On Hanging Sacrifices as Trophies

I'm well-accustomed to the hanging of animal trophies on the walls, because I grew up in an area where a lot of hunting is done.  I come from a hunting family, and I'm married to a hunting husband.  There is nothing wrong with hunting for food.  If we were to need to survive in the wilderness here in the winter, we wouldn't have a chance if we didn't hunt.  We'd need those sacrificial kills if we were going to live. 

However, I've always been a bit disturbed by the hanging of deer heads on the wall.  I'm quite used to it, as I've never lived in a home where it wasn't done.  My daddy has deer heads on the wall, and my husband has them on our wall.  I don't make a big deal out of it and never have, though my husband does know I think it's a little twisted.  I much prefer the Native Americans' way.  They used the hides, the antlers, almost everything, for useful things like clothes and tools. 

When I was still a kid I felt like the deer were staring at me.  I knew they weren't alive, of course, but it was just haunting and sad to me.  And now I wonder what my own children must think about it. What's the point of hanging deer heads on the wall?

I personally do not even understand why people, especially men, target the biggest, most beautiful bucks.  It makes more sense to me to leave them out there for us to behold and for continued good breeding.  Why does it make some people feel good to kill those particular deer, especially when they are not nearly as good-tasting nor as healthful meat as a younger deer is?  I think it's a power thing, like they outdid that deer.  "I overcame you, and now I'm going to boast about it to everyone by hanging you on my wall." 

That is how it seems to me.  Now I may be offending someone here, but this is my fair opinion.  As I said, my husband knows my opinion well, but he doesn't get offended.  We can get along while still disagreeing.  He lets me hang things I want on the wall, too.   

But the last time I meditated on this, while I was sitting eating breakfast one morning and happened to look over at the deer who was staring at me (like he always does; he was a beautiful deer, and I had to help drag him out of the woods), I thought of the people who hang what is supposed to be a portrayal of Christ hanging on a cross, on their walls.

The "crucifixes" have always disturbed me.  I do not know why people would want to focus on Christ's dead body.  He's alive in heaven!  Let's focus on that.

But at that moment during my meditation, I was even more horrified.  It's a sacrifice trophy.

Now I know many who hang these horrid things in their homes or wear them around their necks don't see it that way.  They would protest that they aren't boasting about his death. 

But how does Christ see it, I wonder?  Does he like being reminded as he peers into your home or sees you walking with that necklace, of the horrible way he died, when many of you are crossing yourselves before engaging in a premeditated sin?  It's usually Catholics who sport the crucifixes, whereas the Protesting Catholics prefer sporting crosses without a body.  What does the Lord Salvation think when he sees those grotesque replicas hanging here and there and everywhere by people who use his grace as a license to sin?

Ironically, those are the ones who claim to celebrate his resurrection on a pagan goddesses' feast day, Easter, but they are showing off his death all day, every day.  On the contrary, those who do not celebrate any resurrection day (which was symbolized by the Firstfruits wave offering, which is counted from to celebrate the Feast of Weeks/Pentecost) and who instead observe the commanded Passover feast to remember Christ's death each year do not sport the horrid crucifixes, nor any image that is supposedly an image of Christ. That would break the second commandment, which the church in Rome conveniently deleted and cleverly divided the tenth commandment into two so that they'd still have ten. 

So what is the reason usually given by those who hang crucifixes?  I'm curious to know.  From my earliest days in life I have never understood why anyone would want to show off a representation of Christ's dead body.  Of course, I also do not understand the Christianity practice of believing that the eucharist bread and the wine literally become our Lord's flesh and blood, either, so that they believe they are sacrificing Christ daily, as if the one time he died as our Passover Lamb didn't do the job.  That is disturbing, too, especially regarding those who take it all lightly and go on living a lifestyle of sin (which certainly does not describe many Catholics, for there are many out there who are truly trying to live righteously, albeit ignorantly concerning many things). 

Regardless of a person's reason, one thing is for sure.  Displaying what you call Christ's body dead on your wall or necklace (or whatever else) is a sin, the transgression of the second commandment.  God isn't going to conform to Rome's changing His law, deleting the second commandment.  He will rather judge based on the way He wrote His law.  

To be covered by the Anointed Salvation's sacrifice, you must repent of breaking the second commandment, and all other nine commandments.  Hanging animal trophies is one thing, but hanging a dead "Jesus" up as your Christianity trophy is a sin.  

New Covenant Passover Plus My Passover Meditations

"This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.  This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you." ~Anointed Lord Salvation

Under the carnal covenant, Passover was kept as a memorial of God freeing Israel from bondage to Egypt.  Under the current spiritual covenant, Passover is kept as a memorial of God freeing believers in Christ/Messiah from bondage to sin.  It's a memorial of our Lord and Christ's sacrificial death.

