Sharing the Hebraic Foundations of the Earliest Followers of Jesus
Preparing Today's Followers of Jesus to Do Their Part in His Kingdom
This a training & equipping website.
If you are new to this site
click on: <Summary Of This Website>
Recent Updates
• To mutually establish a biblically-based way of life free from slanted Bible interpretations and heresy, read:
“General Rules of Biblical Interpretation.”
• To remain free of the bitter hatred of contemporary politics and have the heart of our Lord Jesus, read:
October 24, 2024
Personal Discipleship: Experiencing our Lord Jesus in your life
Dear Friends in Christ Jesus our Lord,
Please download our next Potpourri, Disciplers Help the Discipled Live Dead-To-Themselves. In this article we discuss how biblical discipleship is personal: One person who lives dead-to-themselves and experiences the Spirit of our Lord living through him or her comes alongside another person to help them live the same way. This is the same method our Lord Jesus used to replicate Himself in His disciples, and the same pattern used by Paul in his discipling others. In our previous materials we've repeatedly encouraged you that being genuinely born again is just the beginning of an interactive life with the Spirit of our Lord Jesus. His indwelling presence means that Christ our hope of glory, the very image of God, is actually abiding in us (Colossians 1:15, 27)!
If you aren't quenching the Holy Spirit (1Thessalonians 5:19) by your own rebellion, or believing the falsehoods which anti-Semitic theologians have written in eliminating the Holy Spirit's active and essential role in the life of followers of Jesus, then you should be experiencing Him interacting with your life. This is biblical reality!
In this Potpourri we also expose the effects of academic-only Bible instruction which has produced congregation after congregation of pansies. (“Pansy” in slang describes a timid, cowardly person. And people who are fearful pansies about openly and lovingly representing Jesus especially to unbelievers have been the fruitless result of academics-only Bible instruction.) For several decades we've warned Christians about living this way using other terms and all sorts of illustrations. So using this example, pansies have been the consequence of only using the unbiblical method of academically teaching God's Word without personal role modeling and applying it to their own lives. As a result, far more fearful cowards sit in pews than do followers of our Lord Jesus who are actively living as His redemptive ambassadors. It should be obvious to you that this was never our Lord's intent!
This unbiblical method of academic-only Bible instruction has its origin in the impersonal oratorical style of pagan Hellenism. This unfruitful way of teaching the Bible has perpetuated itself in Christianity because of the writings of anti-Semitic theologians in both Catholicism and Protestantism. And sadly for followers of Jesus, over the centuries their 'learned' writings have remained above any and all questioning.
Attempting to question their ‘learned’ teachings is as elusive as finding Bigfoot. How can we say this? We collectively wouldn't be experiencing 41,000+ divisive denominations and sects if Christianity cherished and lived by the words of our Lord Jesus instead of the writings of the 'learned Bigfoots'. In our years of ministry among so many various divisions of Christianity, we've too often run into 'Bigfoot' theological creedal positions and denominational persuasions being held in higher regard than the words of our Lord Jesus. During these years it's been absolutely sickening in having to observe how widespread the fear to question the 'Bigfoots' is, either by clergy or by pew sitters.
“You are a chosen people,
a royal priesthood,
a holy nation,
a people for His own possession,
that you may proclaim the praises of Him
Who called you out of darkness
into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9).
If you're a Christian pansy when it comes to representing our Lord Jesus in the world as His redemptive ambassador, and if your close friends in Christianity live likewise, we strongly encourage you to die-to-yourselves so that Christ lives through you. In the absence of dead-to-self role models discipling you, find people who love and follow Jesus as their Lord who also wish to die-to-themselves and seek for Him to live through them. All it requires of each of you is your prayerful discussion, questions and answers, and then going to do it! This is a biblical fact! It’s your heart motive of loving surrender that our heavenly Father and Lord Jesus are seeking from you and from those journeying with you.
