Open Doors
HOW DO YOU KNOW
HOW DO YOU KNOW
I have listened to, watched on TV, blogged and much more as I have heard the words of people and clergy and various churches from so many different Christian denominations throughout many years over my time in life. I must be a Christian as I decided many years ago that I just could not pin down one group and say to myself “These folks are RIGHT ON”.
HOW DO I KNOW HOW GOD WILL REACT TO ME?
So on 8-04-02 , as the internet developed, I believed in UNORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY and established my own internet theology. It has grown tremendously as the questions developed from all over. Yes, NO, Maybe?
Initially I looked at my website and ran across a few readers until one day my website developed a surprise. Instead of a few readers the number overnight was 45,000 instead of 5 or 6 and the website was frozen. I had to move beyond my original hosting service and the site became a WordPress host. I still owned the original domain as well as a WordPress domain for Unorthodox-Christianity since I moved beyond my original host. In the last 20 plus years the whole discussion on the internet expanded into different versions of Unorthodox Christian whatever as well as what does Unorthodox mean?
As one listens more and more to a great variety of denominations building themselves over the internet the variety that started 20 plus years ago has become a thundering debate about what Christianity is about. I do not have the time or experience to cover the 45,000 denominations that are known about in the entire world. I can guess that there are many doorsteps that question and debate their own beliefs which go on and on to claim themselves THE RIGHT ONE.
“THE RIGHT ONE” idea developed immediately apart of the original message of GOD and the legends of the victories or the losers in a single culture over thousands of years. The stories and the debates have not existed in agreement since the beginning of the stories.
I have mentioned before the story of my question to my 2nd grade Methodist teacher in the fifties about how GOD dealt with people. She asked if anyone was questioning how GOD dealt with people. I raised my hand. “What Dennis” she asked.
“Why didn’t GOD just make good people?” I asked. It seemed like a logical question to me. History was just too full of war and death and it did not seem to be getting any better as we went on and on with war. As I got older in the 50’s and 60’s no one could answer my question? FREE WILL was the answer I got most of the time.
In the original book that many churches handed out to their children when they graduated from Sunday School (and the still do, throughout the world) the book I received started with Genesis 1 when GOD explained in verse 1 – 26 GOD said: “Let us make man in our own image, in the likeness of ourselves”.
And then in verse 27: “GOD created man in the image of himself, in the image of GOD he created him and female he created them”.
I guess that is what UNORTHODOX may have been meant to mean.
Today there are many versions of Orthodox Christians. Most tell different stories and different legends. And there were wars and there were winners and losers. There are pages of excuses as to why and where “Like us” went away, or “Us” was different than what we know of GOD.
The story of Jesus developed lots of debates in the corners of his conversations. I have come to be very simple about GOD and Jesus. Father, Son, all in ONE, it makes no difference to UNORTHODOX. The message has been simple and strait forward,
LOVE ONE ANOTHER
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF
DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE THEM DO UNTO YOU.
That is my story of UNORTHODOX in it’s simplicity. The NEW TESTAMENT can exist with these few words of peace and one more.
FATHER FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.
AND FROM UNORTHODOX:
HOW DO YOU KNOW HOW GOD WILL TREAT HIS CHILDREN MADE IN HIS OWN IMAGE?
HOW DO YOU KNOW?
GOD IS
Originally From 4-16-2005: Now 9-6-2022
GOD IS
I remember the story of Jim (James as he grew to prefer), my best buddy growing up. James was taking a philosophy class in college and the topic of the term paper was to be “What is Life”. James pondered this during the class and when the time came he turned in his paper. Not long after, the papers were graded and handed back to the students. James had received an “A” on his paper. What was it? It was quite simple actually, on the cover was written
“What is Life by James XXXXX”,
On the next page it said:
What is Life?
Life is.
That was it. It said it all.
I have read so much that has been handed down ‘by GOD’, the Sabbaoth, the Zeus, the Mars, the Erik, the Allah, the HIM, the HER, the great I AM, Sophia, the great colloquial (depends on the era), the Buddha, the Tao, the whatever.
