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Matt. 18:33-34, “Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.”

First off, in my humble opinion, I believe the the Gospels are technically the Old Testament and occurred under the Old Covenant. When did the New Covenant and Church begin?

So, I believe the Gospels are evangelistic. Is there word and revelation in the Gospels for the believer? There most definitely is, but the admonition is not to mix old wine into new wine-skins and to rightly divide the word of truth as ministers of the New Covenant.

Matthew 18:34 says, “…delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.” Who are the torturers? I believe when the Lord spoke His words that they had manifold meaning. In this particular case, I think torturers could be a number of things. The word in the Greek is properly, “the torturer” which is singular. I believe this torturer is the law written in our hearts prior to knowing that is the One Who purges our conscience from the judgment and penalty of the law.

Now, that I am be honest with myself I think the Lord told me this morning, “Forgiveness comes through you.” He is the Forgiver coming through and I am the vessel partaking in the truth and light of this grace. I am under grace and do not judge myself, 1 Cor. 4:3-4. I can only forgive as He has revealed Himself, Love and His forgiveness to and IN me, Eph. 4:32. This forgiveness comes through the believer into the world. It is not ethereal, but does sit with Him who sits on the throne of grace.

This is what I saw as far as being “”…delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him.”

I cannot set myself free. Only Jesus can pay the price. I can’t pay it and no one else can. We grow in the wonderful, life-changing knowledge and grace of Christ Jesus. In the is growth, I am changed and given all power to do things I could not do before like save myself, forgive, love.

The torturer is essentially the self-imposed judgment based on the law written in our hearts being witness by our conscience until the unveiled knowledge and simplicity of forgiveness is witnessed to our conscience in the holy blood of Christ.

The unsaved and those under the law (who shouldn’t be) are delivered to the torturer. Those under grace, walk by faith and revelation. For those under grace, the Lord reveals forgiveness to enable you to forgive. Either you are under grace or not. Who is he that condemns?

Thank you Lord.

This blog builds on the previous blog, Usurp.

I was wondering and praying about how does usurping manifest or what does it look like? I recieved an email from a brother in the Lord last night. He said he was at church and the pastor said the letters on the church sign kept blowing off and the pastor kept having to run out towards and even onto the highway. My friend yelled out, “The letter kills brother!” I thought that was so funny. He was referring to 2 Cor. 3:6.

This resonated in me this morning, “The letter kills.” And then it dawned on me. This is a type of manifestation of usurping. If I ‘put law’ on my spouse, brother or sister in Christ then this could turn into ‘law’. Some might respond, “So what?”

You don’t want law on your back. You want grace. Law brings to life the old nature. It empowers sin. It can only judge and condemn. It eventually brings you to Christ by your inability to fulfill it. It kills you, Rom. 7:11! Our righteousness is by His faith in us through grace.

I believe Revelation 2:20-24 also speaks of usurping. Revelation speaks of the woman Jezebel, but usurping is impartial to either gender.

1 Tim. 2:12, “But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.”

I recently wrote Solo. Today, I was reading about the office of an apostle at this link. I came across the above verse, 1 Tim. 2:12. I went to BLB and queried the verse and word “usurp.” I discovered it is very similar if not almost the same as was I wrote in the Solo blog.

It means “One who with his own hand kills either others or himself (suicide).” This is what Paul is saying in regard to a woman usurping authority over her husband and authority in the Church. This is very interesting. I recommend reading Solo and then cross-reference this blog. Very interesting. So, it seems that usurping authority is like a spiritual homicide or suicide. If I usurp God’s authority then I am alienating myself from His Life!

Back in April, I wrote Self-imposed enmity. Today, I discovered that the apostle Paul used a similar word, autokatakritos, when he was speaking to Titus in Titus 3:11. The word means, “self-condemned.” Paul says those who are self-condemned, or those who have not known Christ’s forgiveness or have forgiven themselves with His power are warped, twisted and inverted. They are “turned inside out” or “changed entirely.”¹ What does this mean? These individuals are inverted. In Psychology, when someone takes the role of the opposite gender they are inverted².

