Author: Floyd Kelley

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Becoming Saul

In the Apostolic Writings (the New Testament), we encounter a Jewish man named Saul. Saul lived in the Roman Empire, and so he also had a Roman name. Saul’s Roman name was Paul. Saul was not a unloving, dogmatic Jew, who became a loving, tolerant Paul, when he encounter Yeshua’s transforming love. No, Saul was Paul, and Paul was Saul. Nevertheless, I will use this false premise to make a point.

Saul was a Pharisee, who thought that he was blameless before Yahweh. Saul said he kept the law without fail. Saul actually thought that he earned his right standing with Yahweh. Saul despised Yeshua (Jesus), and hunted down His followers, in order to kill them. In short, Saul thought that he was “all that, and a bag of chips”.

Yahweh elected Israel and commanded her to reach out to the nations on His behalf. Israel, however, turned their relationship with Yahweh into a religion, and it slowly morphed into a false religion, which condemned the nations, and withdrew from them.

This religion had blinded Saul, and caused him to become a proud, intolerant, unloving, condemning, violent, murderer, who was completely convinced that he was right with Yahweh.

Then, Yeshua knocked Saul to the ground.

While blind, and laying in the dirt Saul realized that he was nothing, and that all his years of religious schooling left him knowing nothing. Saul was terrified, because he realized that he was not right with Yahweh, and that all his religious ceremonies and laws were useless.

Paul arose from the dirt confessing Yeshua as Lord. Then, Yeshua filled him with his Spirit, and took him into the desert to teach him, and humble him as they walked together.

The closer Paul got to Yeshua, the more he saw his own sinfulness. And as Paul grew spiritually, and Yeshua began to work through him, Yeshua allowed him to suffer persecution, beatings, whippings, stoning, hunger, cold, nakedness, lack, ship wreck, and jail. Yeshua let him suffer these things, so that he would remain humble.

Yeshua let Paul suffer, so that Saul would not come back to life.

What about you? Are you growing spiritually? Is Yeshua working through you? Is Yahweh prospering your life? If so, be very careful, because you might turn your relationship with Yeshua into a religion, and your religion might morph into a false religion that condemns the very people you are supposed to reach out to on His behalf. This religion might lead you think think more highly of yourself than you should, and one day you might find yourself blind and in the dirt.

The bad things you are going through, might be the very things that Yahweh is using to keep the old you dead, so that He can use you. So, ask yourself, am I becoming a humble servant or am I becoming Saul?

 

 

 

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A Religion of Peace

In this post, I want to be clear, and exact. Consequently, to some, the words  I will use in this post will seem harsh, intolerant, and unloving. There is no other way to communicate this truth, however. Besides, I do not seek to please man, I seek to please the God of Israel.

Whenever, the hatred in a Muslim’s heart erupts into an unspeakable act of terror against the public, the liberals in the news media spew forth a molten platitude, which is meant to cool the public’s anger towards Islam, and foster tolerance towards it. The toxic molten platitude, which spews out of the lips of the liberals, and gets into the hearts of the masses so it can crystalize into a destructive form of tolerance, is this: Islam is a religion of peace.

The liberals say that most of the Muslims in the world are peaceful, and that there are only a few Muslims that carry their faith to an extreme. The liberals call these Muslims, “Muslim extremists”.

When this molten platitude cools, and sets up in the hearts of the masses, the masses refuse to hold all the Muslims responsible for the actions of a few Muslim extremists (a few Muslim nut jobs). In there minds, the masses separate Muslims into two categories. One category of Muslims is acceptable, and therefore, the Muslims in this category must be tolerated as members of our free society. The other category of Muslims is unacceptable, and so the Muslims in this category must be identified and eliminated from our society.

This distinction is a logical fallacy, however. This distinction between acceptable Muslims, and unacceptable Muslims is simply a red herring, which is meant to draw our attention away from an important fact. Here is that fact: There are no acceptable Muslims.

How can I say such an intolerant, and unloving thing?

Well, Islam is not a real religion.  Like many real religions, Islam has convoluted ideas about God, which do not line up with the Bible, and I could accept, and tolerate an Islam that ended right there. Islam, however, not only has convoluted ideas about God, but it has its own legal system, and code of conduct, which  it wants everyone to obey.

Moreover, Islam uses force (terrorism), lies, and deception to bring about changes in a nation’s governmental system, until its laws, and codes of conducts are adopted by that nation’s populace.

The meaning of the word, “Islam”, is submission. The god of Islam, who is at war with Israel, and the God of Israel, will not be happy until the whole world is forced to submit to his laws, and code of conduct. I can not, and will not accept this, or tolerate it.

