Template:Seek: Difference between revisions

From PreparingYou
Jump to navigation Jump to search
m (Fix typos and wording and links)
No edit summary
Line 30: Line 30:




[[CORE]] is an acronym which stands for a ''Congregation of Recorded Elders''. A [[CORE]] is already defined as a group of families in [[Free Assemblies|free assembly]] represented by their natural head if the family called an [[Elder]]. Those [[Elders]] in the practice of [[Pure Religion]] are bound by love and honor alone.
[[CORE]] is an acronym which stands for a ''Congregation of Recorded Elders''. A [[CORE]] is already defined as a group of families in [[Free Assemblies|free assembly]] represented by their natural head of the family called an [[Elder]]. Those [[Elders]] in the practice of [[Pure Religion]] are bound by love and honor for one another alone.
   
   
But a '''Congregation of Ministers''' ([[COM]]) is not merely a congregation of [[Elders]]. It has the capacity of a [[CORE]] which is not an entity but a [[Free Assemblies|free assembly]] but it also has some ''official duties'' granted it within the adjudication power of the [[Church]].
But a '''Congregation of Ministers''' ([[COM]]) is not merely a congregation of [[Elders]]. It has the mutual purpose of a [[CORE]] which is not an entity but a [[Free Assemblies|free assembly]] but it also has some ''official duties'' granted it within the adjudication power of the [[Church]].
   
   
A Minister's membership with the Church is or may be a limited capacity either by appointment or anointing, ''ex officio'' or ''[[Ordain|ordination]]''. Since an Ordained Minister of the Church must be separate from the [[World|world]] he may have no part of a personal estate within the [[World|world]].
A Minister's membership with the Church is or may be a limited capacity either by appointment or anointing, ''ex officio'' or ''[[Ordain|ordination]]''. Since an Ordained Minister of the Church must be separate from the [[World|world]] he may have no part of a personal estate within the [[World|world]].
   
   
This is sometimes hard to understand but it is not what most [[Modern Christians|Modern Christian]] ministers do. But it was essential in the early Church and even back in the days of the [[Levites]] and [[Essenes]].
This is sometimes hard to understand but it is not what most [[Modern Christians|Modern Christian]] ministers do. But it was essential in the early Church and even back in the days of the [[Levites]] and [[Essenes]].
A minister is part of the [[Body of Christ|Body of the Church]] as a member of their Congregation of Ministers, "COM". A [[COM]] has no individual existence in the world but has its legal existence within the Church. That existence resides in their Ordained Overseer or Minister as the Church in order to remain a  [[Free Assemblies|Free Assembly]].
As minister ''ex officio'' they hold property as a trust within the Church but as ordained ministers they hold property as join heirs.
   
   
There is a reason Moses and Christ used these forms and relationships to build the institutions of God which are based on individual choice and liberty but remains institutions based on one form of government for the purposes of God.
There is a reason Moses and Christ used these forms and relationships to build the institutions of God which are based on individual choice and liberty but remains institutions based on one form of government for the purposes of God.

Revision as of 08:32, 25 December 2015

Families congregating in groups of 10s, 100s, 1000s formed a Living Network that prospered nations and the early Christians.


Understanding the appointment of Christ

Understanding the role of a minister in the Church established by Jesus Christ may require not only study but deep soul searching within the hearts of Elders and Ministers. It has been 2000 years since Jesus called his first Ministers and appointed to them a Kingdom.[1]

Jesus and John the Baptist were preaching a different way to govern and be governed. The "little flock"[2] were understood to be one form of government which was not like the governments of the other nations who had Benefactors who exercised authority but they were to benefit the people and provide spiritual guidance and a Daily ministration for their welfare with Pure Religion by way of the Faith, Hope and Charity of the people in Free Assemblies through something James called the Perfect law of liberty.

This was not a new system of self government but was very old. The pattern of Tens had been used by Abraham and also Moses along with many other nations.

Voluntary governments have been the rule in man’s history and not the central or even democratic authorities so common world-wide in modern administrations. It is commonly understood by historians that, “our modern reliance on government to make law and establish order is not the historical norm.”[3]

Jesus came to bring the Kingdom of God’s liberty into every aspect of our lives. God’s precepts and character should govern us and the nations of the world. Liberty is conducive to growth and maturity. Virtue is the avenue of God’s grace through an international Daily ministration for Christians near and far and even the strangers in their midst. Faith is The Way and the Sacrifice of our hearts is a gift that brings us into a fuller knowledge of God.

