Animals

BC Cartoon by Johnny Hart:

This is a study on the importance of animals in the lives of humans.

Ps 8: 6-8

6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands;

         You have put all things under his feet,

 7 All sheep and oxen—

         Even the beasts of the field,

 8 The birds of the air,

         And the fish of the sea

    That pass through the paths of the seas.

A program just aired (Nov 2005) on public TV showing the SPCA and the Humane Society rescuing animals after Katrina hit New Orleans. This caused me to reflect, again, on my love for animals and my feelings towards my two cats. Once again, I thought back to animals I have owned in the past.

It was stated that man's feeling towards animals are simple yet overwhelming and unexplainable. Yes, I know what they mean. Who can explain why we bond so deeply with them? Is it because we fall in love with innocence? Do we love small creatures the size of human infants who, though they cannot talk, invoke strong, loving feelings?

It is incredible to think of having a creature that shares breathing and blood coursing through its veins as we do, yet a different species. The fact that they are not human leaves a mystery as to what they think and feel. So there is endless fascination watching them play, sleep, or clean their own bodies. They are often clever and humorous, especially when they mimic humans.

I have had animals that live with me day in and day out for at least 15 years now.  Maybe some people cannot comprehend that I look forward to being with these animals as much as I can, and that their effect is so profoundly soothing I would write about them. 

I find it very hard to be alone and also without my cats at the same time.  While staying in hotels in Toronto, I was happy to be alone with God while at a spiritual retreat there, but I am more in tune with Him when I have the gentle, unselfish, loving touch of an animal. Thus, if I am going to be in a hotel communing with God - let it be with my animals as well.

There is little theology written regarding the meaning of animals in the lives of humans, and the purpose God has for them. We have yet to talk about this great resource offered to us for our numerous emotional and spiritual ills.

It might be hard to defend the idea that animals ought to be so important to us.  That is why we need to look at the biblical history of animals in relation to man, and find out what God thinks. It is quite amazing.

"Ox and ass before Him bow.” "And the friendly beasts around him stood."

Christmas reminds me of the great purpose God had for animals in the birth of His son, Jesus. God had him born in a stable.

You probably never really knew how divine, how special animals are to God. If you pay close enough attention, the Bible shows just how important animals have been to God and just how divine their influence.  Notice how much detail God puts into regarding animals when he finally speaks to Job.  He asks Job if he created the sea creature Leviathan, and then goes on to describe the scales and the fiery breath (Job 41) He describes numerous other animals (job 38, 39) He seems extremely proud of them.

Job states that animals and the earth know God better than man. They know who is in charge. 

Job 12: 7-10 reads, "But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you, and the birds of the air, and they will tell you, or speak to the earth and it will teach you, and the fish of the sea will explain to you.  Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this, in whose hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind?"

Animals were present during the most significant events in the history of earth. Animals were used by God to care for man, even for His only son Jesus.  

But let's start at the beginning. They were present in the Garden of Eden, and man lived surrounded by them without fear. (Gen 2:19)  One must recognize that part of the paradise was the rich life surrounded by all types of animals.  Adam first, then both Adam and Eve were delighted and fascinated by the variety of animals - all tame.

Next, animals were present on the ark in the story of Noah (Gen 6-8) as the people on the ark passed through forty days and nights of terror, floating on pure water over the whole earth and braving the endless storm. It is important to note:  while God rescued very few humans during the flood, He made sure that Noah rescued far more animals!  I can't help but believe that the animals played a significant role in making the journey far more bearable-bringing them "down to earth" providing comfort and peace. Undoubtedly, the animals were quite peaceful about the event, as they went into a state of hibernation during the flood. 

Being forced to care for the animals during the trip might have provided a healthy diversion from Noah and his family's upset feelings. One group of historians, who researched the flood and produced a television special, stated that there were not all that many species of animals at the time and many would have gone into hibernation, so the feeding of them would have been within the reach of Noah's family. 

Animals have an amazing consistency in all circumstances and often behave as if nothing is wrong. At times animals signal man that something is wrong, as they pick up on it with a keen sensitivity - many times beyond man's ability.

The next major event is, of course, the birth of Jesus. (Luke 2)  Here is where it makes perfect sense to me that animals were involved.  Jesus was forced to stay out of the inn, but that was God's idea. 

If Jesus had been born in the inn, the spirits attracted by people would have surrounded the little baby, and in so many cases those spirits would be wicked.  The people in the inn were just ordinary folk, and many of us ordinary folk have a fair share of demons in our lives if we're not totally committed to God or "sold out" on His presence.  To protect the newborn child who was God in the flesh, God made sure that the spirits of animals surrounded him. 

