Good morning bus riders!
Welcome to the fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, in the Year C. For those keeping official count, this is properly number nineteen, according to the potential lectionary schedule.
For those of you who have diligently read the lessons for today (both Track 1 and Track 2 offerings), you should be able to see a theme of repentance forming.
The hidden lesson in last Sunday’s Deuteronomy reading, where Moses spoke to the Israelite people and told them to not let their hearts be turned away from Yahweh, was Moses kept them in the wilderness for two generations – forty years.
Throughout that time, new childbirths took place routinely.
Moses was telling the people – the same as Jesus said to follow him you had to hate family and bloodline – that a heart (or a soul) must always remain married to Yahweh, so His Son becomes each individual’s inner Lord, forbidding a soul in the flesh from ever returning to a life of sin.
The heart can turn away from Yahweh when it becomes wrapped around relatives and family – as Jesus listed last Sunday.
This says two things. First, it says flesh from flesh is not the same as soul from Yahweh. All flesh is bound to die, returning its dust and clay to dust and clay. Second, it says the soul coming from Yahweh can only return to Yahweh by being Baptized by His Spirit and reborn as His Son.
This means there is no ‘automatic’ relationship to Yahweh, beyond the same relationship all living creatures the breath air have: all are living souls breathed into dead flesh by Yahweh, the Creator.
The Jews trace their family tree very carefully. In Matthew and Luke we read of the lineage of Jesus, going back to Adam. Each Jew is from one of the twelve tribes, named for Jacob’s sons.
Likewise, Christians believe if two parents are members of a church, then their newborns can be dipped in a pool or sprinkled with water from a standing bowl (called a font). Without ever needing to go to church again, Christians believe they are Christian (for the most part) by being told that.
This was the warning of Moses and Jesus. To be one of the descendants of Abram, as one of the points of light in the blackness of a sea of space, one has to be Spiritually changed. That change can only come from a divine marriage of a lovingly submissive soul to Yahweh, who cleansing each wife-soul with His Spirit, and then impregnates those souls with His Son’s soul.
This is the spiritual tree of Abram, even though the physical tree has many dead branches. All branches on the spiritual tree of ancestry to Abram are eternally alive and bearing fruit.
The point of repentance being the theme today is that Yahweh knows souls breathed into dead flesh will become infatuated with that flesh and begin to hear the whispers of Satan, urging those souls to turn away from Yahweh.
Satan wants lost souls wandering into the dangers of the world’s lures.
This means all souls in bodies of flesh will come to know sin personally. They will know it so deeply that they will reach a point where they are filled with guilt and fear, causing them to see Yahweh for redemption and salvation.
The lessons today place focus on the various levels of sins, known and denied, with the lessons of redemption found loudly spoken in David’s Psalm 51 and Paul’s first epistle to his companion Apostle Timothy.
In Jeremiah 4, Yahweh once again speaks to His prophet about the waywardness of the people of the Southern Kingdom.
Verse 12 ends by saying, “Now it is I who speak in judgment against them..”
Yahweh speaks in judgments when a soul leaves its body of flesh and stand before Him for review.
In the translations that have Yahweh speak of a “hot wind,” that comes from the Hebrew words “rū·aḥ sah,” more accurately saying “a dry breath.”
The word “ruach” means “spirit, soul,” as the “breath” of life from Yahweh.
At death, this “spirit, soul, breath” of life feels the “dryness,” which can also feel like a “hot wind,” of Judgment.
The Northern Kingdom had fallen and the Southern Kingdom was headed to a similar collapse. Having brought demise upon themselves, by not doing anything to have Yahweh saved them, they were allowed to pretend they were gods of the earth and when they found out how wrong that was … Yahweh would be the One “now speaking in judgment against them.”
Verse 22 says: “For my people are foolish, they do not know me; they are stupid children, they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good."
In those words, Yahweh equates a Big Brain with “foolishness,” “stupidity,” and a “lack of knowledge.” When Yahweh then said, “they are skilled,” that speaks of their brain-led actions; but by leading their souls with a lump of flesh atop their heads, they can only achieve unfathomable deeds of “evil.”
Verse 27 has Yahweh saying, “The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.”
When reading this, the ‘land” should be understood as meaning the “flesh.” Yahweh breathed the life of souls into the “earth,” which He formed in the wombs, when that growth was born.
With the soul being eternal, for Yahweh to “not make a full end” says death leads to reincarnation for those who had sinned, without redemption.