“The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” Luke 4:18

If we are going to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness it is important to understand what form and structure was employed by the early Church.

The Pharisees were in conflict with Christ and according to Christ were also in conflict with Moses while the Essenes had many things in common with the teachings of the early Church.

There were congregations that were so united during the early days of Christianity that In Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, he praised “the union and discipline of the Christian republic”. He also pointed out that “it gradually formed an independent and increasing state in the heart of the Roman Empire”.[4] The early Christian ekklesia was a republic in form and was recognized by Rome through the proclamation nailed to the cross by order of the Proconsul of Rome, Pontius Pilate. When Jesus rose from the dead to stand again upon the earth, so did His Kingdom. His kingdom now lives in the hearts of those who follow His way.


Everyone is encouraged to study the materials linked above before continuing.



Build a foundation

CORE is an acronym which stands for a Congregation of Recorded Elders. A CORE is already defined as a group of families in free assembly represented by their natural head of the family called an Elder. Those Elders in the practice of Pure Religion are bound by love and honor for one another alone.

But a Congregation of Ministers (COM) is not merely a congregation of Elders. It has the mutual purpose of a CORE which is not an entity but a free assembly but it also has some official duties granted it within the adjudication power of the Church.

A Minister's membership with the Church is or may be a limited capacity either by appointment or anointing, ex officio or ordination. Since an Ordained Minister of the Church must be separate from the world he may have no part of a personal estate within the world.

This is sometimes hard to understand but it is not what most Modern Christian ministers do. But it was essential in the early Church and even back in the days of the Levites and Essenes.

There is a reason Moses and Christ used these forms and relationships to build the institutions of God which are based on individual choice and liberty but remains institutions based on one form of government for the purposes of God.


Congregationalists

While each local religious congregation or CORE is independent and self-governing, in the kingdom those congregations are merely Free Assemblies of families....

Each minister has a CORE he serves but he is not a member of that CORE.

The kingdom factor comes in because the minister of a CORE is not a member of the CORE he serves but as a part of the Church he is a member, whether ordained or ex officio, of the Congregation of Ministers he is bound to by his commitment to serve His Church in a particular capacity. It is that official or recognized Congregation of Ministers [COM] where he will find and fulfill his duties of Religion.

His first duty is of course to Christ/God but his second is to his Congregation of Ministers (COM). That congregation or CORE is not the ones he serves, but consists of those ministers with whom he is in congregation with by the recognition of a common ordained Overseer of his Congregation of Ministers (COM).

Without that understanding and religious duty there is no kingdom and the pattern is not sacred nor separate.

In fact a great danger arises if he does not attend to his fellow ministers first. His CORE congregation may become more his personal Church rather than "HIS Church" meaning Christ's Church.

His congregation may isolate itself with the cares of the world and start looking to each other only and let go of the broader kingdom thinking. His congregation becomes an altar of clay that he stands upon and serves in hope they will mutually support him. His service becomes for his own purposes.

While a minister is supported while he works serving the Elders, when he is retired or ill or in great need it is his fellow ministers in his COM that he will depend upon. Those ministers and many more in a network of ministers shall become his support and assurance.

The early Church had a great deal of resources, including land and buildings as well as funds to provide for the Daily ministration.

We know this is why the Diocletianic Persecution confiscated the property of the Church's ministers in hope of destroying it. They owned that property in common and reclaimed it from Rome eventually. The Christian system of social welfare or what could be called Private welfare function much better than the Public religion which exercised authority. Many nations had become dependent upon those systems of welfare which weakened the people and made them more dependent upon governments. This dependence of the people empowers governments and leads to despotism. The whole Christian conflict with Rome was centered in the distinction between these forms of welfare and they echoed the jealousy and envy within society.


Charity around the world

The early Christians did not need the free Bread and circuses of Rome. They had a better system that did not require force. But they were accused of robbing the system of welfare run through the public Temples of Imperial Cult of Rome.

But the charity of the Church reached far and wide. We see Barnabas and Paul carrying funds to distant parts of the kingdom. During persecutions people were able to relocate far from trouble because they had a network and the common bond of Christ because they all were living the whole Gospel of the Kingdom and not dependent upon Rome.

The Roman cult failed as all such systems eventually fail. They not only follow the ways of the Nicolaitan and Nimrod they create systems and Snare the people in a Bondage called Corvee under the authority of their Benefactors who are the Fathers of the earth. Roman historians like Polybius and Plutarch warned the people long before Jesus Christ and John the Baptist.