The spirit, the life within an animal, is a dispensation of God Himself. An animal is a creature without a will.  God makes all the choices and the animal lives in no discord with God. Being surrounded by animals, along with Joseph and Mary (consecrated human beings) meant being surrounded by healthy spirits instead of evil spirits.  It was a protection for the mind of the little child.  TRULY, ANIMALS WERE THE MOST DIVINE PRESENCE FOR THE LITTLE BABY.

     

Most people who love animals are extremely vexed by the imperfections in man and find man intolerable.  Whether for good reasons or bad, such people feel they need to stay clear of man, but find a great compensation for their loneliness in animals.

I can vouch for the fact that the comfort is great, and that God has provided a great means of coping with estrangement from man (if that is necessary for a time) in animals. Nevertheless, it is important to guard against making animal companionship a substitute for life with other humans, or even worse, making an idolatry of animals.

Discovery channel began a new series called "I shouldn't be alive" telling amazing stories of survival against all odds. One of the episodes told the story of a man who started a conservation effort for the painted dog in the bush of Africa. He had been working in the bush for several years and was familiar with every aspect of the wilderness.

One day he was called upon to rescue an animal he hadn't had as much experience with out in the middle of nowhere using a small plane. I think it was a rhino.

A man who helped him with the painted dog effort had a bad feeling about it. They both had premonitions that they didn't follow. The man went out, against his better judgment, alone, taking the plane and circled over the area where the animal was. The plane suddenly had a problem and began spiraling to the ground.

The man survived but his legs were broken in several places. He noticed that gas was dripping from the plane so he was concerned that it would explode. He decided to crawl away from the plane, but that was slow and painful.

As he inched away he realized that his boots, tied with double bows tightly, were constricting his legs. His legs were swelling, and swelling into the boots. So he crawled to a nearby tree and propped himself up onto the tree so he could reach his boots. The tree just happened to be thorny, so he had to endure the thorns as he rubbed up against it. He managed to untie and pull off his boots through much pain, using a stick to reach the laces. From there he realized that it was far too hot to stay out under the sun.

He now needed to crawl back to the plane to find shade under the wing, in spite of the threat of it blowing up.

He began to try to crawl back, enduring lack of food and water, hallucinations, and total weakness due to loss of blood and broken bones. He had to force himself to roll over onto his stomach as it was far easier to crawl that way to the plane.

The pain of rolling over one of the broken legs was again excruciating, and he screamed. Crawling back (and here's the part about animals!) he said he could begin to hear the footfalls of animals - all ones he clearly recognized from his years of experience in the bush.

He heard the hard pounding of elephants, with their babies, and knew that if they saw him as a threat may stampede him. He knew that if they caught sight of him early enough they would walk away. If he was a surprise to them too late, they would get scared and threatened. He could do nothing but lay there and hope for them to catch sight early. They fortunately did see him early and they did walk away.

He made it to the plane, which offered some sort of refuge from wild animals, but not much. The next animal to come along was one I don’t remember.  It was sniffing. He knew that to make a loud sound banging a stick on the plane may send them away, but it was terrifying and uncertain until it did work, and they ran away.

Next, it was the king of the jungle - the lion - a pride of lions. He used the same technique and it worked, but it was a close call and terrifying.

When night fell, he had to face new challenges. At night, hyenas came by and he was more scared than ever as they are a terrifying threat. He did the same thing again, and it worked, but again - more frightening suspense.

27 hours he was out there waiting. His friend who had helped him found the painted dog operation, was out searching for him. During the night it was impossible to continue the search, but the next day the search was on again.

By that 27th hour, he was spotted. Never was there a more beautiful demonstration of a profound truth, though the movie Grizzly Man partly portrayed this as well.

This man, alone in the wilderness, found that animals were a serious threat to his very life. Animals were a source of complete terror, and completely unwelcome, even though he had loved every minute of working with them for many years.

Each animal that had come by was a new hell to endure. Each time he said in the documentary: "I heard a new footfall" and each time it was elephants, or it was hyenas - some new animal he was familiar with.

But the last time he said, "I heard a footfall and knew - it was the feet of man." And when people came it meant nothing but being totally rescued, and nurtured back to health.

This was a profound comparison, reminding us once again: nature can be harsh, unloving and dangerous. This is an important reminder to those of us who may have been tempted at times to replace people in our lives entirely with animals.  

For those who depend heavily on animals, I want to say that some day your greatest rescue will not come from animals, it will come from man. For some of you this is hard to believe. But man, made in the image of God has the knowledge of what you need. Like Adam, you will at last learn that what you need in the garden is to find the "bone of your bone and the flesh of your flesh."

Yet, there is the value of animals.