In the same terms that James expressed life, I see GOD.
GOD IS.
Jesus tells us “GOD is love”, others tell us “GOD is a Great Spirit”, and others “GOD is judgmental, vengeful and retributive”. Still others that “GOD is all knowing, yet uncompromising or non-understanding of personal circumstance.” For many GOD is forgiving in that He sent Jesus to tell us that we are forgiven, yet the same people would say we can’t be forgiven if we don’t accept Jesus as our personal GOD. Did Jesus come as GOD or merely a reflection of what GOD is like?
To many, GOD is just a really big guy in the sky. We die, we go to a gate, in or out is the judgment and then off you go, there or there, door number 1 or door number 2.
GOD created all, yet what created GOD? GOD cannot be within itself, yet being the all. GOD is more than we can comprehend. For the sake of discussion, let us say we could.
If we knew, for sure, who or what GOD was, would that then cause us to act any different than we act now?
We so seek to discover who or what GOD is so that the new knowledge will be the catalyst for change in our life or circumstance. Why?
If our lives or circumstance needs to change why must we somehow authenticate GOD to change it? Why do we need to hear “THE WORD”, or see “THE HOLY SCRIPTURE” to become a ‘better’ person, or find peace within ourselves where we are currently at war with ourselves.
ALL RELIGION HOLDS THEIR WRITINGS TO BE AUTHENTIC, HOLY, INSPIRED, AND THE TRUTH. HAS THIS CREATED ANY MORE LOVE, PEACE, CARING, UNDERSTANDING OR HAPPINESS IN THE WORLD.
The Christian in America, as an example, while preaching the gospel of LOVE ONE ANOTHER, risks other Americans lives to believe as we choose to, at the cost of what we have been given by GOD to satisfy ourselves not other Americans as though our freedom to worship GOD (however we construct GOD) could be taken away by other Americans. Our teacher freely allowed himself to be crucified, yet we, disciples, justify murder (or war) to protect our right to believe what we couldn’t take away from the black by enslaving them, or the Native American Indian by stealing their land, or the Muslim by invading their country or another. We are apparently so weak in our faith that it can be taken from us by any conqueror in any guise and with any promise.
GOD IS.
We can not abide by our own laws, of our own country, in our own land, in our day to day, under our own form of government, with our own chosen leaders, freely elected to represent us. We can’t pick up our own trash, take care of our own property, respect our neighbors’ privacy, quiet, property, safety or security. What makes us believe we can create a better government for anyone else’s country with our own soldiers, on their land, in their country, against their religion or their culture? This led by leaders that fly the flag of Christianity in their personal lives yet cast it aside in their professional lives.
In His time, I believe, that Jesus referred to these as Pharisees.
For a people who believe in an all powerful GOD, certainly GOD must seem to be powerfully weak when we feel that what we believe to be GOD’S HOLY CHARGE to LOVE ONE ANOTHER is weak and inadequate and can not be improved upon by us.
We have a nation that knows how to help each other. We know how to help others throughout the world. We have been challenged as a nation to care for each other, to respect each other and their needs and their choices and not make everyone elses . The morals of years behind us have been replaced by social media and lost souls. We are losing our faith and have become scared to enjoy life and just what it represents in our day to day.
I guess that is just too complicated for us to truly embrace, “LOVE ONE ANOTHER”. We have pushed the envelope to see suicide as a choice to make life easier instead of finding the gifts that we have been given by GOD and people GOD has approached for you. Because it has been so complicated we have yet to implement it where it is most needed. As a result, the Earth we live in is hardly to be confused with the Kingdom of Jesus’ promise. On Earth as it is in Heaven will truly elude us for quite some time to come.
What good is our ‘religion’ if we fail to implement it? Not much, I dare say. IF we are to bring people to CHRIST by our example, perhaps we need to reexamine what our example was and is. Certainly we don’t need the world to be one big East LA with 200+ gangs and more murders each year than most foreign countries experience. Even our small towns and rural communities are challenged. What can we do?
