Momma T's Struggle

A recent article on the new book on Mother Teresa says:

The depth of her doubts could be viewed by nonbelievers and skeptics as more evidence of the emptiness of religious belief. But Roman Catholic scholars and supporters of the woman who toiled in Calcutta's slums and called herself 'a pencil in God's hand' argue that her struggles make her more accessible and her work all the more remarkable.

"It shows that she wasn't a plaster-of-Paris saint who never had a doubt about God or the ultimate meaning of life," said the Rev. Richard McBrien, a University of Notre Dame theology professor and author of "Lives of the Saints." "This can only enhance her reputation as a saintly person with people who aren't easily impressed with pious stories. Those who think otherwise have a lot of learning to do about the complexities of life and about the nature of faith."

The struggle of faith is sometimes called "The Dark Night of the Soul", this from wikipedia:

The term and metaphysicality of the phrase "dark night of the soul" are taken from the writings of the Spanish poet and Roman Catholic mystic Saint John of the Cross, a Carmelite priest in the 16th century. Dark Night of the Soul is the name of both a poem, and a commentary on that poem, and are among the Carmelite priest's most famous writings. They tell of his mystic development and the stages he went through on his quest for holiness.

The "dark night" could generally be described as a letting go of our ego's hold on the psyche, making room for change that can bring about a complete transformation of a person's way of defining his/her self and their relationship to God. The interim period can be frightening, hence the perceived "darkness".

Rather than being a negative event, the dark night is believed by mystics and others to be a blessing in disguise where the individual extends from a state of contemplative prayer to an inability to pray. Particularly in Christianity, it is seen as a severe test of one's faith.

Mother Teresa makes it hard for someone to be anti-Catholic (which I'm not). Perhaps more than any other single Christian in the 20th Century, she demonstrated a life sold out to God and to her particular gift of mercy. Hers was a tough row to hoe, even if she did sometimes garner legitimate criticisms.

This revelation about her journey through doubt is actually a testament of faith. Some of the most daring and risk-taking missionaries faced these things. Depression and doubt are not necessarily demonic. Often depression is more like a physical ailment. But just like men fighting in real-world combat, those who engage in spiritual combat face shell-shock and post-war trauma.

The journey into darkness is often where one finds God hiding.

Psalm 97: 2 Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

This speaks of the mystery of God. He dwells in the thick darkness.
And sometimes, maybe even often, it is in our darkest passages that we find Him more poignantly.

How odd, that faith would spring from the very dark soil of doubt.

But where else is your faith more tested?

We hear teachers speak of "demonstrating faith" or "doing miracles" as the great proof of faith. But what greater demonstration than Job in the pits of despair who cried, "Though skinworms devour my flesh, yet will I praise Him."

Clinical depression is another matter, but the dark night of the soul turns out to be an opportunity. One emerges more blessed than ever before.

A long journey through darkness, as with Mother Teresa, may the more identify her undying hope, love, and faith.

Revolution of Hope

Brian McLaren and his gang do a music video. A little amateurish, but who likes polished? The song is interesting lyrically and its message. Let the revolution begin.

Fugitive From Sin

Fugitive From Sin

(1976)

From the dust I came
One thing's for sure I'm goin' back again
Same way I came
And every passing hour
I'm constantly wrestling with an unseen power
Warring for my soul.

Wading through a swamp of serpents
Across a scorpion desert
Over a mountain of midnight terrors
Through a stormy sea of no passage
Chills crawling over my skin
I'm a fugitive from sin.

Groping for a ray of light
Pushing my way, straining for sight
With all of my might
Hoping for relief
But what I find seems all too brief
I fall in a heap.

Climbing like a mountain-goat
Pushing like a pachyderm
Kicking like a crazy man
Hunted in the Amazon
Wondering if I can win
Heading for a tailspin
Chills crawling over my skin
I'm a fugitive from sin.

My lungs about to burst
Black-out dizzy, lips cracked from thirst
And getting worse
Knowing somehow I'll find it
Though I'm walking lame, seeing blind,
And falling behind.

Running through a forest aflame
With a pack of dogs at my heels
Vultures waiting up in the sky
With my pulse getting hard to feel
I can't hear above the noise and the din
Don't know where to go
Forgot where I've been
Wondering if I can win
Heading for a tailspin
Chills crawling over my skin ~
I'm a fugitive from sin.

