Readings for March 30, 2011

My Friend,

I am packed and ready to make my 514 mile trip north to settle in our new place, I do not know how long it will be before I am back on line so I am going to attempt to help explain why Jesus is Lord, God, and man before we celebrate the resurrection in the event that I am not back on line by that time.

Isaiah 49: 8-15; [8] Thus saith the Lord: In an acceptable time I have heard thee, and in the day of salvation I have helped thee: and I have preserved thee, and given thee to be a covenant of the people, that thou mightest raise up the earth, and possess the inheritances that were destroyed: [9] That thou mightest say to them that are bound: Come forth: and to them that are in darkness: shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in every plain. [10] They shall not hunger, nor thirst, neither shall the heat nor the sun strike them: for he that is merciful to them, shall be their shepherd, and at the fountains of waters he shall give them drink.

[11] And I will make all my mountains a way, and my paths shall be exalted. [12] Behold these shall come from afar, and behold these from the north and from the sea, and these from the south country. [13] Give praise, O ye heavens, and rejoice, O earth, ye mountains, give praise with jubilation: because the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy on his poor ones. [14] And Sion said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me. [15] Can a woman forget her infant, so as not to have pity on the son of her womb? and if she should forget, yet will not I forget thee.

John 5: 17-30; [17] But Jesus answered them: My Father worketh until now; and I work. [18] Hereupon therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he did not only break the sabbath, but also said God was his Father, making himself equal to God. [19] Then Jesus answered, and said to them: Amen, amen, I say unto you, the Son cannot do any thing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doth, these the Son also doth in like manner. [20] For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things which himself doth: and greater works than these will he shew him, that you may wonder.

[21] For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and giveth life: so the Son also giveth life to whom he will. [22] For neither doth the Father judge any man, but hath given all judgment to the Son. [23] That all men may honour the Son, as they honour the Father. He who honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father, who hath sent him. [24] Amen, amen I say unto you, that he who heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath life everlasting; and cometh not into judgment, but is passed from death to life. [25] Amen, amen I say unto you, that the hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.

[26] For as the Father hath life in himself, so he hath given the Son also to have life in himself: [27] And he hath given him power to do judgment, because he is the Son of man. [28] Wonder not at this; for the hour cometh, wherein all that are in the graves shall hear the voice of the Son of God. [29] And they that have done good things, shall come forth unto the resurrection of life; but they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment. [30] I cannot of myself do any thing. As I hear, so I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not my own will, but the will of him that sent me.

Understand: These words can be hard to understand don't you think? The prophet Isaiah speaks of the coming times when all of the people of the earth shall be called by God to come for salvation. "And Sion said: The Lord hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me." Many of God's chosen people who read these passages and taught about them in the synagogue rejected the very person that they taught would come.

Mankind forgets too easily, we also reject what is the absolute truth for what we choose to believe in order to suit ourselves. The man Jesus says; "Then Jesus answered, and said to them: Amen, amen, I say unto you, the Son cannot do any thing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doth, these the Son also doth in like manner." This causes confusion in the world because it is taken out of context and used to promote a personal philosophy, that Jesus never said He was God and yet in this very same passage we also read; "Hereupon therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he did not only break the sabbath, but also said God was his Father, making himself equal to God." Everyone knew what Jesus was saying, why is it now controversy? The Jews wanted to kill him for saying that he was equal to God which would make him also God.

Remember that Jesus had two natures; God and man, the man Jesus had to do what he was born to do in order to bring about salvation, the Word that was God who taught us and preached to mankind could not force the flesh and blood Jesus to offer Himself on the cross. Man brought sin in the world through the flesh, man had to conquer sin in the flesh to defeat it and had to conquer death in the flesh in order to defeat it and allow us to also defeat sin and death through him once he accomplished this.

The flesh Jesus had to make a choice to allow himself to become the sacrifice, God in him would not force this on him, it is against the very nature of God, we must give ourselves willingly out of love for God simply because he is God, our Creator and for no other reason, Jesus the man gave the ultimate sacrifice in the flesh, He truly wanted another way to do it but there was none. The Word was not the Son until the Word was born in the flesh, the Word was God in the beginning and became flesh for our sake, by being born in the flesh through the Virgin Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, the flesh became the Son Jesus. The Word within Him was God's Holy Word that created the universe by being spoke into existence.