Paul the apostle went into a hermitage of being alone while learning to become God's leader and there would have been animals in his hermitage. David the shepherd spent his formative years with animals.  In my own hermitage away from many aspects of man and the culture of man, I simply would not know how to cope without a loving touch in some way.  For that I found cats.

 

In my attempt to survive my loneliness with regards to people, particularly male people, I found myself becoming more caught up in the behavior and nature of animals, and found a measure of satisfaction in their affection as well. But I would be remiss to say that it was total satisfaction.  It helped me in some ways, but in some ways it totally failed. New studies in 2004-05 show women have stated that their pets provide more affection than their men! Funny!

I am a cat lover by nature, but this love is not limited to cats by any means.  I simply find cats to be the most practical animal for my kind of a world. I adore animals in general. Contrary to popular thought, I find that cats are incredibly loving and dependent, although not the same as a dog. Their affection is priceless.

Animals are completely spotless with regards to sin.  They cannot sin. When man becomes delusional and hyper-religious, as Christians have been during certain periods of history, man sees animals as no different than man.  In the middle or dark ages, it is chronicled that animals were put on trial and executed along with humans.  If a human indulged bestiality, the animal himself was tried and if "convicted", was put to death. Enlightened and healthy minds know this is ludicrous. It might make sense to get rid of an animal that had been used this way, so that the sickness of the ordeal would be erased for the animal as well as the people involved, but I don't think this is why the animals were put to death.  The truth is, they do not sin.

We have not defined the spirit that lives within an animal. Like our spirits, it keeps them alive and leaves them when their bodies are destroyed. The affection is pure.  It is genuine.  It is devoid of insincerity and of unwelcome sexuality. It is a God idea. They can be healers. Pets supposedly cause blood pressure to go down.   

Animals have been given to man in three ways:

1) As incredibly satisfying companions

 

2) As food acceptable to God for man's nourishment, but only certain animals

3) As a sacrificial offering for sin before Jesus made the final sacrifice.

In essence, God has made animals for various needs of man. Their purpose is beautiful. 

Proverbs 12:10 A righteous man regards the life of his animal.

Psalm 36:6 (Amplified Bible)

6Your righteousness is like the mountains of God, Your judgments are like the great deep. O Lord, You preserve man and beast.

Psalm 50:10

10 For every beast of the forest is Mine,

         And the cattle on a thousand hills.

Revelation talks about God creating unique animal creatures to praise in heaven : 

Rev. 4: 6-11.

6 Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. 8 The four living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within. And they do not rest day or night, saying:

      “ Holy, holy, holy,[b]

      Lord God Almighty,

      Who was and is and is to come!”

9 Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying:

       11 “ You are worthy, O Lord,[c]

      To receive glory and honor and power;

      For You created all things,

      And by Your will they exist[d] and were created.”

Ismail, Cut Off From Isaac

For so long I was enamored of the Jews and the meaning of their existence - still am.  The Jews have everything to do with my own faith, as they have laid the foundation upon which faith in Jesus rests.  But when it comes to Arabs, it took longer to both understand and appreciate them. I finally understood the meaning of being an Arab for the first time, when the story of Ismail first became clear to me. This understanding came during a confusing war - the Persian Gulf War.  This war was confusing mainly because Saddam Hussein was never captured at that time.

One of the key ways of learning was through two pastors who preached on the subject.  One of those pastors was Rick Engels-a Jew from California who became a Christian and who is now doing mission work in Pune, India (Muslim.) He visited a church in Minneapolis where I was attending.  He obviously has a loving spirit and is very intelligent.

The other is an African American pastor in California who appeared on a Christian television network that broadcasts from California.  I will share some of what they shared in sermons on Ismail and will add insights that I have gained as well.

First, as we all know, Abraham wanted a son but Sarah was barren.  He was a man, and like any man he doubted God.  God had said he would have a son whose blood line would bring the Messiah, and whose descendants would be more than the sands of the sea.  Here he was, advancing in age along with Sarah, and no kids. 

Maybe he wondered if it was his duty to go ahead and have a child in the traditional way under these circumstances (have one with the wife's mistress.)  It wasn't immoral according to the standards that were understood at that time.  But God's idea was unique for the times.

Abraham was expected to listen to God's ideas even if they were foreign. God expected a lot!  God wanted the mother to be Abraham's only wife, Sarah.  In spite of the fact that both Abraham and Sarah were brought up in a kind of harem where there was one father but many mothers (Sarah and Abraham had the same father) God was introducing something new. 

Even though Abraham and Sarah were half siblings, through them God was trying to establish a nuclear family.  Abraham did not marry again until she was gone.  By taking Hagar the young Egyptian as Abraham's son's mother, he was violating God's plan.