GOD IS.
Let us build our own houses first and people will flock to the kingdom to experience its fullness. Not take advantage of it. Maybe, just maybe, the world would reflect LOVE ONE ANOTHER freely, if they could just see it in action in one place, in its fullness, and all its glory. Just maybe.
CANCER SURVIVORS DAY
CANCER SURVIVOR DAY 6-5-22
GOOD SUNDAY MORNING ALL
The day is starting as a nice sprummer day. Starting in the upper 50’s on the way to the 80’s. Some sort of rain is due for this afternoon and more aggressive weather tonight. As I often say “the excitement never ends”.
All by itself today is a special day. I have been so focused on my upcoming surgery that I just about missed Cancer Survivors Day. I know that our group here includes “survivors”. I am a survivor for 2 years now. How fortunate we survivors are to be moving forward from diagnosis to having a special day everyday. The norm has changed from the beginning. I appreciate all the encouragement all of you have extended. I remember a co-worker who said it best : “I have been blessed”.
There is a long story about how I became a survivor. I had moved back to Iowa in late 2019 and began working through a mutual friend just during the Christmas Retail times. Because of my move I got a new Medicare Advantage insurance company in 2020. I was scheduled to a doctors appointment as a new patient. I am, obviously, a follower of Jesus and manifested that in the creation of Unorthodox Christianity many years ago. That I had a relationship with Jesus and GOD and paid attention to places I had moved, and believe that I can have a warm friendship with Jesus and GOD. Many of our conversations had led to interesting and positive results. In this case it put me in Iowa at a doctors office with a new doctor I did not know and a simple blood test which was a normal visit for me over all my years. The visit was done and I left. I am physically well, and I exercise regularly and my work was active. A few days later I received a call from my new doctor to come by the office on my day off. To make a long store short the doctor said that my PSA test came back positive and that I had prostate cancer enough to take it seriously.
I had never tested positive for a PSA test before, let alone seriously enough to measure concern for the nature of the Prostate Cancer. I was forwarded to specialists and was fortunate to get treated quickly and am currently very positively ahead enough to be called a survivor. I followup a couple of times each year now. All of the events that led me to Iowa and the subsequent cancer treatment was a path designed by GOD and Jesus in the same way that they have impacted my life through our conversations over years and years.
For those of you who are searching to build a relationship with Jesus and GOD, do not believe that you have to wait until you die to go to Heaven and then talk to Jesus and/or GOD. To those who open the door to Jesus and GOD in FAITH you will have a journey beyond all others. During the every day of your life you will build that relationship to the point that one does not question a gentle nudge from GOD. Yes it is Unorthodox for sure. You also will say “I have been blessed”. I was loved at birth and have been loved every day since. Yes, today is a special day for many of us.
OUR CARES AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU ALL and I know that we all have been blessed every day.
ME, Mack and Jake
GOD’S IMAGE
GOOD SATURDAY AFTERNOON ALL
I have had an interesting day. So different from the weatherman over the last many days. Cold and wind chill and wind chill and cold creates its own image of how the day proceeds. When I woke up at 6 AM to take the dogs out there was no wind and the sun was waking up right along with us. Make no mistake, I did not dream it.
We all smiled and the day changed to the TV after a long morning walk to the park. The computer expanded the TV to catch up on some reading and writing. The lunch treat became a couple chocolates, coffee and cinnamon rolls and a monster cookie. More habit than good idea. (You have to remember that GOD goes shopping with me once in a while). The computer led me to more reading and it is now 1:40 PM as I have tuned in to the WORD. IMAGINATION.
Most of you know I write this blog and a music blog and have for years. I would love to be able to sit back and take the credit for my imagination. The guardian angels (Mack and Jake) take me for walks. Go left, go right. Let’s go this way or that way. The clock tells me what time to go out, before the rain or after the snow stops falling. GOD helps me write the music via the people that GOD has entered into my life. Some to say hi and have a nice day. “Nice to touch spring”. Years of others to share parts of their lives with a part of mine. The blog and the music is merely the result of my interest in what GOD has shared with me over many, many years of choices and decisions and opportunities. Where credit is due, credit should be recognized for those who GOD has shared with me and my journeys.