Islam seeks to get the whole world to submit to its god by playing terrorism, and peace off of each other. Muslim “extremists” terrorize a nation in order to get that nation to compromise “for the sake of peace.” The “peaceful” Muslims live their lives and provide cover for the “extremists”, and some lie, and deceive us to further their cause.

The Muslim faith is built upon an ideology that will eventually destroy the nations of the earth, and enslave their peoples. This is why there are no acceptable Muslims within a free society.

A tree is known by its fruit. What is the fruit Islam produces in a nation that is under its control? Total submission, control, violence, extreme punishment, intolerance, and a culture of fear, and death.

Make no mistake, there are no acceptable Muslims. We must end Muslim immigration into the U.S, if we want our children, and grandchildren to live in peace, and be free, because Islam is an ideology of world domination masquerading as a religion of peace.

 

 

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Outrageous Faith

Everyday,on my way to our thrift store, I pass by a large necropolis (a city that houses the dead), i.e., a graveyard. Yesterday, as I passed the large, and very expensive marble edifices, which inform the living about, who resides in this somber city, I contemplated on the day that I would become one of its citizens .  Suddenly, I found myself echoing the Apostle Paul’s words, “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24)

I did not allow myself to sink into a pit of despair, where  I would surrender all the joy of life, and prematurely join the dead. Instead, my faith pulled me back up to the solid ground of hope. See, since the Apostle Paul said that to be absent from the body, is to be present with the Lord, I have a hope (an unshakable expectation) that when my body dies, I will leave it, and be in the presence of Jesus.

Moreover, I hope for (I fully expect, and look forward to) that day when the bodies of all the saints, who reside in graves, will suddenly spring to life, and the saints, who still walk the earth, will be called up to meet the Lord in the air.  Of course, I am speaking of the rapture.

As I passed the graveyard, and put my faith into action, I suddenly realized how silly this must sound to the people of the world, who are without faith, and consequently, without this hope. Most of the people of the world have put their faith in science. So, they fully expect that they will become permanent residents of the necropolis.

I get it: To a worldly person, my faith is outrageous.

What about the faith of the worldly people?

Science can not explain where the molecular machines that build proteins come from, because these machines are made up of the very proteins that they are suppose to build. Moreover, science can not explain where the information, which  drives these molecular machines came from. There is no law, chemical affinity, electrical affinity or physical necessity that governs nucleotide placement.

Something arranges specific nucleotides in specific positions, in order to generate the complex patterns that make up our DNA. A small percentage of our DNA codes for proteins, the rest controls the processes of life, and how we adapt to our environment.

The microevolution of an organism, or the adaptation of an organism to its environment, is governed by the organism’s genome (its DNA). Environmental conditions can switch off, or switch on, certain genes, in order to initiate control processes, and/or protein synthesis, which  can help a particular organism survive in a particular environment. This adaptation, however, is limited by the organism’s genome, which means that a finch can grow a larger beak, but it can not grow large teeth, and slowly morph into a massive dinosaur.

These microevolutionary events happen way, way downstream from the embryonic development phase, which means that they can not produce massive changes in an organism’s body plan. That is, they can produce a larger beak, but they can not turn a bird into a dinosaur. If mutations (random changes in nucleotide placement) could change body plans for the better, and make them selectable, they would have to occur within the DNA that regulates the embryonic development of an organism. What science has discovered, however, is that mutations within the embryonic developmental DNA always produces disabled organisms or destroys them altogether.

In short, life is a mystery. Science does not know how life began, or how it diversified into the forms that we see today, including man.

If science does not know what life is, or where life came from, how does it know that a man’s spirit doesn’t give life to his body? How does science know that a man’s spirit does not go anywhere when his body dies? How does science know that Yahweh is not the giver of life, and that He is able to make a dead body live again?

Science does not know, because science deals with the category of objects, and man is in the category of subjects. Subjects can explain objects, and how they interact with each other, but subjects can not explain themselves in terms of objects, and their interactions. This is why science has no answer for what consciousness is, and how it comes into existence, i.e., science cannot answer the “hard problem”.

A person’s theology, informs his philosophy, and his philosophy influences how he assigns meaning to scientific facts. The scientific facts are all we really know for sure. My theology, and philosophy places the scientific facts within a framework that explains the mystery of life. The theology, and philosophy of a worldly person ends with questions, and promises to answer them tomorrow.

Tomorrow may never come: The necropolis will expand today.

Christianity says that I will never become a citizen of the necropolis, but, it is possible that my body could for a short time. Scientism says that I will become a permanent resident of the necropolis.

So, which faith is outrageous?

Well, Christianity explains the mystery of life, and scientism does not. So, it seems to me, that scientism is the most outrageous faith.

 

 

 

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