I wrote this as a song when I was in my twenties. It tries to describe the conflict involved in learning to walk contrary to the flesh. But I've always liked the imagery of it. It has a cool tune to it as well.

After Two Days

Hosea 6:
1 "Come, let us return to the LORD.

He has torn us to pieces

but he will heal us;

he has injured us

but he will bind up our wounds.
2 After two days he will revive us;

on the third day he will restore us,

that we may live in his presence.
3 Let us acknowledge the LORD;

let us press on to acknowledge him.

As surely as the sun rises,

he will appear;

he will come to us like the winter rains,

like the spring rains that water the earth."

John 2:
18Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?"
19Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."
20The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" 21But the temple he had spoken of was his body. 22After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.

Hosea was one of the minor prophets in Israel who was trying to revive the people from their apostasy. Verse 2 above mentions 3 "days." "Within two days, God says, I will revive you. On the third day I will raise you up."

2 Peter 3: 8 says, "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." Also Psalm 90:4.

Back in the days of Hosea, and continuing on into Peter's day, there was a belief that history would last 7 millennial days. The idea went that there had been 2,000 years from Adam to Abraham they called the "age of chaos." There would be 2,000 more years that were the "age of law." Then there would be 2,000 years of an "age of the Messiah." These rabbis thought Messiah would come, then, at about the time of Jesus. He did come, but many didn't recognize him.

According to this reckoning, a day was equal to 1,000 years, and Jesus arrived right at the close of 4,000 years from Adam (using biblical chronologies). So we see that Jesus said, "After two days He would raise up the temple," but he was speaking in veiled terms: he meant his own body.

There are two "bodies" in scripture with regard to Christ. One is his own body and one is the corporate body, the church. He raised his own body after two literal days when he came out of the grave that Sunday morning. He will raise his church also, we may reason, after two millennial days.

In Acts 1 we see that Jesus rose into the heavens, presumably in 30AD, the most likely year for that event. Ten days later the church was born on the feast of Pentecost. If we add 2,000 years (2 days) to that birthday, we have 2030AD as the possible end of the Gentile Age, or what the Jews had called the "Age of Messiah."

Is this a prophetic key? It won't be too long until we know.

The Name That Divides

OrlandoSentinel.com
OTHER VIEWS
Start using 'Allah' instead of 'God'?
Kathleen Parker
Washington Post Writer's Group
August 19, 2007
WASHINGTON

It was bound to happen -- and it seems fitting that a cleric named Tiny would think of it.Roman Catholic Bishop Tiny Muskens of the Netherlands has decided that the way to ease Muslim-Everybody Else tensions is to start using "Allah" instead of "God."

Noting that God does not care what we call him, Muskens thought, why not yield a little to Muslim ways?Or would that be submit, the literal meaning of "Islam"?........

Contrary to Hooper's one-God claim, Christians and Muslims don't really worship the same God. Although both religions are monotheistic -- and if there's just one God, there's just one God -- Christians believe Jesus was the Son of God and Muslims think otherwise.That's not a small doctrinal difference.

In fact, at the risk of exhausting the obvious, Christianity doesn't exist without, um, Christ. Of course we could rewrite the Apostle's Creed to include Muhammad: "I believe in Allah the Father Almighty . . . and in Muhammad, his favorite prophet . . ."The possibilities are infinite, really. Alternatively, we could pretend to be sane and suggest that everybody go to his or her own house of worship, pray to his or her own version of the Creator, and otherwise get a grip......

Given that European Muslims are procreating at three times the rate of non-Muslims -- and given the "logarithmic rate" of growth of jihadist ideology in the U.S., according to a new report by the New York Police Department's Intelligence Division -- it may be sooner than that.Peace be upon us.
Kathleen Parker can be reached at kparker@kparker.com.
Copyright © 2007, Orlando Sentinel

My comment:

Bishop Muskin's heart is in the right place, no doubt. And, in terms of God identification, the Muslim worships the God of Abraham, the father through Hagar of the Arab race. So Jew and Muslim, in that sense, serve the same God. So why can't we all just get along?

Throw Jesus into the mix, as Parker suggests above, and you've got problems. Jews do not regard him as their savior and Muslims regard him as a savior, but demote him from the position accorded him in the New Testament as Lord of the cosmos. These are "monotheists" all, but Jesus is the wild card.