Today there is a smile on my face that overlooked laundry, groceries, cleaning and assigned the day for what it is. A day off and moving forward. Have a wonderful day and know that OUR CARES AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU.
ME, and Mack and Jake
MEMORIES — 1-19-22
GOOD MORNING ALL
Today I keep my joy, joy, joy joy deep in my heart, deep in my heart today.
The world is surrounded by joyful music.
Whether it is freezing cold or summer heat, a smile comes to mind when the thought process comes to remind me of special days, events, people, friends and the dogs. When it is 9 degrees I remember knocking on doors and shouting Happy Halloween in Minnesota. When it is 90 degrees I remember jumping in a swimming pool in Billings Montana. Joy can not hide inside and life can not frown when memories are remembered. Remembering life isn’t buried in sadness, it is people I laughed with, people who made me smile. It is music that brings them back to life.
Life is a journey of challenges, and of gifts and do you remember when. I have had more smiles than frowns. I have had more opportunities than not. Enjoy the memories. When I sit down to write these little tidbits I think Thank You. Have a wonderful time despite the weather, grief, loss, or tears. Life is an adventure. Life is filled with memories. It is a time of throwing stones across a pond, and a time of gathering them up. (Eccesiasties- 3 vs 5). OUR CARES AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU ALWAYS.
ME, Mack and Jake
SHARE THE MOMENT
A beautiful sunny day in Iowa. Cool enough to be fall and bright enough to be warm.
The opportunities of any day happen when you least expect them. Take advantage of all the gifts that come your way, not just for today, but every day.
When you can not see people as the gifts and treasures that they are, you are missing most of life’s blessings. Too often, I believe, that GOD borrows one of us to touch bases with someone we least expect. It may be that child that smiles and waves at us. It may be someone who can use our help without asking for it. It may be a thank you. My dogs may say hello ask for a small treat. There is no reason to believe that GOD never stops by to see how things are going. Too many think that GOD prefers to be untouchable. This is not the picture of Jesus on the Cross. We have a tendency to believe that Heaven is one place and Earth is another. The desire for GOD is ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.
There are a lot of places on EARTH to visit. There are a lot of nice and caring people to meet. GOD can borrow anyone GOD wishes for as long as GOD requires. If you can feel the wind, you can feel GOD on the visit. Do not think GOD could care less. GOD cares for all of us. GOOD, Bad, or indifferent. I have often said that GOD watches out for the ignorant and uninformed. Why? Because I am often the ignorant and the uninformed. GOD is an active and caring energy. GOD could hide in Heaven, except for it being HEAVEN ON EARTH.
Share the moment. You may never recognize that the moment you share is designed to make HEAVEN on EARTH what it is that GOD has created. A work in progress that you are a part of.
OUR CARES AND PRAYERS ARE WITH YOU ALL.
ME, Mack and Jake
NEW EXPECTATIONS 2-14-21
NEW Expectations
It is Sunday Morning. A pretty traditional Church day for me. It is on the internet thanks to the pandemic. Before the Internet it was called Church and Family day. There isn’t Church at the building day. The pre-pandemic church day started with a coffee and rolls get together. One then went to the sanctuary for the Message and when done we all went to our favorite Sunday lunch or brunch day.
I got up today and felt lost. The world is changing. What are my expectations when the word PRAYER comes up? What do I plan on doing with that prayer box when I take it off the shelf and remind myself that my faith has a home of sorts. Unorthodox Christianity? My conversation with GOD is centered around something called prayer. When Jesus talked to the disciples it was conversation. When someone wanted healing for a friend or family member, or a neighbor one sought out Jesus to be the healer. A miracle now and then. But this is me, this is now. My prayer box has expectations that come with it. The social club doesn’t need me. What is the purpose of Unorthodox Christianity?
