Deliverance from Death…

John J Parsons

The ancient Greek philosophers sought for “salvation” (Σωτηρία), which they generally understood as freedom from the fear of death… Therefore Socrates sought to dispel mythical superstition by regarding philosophy as the “practice for death,” by which he meant that reflecting upon this “shadowy world” would instill a profound hunger for the eternal (and ideal) world, and he therefore advised that, since we all must die, we ought to prepare ourselves now for eternity, by focusing the mind on what is most essential, real, and beautiful.

The Jewish sages likewise later affirmed, “This world is like a corridor before the World to Come; prepare yourself in the corridor, that you may enter into the hall” (Avot 4:21), which implied that the great commandment is דִּרְשׁוּנִי וִחְיוּ – “Seek Me and live” (Amos 5:4), as the prophet Isaiah (7th century BC) cried out, “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near” (Isa. 55:6).

Therefore Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) is justly named “our salvation” (יְשׁוּעָתֵנוּ), since it is by his hand that we are delivered from bondage to the fear of death (Heb. 2:14-15). The resurrection of Yeshua utterly overthrows the power of death (i.e., the devil), and eternally secures our welcome in the world to come.

Do not let your heart be troubled; have faith in God, for he “prepares a place for you” on the other side of the veil of this temporal world (John 14:1-3).  “Whoever is born of God conquers the world (νικᾷ τὸν κόσμον), and this is the overcoming power that conquers the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).

As Yeshua testified: “I AM the resurrection and the life (אָנכִי הַתְּקוּמָה וְהַחַיִּים). The one who trusts in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never, no, not ever, die (οὐ μὴ ἀποθάνῃ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα). Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26).

Yeshua’s words indicate there are two distinct senses of the word “death,” namely physical death (temporal) and spiritual death (eternal). Though we may indeed die physically, that does not imply that we will die spiritually, since we are given eternal (spiritual) regeneration and life by the miracle of God’s love…

We press on in hope, dear friends: “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling (2 Cor. 4:17-5:1-2).

God our Savior “is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy” (Jude 1:24). May God help us persevere in hope, remembering the glory that lies ahead! Amen.

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Prayers from an aching heart…

John J Parsons

Often it is not what is said that matters in our prayers, but what is unsaid… We ask God for help but we have no idea what that help might entail, and therefore we must trust Him to do the best, whatever that may be, and to answer the silent cry and groan of the heart. As John Bunyan said, “When you pray, rather let thy heart be without words than thy words be without heart.”

The late Henri Nouwen wrote, “I am beginning to see that much of praying is grieving,” since the confession of the truth when we “come to ourselves” (Luke 15:17) is often painful. When we pray to the LORD, however, it’s obvious that we are not imparting to Him any information, since the Master of the Universe knows all things. As King David wrote: ki ein milah bilshoni, hen, Adonai, yadati khulah: “For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, you know it altogether” (Psalm 139:4). Yeshua taught us to abstain from using “vain repetitions” in our prayers, since our Heavenly Father knows what we need before we ask Him (Matt. 6:7-8). True prayer is a means of reverent listening, or quieting ourselves, so that we might hear what the Spirit of God is saying… When we pray bekhol levavkha, with all our heart, we apprehend God’s glory and express our desire to Him. We are then able to intercede by means of the Spirit with “groanings too deep for words” (Rom. 8:26). In a sense our deepest prayer “aligns our groans” to those of His own heart…

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Trusting His Heart…

John J Parsons

If you can’t detect God’s hand in your circumstances, then trust His heart… The heart of faith affirms: gam zu l’tovah (גַּם זוּ לְטוֹבָה): “this too is for good,” particularly when the present hour may be shrouded in darkness… Whenever I am confused about life (which is often enough), I try to remember what God said to Moses after the tragic sin of the Golden Calf: “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my Name, ‘The LORD’ (יהוה). And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy” (Exod. 33:19). God’s character does not change: the LORD is the same “yesterday, today, and forever.”  The meaning of the Name, however, cannot be known apart from understanding the need of the heart…

Read more “Trusting His Heart…”