But he did impregnate Hagar, and she had a son.  It is very interesting to read in the Jewish writings about this memorable event. The story begins in Genesis, chapter 16.  How many Jews have paid attention?    Sarah was inflamed with jealousy when she saw this young beauty with the child that she may have felt she could never have, the child that God had said would be hers. Incidentally, Sarah pressured Abraham into doing this, yet God held him responsible for his deed similar to the Adam and Eve story. God never excused men for giving into the pressure of women!

It says that Sarai (original name) treated Hagar harshly so that the maid fled from her.  Then, an angel appeared to Hagar in the wilderness where she fled.  As Rick queried-how many of us have had an angel appear to us?  In the Bible, only a few accounts can be found where people had angels appear to them. 

One was Mary, the virgin.  Think of the fact that Hagar was considered as important as the Virgin Mary or as Jacob, for example.  The angel tells her to go back to her mistress to submit to her.  Through the angel the Lord gives her the same blessing that he gave to Abraham! 

He said, "I will greatly bless your descendants so that they shall be too many to count."   Where and how has this been fulfilled? We clearly see the answer in the huge number of those who are believers in the faith of Ismail, not to mention his direct descendants, the Arabs. Furthermore, the angel told her that she was to call her child Ismail (God has heard), because "the Lord has given heed to your affliction." (Vs. 11).

Then God says, "And he will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone, and everyone's hand will be against him." (Verse 12.) When I heard this I thought “huh! Now that sounds right!” And the preacher made a joke about it. This problem may be the result of Ismail's anger as a result of not having a stable and secure beginning, or the normal position for a first son.

Then it says, (vs. 13), "Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, 'Thou art a God who sees'; for she said, 'Have I remained alive here after seeing Him?' (Vs. 14) Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi..." (Means "before the face of")

Later, when Sarah had her son, Isaac, she wanted to drive out Hagar and Ismail and said she did not want him to be an heir along with Isaac.  This was said in response to Ismail mocking her.  (Genesis 21:9)  Abraham was greatly distressed, (vs. 11). Ismail was jealous and angry.  After all, he was the first son.  Why shouldn't he, according to tradition, be the heir?

God tells Abraham to listen to Sarah because through Isaac his descendants shall be named.  But, in the next verse God also says, "And the son of the maid I will make a nation also, because he is your descendant," (vs. 13). Then, Hagar was forced out into the wilderness alone, with the boy, where she feared she would die.  An angel of God came and asked her what was wrong.  He said

"Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.  Arise, lift up the lad and hold him by the hand, for I will make a great nation of him.  Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink.  And God was with the lad, and he grew," (verses 17-20).

Clearly, the human element barred Ismail from having a place in the family at all.  Reconciliation between Jews and Arabs must take place before God's work can be considered finished on earth.  The Messiah of the Jews, whom Jews reject, and whom the Muslims believe to be merely a prophet, is the answer. 

Jesus came to reconcile all non-Jews to Himself, while the Jews remain blind to his having been here already.  The ultimate plan is that the Jews will also recognize the Messiah, and together Arabs and Muslims, Jews and true Christians will be as one. 

It sounds too good to be true.  But I cannot help but believe that the Jews have made it nearly impossible for Arabs to recognize Christ simply because you must embrace the meaning of the Jews searching for their Messiah, and the Messiah having come, and Arabs have been wounded by the Jews and their religion. 

Without embracing Jews and their beliefs, the Muslim feels the need to contain Jesus in the role of a prophet, because Ismail's rightful place in the family of Abraham has been torn from him.  He does not care to look at or think about this Messiah who is for the brother who rejected him. But this Messiah came for Ismail too!

When all things have become clear, then Ismail's descendants will understand the meaning of being the sons of Isaac.  Isaac's sons have paid dearly for such an inheritance, and their lives have been marked by torment, persecution and insecurity.

Ultimately, though Ismail was thrown out and lost his security, it is Isaac who has been without a home for a long time.  And don't forget-it is Isaac's family that is living without their Messiah.

 

The Jews' situation is sad today. The children of the remnant-Jews who know they are Jews-have somewhat compromised their identity.  Many have abandoned faith.

We tend to believe that to be chosen is to be as a king, to be served.  This is not what God had in mind for His chosen.  He asked them to pay this high price for that title.  When you learn that they have done it all for all of us, including Ismail, then you will rejoice in the meaning of Isaac and his descendants.

Through Isaac-Messiah has come.  The meaning was for all who were left out of the inheritance of the Jews. That would include the writer of this essay-a gentile.   Through Jesus, all of the riches of this inheritance were passed on.  In fact, even the Jews have never tasted some of the goodness of being bonded, through the Messiah, to God.