Under the carnal covenant a lamb was sacrificed to remember how the lamb's blood had saved the firstborns of Israel in Egypt when it was smeared on the doorposts before the death angel visited.  Under the spiritual covenant we symbolically eat Christ's body (unleavened bread) and drink his blood (wine), because He is our Passover Lamb who was slain once for all sins (those of which would be repented), and in reality we "eat" of His spiritual nature to become more like He is, for it is true that we are what we eat.

There are two false religions, one of which claims to keep the carnal covenant (Judaism) and one who claims to keep the spiritual covenant (Christianity), but both hold to their man-made religious doctrines and traditions rather than keep the truth as written in the scriptures. That is why those who follow Judaism keep the carnal covenant Passover, and those that follow Christianity keep the pagan Easter.  Then there is the marrying of these two religions that produced Messianic Judaism, which also follow after some false doctrines from both religions.  They reject the pagan Easter, but they keep a largely carnal covenant Passover, eating a seder (meal), believing not in a new spiritual covenant but a renewed carnal covenant.

I've written extensively and very in-depth on topics concerning the carnal covenant verses the spiritual covenant, including contrasts to the carnal covenant Passover and the spiritual covenant Passover.  These are among my most popular studies.  For more info, you may visit the following links to my blog posts and website articles:

"Forever" in the Old Testament: Does it Always Mean Eternal?

New Covenant Does Not Abolish Law But Does Abolish Old Covenant

What "The Law Was Added Because of Transgression" Means

Old Covenant Carnal Showings

To Silence the Paul-Rejecting Carnal Covenant Lovers: Proving Jesus and Paul Were at One

Now to share some of my meditative thoughts from this Passover night just passed...

As I was reading one of the gospel accounts of my Lord's execution, I stopped to meditate for a while when I reached the part that records that He asked our Holy Father to forgive the ones who had a part in putting him to death and their supporters, telling Father that they were ignorant of what they were doing.  I spiritually jumped back in time and imagined the social climate of Judah during the last three and half years of the Lord's life on earth.  By the end of his three-and-a-half year ministry, many of the people knew of him.  I'm sure it would be like today in the U.S. when a figure becomes publicly prominent.  Rumors spread.  Even if the person is doing what is good, people who are biased against him (or her) who have power can quickly cast the person in a negative light in the eyes of the majority.  There are always the minority who will support the person, and the minority can number in the thousands or even millions (depending on the population involved) but still very much be a small minority.

I thought of the numerous things about which the majority of the people are deceived today.  The list is unending.  There are many who possess knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, but they still make up the minority by far.  And what of the majority?  They think they are the ones who possess good sense and think the minority as crazy and/or stupid. And the somewhat prominent figures who spread various truths (whether it be health, biblical, legal, environmental, agricultural, parental, etc.) are persecuted and branded by the mainstream media as nut jobs.

That must be what it was like in Salvation's time.  There were a growing many in the know, but they were few compared to the majority.  The ones who had power were afraid enough of what would happen if they openly went against him, because just like any gathering today where a teacher is speaking, those minority people are going to make up the majority in attendance.  But their power was great in that they still maintained their influence over the mainstream majority.

It was true then just as much as it's true now that many are very ignorant in what they believe and how they act toward others.  They believe they are doing what's right in how they live their lives, how they bring up their children, and how they perceive those who believe differently.  And God has kept them in blindness for the time being.  So they may rail wickedly against those who are really good and teaching and living by the truth, but they don't realize they are against God and truth.  They believe they're in the right.  Their blindness is fogging up their mind.  Now if they were serious enough about seeking and living by truth, they would be more likely to prove things and then realize the minority people are right about things.  But they are carnal-minded, choosing rather to try to enjoy life as much as possible without investing time in asking important questions and investigating into things.

But we have all been this way for a time, at least to an extent.  Some of us have always been more likely to investigate and ask questions and want truth, but we've all been guilty of going along with what the mainstream teaching on a matter is.  Who is to know whether we change down the line and open our eyes?

There were probably quite a few people who were strongly against Salvation the Anointed, because they'd believed the mainstream lies against him and lacked in understanding, who then later came to the truth and repented and were followers of the Lord.  So this is why our Lord would have asked Father to forgive them.  They were ignorant but would not allow themselves to be forever.

What wonderful grace and long-suffering our Eternal Father and His Righteous Firstborn possess!  Yes, so wonderful that They were both willing for the latter to come spend over 34 human life years (including gestation in the womb) on earth and endure all the hardships and temptations humankind go through, and ultimately die as our saving sacrifice!  And for this reason we remember our Anointed Salvation's loving sacrifice annually on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month.

I will save the other meditative topic I want to share for tomorrow, to post on the first day of Unleavened Bread.

Until then...