Because of The Way followed by the early Church the people and the Church prospered as Rome declined and fell under corruption, debt and endless wars for power. For a thousand years much of Europe would remain free and people of the true Christian faith lived in relative peace and safety.

But the people in their prosperity began to lose sight of the kingdom. The bonds of the kingdom that reached to more distant communities faltered as people became centered on their own comforts. Each valley or village and community or country became more isolated where it did not think to come to the aid of others. Those ministers who focus on their congregation rather than the whole kingdom are undermining the righteous bonds of the "kingdom".


Dividing love

This loving of one group more than another, especially your own congregations and those closest to you, spreads seeds of division.

This is why Christianity was overrun back at the turn of the first millennium as one valley after another was invaded by that militant coercive church.

They had lost sight of the kingdom and they did not cast their bread upon the waters or come to the aid of the next valley or village.

Each minister serves different people and those people are important to other ministers not because they know them but because they know their minister.

When a minister is sick or ill or needs help he may get that help or aid or moral support from tents of his congregation, the flock he tends (his CORE). But he should first look to his fellow ministers in his own Congregation of official recognized Ministers, (COM) just as the elders of a CORE of the Church should serve one another.


Kingdom Institutions

Men create institutions all the time by agreement. Their agreements are real and we should make our yes's Yes!

The institutions are sometimes called Fictions of Law or Legal fictions.

Man was made in the image of God and has some creative powers granted by God. Those endowed powers are called rights. What he creates and how it functions depends on the spirit that he breathes into those institutions.

Is the spirit we see living in the institutions of men in agreement with the Holy Spirit or has another spirit taken over either at its beginning or has come to control the institution?

"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Mark 16:15

The word we see here for creature is the Greek word ktisis[5] which means "something the act of founding, establishing, building."

These institutions are the result of agreements and contracts. They are sometimes called legal fictions. One definition of a legal fiction is "an assertion accepted as true, though probably fictitious, to achieve a particular goal in a legal matter."

But in another place a legal fiction "is a fact assumed or created by courts".

Because they are created by courts does not mean they are not true or void of fact. One example of a legal fiction occurs in adoption. An adoption is saying "this is my son". He is not actually your son so in that sense it is not true; a fiction. But it is true that you are adopting him as your son and he will have all the rights that your natural son has.

So a legal fiction can be a good thing that should be treated as a fact in order to do justice.

A corporation treated as a legal person[6] is a fiction also because in fact it is not a living individual or person. But corporations are created by people, owned by people, run by people who collectively bring in their spirit to give life to the corporation. The spirit of the people breaths life into a Corporation.

That can be good or that can be bad. What spirit is entering the corporate world?

A corporation has a nationality and most governments have a corporate nature to them.

There are six factors in determining the nationality of a corporation:

  • the state of incorporation
  • the principal seat of business[7]
  • nationality of the shareholders
  • the nationality of overall investment
  • the nationality of the management
  • the persons controlling the business of corporation

Knowing this, what is the nationality of the Corpus of Christ?

Jesus' kingdom is not of this world but it is at hand and he keeps his Apostles and ordained ministers out of the world so that they can be separate. Most of the early Christians were in the world. They were to bring the Spirit of the kingdom into the world so that it might be saved.

That means people who are bound in the world can bring the Spirit of Christ to the institutions they form while they are in the world. There are many ways to do this which should be taught in every congregation.

The Freewill offerings upon the Altars of the Church are freely given and given up entirely. They are given to Christ but since he is not here they are given to whom you believe to be the servants of Christ in trust. That trustee and the congregations of trustees who belong to Christ, who are in the world but not of it, who have met the requirements of Christ hold what is given for his purposes in a legal fiction call the Church.

It is an irrevocable trust but its legality is within the Church which is foreign to the world. This is why the ministers need to not be a part of the World Christ and his Apostles were not a part of.

Once things have entered upon the altars of God the ministers may eat it or give it back to the people in a Daily ministration of charity.

They may also sow some of it back into the world but must only do so for Christ's purposes. The Church is a welfare system for Christians that is not like the world and its Benefactors. It does not operate like the Fathers of the earth who use force.

What they receive is not given to make Elders rich and independent. If the elders work together in loving communion they may achieve that on their own. The Church wants to see the elders prosper as their soul prospers with the Character or Name of Christ and this is also true when it comes to their personal and emotional and even mental health.[8]

Walking in the ways of service may require many tools like the apostles used a fishing boat and net to catch fish which added to the wealth of their families. Jesus did not do the fishing for them but told them when and where to put down their nets.