The ultimate truth is this: God's chosen are given great burdens to bear, and we should neither desire this task nor envy those to whom it is given.  Instead, we can benefit so much more from receiving what they have given us: the way to the Messiah of the world.

Will you recognize that the Messiah is being offered to you ahead of the Jews?  He bypassed their plan for Him.  Their plan for Him was to come to earth and be king and give them heaven on earth.  Instead, he came as a humble, unlikely man to prepare the hearts of the rest of those he came to save so that he could finally return as king.  In this way he is humbling them, not allowing them to see him now, so that they will see how much he loved all those he came to save.

As an Arab, a descendant of Abraham through Ismail, or as a Muslim, a descendant by faith, you are offered the Messiah's peace, and a place in God's kingdom, just as we gentiles have been offered. 

Please accept this offer and know that the cycle of rejection is ended.  God has joined you to himself by Abraham's gift to you: the right of being a true son by faith in the promised Messiah that did come.

                                                              

   

Why Do I Extol The Jew?

The Jew is God's focal point on earth.

The Jew goes back directly to Adam and Eve (we have the entire family tree on record), and Abraham, the father of all Jews, comes directly from the lineage of Adam.

God chose the Jews and collectively made them a kind of messiah; He made them endure burdens and hardships for us-the lowly Gentiles-so that one day their messiah would come and be ours as well.

They were spit upon, tortured, and despised, just as He was-all because they bore the imprint of God and therefore bore the burden of divinity. Poor beasts that flogged them-they knew that absolutely no one could hold a candle to the Jew.

And God laid on the Jews that burden, the burden of His divinity. They did what they did for us, only most didn't understand, or don’t understand. Many wanted to be more like we Gentiles and emulated us.

This is an interfaith exchange. We believe that Jesus, (Yeshua in Hebrew) was the true Messiah, though many Jews do not accept this as true.

When our messiah, their messiah, came to us-we were beasts. We had strange notions of gods (instead of God) and of our earth and our relationship to it. We had a twisted relationship to each other as well as to animals and rocks.

We had darkness in our understanding, even though we had knowledge of many things. We communed daily with demons and drank blood-God's sacred element, which He strictly forbade His people. Our minds were dull and yes, pagan, swept by winds of evil and base impulses. All things considered, we had nothing! We were alone, each of us a stranger to one another. We knew no love. We knew only the idolatry of beauty and the lust thereof.

Yeshua came and touched the wild minds the way he stilled the wind and the waves. He came in the form of his saints. He came over the seas, first to islands where they received his message – England and Scandinavia. It was there the Angles, Jutes, Saxons and Friesians had wandered to from some unknown location, and the Vikings later emerged that were also called the Danes. Yeshua came to the British Isles, which had once been inhabited by the Romans, who for a time had extended their kingdom, and by the Celts who had already lived there for an untold number of years.

All of these pagan nations waited in darkness for many years, though for what they did not know.

Lives began to transform. The Vikings were subdued and overcome and also turned to Yeshua for grace. We found dignity and power, self-control and knowledge, science and creativity - we found light! All came through a moral awakening in our spirits and through a spiritual tide sweeping over us.

Our minds sharpened and eventually we excelled so far we brought the advanced technological age we know today into being. That was in cooperation with Jews and other enlightened souls. Unfortunately, knowledge brought power and pride, which conflicted with the divinity Yeshua had instilled. Many souls still retained the poisons of the past, yet we did not turn back to our pagan ways altogether.

We know now that some have returned to the pagan ways, but many have not.

Rabbi Jacob Neusner, who doesn't even believe that Jesus is the messiah, claims in his book "A Rabbi Talks With Jesus" that Jesus is responsible for civilizing the western world.

Despite the humble origin of the Christian church and its many faults and foibles throughout history, as D. James Kennedy says, "the church has made more changes on earth for the good than any other movement or force in history." Here are some of the changes that can be credited to believers in Jesus and the church in the west:

Hospitals and Universities, founded during the middle Ages

Literacy and education for the masses

The abolition of slavery

Modern science

The elevation of women

Inspiration for some of the greatest works of art

And the list goes on and on...

Contrary to popular thought, when women were deified in our world, and while some were in authority, most common women were still treated like animals. Yeshua totally altered this. Look at our world today and notice that it is the Christian world that has given women the power to excel.

In studying what we call the “Old Testament,” which has the same words as the Jewish scriptures, I can see that women had a much higher status in the Jewish system than in the world around them.

In the “New Testament,” Paul the apostle states there is neither Jew nor Greek [now] and neither male nor female. The values of the Old Testament are carried over into the New.