Torah Holidays for Spring 2021

John J Parsons

The Torah divides the calendar into two symmetrical halves: the Spring and the Fall, indicating the two advents of Messiah. The Biblical year officially begins during the month of the Passover from Egypt (i.e., on Nisan 1, called “Rosh Chodashim,” see Exod. 12:2), and the spring holidays of Passover, Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits both recall our deliverance from Egypt and also our greater deliverance given by means of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah, the great Passover Lamb of God: Yeshua was crucified on erev Pesach (during the time of the sacrifice of the Passover lambs), buried during Chag Hamotzi (the festival of Unleavened Bread), and was resurrected from the dead on Yom Habikkurim (the Day of Firstfruits). Fifty days after the Passover, on the climactic holiday of Shavuot (i.e., the feast of Pentecost), the wave offering was made at the Temple as the Ruach HaKodesh (Holy Spirit) fell on the believers in fulfillment of the promise given by our Lord.

Note that the giving of the Holy Spirit occurred precisely according to the calendar countdown given in the Torah (Lev. 23:15-16), and that it occurred after the resurrection of Yeshua — just as our Messiah foretold (John 16:7; Acts 1:6-8, 2:1-4). This proves that the feasts of the LORD (מוֹעדי יהוה) were not abolished after the institution of the New Covenant and the crucifixion of our Lord. The meaning of the gospel is prefigured in the holidays given in Torah. See Luke 24:27, 24:44; John 5:46; Acts 26:22, etc.

Kindly note that in accordance with both Torah and Jewish tradition, the holiday dates (shown in the table below) begin at sundown (Gen. 1:5).

For more see the Hebrew for Christians Holiday pages.

 

 

His Invincible Purposes…

John J Parsons

When you are tested, affirm your confidence. Spiritually speaking, the first step is to find hope… The Divine Light is seen by the eye of faith (עין האמונה), and therefore we find strength by trusting in God’s Presence, even though we cannot presently see Him (2 Cor. 4:18; 5:7). “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. Know Him in all your ways, and He will straighten your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil” (Prov. 3:5-7). Wait on the LORD and He will strengthen your heart….

We must remain steady as we fight the “good fight of faith.” This is the struggle against the lie that God does not care for us and that we are therefore abandoned and on our own. We must repudiate fear and boldly lay hold of the promises of God; we must take every thought captive to the reality of God’s love for us in Yeshua. As it is written, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked come upon me to devour my flesh, when my adversaries and enemies attack me, they will totter and fall. Even if an army is deployed against me, I will not fear; even if war is rises against me, I will remain full of trust” (Psalm 27:1-3).

The Midrash says, “The Holy One Himself, as it were, made light for the upright. Thus it says, “The LORD is my light and my salvation” (Psalm 27:1) and “When I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me” (Micah 7:8). While I sit in darkness in this world, during these latter days before the promised return of Yeshua, when troubles may afflict me and lawlessness may abound – then God’s light will shine brighter still, for the LORD is gracious to all who put their hope in Him, and this favor and love will be manifest for me.

Read more “His Invincible Purposes…”

Healing the Sick Soul…

John J Parsons

Sickness of the soul is just as serious as sickness of the body, and indeed many of our physical sicknesses come from being sick at heart – by living in fear or despair, or by allowing unresolved guilt or anger to destroy ourselves. The Scriptures state that just as a body can become sick with illness, so can the soul: “I said, ‘O LORD, be gracious to me; heal my soul (רְפָאָה נַפְשִׁי), for I have sinned against you.'”

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Note the connection between healing of the soul and the confession of sin in this verse. Often we are sick because of inner secrets that need to be brought to the light (1 John 1:9). “Therefore, confess (ἐξομολογέω, lit. ‘confess out’) your sins to one another and pray (εὔχομαι) for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person (i.e., tzaddik) works great power” (James 5:16). Being yashar – honest and upright – produces spiritual power and life. The word translated “pray” (euchomai) means to “wish (εὐχὴ) for oneself (or for another) the good.” Confession (ὁμολογία) means bringing yourself naked before the Divine Light to agree with the truth about who you are. Indeed, the word homologeo literally means “saying the same thing” – from ὁμός (same) and λόγος (word). We need to confess the truth if we are to be free from the pain of the past.