Every day I pray. It may be a breakfast prayer or a dinner prayer. I may have received a special prayer to pray for a member of a church family, a co-worker, it may be a TV prayer as the messenger for any or all of the thousands that have had to confront the Pandemic. I may have a family member challenged by cancer or covid, or health issues whose name surprises me. It may come as an obituary to tell me I am getting older.
It may be for someone whose name I do not know or recognize. We all get the message somehow. For someone. For some purpose. What is it all about?
The world has many tribes. Groups of people who believe alike, in something. There are groups who profess non-belief. Who do they pray to, from whom do they request a loving heart and caring thought?
There are Bibles, there are Sutra’s, there are classes on religion and thousands of churches with billions of believers, believing in something. There are judges to judge right and there are judges to judge wrongs. Who do you pray for, and who do you pray to. You ask for forgiveness and for absolution. I think I admit my wrongs, and I ask for peace.
I may speak in tongues. I ask in long messages or short messages. I have many names for GOD and which Name must I use for which prayer? There are billions of prayers every moment. I ask myself, what do I expect from the prayer? What do I expect GOD to say? What do I expect GOD to do in response. What if I disagree? Will my prayer take precedence over someone elses? Is my prayer honest enough? Is it correct enough? What do I expect from it?
Is my prayer Politically correct enough? Will others who hear my prayer agree with me or not? What if their prayer challenges mine, or disagrees with what I was taught the prayer should be about. Is my prayer like a snowball rolling down a hillside getting bigger as it goes? Does my prayer find me shaking my head back and forth wondering if GOD agrees with me, or not? Are my prayers realistic or are they unrealistic. Do they truly have meaning, or wishes or desires. Are they lost in a cavern of thousands of years ago that sounds like “this person or “That” person wrote it down. Have the conversations become fragments of great thoughts, or confusion?
Just what am I trying to accomplish during my prayer time?
On and on and on. I may take hours and say nothing meaningful, I could be wasting GOD’s time. Is GOD on my side? What do I want to take away from my prayer? Do I want peace, do I want to WIN? What is it I am praying for? Do I want the temperature to be warm for a few days or `below zero’. Is such a prayer frivolous?
Now that I have written a bunch of stuff down, what do I do with it?
I have expectations, don’t I. Do I have any power to have it My Way? Do I even know what my way is? How would GOD hear my prayer? How would GOD accept it or answer it. What are my prayer Expectations?
I want to listen first and pray second. GOD has ways of talking to me when I have questions. Does GOD disagree? Maybe. Does GOD want you to say something specific to come from you? Do you agree?
The conversation you have with GOD is the beginning of your teaching and the door that GOD will open. It is between you and GOD. The challenge is to seek out your answers. Not someone else’s. You have already set your own challenge. That challenge becomes your expectation. Listen to your questions, listen for GOD’s answers.
Life is very much like an old saying, walk a mile in another mans shoes. Your expectations should include your learning. You have to ask to learn. The conversation you begin will last a lifetime. And we call it LIVING. And it starts with expectations.
The internet has created all kinds of questions and presents all kinds of answers. When you punch up Unorthodox Christianity on the Internet what do you expect to find? What sort of a question do you have to answer? The questions and the answers lie within you. They lie within conversations that you may have long forgotten, pictures you may have drawn, music you may have sung. If you are lost will you become found? You and GOD can discover the found. Your Expectations become your challenges. Your challenges become your answers. Your answers become your journey.
Life is meant for living, take your faith off of the shelf.
TIME FLIES – ASK
Time Flies – ASK
Unorthodox Christianity
I have been quiet lately. Have you ever stumbled over writer’s cramps. Your mind is for it yet your heart is a question. When I began writing my website Unorthodox Christianity 20 years ago it wasn’t meant to be a blog. It formatted itself as a book of writings to be acknowledged as a book of writings. Over the years it developed into a blog format. It became writings, or poems, or songs. It became tidbits, those little pet phrases that people have come across as sayings of others, each in their own category. Sometimes too much is on my mind and I find myself a bit lost.