According to scripture, God’s love does not keep any record of wrongs because of Christ’s death and sacrificial blood. Christ died because of God’s will, love and nature. If I am inverted then I am opposed towards my true nature and identity. I am opposed to myself. If others do not agree with my self-opposition then I could be unawarely compelled to convert them to inversion or oppose them. I believe this is what Paul dealt with and why he may have written things like Gal. 2:4, 2 Cor. 11:26, 2 Cor. 12:7.

To me, something that is inverted is something that is not in its naturual designed position, purpose and orientation. As an example, I am reminded of an inverted cross or the above example of a transgender peron. Although the world may frown upon transgender people, the Lord is no respecter of persons, Acts 10:34. If this is true then I believe unforgiveness was not meant to dwell in us. Instead we were created to have faith, love and hope dwell in us, Eph. 1:5. Why was Christ crucified before the foundations of the earth? Who was He crucified for?

Romans 2:1, “Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.”

Inexcusable:

1. without defense or excuse
2. that which cannot be defended, inexcusable

If someone judges me they are really telling me the law written in their own heart. If the law written on the Gentile heart is not met that person will let others know if they are not meeting it either. They are under the curse of the law in the heart!, Gal. 3:10, “All who rely on observing the law are under a curse…” Even the law written in our hearts! Just my opinion of course.

So, someone would say, “Brother, that scripture is in regard to the Jewish brethren.”

My response is Romans 2:26-27 (NIV), “If those who are not circumcised keep the law’s requirements, will they not be regarded as though they were circumcised? The one (Gentile) who is not circumcised physically and yet obeys the law will condemn you who, even though you (Jew) have the written code and circumcision, are a lawbreaker.”

It would be better if I do not judge myself like Paul did, 1 Cor. 4:3. Why or how was this possible? I believe Paul’s conscience was purged. How did he know this? He speaks of faith and knowledge that lead to godliness or god-likeness in Titus 1:1. This faith was imparted by the revelation of Christ in him!, Gal. 1:16, 2:20. Faith is imparted when God speaks to us. When we hear God speak to us it changes us and does not only make us right-standing with Him, but it imparts and creates His righteous nature in us! This righteous nature also contains a good, pure, sanctified and purged conscience according to the sacrificial blood of the Lamb of God, Christ, Heb. 9:14.

In essence, according to what Christ fulfilled on His cross, my conscience does not know what the judgment or penalty of the “self-imposed law” in my heart is anymore! I believe this is what Romans 8:1 implies, “[There is] therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” “No condemnation or judgment” means none whatsoever. It is non-existent.

The writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 11:1, “Now, faith is…” So, NOW, FAITH is. Not NOW Condemnation, but we are ministers of the New Covenant. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life and quickens our mortal bodies everytime we hear what God speaks to us. When He speaks His word to us by His Spirit we believe. In this believing, I am being transformed by the faith and knowledge unto godliness over and over, glory to glory to be like Him.

Thee bible speaks of several deaths,

1. Physical death
2. Spiritual death
3. Being dead in Christ
4. The dead in Christ (different from #2)
5. Twice dead
6. The second death
7. Christ’s death

This blog concerns number one and two.

Psalms 91:1 says, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

Paul says in 2 Cor. 12:9, “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

The “power of God resting on him” is resting on him like a tabernacle or tent.

Speaking of death, what about Col. 3:3? It says we are dead. Or Romans 6:7? Yes, we are dead in Christ, but moreover we are ALIVE spiritually, Eph. 2:1.

Apart from Christ and not knowing Him I was spiritually dead. This death apart from Christ is death by separation from God and the LIFE that we have promised in His Son, 2 Tim. 1:1. We were dead in our sins prior to Christ, Eph. 2:1,5; Col. 2:13.

Our lives and LIFE are both in Christ. I am of the opinion the adversary cannot find those who are alive in Christ because they are no longer under the law. The bible says the power of sin is the law, 1 Cor. 15:56. It also says we are under grace, Rom. 6:14. The grave or death does not have victory, 1 Cor. 15:55-57.

I believe one area in the secret place of the Most High is under grace, in Christ, with His peace guarding our hearts and minds, being His righteousness, totally unaware of the judgment or penalty of the law.