By Grace We Are Saved, Not by Works: A Lesson to My Son

This week when the children and I went to the market, my seven-year-old firstborn son exhibited behavior with which I was displeased.  He is usually my superstar helper when we go to the market.  I had to repeatedly remind him to do his responsibilities as he should and to not fool around. 

I told him after we left that I was going to give a bad report on him to his daddy.  It's close to an hour's drive back home, and when we were about twenty minutes away from home, Will said, "Momma, if a person does bad works, and then if he does more good works, does that [cancel out] the bad works?"

I knew why he asked.  He had been sitting back there formulating a plan to get out of the probability of being punished by his father.  He wondered whether he could get home and do all sorts of good works to get me on his good side, and then I would just cancel out his bad works with the good works of which he would have more, and so then he'd be saved from punishment.

I responded to his question, "No, sweetie, it doesn't work that way.  That would be salvation by works.  A person cannot be saved from punishment for bad works by doing more good works than he did bad.  Salvation from punishment can only come from grace."

I continued, "However, a person who does not stop his bad works and start doing good works won't receive that grace, but the fact remains that he did bad works.  Think of it this way.  Say I go out and murder someone.  I say to the judges that I am sorry, and I'll now do only good works.  I'll do the good works of not killing anyone else and will do all manner of other good works.  But, not killing other people doesn't and cannot make up for the person I did kill.  Only if the people who were hurt by that person's death gave me pardon, gave me grace can I be saved from punishment.  But people don't give grace to a murderer who feels no remorse and clearly has the mindset of murdering again."

Will said, "I need grace!  Momma, will you please give me grace and not tell Daddy?"

I told him that I knew he was usually well-behaved and that he needed to make sure it didn't happen again; next week when we go to the market, he'd better act the right way.  I added that he also needed to make sure he walked the path of righteousness for the remainder of the day, to the time his daddy would get home.  I ended by telling him that I forgave him and that I wouldn't bring charges against him to his daddy.

Well, much to my disappointment, Will let his own will get out of control for the rest of the day.  He can be so wonderful, but that day was not one of those days.  I told him he'd be getting a bad report.  I did give his daddy a bad report, and it included the market details.  The promised grace was no longer valid, because he had fallen from grace.

Our relationship with our Holy Father and with our Lord Brother, Salvation, is no different.  We are saved by grace, because we have all sinned, and the Perfect Firstborn, Salvation, sacrificed for us.  Big Brother took the blame for our wrongdoings.  He took the punishment from Father.  The punishment did not belong to him.  Salvation did no wrong in Father's eyes.  He was Father's Perfect Firstborn, playing a life out in human flesh without sin.  Salvation is Number 1 in Father's eyes, his most beloved Son.  None of us will ever come close to comparing, and certainly no number of good works is going to cancel out any bad works.  ONE bad work, ONE sin, and we come SHORT of God's glory, and Salvation, the Firstborn, is Father's glory.  We should all bow the knee to Salvation, because he's EARNED his right to be Father's Top Son.  None of us have EARNED anything...but death.  We all have at least ONE sin.  Salvation had NO sin.  We had better all bow to Salvation and do our best to be like him, and he'll give a good word to Father.  Father will see that we are trying to be like Salvation, though knowing we'll never be as good as Salvation, and honor Salvation before Father. 

That is how we get GRACE.  We have to have the heart of wanting to do everything right and trying to walk on the path of righteousness the way our Elder Brother Salvation did.  If we are not even trying to obey Father's household law the way Salvation did and do not care or only care about some commandments but not others, then we shall not get grace from Father.

It's interesting to me that most of those who call themselves "Christian" shout to those who keep Father's commandments and do not play the whore in Father's household but keep themselves as a virgin in his Royal Household, "We're not saved by works!  We're saved by grace."  Well, those of us who keep Father's commandments are not seeking to be saved by works.  We are seeking to be saved by grace.  We truly were remorseful that we had broken Father's commandments--all ten of them--and we turned to good works.  No matter how many times we don't steal, it won't make up for the time(s) we have stolen.  No matter how much we do not murder, it won't make up for the times we did (even in heart).  We're not saved by works.  But, we know we're not going to get covered by that promised grace through Salvation before Father's throne if we do not change our ways. 

If Will acts up at the market next week, he'll really be in trouble, because it is known that he can conduct himself properly and make me very proud, and so if he does not even try to do what is right and instead acts out of line--off the right path--he won't receive grace.  It'll be even worse.  It's pretty bad when someone gives a transgressor grace, and then he goes back to the evil deeds he had claimed to be remorseful for and turn away from.