Thus it is that Mohammed nods to Jews and Christians as "people of the book," and they are redeemable as long as they submit to Allah. So, Ms. Parker suggests, is this peacemaking or submission on the part of the retiring Bishop?

Jesus, the Prince of Peace, said he didn't come to bring peace but division into this world. And that he has done. His claims are so outrageous that they are either true or he has buffaloed billions into believing in a myth. There is no compromise on this issue of Jesus' identity as lone savior. And perhaps millions of Christians have given their lives for that reason alone: they would not compromise that distinction, that Jesus is the only name that saves. Jesus is the only religion worth a hoot.

Jesus also taught "blessed are the peacemakers." So how do we "make peace" when just the mention of Jesus' superiority brings division? The key is another Jesus principle: "Pray for your enemies." It is hard to hate someone you are concerned about. It is even harder to hate when you do good to those who oppose and hate you. They are disarmed by it.

In this world, democracy is the most we can hope for to help people who disagree sharply live together in a state of constant truce. Solomon said, "A soft answer turns away wrath." Living with violence is so ugly we all should want to avoid it. And we often do, with a kind of live and let live philosophy. But sooner or later, the dragon of war will rear its head.

Formerly Christian Europe, now in a state of apostasy, is becoming a Muslim stronghold. Christians living there face a real dilemma. They face extinction. Will the Muslims ~ indeed can they ~ compromise the goal of their faith which, according to Mohammed, is ultimate theocratic occupation of the world?

Kathleen Parker touches on a very sensitive issue here. When are we making peace and when are we compromising? In Africa, Muslims and Christians shoot at one another. Is civil war on the horizon in Europe? Tough decisions are coming for both the Muslim and the "infidel."

Tabernacle Secrets

The above picture was retrieved from this web address.

Exodus 25: (New International Version)
40 See that you make them according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.

Examining the picture above shows that the Tabernacle of Moses has certain dimensions. These dimensions may be significant.

Moses' design was given to him by God. This was the foundation of Jewish worship, and it is divinely inspired. But it was more than just a kind of Jewish liturgy that was being introduced ~ it was a great big prophetic picture. That is, it was a huge object lesson teaching about something important and still future. It was meant even to instruct the Jews through its symbolism: so they would recognize their Messiah when He came.

For us, today, it is a detailed picture of Jesus: even down to the fact that the furniture was arranged in the form of a cross. It also predicts, seemingly, the times and seasons. And there is increasing interest in the church in these things, for a good reason.

Biblical history in our universities is now just a curiosity. Academics give far more credence to their own constructions of history that are based on Archaeology. For this reason, Christians who insist on taking the Bible at face value struggle with the representations of history that are given in our classrooms.

But when we are considering a prophetic picture given by God, the scriptures have long provided a valid concept of history that is more mystical and metaphysical. When we take the ancient chronologies given in the Masoretic text we are confronted with a picture of Old Testament history that spans precisely 4,000 years. These 4 millennia were divided up into 2 periods of 2K each by ancient Jewish scholars. By this, they understood there were to be 3 ages of man in God's cosmology: the age of Adam, the age of Moses (or the Law), and the age of the Messiah.

When we look at the Tabernacle of Moses, we see this reflected. We see three compartments with specific dimensions. These dimensions are thought by some to relate to significant time-frames in Jewish and Gentile history.

Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt in about 1500BC. The dimensions of the outer court of the tabernacle is 1500 cubic cubits (15 x 10 x 10 ).

The inner court or Holy Place has the dimension of 2,000 (20 x 10 x 10). Christian scholars sometimes interpret this as the "Church Age": from first advent to second advent. Does it have to turn out exact? No. But at present we have not necessarily reached 2,000 years. The church has only existed since its birth in 30AD. It is possible this age is about over.

The final dimensions of the Holy of Holies is 10 x 10 x 10 or 1,000. This seems to many to represent the idea of a "millennial reign" of the Savior here on earth. But many scholars do not buy that possibility and rule it out as being a too literal take on the scriptures. Other ways of looking at the picture emerge. There is no final agreement on these things.

The point of all this may not be to find a key that unlocks sealed secrets, like the exact date of the Lord's return. But there still emerges, even in the tabernacle design, a generalized picture of the plan of God for mankind. It is useful as an object lesson about the Messiah and His ultimate mission.