It is almost as if the enemy has a “law” gun or “law” bow and arrow that can only work on those who do not know the truth, or those under the law and self-imposed law. Colossians 2:15 (NKJV) says the enemy has been disarmed by Christ and totally exposed, “Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”

If I am aware I am not under the law then I perceive the Lord’s power much more than the enemy’s. The enemy’s gun at best I guess in comparison would be a water pistol. Paul calls it a “thorn in the flesh.”

The devil looks for dead men and women who are under the law and throw more law at them to entangle them again unto a yoke of bondage, Gal. 5:1. He is the father of lies, a murderer, thief, accuser and deceiver! And if I am under the law his characteristics have more strength. If I am in Christ I begin asking questions like what is death and where is its victory? Isa. 25:8, 1 Cor. 15:54-55. Christ tasted death for all of us, Heb. 2:9.

1 Cor. 15:8 (DBY) Paul says in regard to the resurrected Christ being witnessed by others and then him, “and last of all, as to an abortion or premature birth, he appeared to me also.”

What does this mean? At work I was responding to someone and used the word ‘premature.’ The above scripture quickened in me.

* First of all, I would like to make a clarification for reference. I support life and having children. I support adoption. I support birth control and contraceptives. I do not support abortion. I believe it is murder by choice.

The word premature can also means mature or ripe before its time. It also means, “Occurring, growing, or existing before the customary, correct, or assigned time; uncommonly or unexpectedly early.”

When I think of a premature birth or an aborted child the idea I get is the environment in which the child is born into supposes it is not ready for its birth. If this were true I should not have been born or anyone else. No one is a mistake. We are all created in His image. We all have a free-will at birth to choose. We are all born into iniquity and sin. I believe the man and woman who chose to become pregnant are the accountable party making the mistake as well as creating the situation. How can you blame someone who is not yet even born and sentence them to death? That has already been done. Christ has fulfilled that, Rev. 13:8. Why should anyone else have to be sentenced to die? That is not justice, but murder. If an innocent by-standard in a bank is left for dead after a bank robbery is that not murder? Neither that person or the unborn child had a choice to die. Abortions are not accidents. Genuine accidents may result in aborted births. These are not the same. So, if I have an ‘accident’ then abortion is moral? A genuine accident is a situation the mother is totally unaware of. It was not pre-meditated. What about rape or incest? What if that child is the next President, Billy Graham, or you? What about adoption?

The Father sent His Son into this world to die for us while we were yet still in our sin! Therefore, we can by grace, power, and love in us, give birth to these children and remove the curse they were born into. Jesus became a curse for us! Jesus gives salvation. These children deserve salvation.

That was an unplanned, but necessary and good tangent.

Back to Paul being born untimely. I am of the opinion the world was not ready for his birth and possibly some of the church. Peter, growing in grace and knowledge of Christ, 2 Pet. 3:18, still struggled with justfication by works or grace. Paul had to correct Peter, apostle to the Jews, in front of everyone there, Galatians 2:14. And Peter walked with Jesus! The world is not ready for apostles and prophets. They are viewed as the refuse and aborted children of the world. This is what Paul said. I did not make this up. On the contrary, the Church is ready!

I believe the apostle or prophet are similar to pioneers or trail blazers. What if someone came from the future to show you what your race would evolve into? I believe this was and is Christ Jesus, the Last Adam and our High Priest in the order of Melchizedek. Now, this same Christ dwells and makes His home in us by grace and revelation according to His beautiful word! The future is being created in us from faith to faith and glory to glory. That is why I believe Paul felt he was born prematurely.

2 Tim. 1:1 says, “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus…”

You could say Paul was a metabolite of the revelation of Christ in him. The revelation was consuming, digesting, metabolizing, diffusing and apprehending him from the inside out. This was all happening by the will of God. By grace, he grew to an understanding in the will of God by this internal revelation of Christ according to the word, Col. 1:9. The effect of this unearthly knowledge and understanding of His will compelled him into being who he was. His life was hid in Christ, Col. 3:3. That is how he was an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God. The sacrifice and life of Christ which was promised before time began, Tit. 1:2, was Paul’s life. The below excerpt from Blue Letter Bible gives an awesome explanation of why Jesus died. It was to impart His Life! The offering of His blood and life was not only sacrificial, but it was also an impartation. He is the Last Adam. No more Adamic creations are needed after Him. He said it is finished. He provides access directly to the Father!