Yahweh sent Jeremiah (and other prophets) to tell the people to stop trying to find temporal comforts in things of the earth; and, to start committing their souls to Yahweh, as their original ancestors had done.
The Big Brain always hears such advice as threatening; so, it is easier to reject an unseen God and the messenger He sent, doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result.
We call that insanity, but Yahweh calls it “foolish.” That key word is then found linking Psalm 14 as the companion lesson to Jeremiah 4.
Verse 1 sings, “The fool has said in his heart, "There is no elohim."
The “elohim” is the soul of Adam-Jesus resurrected within one’s soul.
Verse 1 ends by singing, “All are corrupt and commit abominable acts; there is none who does any good.”
In Jeremiah 4, Yahweh said, “foolish, stupid children … are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good.”
When David sang of such fools, by the time Yahweh was sending Jeremiah to talk to the wayward, the people had perfected “evil,” with that their idea of good.
That says all souls born into flesh will know the guilt of sin, before they seek Yahweh for salvation and redemption. However, to seek Yahweh for a soul’s salvation means having been taught that as a child.
There has to be some foundation of knowledge of good to realize a guilt from sins.
In verse 3 David sings, “Everyone has proved faithless; all alike have turned bad; there is none who does good; no, not one.”
Being “faithless” means bloodline does not beget faith. It can beget beliefs; but beliefs taught from falsehoods will always be uncovered and beliefs will be lost.
When verse 5 sings, “elohim is in the company of the righteous,” this is the Yahweh elohim that is the Son Adam-Jesus.
Jesus becoming the Lord soul over a soul in its flesh leads one to “righteousness.”
That problem seen by David would become greatly pronounced by the time Yahweh sent Jeremiah (and others). Everyone will be proved faithless; but the ones taught the truth of faith as children can seek that truth to be know within their souls, when the guilt of sin becomes too great.
To be taught that an “elohim is in the company of the righteous,” one has to be taught what “elohim” means; and, just like in the days of Jeremiah, when both the Northern and Southern Kingdom were collapsing in ruin, the Christians of the Western world are told “Yahweh elohim” means “Lord God.”
In the Track 2 Old Testament reading selection from Exodus 32, we have a prophecy of a distant future shown to Moses by Yahweh. The imagery and the characters reflect the same setting of Moses up atop Mount Sinai, with Aaron managing the people at the base.
In the selected verses, we have a similar vision of Moses debating with Yahweh, mush as we saw Abraham pleading for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah not to be destroyed, if some minimum of believers were there.
This is the prophetic vision shown Moses by Yahweh of the failure of the chosen people to maintain their children’s children to be souls married to Yahweh, reborn each as His Son.
Our times most certainly match this prophecy written in Exodus 32. The people have turned away from Yahweh and a false high priest (one with a rank equal to Aaron) has led them to worship gold … or material things.
The broken tablets were not done by Moses, but by some future human being claiming to be the keeper of the Law. To break the tablets means to divorce Yahweh.
When we hear of Yahweh’s anger against the people for what they have done, it is preposterous to think Moses would argue for the sinners.
When Yahweh said they were “stiff necked people,” this needs to be understood as a statement that instead of lambs, the people had all become rams, ready to butt heads with all challengers.
Here, again, the “neck” is what leads to the skull housing a Big Brain. The “stiff” part are the muscles of the shoulders that raise that Big Brain up as a god over others. Everyone wants their way.
To hear Moses tell Yahweh, “Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people,” that is Moses playing god. He is forgiving the sinners. He is condoning sin.
That never happened when Moses went up the mountain and came down with the Covenant of divine marriage (written in Exodus 19-20).
That happens all the time these days, when mere men of religious ranking make declarations that what Yahweh has called profane no longer applies to us special people these days.
The accompanying Psalm 51 is then David taking the opposite approach when talking to Yahweh about his own sins … those exposed to him by the prophet Nathan, concerning David’s sins in stealing Bathsheba as his wife.
That explanation is written into the introduction of verse 1, but omitted from singing today.
It is a full confession of David’s sins and a plea for redemption, made to his “elohim,” which is the inner soul of Adam-Jesus who was the Lord over David.
David was unaware of his sins, as a king cannot sin. A king sets the rules and the people follow. David did not argue with Yahweh that it was his right as king to do as he pleased (as a wicked Moses in the future would gladly defend).
When he met with Nathan, Nathan spoke for Yahweh, telling David his sins were most egregious before Yahweh.
When made aware of his sins, David owned up to the responsibility for his actions. He begged Yahweh for forgiveness, speaking through His Son’s soul within.