The Jews were a prophetic people, guided by prophets and "types and shadows". God gave them the law, the feasts, the Temple and even the picture of the seminal creation "week" revealed in Genesis. All of these things pointed to Jesus and His ultimate purpose. Today we are beginning to access the truths contained in the Jewish religion, the heavenly pattern that predicts the whole work of God from day 1 to the Sabbath and beyond. And the Tabernacle turns out to be a beautiful gem, loaded with divine information.

Leaving Flatland

I recently saw that psychologist/philosopher Ken Wilber was on Brian McLaren's reading list, and I thought I'd take a look at him. To boil Wilber down to blog simplicity is to do him disservice. His wide popularity is for a reason. He makes a lot of sense. But how in the world does he relate to Christianity?



Wilber's ideas are what I would call "holistic evolution." He has charted or graphed what he believes are the four directions of evolution, that boil down to 3 directions: I, it, and we. You can't grasp this in a blog, and could barely squeeze it in to the space provided.



So what would be McLaren's interest in this guy (McLaren knows how to stay in hot water with the Christian community)? Emergent Christians are processing what I would call the Big Story, something I am also interested in doing with the 7K metaphor. McLaren calls it "the story we find ourselves in." His approach is different than mine; and he would probably find some of my theology a bit antique. But maybe not, because he appreciates how things fit together, as well as all forms of theological exploration. My approach is to pull up something ancient and see how it predicts where we are at now. Wilber does something similar, but in a different vein.



Age_____Characteristic____Psychology______Worldview
5-9 mo._Adualism_________Psychosis_______Archaic
<2yrs._emotional_________borderline______magic>
4____Conceptual_________Neurotic_______Mythic
6____Moral/Conventional__Script pathology__Prejudice
11___Worldcentric______Identity Crisis_____Modern 15+__Integrated________________________Post-modern


Just to explain Wilber's concept outlined above: We move up through the stages of life. This may relate to stages of growth in faith as well. But Wilber touches on the psychological states in each step of life from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. And there are characteristics that tend to mark each stage. For instance, the first stage of life, babyhood, is marked by "adualism." In other words, babies don't differentiate anything in their surroundings: it is too new.


If a trauma occurs at this stage of life, it can produce psychosis later on. The psychotic is then sort of riveted to this undifferentiated approach to the world around him. This stage of life has not been resolved. The natural maturation process has been broken.


This also relates to the "we", to societies. The earliest societies were archaic. The religion we get from these primitives is called "animism." It is the belief that all things have souls, basically. It is a worldview that is adual: it doesn't differentiate. It is totally unsophisticated. Today we find it in the most basic tribal systems in Africa, Australia, South America, and Washington DC (just kidding).


So Wilber traces this development up through the stages of this growth or progress or evolution as we actually see it in persons and history. He looks at all these processes as a whole, how they relate, and what they tell us.


We end up with societies reaching the place we are at now: high integration and post-modernism. What he calls the "flatland" of modernism is passing away. But Wilber is not content with present post-modernism because it is even more negative, still dwelling in "flatland", which is devoid of what he calls "Spirit."


When a person reaches adulthood, they have hopefully become integrated. Life has educated them to the point they can function. But modernism, even in the church, has in many ways sucked "spirit" out of society. We are utterly fragmented and shattered. Post-modernism reflects this utter fragmentation. All absolutes become suspect. The laws of the universe unravel when we get to the core. All we have left is what we believe from our own perspectives. And in the big picture even that is suspect.


In the church and religion in general (particularly monotheist) this paradigm shift creates a panic reaction from those who have embraced their modernistic reductionism. They erect a big stop sign to tell their followers "go no further." This tactic is a mistake. But it will create a crisis. 9-11 is a symbol of this. The world is polarized between the modern and post-modern at this moment. Fundamentalism is quaking and not wanting to give up its security blanket.


What this means for Christians is that they must change. The church needs to seek integration, wholeness. The church needs to humble itself in the face of these forces. The church still has the answer. But the modern equations and formulas will no longer suffice. They will lose their pontency. They will not be enough.


Basically, Wilber is trying to leave Flatland without losing what was good about it. He is hoping for a kind of psychological leap to occur in mankind, an integrating of the spiritual dimension into the social fabric. He has a vision of wholeness.


