St Matthew, Chapter 17, verse: 16, Unbelieving and Perverse Generation.

Our paragraph topic is: (Jesus cures him by casting out a devil) Part 1.

And now the disciples and Christ return from the mountaintop and continue the work at hand, teaching and preaching to the people.  The people were lost.  The people were like sheep without a shepherd.  The people were torn.  They did not know, they did not understand, they were misled and they were uncertain.  But Christ was there, to give them leadership.  He was there, to give them direction.  He was there, to provide understanding.  He came here to clear up the confusion and to give clarity so that the sheep would know with certainty.

But there were those who did not want the people to know.  There were those who did not want the people to understand.  There were those who wanted the people to continue to be confused so that they could continue to lead, continue to have power, continue to be in the dark so that they could influence in the direction that they wanted to lead the people.  Evil must have evil doers in order to act in this realm.  It must have followers that have been influenced by it in order for evil to thrive and flourish.  Evil is perverse.  Evil is unbelieving.  Evil was dominant in this time.  And evil had possession of the leadership.  So evil led, and evil flourished, and evil thrived, and was bold, and possessed outright.  And evil walked the earth in the guise of men.

Christ had the authority.  Christ had the power.  Christ saw the evil that possessed men and he cast it out.  He saw the evil doers who were possessed of evil and he knew that they were representatives of evil.  Yet he was patient.  He was kind.  He was forgiving of those who sought to do him harm and to thwart his mission here on earth.  And this made him sick and angry that he had to accept their actions.  But he was patient.  He was loving.  And he was kind for he knew that justice would prevail and the wrath of his father would balance all the evil that was being played out before him.  Jesus answered and said, "O unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you?"

Did Christ speak of the people?  Were the people perverse and unbelieving?  Were they the ones that Christ spoke of in his words?  Or, are there others, that he spoke of with these words?  Christ lived and walked the earth in a place and time when evil took possession of men.  He saw and cast out many demons that took possession of men.  Demons were taking possession by storm.  And then there were those that were under the influence of evil.  They were the ones that became the evil doers in the world.  The kings and the rulers, and princes and men of power and money, did as they willed without any conscience of the evil that they committed.  They had the power to grant life or to take it over the people.  They had to power to give and to take, to do as they willed without bounds.  And that power, opened the door for evil to enter into the minds and hearts.  That power opened the door to corruption and to the influence of evil.  Evil then had the power to do evil on earth.

Christ came and put a stop to the reign of evil here on earth.  He cast out the devil and his angel minions from the earth and prevented it from returning.  He set up his church here on earth and gave it the power to rule over evil that it would not prevail.  And so men were not possessed anymore.  Men did not have the absolute power to do as they willed.  Men did not become evil doers as they had in the past.  Yet evil continued to influence, even from the gates of hell.  And evil continues to influence men today, not outright but in subtle ways.  For today men are influenced by greed, by power, by lust, by hatred, by scandal, and by passion. 

We live in a world where our passions drive and direct us to be who we are.  You can do anything, if you set your mind to it.  You can be anyone, live your desires, make what you want to make, and have the love that you desire in your life.  All you have to do is believe, and act, and achieve.  See the goal.  Feel the passion of your heart.  Let your heart drive you to achieve what you believe that you desire and you will achieve.  We are fed these and other beliefs on a daily basis, from the cradle to the grave.  And we are possessed by what we are given.  So evil continues to have influence in our lives only in a subtle way.

Is there no antidote?  Is there something better? Our hearts desire to be filled with passion.  But what is there that would satisfy the desires of the heart?  What is there that would fill us with joy, fulfill our dreams, give us peace?  Do we want anything else?  Do we desire something higher, something greater, something more complete, other than to have our passions fulfilled?  We see others having whatever they desire and we believe that we can have it also.  We believe that we want the same things as what we see that others have.  So why should we change?  Why should we believe other than what we are given?  There is evil in the world and we can not see it.  We cannot feel it or know it if we do not awake to it.  Christ opened the door.  He provided the way.  He gave you the life that you have, that you may live eternally.  But the choice is yours.  Why live for eternity when you can live for the moment?  Why live for the moment and when you can suffer for eternity?  Come!  Take His hand.  Know the truth of who you are in Christ.  Once you discover your truth you will know and awaken from the influence of evil.  The path has been given to me and I point to what was given to me that you may know you.  

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.  

St Matthew, Chapter 17, verse: 14-15, The Lunatic and his father.

Our paragraph topic is:  (A father asks Jesus to cure his son).  

After all the questions in the minds of the disciples, they finally understood.  They finally had answers.  They finally could make some sense of what they had experienced on the mountaintop with Christ.  But then there came new questions that needed answers.  There came new challenges that required addressing.  There came new prayers that needed answers and new requests from the people that followed Christ that needed help.