Followers of Yeshua are called to be healers (Luke 9:1). The most common word for healing in the New Testament is therapeuo (θεραπεύω), a word that means to serve, to care for, and to restore to health. Unlike showy ministers who draw crowds to demonstrate the power of miraculous “faith healing,” spiritual healers take the time to listen to others, to hear their pain, and to extend compassion and grace to them. They help open the inner eyes of the heart by extending hope and a new vision about what is real… Indeed, lasting healing focuses less on being cured than on finding a hope that will never die.

Postscript:  What eternal good would it do, after all, to be “cured” of some disease if a soul was not also delivered from the power of darkness and sin? What would such “healing” mean, in light of the truth of eternity? After all, if the evil one may afflict people with sickness, surely he may also remove it to keep a person in a state of bondage… Some people, after frantically searching for a cure to their sickness, finally must let go and accept that they are going to die… If they have come to real inner peace, if they hold hope of eternal life within them because of the message of Yeshua, then even though they might not be physically “cured” in this world of shadows, they are indeed forever “healed” for life in the “high country” of the world to come…

The Humility of Truth…

John J Parsons

An honest person is invariably a humble person, since honesty compels the soul to confess the truth that it is profoundly ignorant, incapable of understanding even the simplest matters of life, and entirely powerless to heal itself… People may argue over words, concepts, and abstractions, inflating their opinions above even the Reality they purport to define, but the humble soul acknowledges that he doesn’t really know much about anything… And if “all the efforts of the human mind cannot exhaust the essence of a single fly,” then how is it that people get puffed up and proud regarding their supposed knowledge of life itself? It is far better to approach life in deep reverence, wonder, love, and childlike trust than to profess your dogma based on pride and illusions…

To a visitor who described himself as a seeker after Truth the sage said, “If what you seek is Truth, there is one thing you must have above all else.” “I know,” said the man, “an overwhelming passion for it.” “No,” the sage replied, “rather an unremitting readiness to admit you may be wrong.”

Ours is an age marked by suspicion, arrogance and severely impaired thinking. Gone are the days of respectful dialog and the use of intelligence and logic. The self-styled deconstructionists of today are emotionally disabled solipsists who are so self-absorbed that they cannot tolerate any dissent from their own narrative and perspective. They are lost to themselves because they lack self-transcendence. In general the so-called “intellectuals” today have nothing to offer other than nihilist despair, anger, and puerile threats of violence.

Read more “The Humility of Truth…”

Deliverance from Anxiety…

John J Parsons

It is written in our Scriptures: “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Phil. 4:6). Note that the verb translated “be anxious” here (i.e.,μεριμνάω) comes from a root word (μερίζω) that means to be fragmented or divided into parts and pieces. Being anxious is therefore the uneasy state of being distracted, unfocused and divided within yourself. When we worry we heed voices of fear and begin to feel ‘double-minded,’ (i.e., δίψυχος), unstable, and unable to think clearly; we get restless and find it difficult to deeply breathe. We start to feel out of control, fearful that something bad will happen despite all our efforts or wishes to the contrary; we sense doom; we lose heart; we go dark… The Scripture here admonishes us to pray when we are tempted us to be anxious by focusing on something for which we are grateful. Doing so will instill the “peace of God” (שלום יהוה) that rises above all worldly thinking to keep watch over your heart and your thoughts through Yeshua the Messiah (Phil. 4:7). We gain the “light of life,” that is, inner illumination from God, so that we can remain steadfast and unmovable in our faith, despite the temptation to look for relief from our struggles apart from God.