This points out that the future prophecy of false leaders arguing for sins to be accepted, not forgiven, says there will be no prophets like Nathan to let the people know to change their ways.
The epistle selection comes from Paul’s first letter to his former travel companion Timothy, who had been sent back to Ephesus to minister to the people there.
In writing to Timothy, Paul recalled that he had been a sinner of the worst kind. Saul had come under the influence of Satan, persecuting followers of Jesus, while thinking he was supporting Yahweh’s religion.
Paul says his redemption was by Yahweh having mercy on his soul and allowing his soul to be possessed by the same “elohim” to whom David pled.
In the multiple times Paul wrote “Christ,” “Jesus,” and “Lord,” “Christ” comes before “Jesus,” which comes before “Lord.”
The exception comes in verse sixteen, where Paul wrote “Jesus,” followed by “Christ.” That becomes read as “Jesus Christ,” which sounds like Paul stating a first and last name for Jesus.
Many a Baptist minister refers to Jesus, simply by saying “Christ.” However, Paul made sure future readers of his epistle will see a telling mark that says, “These two words are separate, while still being equal.”
That telling mark is the placement of a mathematical symbol between the two words, “Jesus” and “Christ.” The symbol is called a ‘left right arrow.’ That symbol says, “if that to the left is true, then that to the right is true.”
Conversely, it also can prove to be false, “If that to the left is false, then then that to the right is also false.”
This says to be “Jesus” resurrected can only happen after one’s soul has been “Anointed” by the Spirit of Yahweh – the meaning of “Christ.” If one’s soul has been made a “Christ,” then one’s soul will be where the soul of “Jesus” resurrects.
Redemption and salvation is then based on the lessons Moses first taught to the true Israelites, where all souls that are Yahweh’s wives are those who marry Him through love and willing subjection. Those souls receive His Spirit of Baptism, and are then immediately reborn as His Son. This leads to ministry, as that Paul wrote to Timothy to continue.
The truth says you cannot be “Jesus” resurrected in the flesh, if your soul has not married Yahweh, with His Spirit pouring out upon your soul, making one be a “Christ,” whose all past sins are washed away.
“Jesus” can only enter into a soul that has been made a “Christ” first, by divine marriage to Yahweh. Marriage comes before babies.
Now, in the Gospel reading from Luke, we find that “all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus.”
That translation misses the hidden truth of “himself,” referring to Jesus, means they were listening to his soul. To listen to a soul, that says the souls of “tax collectors” were “drawn near” to Jesus, to hear his divine message.
In the text that simply puts it as “tax collectors and sinners,” the Greek word “kai” points out the importance of “sinners.” Because verse two begins with the word “kai,” again indicating importance to note, this makes “the Pharisees” also be “sinners.” When that is followed by the word “kai” then highlighting “the scribes,” they too were “sinners.”
When you see this, the scribes mistranslated Scripture, teaching that to lawyers who profited from that false education, who then profited further from taking parts of the ill-gotten tax gains by the tax collectors as theirs.
This then becomes a loud statement about similar conditions of evildoing in Judea and Galilee, just like in Judah when Jeremiah prophesied; and, it was leading towards a future of evildoing that was part of the prophecy written in Exodus 32.
Because we grasp the souls of sinners were drawn near to Jesus to hear his soul speak to them, the Pharisees and scribes were likewise souls nearby, who Jesus could hear grumbling about him allowing sinners near him, even to eat with them.
Here, we need to know this spiritual insight is what led Jesus to tell the parables he then told, because nothing says any Pharisee or scribe came up to Jesus and told him he was sinning by being near sinners.
The fact that the Pharisees and scribes were indeed sinners, as much as anyone else there, Jesus then spoke to their souls … although he verbally spoke to them.
Now, what we read or hear read aloud, in English translations, that speaks to our eyes, ears, and brains in a physical sense. The Pharisees and the scribes heard that, just as many Christian pastors, ministers and priests think they understand what Jesus said … wrongly.
When we closely examine what Jesus said, the words become symbolic statements of two spiritual parables. The tax collectors whose soul were drawn to hear Jesus speak to them from his soul, as well as the saints who have pondered the Gospels after they were written, they saw, heard and understood the deeper message Jesus conveyed.
What is easily missed is how Jesus first told a parable about a man who possessed a hundred sheep. After that, he told a parable about a woman who possessed ten silver coins.
Those distinctions say the first parable was telling about souls possessed by Yahweh, as a man owning a flock. When one sees this, then the follow-up parable is about the femininity that is all souls trapped in human bodies of flesh.