To put it simply – we got their God. I don’t know how it happened, but we got to be like them, chosen also by God.

All that we have been able to realize in our lives was made possible by our friend the Jew. Even before the birth of Yeshua, the Jew brought light and the opportunity to find God's love and transformation.

The Jews, among us for centuries, ensured a sane and civilized mind always inhabiting the earth during many dark years. This civilizing effect made many ripples in the pool of history.

When I look at the Jews as a collective I can see the imprint of God, even today, long after the Jews left their homeland and wandered the earth for centuries. I have to ask, "How is it possible that so many of them still know they are Jews?

Their history is unparalleled. They are truly 'peculiar' people. Yes, and they have even gone back and retrieved the ancient country that once was theirs-the place that theoretically, Adam and Eve had their Eden - how amazing after being scattered for centuries.

When I look at the Jews I see the most tangible evidence that will ever be offered me that the God of the Bible is real, because the Jews are obviously the people God is talking about in that book. The Jews give me a strange security because if they ever disappeared off the face of the earth I would know that God had left me to perish.

As a group, the Jews reflect talent, cleverness, tenacity and the ability to have the mind of a computer coupled with the heart of a rabbi. In so doing, they show me what I have missed as the member of a group so long immersed in darkness, it has not been able to catch up.

No matter what we have been able to achieve, to this day it is still Jews who stand out amongst us all as the cleverest and the most talented. They show me that to be God's chosen-to be connected to God-is to realize the best possible person I can be.

More importantly, we believe that we were adopted into the same family because of Yeshua. In other words, I am an adopted Jew! This is beyond my capacity to comprehend.

God took me from the "wild beasts" of the earth and made me one of his own people. This is too high, too good. But you understand...this is what Messiah came to do.

The Jewish people are here today because of the remnant of Jews who never forgot their forefathers and their identity. We are what we are today because their endurance made possible the entry of Messiah into our world.

We Christians are struggling to get the same kind of relationship going that the Jews have had since the beginning of earth's story. So we have our legalisms and rebellions, our Tammy Fayes and our faggy Toms-we're new!

I want to ask you, the Jewish people, for patience and understanding for all the beastly minds in this world, who know in their hearts that they are beasts, and cringe as they watch the Jew march on in his regal destiny.

Sources:

A Rabbi Talks With Jesus, an interfaith, intermillenial exchange. Rabbi Jacob Neusner, Doubleday

What if Jesus had never been born? By D. James Kennedy.

Forgiveness

Reading John Arnott's book on forgiveness (The Importance of Forgiveness), my mind's curative and creative powers are stirred. Arnott is a man who I have met and observed on videos of the legendary Toronto church. I’ve thought, "wow, now that is real! There is a man who embodies true commitment to the word of God." Love so easily pours out from me to him as I watch one of the videos, loving someone who has helped me so immensely. It is a privilege to be able to read and hear, "from the horse's mouth," the theory behind his very effective practice.

Many thoughts have rushed to the surface as he talks on forgiveness. His book compels me to go on and add the enlightenment God brings with along with his insights.

Someone once said that the more you dive into the deep and sort out what is complicated, the simpler everything becomes. Maybe this is what has been happening to science. I feel that I am also a person who goes in, sorts out the things of the deep and the complex issues, and then ties them up-handing them to you in a fashion in which the complexities are resolved. I don't know how to describe it, but the Lord has blessed me so much with the gift of thought. If I just begin to think and probe, eventually, truth comes to me and I find an answer. I love the process! It is a form of science, if you will. I love to think!

Of course, just as The X-files says, "the truth is out there," and many people of the world, in general, can do this same thing. They can find some of the same universal truths. But always, they find truths that hang there by themselves-so many little truths, but nothing to adequately tie them together. In Jesus, we have the peace and security of having that one common tie to which all truth is bound. I thank God with all my heart for giving that to me.

For me, thinking is stretching the mind. With each new revelation comes thought that a mind imbued with the Holy Spirit brings, and I am further healed! I feel relief, a new breath of air!

My only problem with his book on forgiveness is this: John seems to say that every act of unkindness from an individual stems from one's own lack of forgiveness. He seems to blame us for every thing wrong that happens to us. Certainly lack of forgiveness has repercussions in relationships, but it's almost as if John is justifying the unkind person's act and blaming the one who received it. He is totally blaming it on the recipient's lack of forgiveness.

What about the many who are falsely accused and those scorned as the Word says we will be for following Jesus?

What about the fact that bullies like to hurt the already wounded?

I just don’t get it. A person is wounded and because of it he or she has a problem forgiving. Now, he says, they attract new problems and on and on it goes. So, they are hopeless? First they get wounded and then they hopelessly get wounded over and over, until they forgive? What if they forgive to the best of their ability but still find themselves being bullied? Then he says that they haven’t done a perfect job of forgiving and it’s all blamed on them.