Quote from BLB:

Death came through sin, Rom. 5:12, which is rebellion against God. Sin thus involved the forfeiting of the “life.” “The life of the flesh is in the blood,” Lev. 17:11. Therefore the impartation of “life” to the sinner must be by a death caused by the shedding of that element which is the life of the flesh. “It is the blood that maketh atonement by reason of the life” (id., RV). The separation from God caused by the forfeiting of the “life” could be removed only by a sacrifice in which the victim and the offerer became identified. This which was appointed in the typical offerings in Israel received its full accomplishment in the voluntary sacrifice of Christ. The shedding of the blood in the language of Scripture involves the taking or the giving of the “life.” Since Christ had no sins of his own to die for, His death was voluntary and vicarious, John 10:15 with Isa. 53:5, 10, 12; 2 Cor. 5:21. In His sacrifice He endured the Divine judgment due to man’s sin. By this means the believer becomes identified with Him in His deathless “life,” through His resurrection, and enjoys conscious and eternal fellowship with God.

In my opinion, if we truly were created in the image of God then there are several implications. Here is one that comes to mind. When the Father sent His Son to manifest life in a fleshly body the bible says, “The Word became flesh.” Christ is also called the, “First and the Last. Alpha and Omega.” He is also called the last Adamic Pattern even though He is the first and the last and has pre-eminence in all things. The grace-enabled act of me believing this causes something spiritually monumental (a small limited description) to happen. At the moment I believe by grace, my spirit person is completely made whole, saved, renewed and made alive in God-kind of way. When I say the God-kind of way I mean life in every way unto overflowing insomuch death in non-existent because life overwhelms it or absorbs it.

My spirit is saved. The Spirit of God communicates to my spirit by truth, light and revelation of the word. This has an effect on my soul and person. My soul nature changes supernaturally because of the effect of God’s nature in His Son in me by His Spirit. I am a new creation growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ. This effect or manifestation in the soul has a supernatural effect on my body.

A brother told me something recently and I believe it. He said, “We have universes in our DNA.” What!? We have universes of God’s fullness in our DNA that are being unveiled by Christ in us. In Christ, all fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. He lives in me now by His Spirit. This fullness is growing everyday all the time by His grace exponentially with no bounds. This is life. This life is genuine and more real than real.

Today, 05/07/09, Lupe, our new dog jumped on my leg to welcome me home and probably to get some food or a hug. This dog has tons of personality. Technically, she is my wife’s dog. When she jumped on my leg I looked in her eyes and saw her little dog heart and soul. She is still a puppy inside and I could see that. I could also see her sincerity and tenderness of her heart. I can’t believe I am writing or talking about a dog, but I’ll go with it. Later, the thought came to mind,  perhaps Einstein said that we only use 8-10% of our brains. I thought some animals brains are like 8-10% the size of a human brain which lead me to the next thought. Did Adam communicate with the animals in a different way Prior to the Fall than we do now? Prior to the tower of Babel being built everyone on the planet spoke the same language and were in one accord to be like the Most High until new languages were created by God and they were dispersed abroad. What would it be like now if everyone on the planet spoke the same language? My point is this. First, God walked with man in the garden. Then the Fall occurred. During all of this all people spoke the same language. So, another question I have is if Adam was filled with all the fullness of God prior to the Fall because sin had not entered the world then did he even need to speak? Were the animals even on the same “wave length” as man due to fullness? If everything is not under the curse then what would it look like? Everything would be in perfect unity and harmony and more! I’ve read testimonies of people in near death experiences and they mention that communication is without words, but spiritual or they call it telepathic. God is more than telepathy. I believe the gifts of the Spirit which are for the Church are examples of some of that spiritual and supernatural communication. Paul says in his epistles that he is with a church ‘in spirit’ as if he was there and is able to see their progress. The dream of the man from Macedonia speaking to Paul to come there is another example. I have had situations time and time again of communication from God either by His word or an experience in everyday life, but did not hear audible words. I heard something though that ran though my being. We are in constant prayer Paul says. Constant communication. In the Spirit, we all speak the same language again in truth and revelation.