Have you ever read Hinds’ Feet On High Places by Hannah Hurnard, a prophetic book describing the pilgrimage of everyone who is genuinely born again? If you have, you may recall how the fear-based human love of Much Afraid was transformed into divine unabashed love resulting in her becoming “Grace & Glory”. In her new identity she resolutely sought to be the Shepherd’s redemptive ambassador. It was the Shepherd who had transformed her! And our Lord’s Spirit will do the same for each of you if you truly want to die-to-yourself and have our Lord Jesus live through you with His love. (After several decades of us endeavoring by His grace to live dead-to-ourselves and having the Spirit of our Lord Jesus living through us, we produced a series, Going To The High Places to accompany Hannah's book. This series provides in-depth insights for you to personally apply in your own pilgrimage to your salvation.)
We fervently hope that what the Holy Spirit is giving us to share with you will energize you to flee pansy-ism. And with the Spirit of our Lord Jesus operating through you and through those with you on your faith pilgrimage to your salvation, you'll experience the fullness of being a redemptive ambassador of our Lord Jesus. There's absolutely nothing this side of heaven that can compare!
Mike & Sue
October 14, 2024
Christ Demands That You Die-To-Yourself
Dear Friends in Christ Jesus our Lord,
Attached you will find our latest Potpourri, Anti-Semitic Theology & Religious Indoctrination – Deterring YOU from Dying-To-Yourself. Anti-Semitic theology, even that which was imposed on Protestants all the way back to Calvin and Luther, has joined Roman Catholicism in inhibiting the majority of 'Christians' from the life of living dead-to-yourself which our Lord Jesus commands His own. This is one of the main reasons ❌Jesus isn't the LORD of those who claim to belong to Him, and ❌for how widespread is the unwillingness to actively do the will of our heavenly Father through the indwelling Holy Spirit. There's a good chance that few of you who are reading this even ask Father for His purpose for your life. If you're just living for yourself, you're part of the deluded mass of 'Christians' over the centuries to whom religious leaders and anti-Semitic theologians have downplayed these two scriptural mandates.
Most of you have been instructed in the Bible through the creedal filters of your denomination. Rather than your instructors centering on the Lordship of Jesus and insisting that you purposely and actively fulfill our Father's purposes for you by His grace and your loving and obedient trust, your Bible instruction is filtered through the beliefs and creedal positions of the clergy person's seminary or denominational persuasion. You can most likely count on this: YOU haven't been taught Scripture the way our Lord meant it to be understood and put into practice!
💥If you hadn't been instructed through the grid of creedal filters, you would be able bear witness to Jesus and reveal through your life and testimonies how He has actively been your Lord. And you could personally demonstrate to our Father how you have lived to please Him in fulfilling His purposes out of your grateful love and appreciation. If you can't do this, then the attached Potpourri can help you.
"Walk in wisdom toward outsiders,
making the best use of the time" (Colossians 4:5).
Redemptive Ambassadors And Their Divine Encounters
Take to heart the way of life of two followers of Jesus who've experienced the love and forgiveness of our Father through Jesus being Lord of our lives. By His grace and purpose we've been freed for over three decades from the entrapment of creedal filters. Recently our heavenly Father gifted us with some time away. We headed for the mountains and shoreline of Oregon. With the help of pain meds and frequent stops for Mike to catch his breath, we were able to really enjoy our time away together. But more importantly than what we'd hoped to see or do, before we even left on the trip we prayed that the Holy Spirit would enable us to stay very aware of being our Lord's redemptive ambassadors. We both brought with us our 'fishing' sweatshirts which proclaim, "Belonging to Jesus is a love-based relationship."
We don't wear our sweatshirts as a 'sales pitch' for Jesus. Rather, to us they represent our conviction about our cherished relationship with our Lord. For us, not representing our conviction about our relationship with our Lord Jesus in public would be even worse than not wanting to be seen with each other in public. Someone who really matters to you is revealed in how you express your love for them, and especially that you're not embarrassed to express that love in public!