Many were sick.  Many were in pain.  Many were without hope.  Many were lost and under the possession of evil.  Those that had some belief came to Christ.  Those that sought help came for help.  Those that heard the word were led by the word.  And those that sought to destroy the word came for destruction.  But Christ knew of their plan.  He knew of their desire to destroy him.  He knew of the evil that was in the world that did not want the people to turn back to God.  So they sought in every way to prevent the people from seeing, hearing, or knowing the truth of Christ. 

And when he had come to the crowd, a man approached him and threw himself on his knees before him, saying, "Lord, have pity on my son, for he is a lunatic, and suffers severely; for often he falls into the fire, and often into the water.  And I brought him to thy disciples, but they could not cure him."   

How often have we called upon God to cure our ills?  How often have we asked for help?  How often have we prayed to our heavenly father to solve a problem for us that we have not had  success with.  And then there are those among us who are the disciples of Christ that would give us ways to find solutions.  There are those who would tell us all kinds of things that we must do to find help.  Do they work?  Do we find solutions?  Do we believe in what they give us for our ills and our problems?  Some do.  Some half do.  Some don't believe.  And some scoff at the thought that these men and women of God can give us the help that we need.

Here was a father who believed that his son was a lunatic.  He believed that he had a problem that could be fixed by the modern day solutions that were available to him.  After all, he was told by some authority that his son was mad, a lunatic, not of a normal mind.  But his love for his son prevailed.  For he believed enough, that there was a solution, somewhere, to restore his son to him.  He heard the miracles.  He heard the stories of the cures.  He saw those who were restored and he had hope.  He sought the foundation of hope and he sought Christ.

Christ came that we would have salvation.  He came that we would have redemption.  He came to restore what was lost to man.  He came to bring life.  So the door is open for many to have life and to have it for eternity.  All one has to do is stay away from those things that cause us to sin against God.  Yet we live in a world that is of sin.  We live in a world where sin is interwoven into our daily fabric of life.  We eat, sleep, breathe, see, smell, and taste sin on a daily basis as if it is impossible to do without it.  And there is one that can resist.  There is one that can turn away.  There is one who can help us to be the people that our father wants us to be. 

I write this blog as an invitation to those who would read it.  This is an invitation to close the door to sin, to open the door to the truth of who you are in Christ.  This is an invitation to awake from the sleep of the world and see the light that is within you that you may see yourself as you will be seen and know in heaven.  For you were given life, as a spirit, and brought into this world.  You are a spiritual being and not a physical person.  And when your time has ended in the physical realm you will return to the spiritual being that you are.  So, Come!  Know the truth of who you are and see the treasure that awaits you.  The path was given to me and now I give it to you.  Follow the path and you will know the truth of who you are in Christ.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.  

St Matthew, Chapter 17, verse: 13, The Vision: John the Baptist.

Our paragraph topic is:  (On the coming of Elias) Part 5. 

The disciples had questions that needed to be answered.  Jesus knew that they were puzzled.  He had told them to speak to no one about the vision.  Yet their minds were abuzz with all the questions that they needed to have answered in order to make sense of what they witnessed.  They had heard the voice of God speaking to them, telling them to hear Christ and to listen to him, to listen to what he had to say.  They listened and now they had questions.  And Christ spoke to them about the questions that they had.

They needed to make sense of all they understood.  The disciples needed closure.  They needed understanding.  They needed clarity.  They needed focus.  And Christ intended that they should have focus, to have clarity, on all things in due time.  For the time had not yet come for the sacrifice.  The time had not yet come for the lamb to be slaughtered.  And the time had not yet come for the disciples to take their place as the teachers and leaders of Christ, giving witness to his divinity.  Indeed Elias had come, and all things were being prepared for the coming of the Lord.  So, the disciples were right in seeking to know the truth.  They were right in seeking to know of the coming of Elias.  And with that truth, they understood.  Now they knew.  Now they could make sense of all that had transpired.    Then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them of  John the Baptist.  

They understood.  They knew.  They had clarity of what had happened and what would happen.  Do we understand what has happened?  Do we understand what has transpired?  We all have to make sense of our world to ourselves.  We live in this world and it has to make sense to us in order for us to function in it.  There is much that goes on around us and we have to find some way to understand all that we experience.  If we do not understand then we do not accept and acceptance is the key to helping us as human beings survive in this world. 

It is amazing that in this world that we live in, our lives are dictated by our environment.  We see, we hear, we smell, we touch, and we believe what is given to us by the world, by our environment.  Different people live in different environments and sometimes those different environments cross, intersect and become one.  But it is the environment that determines who we are, who we become, and what we believe.  There are common threads that cross most environmental boundaries that are common to our experience of the world.  We believe in, a god, a higher power, a higher transcendence, something that is greater than ourselves that helps us to know that there is good in the world despite all the evil, and violence, and pain, and suffering in the world.  Our belief in a god helps us to believe that there is something good that prevails over all.