Main body of this essay:

One basic truth stands out for me in the area of forgiveness: it is hard to forgive. We may find it hard to forgive because we have been robbed. For example: imagine the feelings of a person who has lost his child in the conflict between the two sides of the Irish conflict. Imagine how much anger and bitterness that might stir up, and the acts that would follow.

For me, feeling robbed comes from seeing man in a petty state of existence. I feel robbed by losing a hoard of values and special delights that society once offered in my childhood. I feel robbed of the things I learned to expect in life based on what my childhood taught me to expect.

Forgiveness does not mean that we cannot be angry. It means not letting the anger exist after "the sun goes down." We should not try to trap the angry soul by telling them that they have to deal with all situations instantaneously-with no anger-to be truly godly. ANGER IS NOT HATRED OR BITTERNESS, BUT WHEN PEOPLE ARE ANGRY, THEY ARE OFTEN ACCUSED OF THIS.

First of all, acknowledge the wrong and what it has done to you. Acknowledge that you have been robbed by someone in some way, and recognize what it is doing to you. This is the first step. "Be angry, but sin not!" This is what the Word says, doesn't it?

Second of all, find out how God can pay you back what someone else owes you instead of that person. This is the key.

God is like a rich man who comes along and says--"why do you, who have a fair amount of money and provisions go out to the beggars in the street who grovel for scraps (spiritually speaking) and wait for them, or demand for them to repay you what they have stolen? Here, I have the money to pay you back. Though I do not owe you one single penny, I still will pay the debt that they owe to you so you don't have to go to them any longer!"

See, God can do this for us if we are willing to receive our supplies from a spiritual source and not from a person.

HOW ARE WE EXPECTED TO DEAL WITH THIS? WHAT FORMULA CAN WE USE EACH AND EVERY TIME WE NEED TO FORGIVE? First, we must move away from trusting in man in general, and we must begin to learn how to receive things from God that we cannot receive from man. When man disappoints us and betrays us, we will have the power to forgive if we learn to discontinue placing so much importance upon the role of other people in our own happiness.

This kind of thought used to bug me. I used to envision a person who lives like a hermit and doesn't need people. No! YOU MERELY DO NOT NEED PEOPLE IF WHAT YOU NEED IS SOMETHING PEOPLE CANNOT PROVIDE! One of our biggest problems that leads to bitterness is wrong ideas about the degree to which other people should be supplying our needs. We have got to, individually and collectively, determine how much we should be expecting from other people, and how much is too much!

The person who lost his child in the Irish wars has to recognize that man kills and steals and destroys as an adjunct to the main enemy-the devil. He has to recognize that God still has a purpose and plan in all things-even the death of his child. He has to realize that God requires forgiveness of the murderer regardless of the pain. Then he has to gain from God (a spiritual entity) what he has lost. What he has truly lost is his serenity, his faith, his happiness, his joy and not just his child.

We have to learn what it means to pull out of the spiritual realm what we need in the material, emotional, physical, sexual, mental, etc, realms, in other words, what we call the "natural". THE SPIRIT WORLD CREATED THE MATERIAL, SO THE SPIRIT WORLD IS THE REAL ONE! Unless we can step out of the natural realm and into the spiritual, we cannot forgive. Let's all acknowledge before we judge those who cannot forgive that it takes a great deal of faith and grace before it is going to happen concretely.

Expectations and Romantic love

Hollywood and other influences have helped to reinforce many myths about the things we should expect from other people, and how to get them. Don't get me wrong. I am one of the greatest fans of Hollywood movies and feel strongly that they have also done a great deal of good.

But, there are two sides. Hollywood has helped weave many myths about romantic love. Of course, romantic love is the biggest area of deception in human relationships, and consequently, the biggest area of regret, remorse, frustration, and wounding. The key to understanding romantic love is that it is the relationship that is connected to the powerful feelings we have towards our parents.

Loving Mom and Dad is a passionate love that we hold in our hearts with the same degree of intensity as we do towards potential mates. No other relationship can lead to hurt and disappointment like this one. None of us can very likely comprehend the degree of feeling we hold towards our parents. The potential for hate comes from the degree of intimacy we have had with them, and the dependency we have had on them. We hate people for not giving us what it seems we had every right to receive from them.

You can't take a baby and teach him or her the things I am trying to teach right now on losing our dependency on people. A baby will depend a great deal on his parents, that is a given. What we do for the rest of our lives to correct the wrongs that have occurred out of these familial and imperfect situations is part of the great journey that an adult life is all about. It is a great quest and it can have immense rewards, if we end up in the loving arms of a loving heavenly father-a truly personal God. Some might conclude that the whole point of everything we have experienced negatively was meant for that very purpose: to show us the immensity of God's perfection and love.