He wouldn't be thinking that the church has to get there first. But it does. Because the church has the answer: not in its seemingly endless versions of how to do Christianity, but in the One it is pointing to. Wilber wouldn't see it this way, of course; but he is trying to unlock truth, and he is looking at these things in ways most of us don't, certainly. He brings to the table an understanding of how the cuisine of history is finally shaping up in the oven, and what is lacking to make it a gourmet's delight.

Texas: Religious Executions?

Religion, culture behind Texas execution tally
By Ed Stoddard Sun Aug 12, 7:57 PM ET

DALLAS (Reuters) - Texas will almost certainly hit the grim total of 400 executions this month, far ahead of any other state, testament to the influence of the state's conservative evangelical Christians and its cultural mix of Old South and Wild West.

"In Texas you have all the elements lined up. Public support, a governor that supports it and supportive courts," said Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.

"If any of those things are hesitant then the process slows down," said Dieter. "With all cylinders working as in Texas it produces a lot of executions."

BIBLE BELT INFLUENCE
Like his predecessor, Governor Perry is a devout Christian, highlighting one key factor in Texas' enthusiasm for the death penalty that many outsiders find puzzling -- the support it gets from conservative evangelical churches.

This is in line with their emphasis on individuals taking responsibility for their own salvation, and they also find justification in scripture. "A lot of evangelical Protestants not only believe that capital punishment is permissible but that it is demanded by God. And they see sanction for that in the Old Testament especially," said Matthew Wilson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

Not everyone agrees on capital punishment. Sometimes people are against it, but when they become victims of a sordid crime they then demand it. Even in our nearly foolproof system of twelve-person juries, the innocent can go to their death and the guilty can go free. It is hard to mete out justice in this life.

Jesus Christ is history's most famous example of the results of mob justice, of scapegoating to appease offended communities, of trials gone awry, and of religious hypocrisy in the seat of power. Never was there a more innocent victim of capital punishment. And what an awful death it was.

Joseph, in the Old Testament, was also an innocent man sent to prison for rape. He is also a symbol of resurrection, in that he came back to rule and reign after he was rejected by his brethren and accused falsely and placed in prison (symbolic of burial).

Jesus' accusers were not vile and wicked men: they were priests. They watched him with concern because he was doing something new, and something they interpreted as threatening their power-base. Since he was doing nothing they could condemn him for before the people, they sought to corner him in his words. It was there they found the reason to have him executed: he was a blasphemer, because he made himself into God.

The article above links evangelical/ fundamentalists with a voracious appetite for capital punishment. These people not only see executing the evil perpetrators of heinous crimes as benefiting society but as biblical. It is like an ethnic cleansing of the worst elements.

The problem is when eye-for-an-eye goes awry. Many Muslim societies are what we call "theocratic": ruled by a religious elite. So effective is their legal system that crime is curtailed to a high degree. If you rape, you are castrated. If you steal, you lose a limb. And this same Hammurabi thinking goes for the evil nations outside Islam. Some Muslims feel these infidels too need to be punished, even destroyed, like America for instance.

And the church, too, once put on an inquisition, not to mention the Crusades. The thinking is the same. And how often did innocent men and women die to placate a bloodthirsty but "righteous" cause?

The answers don't come easy. Religious men, like wicked men, are sometimes prone to violence and brutality. And who is more blind than the fanatic? Too often, in this world, the ends justify the means. And who defines what those ends are? How sad it is if righteous causes turn into brutal machinery. Jesus made a glaring example of this problem.

I'm not trying to hang high the Texas tendency to possible overkill. It is odd that the rest of the nation is tending to the other direction. Even Texas may be backing off. And the evangelical-right no doubt means well. There is that odd coupling of anti-abortion with pro-capital-punishment, though. Sometimes it is hard to figure out what the reasoning is.

But there was no reasoning on that crucial day in 30AD, either ~ when the Savior was nailed to a crude cross. Of course, his death was hardly by lethal injection: lethal suffering is a better term. Can societies find a better alternative? Some would say, better to err on the side of incarceration. Human life is salvageable. Many people see the error of their ways in prison: others (like Charles Manson) are so psychotic they are beyond being penitent. And we have seen even serial killers seriously change their tune.

The questions remain: Is society better served by exterminating its vermin? Is justice better served by liquidating humans who may never have had a chance in the first place? Who is actually guilty in all of this: those who perpetrate the crimes or those who looked the other way when the criminal was growing up? In the end, all of us are guilty. So do we approach these problems with compassion or an attitude of vengeance? Sadly, sometimes, the church seems bent on using the sword, or the guillotine, or the firing squad. Odd, since so many in that great institution lost their lives as Jesus did, at the hands of a "justice" system gone mad.