Despite our belief in the good in the world, we do not believe in the evil in the world.  We do not hold fast to the belief that evil affects, influences, causes, or has real impact on our way of life.  Instead we believe that people make decisions to do evil acts, commit violence, cause pain and suffering in the world.  Yet there is an overall good God or something, that helps us believe in the good nature of the world.  But we do not believe that there is an overall evil in the world that causes us to do evil.  And there in lies the subtlety of evil, not to be known but to still have influence. 

To those who know and are aware of the evil, they are awake.  But to those who do not know and are not aware, they are still asleep.  And when one awakes there is still the need for understanding, the need to make sense, the need to know for certain that there is good in the world.  Some believe without knowing.  Some live their lives thinking that they know and yet do not know.  And with that half belief they are open to falling asleep again.  For one must know for certain.  One must have a knowledge of the truth.  One must see through different eyes the world around us and the influence of evil in it to be truly awake. 

I was asleep.  I was lost.  I was dreaming a dream of my own desires led by the beliefs fed to me by the world and the evil therein.  I was unknowing and yet lived my life thinking that I knew.  And that half knowledge led me down the path of destruction and back to sleep again in the world.  Today I know.  Today I see.  Today I have something real to go to in times of need, in times of pain, in times of temptation, in times of joy, and in times of sorrow.  For he was given to me a guide.  He was given to me a protector.  He was given to me eyes to see the way.  And I walk a different path, very thankful that it has been given to me.  Come!  Walk the path with me.  Walk a different path that you may know the truth of who you are in Christ.  He awaits you.  He seeks you.  He desires to know you.  And the Holy Spirit will be with you, to guide you along the way.  Your treasure awaits.  Come! Follow the path.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.  

St Matthew, Chapter 17, verse: 12, The Vision: The Suffering of Elias and the Son of Man.

Our paragraph topic is:  (On the coming of Elias) Part4. 

The conversation was ongoing as they returned from the mountaintop.  The questions were still in their minds as to what they had been taught all these years about the coming of Elias and the great and dreadful day of the Lord.  Was that day upon them?  Was Elias about to appear?  Would the Lord bring down fire upon the proud and wealthy?  These were the questions that weighed upon them as they returned from the place where they had witnessed the miracle, the vision of Christ, the vision of Elias and Moses.

Christ had forbidden them to talk about it.  He had told them not to speak of it to anyone until the sacrifice was complete and he had risen from the dead.  But they needed answers so they continued to worry, continued to ponder what they would do, continued to think about all the things that were going to happen at the end.  To quiet their minds Christ had to speak with them.  Christ had to address their issues.  Christ had to put to rest the state of things to come.  So he told them:  "But I say to you that Elias has come already, and they did not know him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also shall the Son of Man suffer at their hands."       

The disciples were expecting fire and brimstone.  They were expecting judgment to come.  They were on high alert as to the coming of Elias and the final judgment.  Yet Elias had already come and they did not know, they were not aware.  Where are we today?  Do we expect the world to come to an end tomorrow?  Are we prepared for the final call?  Have we made ourselves ready?

These are the questions that we should be asking ourselves.  Are we ready?  Yet being ready is the last thing on our minds.  We are more concerned about what we are going to wear tomorrow, how we look, wish we could hit the lottery so we could live a life of luxury.  Our thoughts are about playing, and texting, and gaming, and sex and lust, and the voice and American Idol, and who can dance, all the things that we are given by our society.  We are not concerned about dying, and what happens after death and being prepared, and the joy of heaven.  These things are not given to us by the society we live in.  The world does not want us to think about those things until it is too late and then we loose our souls as a result of not knowing, not thinking, not believing.

Elias had already come.  And they did to him whatever they wished.  And they will do to you what ever they wish unless we wake up.  Christ suffered that we might have life.  He did not come and suffer so that we would be lost.  And yet many are.  Many are unaware of who they are and it is up to those who do know to be an example for them.  It is up to those who do know to turn from the ways of the world and be a light unto the darkness.  First we must become a light.  We must open our hearts to the first light, the original light, the light that is and was and always will be that we may know that we are children of that light.  Because it is through Him and with Him that we are.  And it is with Him that we are complete and all our needs and desires are fulfilled.  For there is nothing else or no other, or nothing in this world that will complete us except the one true God, our Father.  

Come!  Know the truth of who you are in Christ.  A path has been given me to pass on to those who want to know, to those who desire, to those who will light up the world like a beacon in the night.  Christ will come to you.  The Holy Spirit will guide you.  And I will walk with you along the way.  I am but a humble light in the darkness, shining so that others may see the light.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you. Open the door and let him in.