Each of us, regardless of human gender, is called to be wife-souls – sheep – in the flock of Yahweh’s hands on earth.
This means the one sheep that was lost was so valuable that the ninety-nine were left in the open field, so the lost sheep could be sought and found.
When you think about ninety-nine sheep grazing in the open field without a shepherd to watch out for dangers, to leave them alone means that was not some case akin to ‘kitten herding,’ where going after one would mean losing all hundred.
To leave the ninety-nine alone in the open field says those ninety-nine was each possessed by the Good Shepherd within their wooly bodies of flesh. It says the one lost was not married to Yahweh (the owner of the flock), so it too could be possessed spiritually by the soul of the Son …. like the other ninety-nine.
Can you see this as the true message Jesus was teaching, even though the Pharisees and scribes could only understand it as a valuable livestock being lost, then caught by some other shepherd (or eaten by wolves). They could only understand the same story Christians are taught to believe.
When we understand the sheep metaphor was a lost soul being found and saved by divine intervention, then the woman needs to be seen as one of those saved sheep, whose soul has married Yahweh and been possessed by His Son Jesus.
This means the ten silver coins has nothing to do with precious metals. She keeps a valuable gathering in her house, where her house can be read as her body of flesh. This makes the ten “drachmas” be her gifts of divine marriage, which are to be used by her body acting as Jesus reborn into ministry in the flesh.
The word “drachma” actually means, “as much as the hand can hold.” This means the saved soul was given ten times as much as she could hold, as a hand of Yahweh. The ten become a reflection of Paul’s writing about the gifts of the Spirit.
To lose one of those talents means the woman practiced in her house doing everything the soul of Jesus told her to do – prayer, hearing the voice, following commands, and going out to help others in need.
To lose one special talent means the saved soul seeks through prayer, until led by Jesus to find what was lost.
In a broader view, when the house is seen as a gathering place for others in the name of Jesus, the ten full hands can represent those souls that have been led to be saved souls, by ministering the truth to them. For one disciple to be lost means searching which one (like Judas Iscariot amid eleven who were saved) who needs to be found and returned to the sheepfold.
The parables, as read aloud, do not convey this deeper message, even though it needs a minister in the name of Jesus to lead souls in need of salvation – the sinners drawn near to hear the soul of Jesus speak – to hear the word and be led to taking the steps necessary to prove to Yahweh one’s commitment in marriage.
When the lessons today begin with the threat of Yahweh’s Judgment on all souls, with His harshest Judgment to be placed upon those souls who were descended physically as those born of ancestors that had been saved, but became stiff-necked, we need to see all Christianity in that same boat as failed Israelites and failed Jews.
All souls face Judgment when the death of a body of clay and dust released an eternal soul for Yahweh to decide where that soul goes next.
It is up to each sinner to hear a prophet like Nathan tell a soul, “You are that sinner!” and heed that warning. Otherwise, the warning gets argued, as if some fallen state of Moses was there to break the marriage vows between the children of Yahweh and His flock.
All souls (with the exception of Jesus, being the saved soul of Adam placed into the womb of a virgin girl) are born with the freedom to sin and fall madly in love with sin.
Paul wrote that he was the greatest sinner. Paul was writing what each and every sinner soul must admit.
Admission of sin is a show of guilt and the first step of repentance.
We have to all see how much sin has its tentacles wrapped around out bodies of flesh, keeping us from thinking we could ever give up one, much less all of our addictions to sin.
We cannot save our own souls. We can only submit to Yahweh out of love and willingness to be saved. We have to show Yahweh we want to know the truth of His Word in Scripture.
The first step towards salvation is not a weekend retreat at some church function. It could take years before the bridegroom will see one’s soul as ready, so He will come in the middle of darkness.
Now is the time to ask yourselves, “How much time do I have left in life to devote to being a submissive wife-soul of Yahweh? How many years will it take before I am ready to serve Him as His Son resurrected within my soul? How many years are left in my life to minster in the name of Jesus?”
When you find the answer to those questions telling you it is best to start the first step now – do not wait – then you see yourself as the one special lamb that is without salvation, but marked as one of Yahweh’s flock.
If you grumble about having to change, then you become one like the Pharisees and scribes, who are marked as the goats that have stiff necks and refuse to submit to any higher power.
With that, I see the bus is now at the stop. I hope everyone takes these lessons to heart and ponders them the rest of the day, and into next week.
I look forward to meeting with you again next Sunday.
Amen