Terms
Confound
Genesis 11:9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
The world was sinning and fell into the confusion of language which is born of the tree of knowledge and self righteousness. But the world has been redeemed and if we repent seeking the kingdom of God and His ways of righteousness we shall be redeemed too by His grace.
We will have one language but not because we study words but because we are of the same Holy Spirit.
The fruits of the tree of knowledge are labels and words are but the labels of ideas.
Labels killeth but the spirit giveth life.[1]
We label one person a Christian and another a Buddhist or Samaritan or some other religion just like we label people Greek and Roman or French or British.
We say words like Christ or Jesus or Meshiac and Yeshua but who knows who is who and what is what for these are labels.
It is by their fruits you will know them, by the revelation of our Father.
Jesus talked with Samaritan, blessed divorcees of other faiths with His word, sat and ate with sinners and proclaimed Romans to be men of faith.
Labels kill
Jesus saw past the labels of His time because He walked in the spirit not in the letter which he said killeth.
Clinging to labels and terms is a form of idolatry.
People ask questions like are you a Christian and think they will get an honest answer or even an answer that means something when all they get is a label.
Someone can take offense at words like Buddhist or Moslem or Mormon because they value the label more than the spirit but the label will blind them to the things of the spirit.
Jesus found Pharisees close to the kingdom and others who were hypocrites and of course as we have seen Romans and Samaritans too.
Just as the world is full of nations and languages they are full of terms.
All the religions of the world have terms
As an example there is the word Reiki which is a Japanese word that describes technique of "laying on hands" and is based on the idea that an unseen "life force energy" flows through us called in Japanese "ki" and is what causes us to be alive. The Theory is if one's "life force energy" is low, then we are more likely to get sick or feel stress, and if it is high, we are more capable of being happy and healthy. Is that biblical if we change the terms to fit the Bible?
The Chinese call that life force "Chi" and the Hindi call it "Prana" but in the bible they talk about "virtue" and the laying on of hands too.
What they are trying to identify may not be the same thing because there are different types of force and different forms of life.
Obiwan calls it "the force".
It appears there are two types or forms of the "Force". Light and Dark.
These are terms and labels.
Acts 8:18And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,
So this Simon saw some power coming from the act of laying on of hands. He wanted that power but not in righteousness but for his own purposes.
1 Timothy 4:14 Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
Pesbyters are elders of the congregation. And the presbytery is the body or congregation of elders. Have we neglected the gift that has been given us?
At our last gathering someone called for healing in common prayer and someone else was healed.
Who or what healed them and how were they healed?
Was it the Holy Spirit working through their faith and the faith of the elders who prayed?
Hebrews 6:2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.
Have the elders who gather in faith raised the dead yet?
Both Peter and Paul raised a person from the dead.
And there is clear talk in the Bible of some life force going from one to another but we see it called "virtue".
Mark 5:30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?
Everyone had faith that this touching and healing was real.
Luke 6:19 And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.
Luke 8:46 And Jesus said, Somebody hath touched me: for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me.
The word virtue here is the word dunamis translated power 77 times and is defined as "inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature".
So the Bible is clearly talking about a power passing from one person to another through the laying on of hands. The only question that remains is what is the nature of that inherent power, where is coming from and does it consist of the virtue of Christ.
I am afraid you will not be able to tell that by external labels.
What of the son of the Shunammite and Elisha?
What of the touch of him by the prophet to impart life after a prayer to God?
Truth or Consequences
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Is "way, the truth, and the life" three different things or three ways of saying the same thing.
John 8:12 "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
Who walks in the light and who walks in the darkness? Can you tell by what they say? [2]
Touch not
"Touch not; taste not; handle not;" Colossians 2:21
So who should lay hands on you?
Obiwan or Emperor Palpatine?
The Light or the Dark.
You cannot tell by labels but by fruits.
Look past the labels and seek the kingdom and the fruit of righteousness.
What this means is you can't judge a book by its cover or things by the names people put on them.
When I began seeking God and reading the Bible I thought my teachers saw the words the same as I did. I thought they were worshiping the same God as I was because they were using all the same terms. They actually were serving evil in many ways and were often more lost than myself.
This is true of most Christians today and it is also true of many Buddhists, Muslems, Mormons, Jews, Jehovah Witnesses and even atheists.
Some of these people are not far from the kingdom. Like the atheist who threw God out when he threw out the hypocrisy of modern religion. He may return and become a true and faithful believer once he sees the truth a little clearer. Or the devout Jew that suddenly sees Christ revealed.
We must accept that the terms and language we use do not save us. Only receiving the Holy Spirit will show us the way and when we follow that way we may still have the terms we used as a child but we will be free of the bondage of terms and language, customs and appearance.
We must gather together in a Living Network and seek out those who truly seek the spirit of God, His ways and His life.
Coming to Terms
Long Hair Did Jesus have it?
Steps (Going up the steps of the altar)
Underwear Breeches(Weaving the undergarments of the Levites)
Footnotes
- ↑ 2 Corinthians 3:6 ¶ Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.
- ↑ Matthew 7:21 "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven."
Matthew 7:26 "And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:"