Some Only Get Wet, Some Are Forever Sealed: Part One
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| Signs direct us. After being directed by a sign, we know how to proceed. After a sign teaches us, we don't require the sign to be repeated. Such is the teaching of water baptism established since the 1st century. |
Let us consider with clarity and perspective, dear friends, the teachings found before what is called 'canon'.
May God remove the religious blinders of odd opinion and suspicion.
Rather, may He open our hearts to what He has established for us.
There is a mention of instructions to be given in person that were not written in a particular letter to the church.
At 1 Corinthians 11: 34b we read that mention of further instructions.
Galatians 6: 6 mentions receiving instruction in the Word and sharing all good things with their instructor.
Perhaps a teaching that shows results, and those results mentioned to the instructor... affirming the instruction and edifying all parties involved.
Perhaps a teaching that shows results, and those results mentioned to the instructor... affirming the instruction and edifying all parties involved.
Luke 1: 4 is mentions that particular Gospel is a summary affirming all that was previously taught in person.
In short: there was much more detail mentioned in person than was captured in the written account after the fact.
Thus, there is more found that what is in the canons.
This isn't an article encouraging to go after other writings, but to not be so judgmental if / when other writings confirm what the Gospel declares.
This is what I am encouraging... why?
Because the Gospel is confirmed, and further instructions are found, in other writings.
Thus, there is more found that what is in the canons.
This isn't an article encouraging to go after other writings, but to not be so judgmental if / when other writings confirm what the Gospel declares.
This is what I am encouraging... why?
Because the Gospel is confirmed, and further instructions are found, in other writings.
Can we measure every single thing that was conveyed in person between the Apostles and the Church?
What about the insights mentioned to those who instructed others (again Galatians 6: 6)?
We were not there to hear questions being immediately answered and what may have been initially confused being clarified.
Consider how much more is often spoken and discussed in person than in writing.
A memo initiates thought or a focus on something, while a meeting extrapolates what the memo inspired or beckoned.
Consider the other visits by the other Apostles to the various churches during the 1st century that were not recorded.
I say we have page one of thousands upon thousands of what God has done, continues to do, and will do.
That first page is enough to get us going, yet we are to discover the page two and three and so on on our walk.
That first page is enough to get us going, yet we are to discover the page two and three and so on on our walk.
Notice how in the canon, revelation / prophecy is mentioned to have come through many other believers.
Consider the four virgin daughters of a certain evangelist (one of the Seven).
We are not sure what specific instructions came through them, or if some or all of those instructions were added to the letters or other writings of the 1st century.
We read one instance in Acts 11 of several unnamed prophets (not designated as Apostles or of the Seven), with one being named (Agabus).
Were there other instructions not attributed to him personally but added as a whole to the entirety of the testimony about Messiah and the Way?
I don't think these men and women with such gifts desired to have their names associated (which is an issue of pride).
I do think they were named simply to affirm revelation to those who may have known them or heard of them.
More importantly is God's instruction (however it arrives) than the man through whom it comes.
I do think they were named simply to affirm revelation to those who may have known them or heard of them.
More importantly is God's instruction (however it arrives) than the man through whom it comes.
Notice how God spoke through Agabus to inform Paul of what was to come of him.
This shows that God utilizes others and not simply those perceived to be 'leaders'.
God could have conveyed to Paul personally what was to come of him, either in a dream, or a vision.
But notice God's warning came through someone mentioned only twice in the canon, but possibly mentioned more often in other writings.
The point is not to highlight one man over another, but simply to show that God acts and moves in various ways, and special care must be done regarding His instructions.
There are more instructions from God beyond the canon... but this very sentence is a challenge to people's faith due to how they've been taught.
Taught to fixate instead of experience.
But notice God's warning came through someone mentioned only twice in the canon, but possibly mentioned more often in other writings.
The point is not to highlight one man over another, but simply to show that God acts and moves in various ways, and special care must be done regarding His instructions.
There are more instructions from God beyond the canon... but this very sentence is a challenge to people's faith due to how they've been taught.
Taught to fixate instead of experience.