144K

Revelation 14
The Lamb and the 144,000
1Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.
2And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps.
3And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.
4These are those who did not defile themselves with women, for they kept themselves pure. They follow the Lamb wherever he goes. They were purchased from among men and offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.
5No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.

Dissecting the book of Revelation ~ peering into the guts of it ~ can be like a sport. It can be very rewarding and equally frustrating. I have been processing this book for almost 40 years. It may be one of the single most influential writings of all time. And it wasn't unanimously accepted into the Bible canon.

I believe it definitely belongs there: but it is like a delicacy, it should be savoured with respect and even awe. Crackpots and psychos have run off with it and created misery and mayhem. It is a book that strangely invites the weird and wacky to exploit its fearsome images.

Above is an enigmatic passage that has invited many varied interpretations. At the core of the vision is this very precise number, 144K. It is a number that immediately divulges the obvious multiplication of 12, a number that symbolizes congregation in the Bible. There were 12 patriarchs over the tribes of Israel and there were 12 apostles chosen to birth the seminal church. Why twelve in both cases?

The most literal, futuristic interpreters of this passage say that there will be precisely 144,000 Jewish evangelists declaring the gospel to the world just before Jesus returns.
According to Revelation 7, it sounds like these are "sealed" Jews: 12,000 from each tribe. The rest of the chapter describes a "multitude no man can number" of worshippers of the Lamb of God (Jesus).

Much of the Apocalypse of John is, however, symbolic and metaphor-drenched. It is a vision that actually resists literalism as the correct approach to plumbing its depths. And its symbolism relates well to the time it was written (varied estimates say it was penned between 60AD and 95AD). However it is to be understood, it is a book of drama and pageant that is highly controversial, and it is about revealing the end of the story of human (some say only Jewish) history that culminates in the complete revelation of the Messiah.

To me, there are clues within the immediate text that identify this congregation:
1. They have the Father's name written on their foreheads.
2. They know a new song that only they have learned.
3. They were not defiled with women.
4. They follow the Lamb only.
5. They were purchased.
6. They do not lie and are blameless.

No literal or representational group of humans in history has such a pedigree. There is no order or denomination or group of saints that could claim to fit these impossible standards ~ especially number 6. There are no blameless and utterly true human beings. The best of us have sinned. Even the apostle Paul confessed to the evil that was resident with him and that he was "chiefest of sinners."

The only way we can fit any group of people into these criteria is through faith. That is, this is a symbolic representation of the historical assembly of believers through history, from Adam through Abraham to the last Christian standing when the dust settles. Who is sealed? Who sings a unique song of worship? Who is considered virginal by God? What group follows only the Lamb? What people can be considered guileless and blameless in the court of history? The obvious answer: no one.

The key is that these were "purchased." They didn't earn this status. These are the multitudes who through history cleaved to faith in the one who died for them. Some saw him by revelation as yet to be introduced ~ they preceded Jesus in history ~ like David, Elijah, the prophets. And the rest of us know who He was by revelation, when our eyes are opened to the meaning of the cross. From that day in our lives forward, we follow Him everywhere.

There may be more to this: I don't know. But that is the bottom line here. That is what is readily visible in scanning this passage. And that is enough. And how beautiful it is.

How To Not Be NaiEve

Occam's razor (sometimes spelled Ockham's razor) is a principle attributed to the 14th-century English logician and Franciscan friar William of Ockham. The principle states that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference in the observable predictions of the explanatory hypothesis or theory. The principle is often expressed in Latin as the lex parsimoniae ("law of parsimony" or "law of succinctness"):

entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem,

which translates to:

entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity.

As we go through life we encounter a lot of information. Most of us have probably been swindled at some time or other. Or we carved out a path in life based on faulty information. Or we repeated something we heard only to find out it was false. Or we even lied to someone, or deliberately deceived someone, maybe to protect ourselves or make us look good in a situation.

And even in the world of ideas we encounter theories we find suspect. Many people cultivate an attitude of "healthy skepticism" about everything. It is a way of protecting oneself from the damages of wrong information.