It is time for an update.
The Internet has expanded the scope of ideas and the approaches it has presented. I originally called it, and have returned to it, “For The Disenfranchised”.
So many choices and so much knowledge and discovery that more people are struggling what to believe now more than ever. There are many people who preach a vengeful GOD.
There are many who believe in forever HELL.
When asked once The Dali Llama was asked what celebration he had planned for his birthday. “Why would I celebrate the Birth of my sufferings day?”
So many see the nature of life and feel “What did I do to deserve this?”
Many who have searched for a religious home have felt unwanted, unwelcome or unappreciated. Many have turned away from their spiritual roots in favor of something that makes them feel “I belong”. I noticed a lot of things in the background of my friends growing up. They got into trouble and it was as though they would do anything to simply get their parents attention.
Many wanderers have not discovered The Bible, or any other Religious writings for the sake of new age activity, or because the many messages of life have gotten all tangled up depending on what channel you are watching. Looking for something else you land on a religious channel and listen for a few minutes or your friends are watching, or the last message was not positive, or was negative when blended with others. The questions jump at you on social media and you are now more confused than ever.
When I was young and going to Christian Sunday school as was our culture back then, in the second grade I asked a simple question of my teacher. “If GOD made everything, why didn’t GOD just make good people? I immediately felt a bit unwanted. As my life progressed and I read more of the family culture of the New Testament, I came across Matthew 7.
In Matthew, chapter 7 verse 7 of the New Testament
Jesus said: “Ask, and it will be given to you; search and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to them. Is there one among you who would hand your child a stone when asked for a fish? If you, then, who are evil, know how to give your children what is good, how much more will your “Father” in Heaven give good things to those who ask.
As you read the above passage do something new. Read it this way:
“Ask, and it will be given to you; search and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For the one who asks always receives; the one who searches always finds; the one who knocks will always have the door opened to them. Is there one among you who would hand your child a stone when asked for a fish? If you, then, who are separated from your message know how to give your children what is good, how much more will you be able to give good things to those who ask a similar question”. That which carries the stigma of “Religion” is full of common sense.
Whenever I have talked to someone that I ASK a question of, I have received an answer in the now conversation. The answers have been given from their perspective. My personal preferential question answerer has been GOD. I have yet to really put my finger on how what many call GOD performs that function as a spirit. Big world, all things created by something. If someone says “Big Bang” theory I ask “Where did the “Big Bang” come from, let alone a baby anything, or a flower, or a snowfall. Most major religions have a simple code of behavior, a Golden Rule, “commandments”, whatever…..Because a mother somewhere said to a child, “Don’t touch the oven it is hot”. And the child learns why.
The answer to curiosity begins by asking WHY. Just ASK. If I could tell you how it works I would have to learn more than my brain has the capacity to hold.
Unorthodox Christianity has to think outside the box. Buddhism, Hinduism, any one of 30,000 denominations of Christianity can answer. How to behave to enjoy your stay on earth in spite of nature, bad people, greed, Success AT ANothers Success or warm, caring, loving and prayerful people by the Billions.
Whether we say “Why should I celebrate the birth of my sufferings day” or “Thank you for the opportunity to smell the roses” Enjoying life must have some importance to something for LIFE IS HERE AMONG US. You do not have to be disenfranchised. There is a world to attend to. As a five year old grand-friend suggested: “Have a question? ASK the INTERNET.
Have a wonderful day and keep an open mind. LIFE IS ON EARTH, take it in while you are here.
IN HEAVEN AS IT IS ON EARTH?
IN HEAVEN AS IT IS ON EARTH
Jesus said: When you pray, pray this way:
“Our Father who art in Heaven, Hallowed be thy name
Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done
ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN” …..
I have always been intrigued by this prayer offered up by Jesus. Over all the years I have heard so many threats about what can happen as a result of having been born. As an example: The mysterious ‘they’ mentioned to Jesus that it would be better not to marry than to risk sin and damnation should it not quite pan out the way it was originally intended.
