Before the pandemic, I did not realize how many different variations existed in the religious arena. My YouTube account started showing me videos of Philia Ministries, Pastor Dowell (Black Hebrew), amongst many esoteric faith based systems (pagan by nature). Needless to say, I had time to meditate and ask God for some clarity.
God pointed me to two characteristics that defined His people. The first characteristic is that they did not resemble a form of pride (selected group, or nationalistic/identity driven). The other characteristic is that they represented values that cared about others within a consistent framework with the law based systems of the Bible. The most simple version of God’s people was defined in Matthew 22:36-40, which simply states love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. While that seems pretty simple, it does start tossing many ideologies aside.
When we get into what Christianity really is in the next post, this post will focus on different groups, what they idololize, and characteristically what represents a follower of Christ (God’s Chosen people). This basis is important because it defines why prophecy and Scripture lays out in the manner it does and what promises are constituted to which peoples.
I will start by talking about what Christianity is not. Jesus said on many occasions he did not come to heal the healthy, but the sick. Jesus never talked about his majesty, but always pointed to the Father and His Kingdom. Jesus was slow to anger and judge, but quick to provide mercy and wisdom. So what did Jesus represent, it was the Kingdom in a nutshell, self sacrifice and love which is necessary for a heaven to exist. Heaven isn’t a hedonistic pleasure palace, where you indulge in the selfish desires you have in the present; it’s a Kingdom of love and caring for one another regardless of any form of identity. However, the key is identity, as identity is most likely the delusion that causes a lie (2 Thessalonians 2:11) in the current End Times scenario. Most of our current situation is defined by how we identify (race, sex, religion, education, etc.). Wouldn’t it be easy for Satan to control our actions by asserting our pride of identity? He currently is as identity politics, worshipping the ideal of an image on Facebook or social media that contradicts the true nature of who we really are, and various groups of socially proud identities are rampantly running the national media and political realms.
When you step back, you can start seeing things more clearly. For example, idolatry is fairly rampant in both religious and non religious circles. It’s not uncommon for someone to know a video game, sports team, fashion designer, etc., a lot more than their religious convictions, yet many would die for these beliefs. In the Christian arena, we have many. In the Philia ministry, they follow the Old Testament purity laws as faith, yet to an extent it becomes an idol as the faith is based directly off of what Paul condemned (worshipping laws rather than purity of heart and conduct). Seventh Day Adventists believe the Sabbath Day law is the crux of faith, which idolizes a day of worship when one should/could worship every day. Dispensationalists worship eras of history, national denominations tend to worship clergy and doctrines, and black Hebrews tend to worship their cultural heritage (whether it is actually true or not). Are these people Christian? Maybe so, but their fruits may not resemble those in Galatians 5.
The fruit of the spirit are: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. Chances are if you are not experiencing those things, you fell into a type of doctrinal supremacy of which I was guilty. We were never supposed to look down on people, nor to assert one type of believer was ideal. We all have different skill sets and talents, one may be a programmer, another a mechanic. Chances are the language choices, dress, and worship styles are different. However, worship should be of joy, not of obligation. If the church ritual is your worship status, your idol has become a ceremonial practice.
God’s chosen people were not the Jews. The Jewish/Israeli lineage may have been the source of the patriarchs, but many were as guilty as the Pagans. God’s Chosen People are spirit led believers who understand that a Savior is necessary for salvation. If we are truly honest, all/most of us have fantasized about an attractive mate, did foolishness while intoxicated, and broke some form of a commandment in one way or another. It’s truly hard to love your neighbor as yourself in this ego centric world. Somewhere in church history, becoming pious and asserting a level of religious superiority became the objective, when the Apostles clearly wrote that humility and love, confessions of sins, and working on self betterment were the objectives of a Spirit led believer.
God always wanted loving, humble, and honest people to share eternity with. It’s a long time, and why would He want to monitor you 24/7 in the timeless environment? If he gave us free will in this world, it would be somewhat ingenuine to think we wouldn’t have the same liberty in heaven. Even the Exodus was targeted at establishing a free society for the Jewish nation, yet they seemed to love their bondage (making a Golden calf, merging with Roman and other societies, etc.). I tend to find it ironic that people will say God’s law is impossible, but yet they know all their local/state/national law systems, which are by far more complex than the Torah. If we are truly honest about today’s culture, everything seems to be caught in a net of surveillance (Facebook, tech platforms, cell phones, etc.) that is contradictory to the nature of free will or freedom. Freedom only exists in a group of good natured people who abide by the fruit of the Spirit, as laws will only constrain law abiding citizens and will consistently be broken by people who utilize their free will against the societal constraints imposed by legalities.
In conclusion, the Bible clearly teaches that the intention of a man’s heart is more important than his conduct towards a set of rules. The world God seeks lives by the fruit of the Spirit, where no law would be necessary. It would also not permit one who harbors ill will, or personally thinks they deserve to be there. Ironically, humility is the source of all truth. It is the basis of learning, correcting action, and of understanding. But to be humble in todays ego centric world is also a challenge. I encourage true believers to ask themselves, what are you worshipping and are you living as Christ commanded? I tend to believe he would show more mercy to a Samaritan (Luke 10) than a religious zealot who condemned people for not following his doctrines. We should all be anchoring in self reflection, purity of heart, and humility if we truly wish to find heaven in this life and the next.
