around Him then. Accept nothing less around you daily, if it wears HIS Name!
But, OH MY. Here's the Deal: JESUS was slandered and murdered by, oddly enough, Bible-banging religionists - those who "would not" love and "would not" obey Him.
This site is about letting Jesus be JESUS - in His People - as daily and as wonderfully, as He has always been! It's about living the cross for others, so it's scary. :)
Lay down YOUR life for Jesus to have His Bride that the gates of Hell can no longer prevail against, because she's growing to be a “Bride who has made herself ready” for His Return!
This is Life to us: Jesus, born of a virgin and the Holy Spirit, is THE Eternal Life before time and creation, and into all of Eternity! He who spoke the Galaxies into Existence came to dwell amongst us in human frailty by choice, and was crucified out of jealousy. Against all reason, the Prince of Glory, God's Son, was conspired against and killed in an eruption of hatred by those who claimed to follow YHWH, and by the Romans.
Jesus, our Life, has taken both the penalty of sin to that Cross and a less popular thought, He has taken the power of sin to that cross! He was murdered - framed and assassinated by those with something to lose and much to hide and protect. As Paul said, "It is the same now." Our Savior and Head was actually killed, dead and three days in a tomb, and then set free by Abba YHWH from the power of death!
He was and is raised forever to live in the Power of Resurrection Life, the Second Adam for a new Race - consisting of all of those who have been born a Second time - by faith (this word in the Greek means "full abandonment!") into His Blood and Spirit.
Jesus, God's only Son, Emmanuel, "God with us" was caught back up to the Father's side, promising to Return in Triumph to finish the job of making His enemies His footstool. And in the meantime and forever He's given us "one another" and HIS Life together in His Spirit - "that same Spirit who rose Jesus from the dead."
His Spirit is real, living today in His Character and Priorities, His power over sin, death, and nature, in His Love, and in His imparted Hunger for Truth and Obedience to Father. The Resurrected Y'shua, Jesus, is now dwelling in all of those abandoned into His Blood as their only hope, identity and future! (1 John 1:6-7, 8-10, 2:3-4, 5-6, 9-11, 15, 17, 19, 23, 24-27, 29, 3:3, 4-6, 8-9, 10-13, 14-15, 16, 17-19, 24)