The Church may show people how to create trusts, LLCs and Benefit Companies in the sea of the world so that they may help plant the ways of the Christ in those fields. These systems may begin to help the Elders become an active part of the charitable work of the Christ and His Church in more personal ways than just giving money. They may do this in areas of the world where His Holy Church is already excluded.

Often the Church may do this by sowing their service in the lives of the Elders and even by sowing funds to them. Because those funds or the power and blood they represent belongs to Christ they may only sow into charitable projects. They may not finance enterprises to generate personal wealth for the Elders.

They may feed, cloth, help heal the hungry, naked and sick but they should not enrich anyone simply so that they may not have to work especially if there are others in the whole body who are in greater need.

As examples they may help replace a home that is lost through disaster but they cannot build the personal estate of the Elders with funds given to Christ. That might look like favoritism or cronyism - the common good ol' boy approach to charity.

By the same token we see Jesus doing something not far removed from this. The story of the talents Matthew 25 relates how those who did well were given more and those who did little or nothing could actually lose what they had. This parable is not meant to turn the Church into a system that gives to the rich and takes from the poor. This story is showing how doers of the word will be rewarded and the slothful shall lose what they were given. The same is true of the ones who say they see may have sight taken from them just as the kingdom was taken from the Pharisees because they did not bear fruit.

The Church is to preach the gospel to the poor who become rich by the doing of the word which will give deliverance to the captives and sight to the blind.[9]


Seeking Liberty under God

Seeking is a process often pursued by the wise. But the path of the foolish finds no fruit.[10]

We have been told to "seek the kingdom of God" which is a righteous form of government that sets the captive free. By its nature it was a pure Republic not merely as a representative form of self government but in the tradition of the Libera Res Publica where Citizens were "free from things public which Tacitus thought could "not exist",[11] but Moses and Jesus did.

According to John Wyclyff the Bible was about "the Government of the People, by the People, and for the People."[12]

That government had daily ministration through a network of faith, hope, and charity. It formed a living temple made without hands that required a daily sacrifice of Pure Religion.

There was no Dogma but the Doctrine of Jesus which was the Sound Doctrine of love of God and neighbor as yourself.

Their gathering in the network of Tens as Christ commanded was a labor of caring and thanksgiving of love that is sweet.[13] The formed thesocial bonds of a free society that had degenerates at the tables of rulers who exercise authority one over the other.

The kingdom of the world or governments of the world gain their power over the people by the covetousness and sloth of people. Those governments of the world bind people by consent because the people seek the gifts, gratuities and benefits available by application through contract and debt. Additionally, things provided by borrowing money make the recipient a surety for the debt incurred. The Benefactors of those benefits will then legally have a right to force the surety to comply with their will.

This is why the covetous practices of desiring benefits at the expense of your neighbors will make all the people Merchandise and curse their children. By applying to the governments of the world, you effectively take something from your neighbor to gain a share for yourself. With this action, you literally bite one another. This common practice of members of society who are willing to gain benefits for themselves at the expense of others. This process legitimatizes the power they, or their parents, have bestowed upon the governments via their social compact and their own covetous practices.

Does the Bible warn us about a return to Bondage?
Are there warnings about people claiming they believe[14]. but being entangled in the elements of the world and a yoke of bondage?
Christ died that we might be saved so the Redemption of Christ must be conditional?
The welfare state is the path of the foolish. It is the "covetous practice" which is a "snare"[15] and Stumblingblock. It is the antithesis of the The Way and turning away from the "doctrine of Jesus", Moses, Abraham and all the prophets. But the fool cannot or will not see[16] the truth. Unless fool chooses to repent and seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness there is no hope of redemption.

We see this in history from Cain to Nimrod, from Pharaoh to Caesar. 1 Samuel 8 tells us what to expect when we give power to others to that which we should do for ourselves. If we desire God to hear our prayers we must return to the way of love and sacrifice. We must seek The Way of Christ, and the prophets like John the Baptist who also told us to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. We are called to repent of those covetous practices like the Corban of the Pharisees which made the word of God to none effect and the slothful practices that bring us under Tribute.

What does it mean to seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness? Modern Christians are often not told what that kingdom looks like, nor even what it means to repent.