Consider what the earliest bishops / church leaders / evangelists retained from memory and put down into writing from such discussions with some of these 1st century male and female prophets.
What about the other instructions or insights that came thought the Seven, or the other Apostles?
We can obviously conclude that there were more prophets (or prophetic instructions) beyond Paul and Peter, and also that the specifics of those instructions are not all mentioned in the Gospel or letters.
Notice how, through Paul, further revelations from the Spirit regarding the Way were mentioned to have happened, but were not detailed in the letter(s).
In 2 Corinthians 12, Paul speaks of (a man) having visions and supernatural experiences, yet those details are not shared in the letters or anywhere else in canon.
Notice what is found in Acts 15 regarding the first loosening and binding.
Something very important was revealed to Paul and his associates, a profound and new teaching God had taught them through experience.
That lesson was conveyed to those in Jerusalem, and a crisis of faith was noted.
That lesson was conveyed to those in Jerusalem, and a crisis of faith was noted.
What came of that instruction was a major lesson in growing faith and a clarification of previous understandings of what God had, was, and will establish.
The Way was simplified and resistance to God's simplification was dealt with.
God had opened the Way further, and religious men had a difficult time in believing what God was doing.
Walls began crumbling in minds and hearts in Acts 15... and there is still more to go even Today.
Walls have been erected by men with suspicious minds and a refusal to submit to God.
Notice in Acts 15 Paul was not introducing anything contrary or in addition to the Gospel, but further clarification and streamlining of what God started.
Walls exist Today where none were previous.
This is why divisions exist in the Church.
So many people are confused.
At a drop of a hat religious people argue over doctrines instead of thanking God for what He has provided them.
Walls began crumbling in minds and hearts in Acts 15... and there is still more to go even Today.
Walls have been erected by men with suspicious minds and a refusal to submit to God.
Notice in Acts 15 Paul was not introducing anything contrary or in addition to the Gospel, but further clarification and streamlining of what God started.
Walls exist Today where none were previous.
This is why divisions exist in the Church.
So many people are confused.
At a drop of a hat religious people argue over doctrines instead of thanking God for what He has provided them.
When we consider that some (not all) letters or journals to the churches were canonized by the 4th century, notice what is previously mentioned about Christ from the 1st century:
Yeshua did many other things as well.
If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.
- John 21: 25
That is the last journal entry in John's Gospel.
There is so much more that God did, even in just the 1st century, that has not been recorded or shared openly.
Consider how divided minds are with only the canon.
How much more confusion from the deeper things and the heftier teachings of righteousness.
If people claiming to love God and believing in Messiah have such a difficult time loving one another, certainly they are not focused on the very basics of the Gospel's teaching (Matthew 5), but on details that the previously confused have argued over.
Consider how divided minds are with only the canon.
How much more confusion from the deeper things and the heftier teachings of righteousness.
If people claiming to love God and believing in Messiah have such a difficult time loving one another, certainly they are not focused on the very basics of the Gospel's teaching (Matthew 5), but on details that the previously confused have argued over.
There is so much more that God continues to do, yet men are fixated on points in time instead of realizing what is at present (and their role).
Instead of learning from the ancient Church (1st through 3rd century), many praise men who caused much division and contention in the 15th century.
Instead of learning from the ancient Church (1st through 3rd century), many praise men who caused much division and contention in the 15th century.
God is doing so much, has done so much, and continues to do so much, it would be impossible to compile such a testimony.
God has also simplified the Way in such a manner that the minds of religious men quake with dissonance, since they honor previous teachers who all for division instead of the Teacher that calls them to be unified and at peace with one another.
They strive against the righteous since they are fixated on things exterior rather than how God works on the inside of our hearts and souls.
They strive against the righteous since they are fixated on things exterior rather than how God works on the inside of our hearts and souls.
God's Way is not an overwhelming task too complicated to understand.
It is men who complicate the Way, while God makes His complexity very simple so men may somehow understand Him and 'see' what He has provided for them.
Let us then stretch our hearts and open our minds to the faith.
Let us ready our hearts to what He has already established for us.
To be continued in Part Two.
Let us ready our hearts to what He has already established for us.
To be continued in Part Two.
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