 

 

Confession’s Conviction…

John J Parsons

“Faith is the foundation (i.e., ὑπόστασις: the “substance,” reality, underlying essence, etc.) of our hope, the conviction of the unseen… Without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever would draw near must believe that God exists and rewards (μισθαποδότης) those who seek him” (Heb. 11:1,6). Note that God is pleased when we seek his presence, that is, when we when we look past the ephemera and ambiguity of the phenomenal world for the truth about spiritual reality (2 Cor. 4:18). For our part, faith resolves to confession (ὁμολογέω), that is, aligning our perspective and focus to agree with the revelation and message of divine truth and verbally declaring our conviction. We must say that we believe and affirm it with all our heart (Rom. 10:9). As it says, “I will make Your faithfulness known with my mouth” (Psalm 89:2). When you encounter tribulation, or experience some crisis of faith, boldly reaffirm your hope: “I believe in God’s promise…” Physically expressing your faith is itself an act of faith, and this encourages your soul to trust in God’s healing reward even in the present struggle or darkness…

 

Faith and the Philosophy of Science…

John J Parsons

Part of what “renewing your mind” means is learning to question the assumptions of worldly culture and resisting the temptation to flow with “preconscious” acceptance of habitual ways of seeing and thinking.  Take science, for example, and the frequent appeals made by its advocates that modern science should be regarded as a voice of authority about what is real…  Just a moment of reflection, however, will indicate that the scientific enterprise is a faith system that inescapably believes many metaphysical axioms, including assumptions about time (i.e., that the future will “resemble” the past), about motion (i.e., that natural processes are “uniform”), about space (that there is an external world that is knowable to the human mind); about the capability of the mind to define and represent things (e.g., that measurement “makes traction” with this external world and can be used to predict outcomes); about values (i.e., that it is “better” to know rather than not to know; or that the scientific method is an “good way” to develop inductive inferences, or that a given theory is “elegant,” etc.).  Note that these various axioms are not based on scientific inquiry itself (which is based on evidence and repeatable empirical measurement), but they are brought to science as assumptions used to frame or organize a particular “paradigm.”  In other words, science is a system of faith about what constitutes “reality,” and like any other faith system, it needs to undergo testing to see if its inferences and claims provide the best explanation for what is real.  For instance, does the naturalistic view of reality espoused by evolutionary cosmologists best explain the meaning of life?  Does it account, for instance, for the electromagnetic pulse of the individual human heart?  For the aesthetic wonder of the beauty? For poetry, or the longing of heart for love? for friendship? truth? for eternal life?

There are limits of scientific knowledge and its apprehension of reality (as explained by Immanuel Kant).  Do phenomenal cause and effect inferences have anything to say to us today?  Of course *good* science is a humble endeavor because it realizes its conclusions are tentative and subject to falsification.  Good science that is based on verifiable research that has undergone the rigors of peer-reviewed testing is an avenue of knowledge about things, though of course it is not infallible.  Moreover, not all that is claimed to be “good science” deserves the title. For example consider that the theory of macro evolution that claims (without any empirical evidence) the universe simply exploded into being out of absolutely nothing for no logical reason whatsoever… It should be obvious that if we define science as “the observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena,” macro evolutionary theory is not science, since it is not based on the direct observation of how the universe originated, etc., though the observation of expected results if it were true can be admitted, so long as it is understood that such evidence is inductive and therefore not demonstrable by logic (that is, if p then q, q, therefore p is not a valid form of reasoning).  And as for the “noumenal” realm of reality, silence of course is silent….

 

 

Many people ascribe to “science” power it simply does not have, just as are many people are unaware that science is grounded in philosophical assumptions that transcend the realm of scientific knowledge altogether. It is wise, therefore, when presented with a scientific claim that something is true, to respectfully ask for the logical reasons and the warrant (i.e., datasets, methodologies, etc.) for believing the claim is justified. Remember that relying on self-professed testimonial is not sufficient warrant since such testimony may be biased, as for example when pharmaceutical companies claim the efficacy of a particular medication or vaccine. As a matter of fact, genuine scientific consensus is rare, and we should remember that scientific knowledge is an ongoing process that ever-approximates what is true. For example, it was not long ago that science thought the earth was flat, that leeches and bloodletting were prescribed to cure illnesses; that phrenology and lobotomies were used to “cure” mental illness, and so on. Be wise and test truth claims, chaverim. If there are peer-reviewed studies that independently confirm the probable truth of a given hypothesis, then that is to be respected and taken into consideration, but unthinking acceptance of statements made by unqualified authorities (such as politicians, mass media broadcasters, or a former Microsoft CEO) about the efficacy or interpretation of scientific data is not.

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. (C.S. Lewis: God in the Dock)