Seeking the kingdom of God, the government of God, is not an act of personal will where we change the world. It is the submission to the will of a righteous God who sent His son to serve others and sacrifice himself, and even lay down his life for others. To come in the name of Christ is to come together to serve others in righteousness. To gather in the Name of Christ is to gather to serve others, to save others. We do not gather for fellowship and joy although those things are a common byproduct of The Way of Christ.

The Kingdom of God or Heaven is a voluntary government operated by people freely coming together and caring about one another as much as they care about their own rights, life and liberties, those of their children, and even their neighbor's children and grandchildren. They do this in common service, one to another. They lay down their life daily and they freely give of themselves to set others free in love as Yeshua, A.K.A. Jesus the Christ, did. They take care of each other through love and charity.

This is not what the modern American or European or almost every nation is doing today, whether we call ourselves Christian or Jew, Buddhist or Muslim, Sikh or Hindu. Instead, in almost every country of the world, the people look to their government to take a portion from one class of citizen to provide for another.

Taking care of each other was the purpose of religions, and it was even part of the definition of Religion at one time in history. The Bible defines Pure Religion as the caring for the widows and orphans and needy of society without the aid from or application to the Benefactors of the world and the Fathers of the earth.

To freely congregate in faith, hope and charity by way of the perfect law of liberty is the only way to salvation. This is to be done in spirit and in truth.

The purpose of these email Networks is to create a living network of CORE groups, as was done, in the early Church established by Christ. When the unrighteous Mammon fails you will be ready for more righteous habitations. When Rome began to decline, Christians were just getting started. The failing of the Imperial Cult of Rome as a system of social welfare was supplanted by true Christians who would repent and seek that government of God and the righteousness of that God of love.

There are many tools of the Church; the people are to form a functioning network that survives, and it can serve Christ's purpose when the unrighteous Mammon and the entire banking system fails.

Everyone sees disaster coming, and Christ had the solution. That solution and the blessed strategy of God was salvation for the followers of Christ. That salvation does not come without Forgiveness and Sacrifice. This is done through repentance - changing the way you think, act and govern yourselves.

This is why Christ appointed His Apostles who organized thousands of people at the major feast of Pentecost. They let the people choose men of Good report to assist in the Daily ministration and the Church. Those appointed ministers of Christ were to be in the World but not of it. These men had to come into one accord and meet the qualifications of Christ in order to became the Benefactors who did not exercise authority but instead Fervent Charity.

The World and False religion has delivered us into Bondage in the spirit and truth of our Covetous Practices and Sloth.

The Network of the Kingdom of God allows us to begin a Repentant life of Charitable Practices which will set us free, rather than continue bondage in those Covetous Practices that have made us Merchandise and cursed our children.

By forming Congregations of Record rooted in a desire to serve in love for one another, you may begin to reverse the spiritual process that brought you into Bondage in Spirit and Truth.

A natural pattern may form by the ancient mechanics of choosing Ministers of Tens. Such gatherings of ministers and their congregations allow spiritual conduits to form in these living Altars of clay and stone.

We have been going in, and following, what can only be called wicked ways. It not only has brought us into bondage as a people but on many levels, it is causing disturbances in the world we live. A storm is coming that will bring great destruction, but it may also stir an awakening in people; this is not to make you afraid, but to teach you to care. We have not lived by faith, but by force. We need to live by faith and love.[17] We are seeking those who will repent and step out in faith to save others, instead of seeking to save themselves first.

This is the name of Christ.


If we will seek the face of God and the name of Christ and come to serve rather than be served, God will calm the storm and heal our land.[18]

If the Ministers will also begin to gather as true Congregations of Ministers in a spirit of righteous sacrifice, like Christ who demonstrated His love for us by His personal sacrifice, we will continue the formation of the pattern called the Kingdom of God. Service in love and dedication in charity is the fuel that powers society and allows the flow of God's grace and power.

If any will survive from this world to the next, they must be seeking to form together a living network of 10's, 100's, 1000's through the righteousness of God.

If you strive to do this with a repenting heart, you may continue to form a more righteous habitation. Your repentance draws the Holy Spirit, and it prepares a place for that spirit in each and all of us bound by love.