There are three tried and true methods of confronting information that can help us to be careful about what we believe:

1. Find the simplest explanation.
2. Consider the source.
3. How likely is it?

Number 1 ~ The simplest explanation (Ockham's Razor) is the bedrock of Modernism and science. In fact, it has brought us into an age of skepticism so complete that nothing can stand before this steamroller. We can question anything, even God, and arrive at nothing.

Still, it is a very useful tool in arriving at truth. Strip the problem down to its simplest explanation and work from there.

Number 2 ~ What credentials does the person have who is making the assertion? If a garbage collector is telling me I have appendicitis, his information is highly suspect. But if a doctor, trained to detect and isolate health problems, tells me I have it, I need to listen. Or, if I need advice on the stock market, I shouldn't go and ask an artist (especially a con-artist).

Number 3 ~ What is the likelihood that what I am being told is the truth? Is it likely that Chicken Little is telling the truth when he says, "The sky is falling."

Can we still get into trouble using these simple tools? Sure. Our world is rife with potential for mishap. But, in a world where knowledge and information are coming at us like a freight train out of control, we can sure beat a straighter path by staying alert and using these tools. It's OK to question information.

In the story of Adam and Eve, Eve had an opportunity to use discernment when the serpent gave her testable information. The simplest explanation was that the info the serpent was giving was incorrect. Weighed against what God said, it did not stack up.

And who was telling her this? A snake. How trustworthy are snakes? And how likely was it that she would become like God simply by eating the fruit?

Her name should have been nai-Eve. But some sources have it that she was a blond. If those sources are correct.

Still, the blond assertion makes sense. Why? Well, we all know blonds are dumb, right?

Moral of the story: Never listen to a snake before you've gotten dressed.

The Jewish Messiah

Messiah in the Prophets

Most of the textual requirements concerning the messiah, what he will do, and what will be done during his reign are located within the Book of Isaiah, although requirements are mentioned in other prophets as well.

1. The Sanhedrin will be re-established (Isaiah 1:26)
2. Once he is King, leaders of other nations will look to him for guidance. (Isaiah 2:4)
3. The whole world will worship the One God of Israel (Isaiah 2:17)
4. He will be descended from King David (Isaiah 11:1) via King Solomon (1 Chron. 22:8-10)
5. The Moshiach will be a man of this world, an observant Jew with "fear of God" (Isaiah 11:2)
6. Evil and tyranny will not be able to stand before his leadership (Isaiah 11:4)
7. Knowledge of God will fill the world (Isaiah 11:9)
8. He will include and attract people from all cultures and nations (Isaiah 11:10)
9. All Israelites will be returned to their homeland (Isaiah 11:12)
10. Death will be swallowed up forever (Isaiah 25:8)
11. There will be no more hunger or illness, and death will cease (Isaiah 25:8)
12. All of the dead will rise again (Isaiah 26:19)
13. The Jewish people will experience eternal joy and gladness (Isaiah 51:11)
14. He will be a messenger of peace (Isaiah 52:7)
15. Nations will end up recognizing the wrongs they did to Israel (Isaiah 52:13-53:5)
16. For My House shall be called a house of prayer for all nations (Isaiah 56:3-7)
17. The peoples of the world will turn to the Jews for spiritual guidance (Zechariah 8:23)
18. The ruined cities of Israel will be restored (Ezekiel 16:55)
19. Weapons of war will be destroyed (Ezekiel 39:9)
20. The Temple will be rebuilt (Ezekiel 40) resuming many of the suspended mitzvot
21. He will then perfect the entire world to serve God together (Zephaniah 3:9)
22. Jews will know the Torah without Study (Jeremiah 31:33)
23. He will give you all the desires of your heart (Psalms 37:4)
24. He will take the barren land and make it abundant and fruitful (Isaiah 51:3, Amos 9:13-15, Ezekiel 36:29-30, Isaiah 11:6-9)

I want to look briefly at the subject of the Jewish concept of the Messiah as noted above. I am using the Wikipedia reference above, but trying to simplify it below for a quick blog overview:

1. The Jewish Messiah will be a Jewish king of the lineage of David who will rule in the "Messianic Age."
2. Jewish denominations disagree on the particulars, mostly over whether the Messiah is a single person or more of a symbol for an era of peace in the future.
3. The Talmud teaches two phases of a Messianic Era still future:
A first period into which Jews will be led by their Messiah to an era of peace and the construction of the Third Temple, which will be built supernaturally by God. The second period will be one of a supernatural existence where everyone will know God in a physical and visual sense.