The Hebraic foundations of belonging to our Lord Jesus directly and vehemently oppose the widespread influence of Hellenism within Christianity.
One vital understanding that's hammered home by the Holy Spirit as you live the Hebraic foundations is that you stand up for your own biblical convictions! This especially applies to your relationship with our Lord Jesus and our heavenly Father, and the authority of God's Word in your life. The Hebraic way of life stands in direct opposition to the manipulative Hellenist view that plagues Christianity and contributes to the widespread division which pervades it (as well as the political climate in the US). Hellenism relies on you persuading, manipulating and even intimidating others to accept your particular point of view.
The foundation of the Hebraic way of life is to stand up for your own convictions in the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit no matter what it costs you. If people around you have any regard for truth or wisdom, they will weigh your convictions and actions (like us wearing the sweatshirts) against their own and decide if your convictions have more veracity than theirs do. As the Bible attests (especially the Book of Proverbs), "fools" don't want to consider a view that differs from their own. And stopping their ears from hearing truth and wisdom is what so much of the US, including institutional Christianity, has devolved into.
"Making the best use of the time." In one motel during our time away, Mike was preparing to go downstairs to breakfast. Just before he left the room the Holy Spirit told him, "Put on the 'belonging to Jesus' sweatshirt." Later, down in the dining area, he was getting some food from the buffet line. A woman came up to Sue who'd already gathered her meal and told her how much seeing the words on Mike's sweatshirt meant to her. She then directed her husband's attention to the sweatshirt's message. This encounter resulted in us sitting with "Tanya" and her husband "Jeff" who were a few years younger than we are. Jeff had just retired from the work force and they were about to embark as a couple on a whole new season of service coming alongside other followers of Jesus to help and encourage them. As we talked together we realized that they were the first couple in many years whose perspective of this nation's condition mirrored ours: that whichever candidate becomes President is an exercise in futility unless there is widespread repentance. Without repentance and a return to pursuit of righteousness especially within Christianity, this nation has already been judged. You can see why we were elated to encounter these folks!
During our two hours of back and forth conversation with them, Mike was able to affirm two particular truths the Holy Spirit had revealed for him to share with the couple. He informed Jeff that he (Jeff) was a legitimate biblical zaken, an older man who was prepared to shepherd and represent our heavenly Father's care for His children in Christ. And Tanya as his wife, an older woman who clearly loved her Lord and was prepared as Jeff's life partner to also serve, was alongside him for this new phase of their journey together. We discovered during our conversation that Tanya was of Cherokee descent and that her mother had clearly instilled in her an understanding of the relational priorities that are at the core of the Hebraic way of life. (Years ago the Holy Spirit had revealed that when the Dark Days of Chastisement come on the US, our Father would use those with Native American heritage to rebuild the collective Church He wants. We'd observed years ago after ministering among Native peoples how relationally motivated they are. Their tribal connectedness was a complete contrast to the organizationally-driven and results-focused Christianity which Europeans had infused into the westernized religious culture. Again, at its core the Hebraic foundations are focused on the Lordship of Jesus and are relationally driven through loving God and one another.) During that morning's divine encounter we were so blessed because our Father showed us that there really are older men out there who had the love-based spiritual capacity to authentically represent Him. And there were older women who could teach younger women to lovingly relate to their husbands and families.
Over the next few days our sweatshirts led to other Spirit-orchestrated encounters that made our trip spiritually beautiful; far greater than even seeing both Mount Hood and Mount Rainier on absolutely clear days. (If you haven't been to either mountain, you may not appreciate what a rare treat it is to be there when the peaks aren't obscured!)
Then toward the end of our time away, our Father also wanted us to encounter one of the many defaming Christians whose dark heart attitudes show forth clearly through their words. Mike was walking up onto a jetty at the mouth of the Columbia River while Sue was still at our SUV getting some snacks ready. An older man who identified himself as a Christian approached Mike and commended him for the message on his sweatshirt. But then, just as we've heard so often from 'conservative' Christ-defamers, he went on to vigorously rant against minorities and anyone who isn't Caucasian.