It was necessary to be perfect man in order to have a perfect sacrifice. So by hearing the Word and obeying, we may have salvation, we do not have to sin, we have the strength of God within us but if we do sin we now have Jesus the Christ, sitting on the right hand of the Father to speak for us, God will not hear us in sin, Jesus speaks for us if we belong to Him.

This is a difficult thing to speak about in an email, I have given you the very basic understanding as simply as I know how to do so in such a short writing. I pray that this will help you in your understanding.

Pray: Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me a sinner.

In Christ,
Monk Michael

Lent Reading for March 29, 2011

Ezekiel 47: 1-9, 12; [1] And he brought me again to the gate of the house, and behold waters issued out from under the threshold of the house toward the east: for the forefront, of the house looked toward the east: but the waters came down to the right side of the temple to the south part of the altar. [2] And he led me out by the way of the north gate, and he caused me to turn to the way without the outward gate to the way that looked toward the east: and behold there ran out waters on the right side. [3] And when the man that had the line in his hand went out towards the east, he measured a thousand cubits: and he brought me through the water up to the ankles. [4] And again he measured a thousand, and he brought me through the water up to the knees. [5] And he measured a thousand, and he brought me through the water up to the loins. And he measured a thousand, and it was a torrent, which I could not pass over: for the waters were risen so as to make a deep torrent, which could not be passed over.

[1] "Waters"... These waters are not to be understood literally (for there were none such that flowed from the temple); but mystically, of the baptism of Christ, and of his doctrine and his grace: the trees that grow on the banks are Christian virtues: the fishes are Christians, that spiritually live in and by these holy waters.

[6] And he said to me: Surely thou hast seen, O son of man. And he brought me out, and he caused me to turn to the bank of the torrent. [7] And when I had turned myself, behold on the bank of the torrent were very many trees on both sides. [8] And he said to me: These waters that issue forth toward the hillocks of sand to the east, and go down to the plains of the desert, shall go into the sea, and shall go out, and the waters shall be healed. [9] And every living creature that creepeth whithersoever the torrent shall come, shall live: and there shall be fishes in abundance after these waters shall come thither, and they shall be healed, and all things shall live to which the torrent shall come.

[12] And by the torrent on the banks thereof on both sides shall grow all trees that bear fruit: their leaf shall not fall off, and their fruit shall not fail: every month shall they bring forth firstfruits, because the waters thereof shall issue out of the sanctuary: and the fruits thereof shall be for food, and the leaves thereof for medicine.

John 5: 1-3, 5-16; [1] After these things was a festival day of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. [2] Now there is at Jerusalem a pond, called Probatica, which in Hebrew is named Bethsaida, having five porches. [3] In these lay a great multitude of sick, of blind, of lame, of withered; waiting for the moving of the water.

[2] "Probatica"... That is, the sheep pond; either so called, because the sheep were washed therein, that were to be offered up in sacrifice in the temple, or because it was near the sheep gate. That this was a pond where miracles were wrought is evident from the sacred text; and also that the water had no natural virtue to heal, as one only of those put in after the motion of the water was restored to health; for if the water had the healing quality, the others would have the like benefit, being put into it about the same time.

[5] And there was a certain man there, that had been eight and thirty years under his infirmity. [6] Him when Jesus had seen lying, and knew that he had been now a long time, he saith to him: Wilt thou be made whole? [7] The infirm man answered him: Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pond. For whilst I am coming, another goeth down before me. [8] Jesus saith to him: Arise, take up thy bed, and walk. [9] And immediately the man was made whole: and he took up his bed, and walked. And it was the sabbath that day. [10] The Jews therefore said to him that was healed: It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for thee to take up thy bed.

[11] He answered them: He that made me whole, he said to me, Take up thy bed, and walk. [12] They asked him therefore: Who is that man who said to thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?

Understand: We read from the prophet that there will be a torrent of water that will be for the healing for all of those who believe, we see in the Gospel of John that there is a pool of water that when it is stirred up by an angel that it contains healing powers and for all of those who believe and immerse themselves in it they are healed.

We see Jesus the Christ healing simply by His word or His touch or by being touched by someone. I ti s by their faith or belief that they are healed, how many times did Jesus say; "go, your faith has made you whole"? Everything throughout the prophets and the New Testament where restoration to God or healing is concerned, is based on the belief of those who are restored to God or healed.

Before there was a written Word there was a spoken Word. Then the Word was written because of man's sin, our Creator chose to no longer come and walk with us but we were left with a written Word to understand, true to mankind's nature of listening to the deceiver, man chose to make the written Word things that it was not meant to be.