So, those saved by grace won't be those who shout loudly to Father's righteous sons that they're "saved by grace, not by works," but those saved by grace will be the ones who sought grace and then stopped breaking the commandments.  Most of those "saved by grace" shouters agree that one should not murder, steal, commit adultery, lie, etc.  It's mostly the fourth commandment with which they hate.  They prefer to fornicate--to play the harlot in Father's Royal House--by keeping pagan-originated holidays, like the weekly "Sunday" first day of the week and the annual holiday feasts of Easter and Christmas, etc.  They do not want to walk as Salvation did, keeping the commanded holy days of Father that outline our plan of salvation.  Father and Salvation are not pleased that those who claim to be in their Household do not keep Sabbath on the seventh day of the week, Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Feast of Trumpets, Atonement, Feast of Tabernacles, and 8th Day.  This reveals the true Salvation, the true Christ. 

Oh, how I LOVE the TRUTH...how I love and meditate daily in Father's royal law.  I aim to please him daily. I cry when I fail miserably to compare to my Brother Salvation.  Oh, but I then THANK Father for his grace and Salvation for his name, because he is my Salvation.  I have FAITH that I am under the loving GRACE of my Holy Father, because I invite him to search my heart so that he knows I love him and aim to please him and follow Salvation's footsteps and because I honor Salvation as the rightful TOP HEIR and am just thankful that I even am called worthy enough through grace to co-inherit my Father's possessions. 

PRAISE you, Father, Most High, and my Beloved Lord Salvation.  Blessed are you both by those in your Royal Household who LOVE and SERVE you in SPIRIT and in TRUTH!

Amen!

Alien Invaders!

Space invaders!  Alien invaders!  Alien shooters!  It seems we're constantly bombarded with these messages.  The more the message is conveyed, the more deluded people become, and then even more the message is repeated.  This message is marketed to both adults and children in the form of movies, cartoons, video games, and even comparative phrases such as the one I saw in a recent Mercola wellness newsletter that stated,  "Most doctors attack chronic illnesses as if they're an alien invader." 

My sons watch Davey and Goliath cartoons that I bought on dvd.  For the most part, I really like those cartoons, because they instill Godly values in my children's minds.  There are a few things I've seen that I don't like.  An anti-alien stance on one episode is one such thing.  The main theme of the episode is great and teaches that helping others in need is the right thing to do.  However, at the end Davey and another two boys are about to go watch a movie in the theater, called "Boy in Space."  Goliath, Davey's loyal dog, had to stay outside the theater to wait.  Davey told him that he could keep a watch out for spaceships.  Upon asking what to do if he saw one, Davey replied, "Bite it!"

My son got my permission to play some demo games on my laptop that I use for writing, especially when traveling.  The games he'd been playing on there were fine.  Well, I got out of the shower to hear rock music and shooting.  I looked to see what Jaden was playing, and it was "Alien Shooters" or something like that.  He was supposed to shoot the aliens.  Although the aliens looked like some sort of creepy crawly things, I hated the music and hated that it was geared toward anti-outer space aliens. 

My mother bought a Scooby-Doo video for the boys.  I don't approve of such things, but I let them watch it and then vowed to discuss what they saw afterward and why it was wrong.  One of the episodes included voodoo.  The other episode was something about "alien invaders."  Of course with Scooby-Doo, all the stuff turns out at the end to be staged.  But, there it is again:  an anti-outer space alien theme. 

There is no shortage of movies where other intelligent lifeforms from the heavens are coming to invade or attack the earth's inhabitants.  One such movie is "War of the Worlds," based on H.G. Wells' science fiction novel by the same name.  That movie seemed eerily similar to some things foretold in the scriptures. 

The problem with all these things is that they all paint the earth's inhabitants as the good guys and the aliens (foreign-to-earth aka "not of this world") as the bad guys.  There's no doubt in my mind that Satan is working hard behind the scenes to deceive everyone into thinking that if they see spaceships coming to invade the earth, that they are enemies.  And of course, that's partly true.  The aliens will be the enemies to the inhabitants of this earth who are against them.

NASA and probably other space organizations are already talking about how to get ready to an alien attack, as well as how to shield the earth from such things as meteors and other catastrophic things that could be hurled toward this planet.  Of course, as a biblically literate person I just want to laugh at their folly.  They will no outdo the Most High God and His Captain of the Hosts, the Lord Jesus.  If God wants to send a meteor or asteroid or some other destructive object to this earth to punish the residents thereof, nothing man can do will stop the object from hitting its target.  And certainly nothing man and his armies can do against the armies of God and their captain will amount to anything. 

The wicked of the earth will see the angels with the vial judgments as enemies and certainly will not repent of their misdeeds and high pride.  They will run around with profanity spewing from their mouths.

Despite trying to wipe each other out, the West and the East, all the rulers of the earth and their armies will then come together to try to fight off the great prophesied alien invasion.  They will be wiped out.

The scriptures speak:

And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.  And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.  And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. ~Revelation 19:11-21

There's your alien invasion.  Now, the question is, whose side are you on?  The aliens, the ones not of this world, or the ones that do wickedly upon this earth?  I personally plan to be with the "aliens" in body…my new spiritual body.