I have heard so many sermons and ‘Bible’ studies of losing favor with GOD and being subjected to ‘HELL’ for being the ‘wrong’ faith persuasion and being subjected to eternal damnation as a result.
There are actually an estimated 2.2 Billion people who proclaim Christianity as their faith.
Major religious groups
- Christianity (31.2%)
- Islam (24.1%)
- Hinduism (15.1%)
- Buddhism (6.9%)
- Folk religions (5.7%)
- Sikhism (0.29%)
- Judaism (0.18%)
“As of 2010, Christianity was by far the world’s largest religion, with an estimated 2.2 billion adherents, nearly a third (31 percent) of all 6.9 billion people on Earth,” the Pew report says. “Islam was second, with 1.6 billion adherents, or 24 percent of the global population.” Apr 2, 2015
Interestingly enough, Judaism, which is the foundational faith of Jesus, is very much outnumbered by the others. I point out again:
“Thy Kingdom come, Thy will will be done, ON EARTH as it is in HEAVEN.”
Why would there be such an emphasis ON EARTH when many professing Christians live their lives worried about living on EARTH while waiting to enjoy life in HEAVEN. Living ON EARTH as it is in HEAVEN, which was created by GOD for some purpose to be enjoyed at the very beginning. Jesus prayed for EARTH to measure up to HEAVEN. If HEAVEN on EARTH was such a priority to JESUS I would have to ask why it is not a priority for mankind which has 31% of the entire population as adherents?
Earth is certainly a flawed location. WAR is an industry on EARTH. Illness is a part of world history. As of today no one in the world should be ignorant of the suffering of a pandemic, not just now but throughout world history. Politics plays to a select crowd of the wealthy and select voters. The priority of business conglomerates seems to take advantage of as many humans as possible to create income, chasing money, money and more money. Nations rebuild the armies of other nations to fight more wars to make more money. Is this truly our answer to the prayer of Jesus, whom 2.2 billion people profess to follow?
“ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN”. It is pointed out that it will be more difficult for a rich person to enter Heaven then a camel to pass through the eye of a needle. Many of the world’s wealthy profess to be Christian to get elected throughout the world and yet “ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN” is either a mistaken prayer by Jesus for Heaven would not be my cup of tea if they reflect each other.
So let’s take it a step further. One dies. I could take myself. What have I done to make the world a world that reflects Heaven? What have I done to make HEAVEN like a reflection of myself in a mirror?
What are you going to take to Heaven with you when it is your time. When you walk through the pearly gates what do you expect to bring to the table? Will you debate which religion is right? Will you enter Heaven as a Baptist, or a Catholic, or a Methodist, or a Mormon. The entire religion of Jesus was Jewish, will you accept Heaven with a Jewish background? Will you follow your political leader’s leads into Heaven, behaving just like they are here on EARTH? Will you look for the purple robe that you feel you should be given because of all the good that you have done? What sort of a Heaven will you be creating when you get there? Will it be socialist, a democracy, or an anarchy or a Communist?
IN HEAVEN AS IT IS ON EARTH?
There is an answer. Two thieves were crucified with Jesus. One lobbied for Jesus to save himself and both of the thieves. The other said “What we have done was our doing, what He has done was nothing wrong. We deserve what we get, He does not deserve this for what He has done.” What did Jesus reply to the second thief? “Today you will be be with me in Paradise.” No question from Jesus of his faith, if he had any or not, no color, no tribe, no particular affiliation that Jesus was even concerned about. What did that thief do to have the opportunity to be taken to Heaven by an itinerant Rabbi named Jesus? He believed in what Jesus said about how to live your life ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN. It is a difficult door to walk through. You must walk through the door to HEAVEN believing that ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN is the prayer and the purpose. Jesus and this thief were GOD’S examples of how to accomplish the dream.
In your own corner of the world try to make “ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN”. That is the prayer of JESUS and the prayer of GOD.
We need that prayer now more than at any time in the history of the world.
I pray this for all of us.