You can picture Mike standing in front of this man with the words on his sweatshirt, "Belonging to Jesus is a love-based relationship." Yet the same man who is esteeming the words on the sweatshirt is also despising the very people for whom our Lord died. Mike just walked away sadly shaking his head. By this time Sue had started walking along the jetty and the man saw her sweatshirt as well, telling her that he'd just talked with Mike about his. Knowing nothing of what had gone on between the two of them, Sue thanked him as they parted company.
📌Our Father wanted us to have this personal encounter to remind us again of what He sees throughout conservative Christ-defaming Christianity: people who claim to belong to our Lord Jesus yet despise Him by disparaging the very purpose for His sacrifice. We don't know if the ones who misrepresent our Lord Jesus and His gracious heart will be judged more severely for defaming His love, forgiveness and compassion by eliminating His sacrifice for all mankind by their prejudicial political opinions. It certainly emotionally hurts us to see this evil being so rampantly enacted throughout so much of conservative Christianity.
If you are one of these who claims to belong to Jesus yet whose mouth spouts such venom against a fellow human being, REPENT!!! Silence those evil thoughts which produce such disparaging words and attitudes. If you want to vote for someone in this election, do it. But don't justify your position by discrediting other humans. Test this with the Holy Spirit: Neither Blue nor Red will save this nation from its self-destructive destiny without widespread repentance. One of the candidates has already assured the public that his dictatorial power will be enacted against those whom he perceives to be opponents as well as policies focused against non-whites. The other candidate is our Father's sign that the Dark Days of Chastisement are coming soon because righteous men have abdicated leadership for too long. This is what this election is really all about, no matter what your political opinion is. We wish there were many more Jeffs and Tanyas in this nation who discern the spiritual issues that are precipitating the country's downfall. Father, please hear the prayer of our hearts for men and women of integrity and spiritual courage to come forth and walk in the roles You have for them in Christ!
We implore you to allow the words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a boldly vocal follower of Jesus who died at the hands of the Nazis, to inspire your heart motives. His messages are as apt today as they were many decades ago:
➣Christianity stands or falls with its revolutionary protest against violence, arbitrariness and pride of power and with its plea for the weak. Christians are doing too little to make these points clear rather than too much. Christendom adjusts itself far too easily to the worship of power. Christians should give more offense, shock the world far more, than they are doing now. Christians should take a stronger stand in favor of the weak rather than considering first the possible right of the strong.
➣Salvation is free, but discipleship will cost you your life.
➣Faith is only real when there is obedience, never without it, and faith only becomes faith in the act of obedience.
➣Your life as a Christian should make non-believers question their disbelief in God.
➣May God in His mercy lead us through these times; but above all, may He lead us to Himself.
➣The messengers of Jesus will be hated to the end of time. They will be blamed for all the division which rends cities and homes. Jesus and His disciples will be condemned on all sides for undermining family life, and for leading the nation astray; they will be called crazy fanatics and disturbers of the peace. The disciples will be sorely tempted to desert their Lord. But the end is also near, and they must hold on and persevere until it comes. Only he will be blessed who remains loyal to Jesus and His word until the end.
And as you consider how crucial it is to stand for others now as our Lord Jesus would have you, we've paraphrased Martin Niemoller’s commentary on the Nazi takeover of Germany — because the process is already beginning in the US:
• They came for the older people, and I didn’t object — I wasn’t old.
• They came for the unemployed, and I didn’t object — I had a job.
• They came for the minorities, and I didn’t object — I wasn’t a minority.
• They came for the Jews, and I didn’t object — I wasn’t a Jew.
• Then they came for me — and there was no one left to object.
During our trip our Father revealed that our ministry may soon be ending. For many years we've obediently shared and labored to prepare followers of Jesus as the Holy Spirit has directed us. Only He can enable you to be the redemptive ambassador who out of love and obedient trust can authentically claim to belong to our Lord Jesus.
Mike & Sue