So the Word became flesh and walked among man again in the flesh and taught and showed by example what the meaning of these written words were. You must understand; this living Word is the same Word that was written, it is the same Word that was spoken in the beginning of creation, the Word of God has never changed, the Word of God is life eternal for those who choose life. Jesus the Christ showed us how we are to understand the Word and how we are to live.

We have the choice to choose life with God or life without God, either way the soul never dies, this is our free will choice. Jesus Christ said it Himself, I will give water so that no one will thirst again, He is that "living water" that "torrent" that heals, He is the Living Word of God, His flesh was the final sacrifice that defeated death, man has over come sin and death, we must make a choice to follow or not.

We will be celebrating the resurrection soon enough, this is what Christianity is based upon, without the resurrection there is no Christianity, there is no defeat of death. What will you be doing on that day? Will you be choosing life?

Pray: Heavenly Father, through Your Word, Your Only Begotten Son, my Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ, I have salvation. Help me to realize the truth of this and help my faith to grow so that I may be a living witness to the risen Christ. Through His holy name, Jesus I pray. Amen

In Christ,
Monk Michael

What is Sin?

Let us take a moment to look at sin. This is a word that so many people today avoid and would like to erase from all languages. Too bad, erasing the word will not erase the issue and will only make eternity really really suck. Sin is any action that is against God, period, whether in thought or in deed. We are all sinners, as human beings we find it impossible to avoid some sort of sin in our daily life. This is what the mercy of God is all about, through Jesus the Christ we can obtain mercy and forgiveness. Far too many people today have no idea of confession of sins whether privately or publicly. The day of doom will not be a good day for those of us who choose this route of ignoring the sin, sin is not relevant to anything or anyone except to God. It is popular today to claim that what is true for me may not necessarily be true for you or anyone else.

Our creator has established a truth and it is the only relevant truth that exists, you can believe it or pay the ultimate price, we are allowed the choice of free will. Use it wisely. In creation man was created with a soul, that soul lives forever and where it lives will be determined by the choices that we make here today, through time we will look at the soul of man and the many powers that it has.

The soul has five basic powers, three of these powers are principal powers and two of these powers are secondary. The three principal powers are; memory, reason, and will. The two secondary powers are; imagination and sensuality. We will begin to look at these powers in future writings. For now allow yourself to think on this idea of sin, look at Jesus Christ to discover what is relevant to the Father. We will discover the powers of the soul soon enough. First we must understand that there is a soul, that it can be separated from not only it's own body through physical death but from it's creator through sin as well.

You can write to me for questions and thoughts at; michael.monkmichael@gmail.com

In Christ,
Monk Michael

Marriage and Sex

In the world there is much sin. Why do I say this? Because there is, one issue that I would like to speak about today is marriage and sex, it is all to easy for a child to obtain a condom so that he may have sex with whomever will be willing to lay down for him or her. It is recommended to people with venerable decease to use condoms so that they do not spread the disease; let's get serious here.

And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said: "This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man." Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

Take a look at the scripture above, this is the creation of woman, she came out of the man, this is not simply some separate being made out of a bone into something entirely different, half of the man's personality was removed, part of his entire being was removed and became a completely separate being. Neither one is complete without the other, it is impossible for any other way to be according to God. The separation of the man and the woman is the reason for the major attraction one towards the other, any other attraction is misguided.

With this attraction of course comes the desire for reunion of the two and by doing so through the act of sexual intercourse this union becomes one complete being again. Sex is not just sex, it is the reunion of two souls, male and female so that the two can become one again. This union is only acceptable in marriage, in no other way is it acceptable before Almighty God, the Creator of all that exists. Any other definition is against God whether we like it or not. We are not the creators of ourselves, we have a creator. No other way is acceptable.

What about sex within the marriage? So many people today cannot wait to get between the sheets but once they are married the sex stops, this could not be more wrong; the Apostle Paul says that we are not to deny our spouse except for mutual consent for a period of time so that the one who is denied does not sin. This means that sex in the marriage is expected and not just to have children but for our own pleasure as well. Any other teaching is misguided.

As long as man continues to walk a different path, medicine will never keep pace with the spread of sexually transmitted disease, this will never stop until man stops. Learn this now before your own descendants pay for the error of your ways through the spread of disease that could have been prevented by walking the path of Jesus the Christ.

In Christ,
Monk Michael