That is seeking the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

We recommend:

  • People examine the material at His Holy Church
  • Join or form a Congregation of record.
  • Ask questions and share your thoughts on the network or with your ministers so that we may all be in one accord.
  1. Luke 22:29 And I appoint unto you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me;
  2. Luke 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
  3. The Enterprise of Law: Justice without the State. Bruce L. Benson Publisher: Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy (San Francisco), 1991
  4. Rousseau and Revolution, Will et Ariel Durant p.801. fn 83 Heiseler, 85.
  5. 2937 ~κτίσις~ ktisis \@ktis’-is\@ from 2936; n f AV-creature 11, creation 6, building 1, ordinance 1; 19
    1) the act of founding, establishing, building etc
    1a) the act of creating, creation
    1b) creation i.e. thing created
    1b1) of individual things, beings, a creature, a creation
    1b1a) anything created
    1b1b) after a rabbinical usage (by which a man converted from idolatry to Judaism was called)
    1b1c) the sum or aggregate of things created
    1c) institution, ordinance
  6. The concept of the law treating corporate entities as if they were persons dates back to Ancient Rome. The 14 Amendment did the same thing. The corporation is itself incapable of loyalty or enmity but the spirit of those within in provide the spirit.
  7. Related to a corporation's nationality is its residence. This can be juristically difficult as a typical "multinational" has domiciles in several countries. There are at least two questions in this realm. Where does a company reside? Usually, it resides in the place of incorporation or place of its registered office.
  8. 3 John 1:2 Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.
  9. Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
  10. The wise and the fool
    Proverbs 13:20 "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed."
    Proverbs 14:16 "A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident."
    Proverbs 15:2 "The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness."
    Proverbs 17:10 "A reproof entereth more into a wise man than an hundred stripes into a fool."
    Romans 1:21 "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,"
    Matthew 25:2 "And five of them were wise, and five were foolish."
  11. “Tacitus repeatedly contrasts the res publica under the emperors with the pre-Augustus libera res publica; and in the Germania 37, encountering the disasters which Germans inflicted upon the res publica Romanorum, he distinguishes between the old res publica, which he calls the populus Romanus, and the new res publica, which he calls “Caesar.” The old res publica hardly had the mixed constitution which dreamers assigned it and which actually never can exist, but it was something greater and majestic which lives on as a glorious memory in a mean age.” The Ruling Power: A Study Of The Roman Empire In The Second Century After Christ Through The Roman Oration Of Aelius Aristides, James H. Oliver, Kessinger Publishing, July 25, 2006. ISBN-13: 978-1428659315.
  12. Is the Bible about religion which it seldom mentions only once in a good way as Pure Religion or is it about governments and law including Natural Law? "This Bible is for the Government of the People, by the People, and for the People." is attributed to the General Prologue to the John Wycliffe Bible translation of 1384, as Lincoln quoted at Gettysburg.
  13. Ecclesiastes 5:12 "The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep. 13 There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt."
  14. Many deceived
    Matthew 24:5 "For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many... 11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
    Mark 13:6 "For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many."
    Luke 21:8 "And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them."
    2 John 1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
    2 Peter 2:2 "But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not."
  15. Table as a snare
    Psalms 69:22-23 “Let their table become a snare before them: and that which should have been for their welfare, let it become a trap. 23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake."”
    Romans 11:9 “And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:”
    Proverbs 23:1 "When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what [is] before thee: 2 And put a knife to thy throat, if thou be a man given to appetite. 3 Be not desirous of his dainties: for they are deceitful meat."
    Exodus 23:32 "Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. 33 They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee."
    Exodus 34:12 "Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:"
    Deuteronomy 7:16 "And thou shalt consume all the people which the LORD thy God shall deliver thee; thine eye shall have no pity upon them: neither shalt thou serve their gods; for that [will be] a snare unto thee."
    Judges 2:2 "And ye shall make no league [covenant] with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this?"
    Proverbs 1:10 "My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not."
    Proverbs 6:2 “Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.” Swear not
    Luke 21:34 "And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and [so] that day come upon you unawares. 35 For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth."
    1 Timothy 6:9 "But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and [into] many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."
  16. False prophets and Guru theories
    Isaiah 42:16 "And I will bring the blind by a way [that] they knew not; I will lead them in paths [that] they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them. 17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye [are] our gods. 18 Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see."
    Isaiah 30:20 "And [though] the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers: 21 And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This [is] the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. 22 Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence. 23 Then shall he give the rain of thy seed,..."
    Matthew 13:13 "Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand."
    Matthew 15:14 "Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch."
    Luke 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recoveing of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
    John 9:39 ¶ "And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind."
    Luke 6:39 "And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch? 40 The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master."
    Acts 13:11 "And now, behold, the hand of the Lord [is] upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell on him a mist and a darkness; and he went about seeking some to lead him by the hand."
  17. Mark 4:37 And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. 38 And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? 39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"
  18. 2 Chronicles 7:14 "If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."