I believe with full faith in the coming of the Messiah. And even though he tarries, with all that, I await his arrival with every day. ~ Orthodox requirement.

Hasidic Jews believe they can hasten the Messiah's arrival by their devotions and actions.
Conservative Judaism believes they must live in a way that will usher in the Messianic Age, but do not know whether the Messiah will be an actual person or whether he is a symbol of redemption.
Reform Jews believe all Jews must work toward a kind of Messianic Utopia, but they don't generally believe in a Messiah.
Some Jews embrace the ideas of Maimonides that their Messiah will stand up and restore the ancient Davidic Kingdom with its temple, laws, offerings, Sabbatical years and Jubilees. He also mentions that in the Torah Balaam prophesied of the "two anointed ones": the original King David and his final successor who saves Israel in the end. This second David will rebuild the destroyed Temple.
To Maimonides, Jesus and Mohammed were impostor Messiahs intended to pave the way for the true King of Israel who will reveal all the secret meanings to the Jews.

Jesus = God

John 1:1 - "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

John 1:14 - "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth."

John 5:18 - "For this cause therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God."

John 8:24 - "I said therefore to you, that you shall die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you shall die in your sins."
Note: In the Greek, "He" is not there.

Below are more scriptures that reveal the Deity is Christ. And I don't believe this list is exhaustive. In fact, this is the main message of all scripture. But it gives you an idea.

John 8:58 - "Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.'"
Exodus 3:14 - "And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM'; and He said, Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’"

John 10:30-33 - "I and the Father are one." 31The Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32Jesus answered them, "I showed you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you stoning Me?" 33The Jews answered Him, "For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God."

John 20:28 - "Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"

Col. 2:9 - "For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form."

Phil. 2:5-8 - "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, 6who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, 11and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, (is God)to the glory of God the Father."

Heb. 1:8 - "But of the Son He says, "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom."

Quoted from Psalm 45:6, "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Thy kingdom."

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. 1 Timothy 3:16

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14 (written: 712 BC (Before Christ)

Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. Matthew 1:23

For unto us a Child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder: and his name will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 (written: 712 BC (Before Christ)

In the beginning was the Word (the Logos or Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1

The Jews answered him [Jesus], saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. John 10:33

When many were about to stone Jesus for blasphemy (John 10:30-39), He said to them that said he blasphemed "because I said, I am the Son of God?" (John 10:36).You call Me Teacher and Lord (God); and ye say well; for so I Am. John 13:13

But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said, I Am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power (the full power of God), and coming in the clouds of heaven. Mark 14:61-62

The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Psalm 110:1

he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? John 14:9 Thus we can say that Jesus is the Father, or Jehovah, or God.

And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. John 17:5 Again, God = Jesus.

And Thomas answered and said unto him [Jesus], My Lord and my God. John 20:28

...lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 2 Corinthians 4:4

In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. Colossians 1:14-17 "Him" who? Obviously Jesus.

...who [Jesus] is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; 1 Timothy 6:15

Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Hebrews 1:2-3

But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Hebrews 1:8

Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Titus 2:13 Can it be said any plainer than that?

And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? (Luke 5:21).

Rev. 19:13 And he (Jesus) was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.


The Book of Colossians:
The entire context of Colossians 1:15-27 is filled with superlatives in its description of the Lord Jesus as the "image of the invisible God, the first begetter [or according to Erasmus ''original bringer forth''] of every creature."
The Apostle Paul lauds the Son of God as Creator of all things (v.16) and describes Him as existing "before all things" and as the one by whom "all things consist" (v.17). This is in perfect harmony with the entire picture Scripture paints of the Eternal Word of God (John 1:1), who was made flesh (John 1:14) and of whom it was written: "All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made" (John 1:3). The writer of Hebrews also pointed out that God's Son "[upholds] all things by the word of his power" (Hebrews 1:3) and that He is Deity in all its fullness, even as Paul wrote to the Colossians: "For...in him should all fullness (of God) dwell" (Colossians 1:19) This is an analysis by the author of the website from which I lifted some of this list. To access other sites of this nature go to the keywords "God is Jesus."

My conclusion: From both Old and New Testament scriptures we can safely conclude that Jesus is the Alpha and Omega ~ that is, He was, is, and always will be God. There is no other.