In romantic love situations, what usually causes hurt almost immediately is that many people begin too early defining their expectations in ways that are too unrealistic, and having sex too early reinforces the dependence on man that doesn't work.

We must have an autonomy that God has ordained for humans. We must understand the correct way to have a relationship, especially if it's sexual. The only right way to have a relationship with someone else is when we are whole on our own, but we choose to bless another person with our love and our gifts. Romantic love should be a celebration of love between two people who could survive very well on their own, yet enjoy the love shared between the two. The kind of dependence often depicted in Hollywood films would have disastrous results that are never shown realistically in those situations!

God can make us very whole on our own. A relationship with God is the only way to achieve that. A relationship, especially one with one of the opposite gender in a marriage type, has to be a gift from God that we enjoy as something God gave, and as something God can take away if He desires! We have to remain in a right fellowship with God and we have to see ourselves as complete in Him!

Bitterness seems to be the only way to get over a romantic love that we know is not good for us, in the natural. We defend ourselves against further hurt by having a perpetual anger (bitterness) towards that person. In Jesus, the believer always has to be able to resist evil and remain vulnerable. It is one of the many ways that being a Christian is so very, very difficult. We forgive, but we choose not to put our self in the path of that person's hurtful ways at the same time. It is easier to defend against further hurt by creating a hard shell of bitterness.

In the era of love growing cold, we better be very careful to get this important principle of depending on God for our supply. The enemy will use everything he can get. Since it says that we are cursed if we depend on man and make flesh our "arm", that curse gives license to Satan to do what he wants. We are safe, in our strong tower when we no longer go to man for our supply. We all have been brought into this world to depend-to grow together with others like a beehive and to conform. We have to unlearn. Autonomy in God is not anti-authority, anti-community or anti-intimate friendship or marriage at all. But we have to learn what it is. We have to find the narrow path to life, which requires not too much of one and not too much of another-a careful balance. Balance is too hard for most people-you cannot be lazy and have a balance.

There is also the danger of letting people continue to do evil things because that's “forgiveness”. Such thinking is twisted. To the best of your God-given ability you should stop the person from doing anything more-stop the cycle of revenge, stop the rapist, stop the thief, stop the preacher from living a double life, etc. We have a responsibility of discipline towards others when we see them doing wrong, and that discipline has to be discerned, but we can't forsake it in the name of being forgiving. Too often people try to avoid confrontation by saying you are judging them. When you confront others in areas that are serious for all concerned, it is your duty to confront.

We must reach out to the unseen spiritual world, now, before we perish and bring others with us, to receive what we need to heal the broken heart that brings deep bitterness and hatred (a root of bitterness). Most of us wait for people to do for us or bring us the things we need. We seek compensation, we seek recompense, etc. and we can't get it if we wait on man, because "cursed is he who trusts in man." The bible is clear! Trusting in man will result in a curse on our lives. This is serious! We all do it and we don't even see what we're doing. But God didn't make this path so easy, did he? We still walk under a curse because of what we cannot see.

If we can't see God and reach out to Him, we are truly lost.

Forgiveness only becomes possible if we let the ugly poisoned thing out and have something to replace it. That unseen force must touch us. God must touch us or else we will never get what we need to mend a bleeding heart. Without the extra dimension of the Spirit, no one can truly forgive. Thus, forgiveness waits until people begin to pull out of the spiritual realm everything they need.

If we are extra sensitive types our hurts and bitterness will be even greater.
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Everything in me was initially so wounded and broken and bitter and hopeless and alone and full of remorse and full of sadness. I have had a bounty of brokenness in my life. I tell you that God has done miracles, yet every day is also another step towards the completion of an amazing miracle from God. There is nothing like the Holy Spirit coming and cleaning out the junk in you, and I want nothing less than the best. I'll not look to man anymore to give me the solution. I'm an American. I believe in "having it all."

I know now that I must not expect anything from man, but every new little hurt man might inflict threatens to raise hatred and anger and it is something difficult to relinquish and flush out of your life, but it's possible if you persevere.

We have to recognize that many situations we encounter are merely tests from God. He is just seeing what is in us, (or letting us see what is in us), seeing what we will do and letting us learn. Possibly, our revenge and un-forgiveness towards man is actually a fist up to God. God is whom we are truly angry at. We malign others with un-forgiveness because we are mad at God and do just what He hates. That is why so much gets done in the prayer closet. Go back to your little space and get it out with God and leave man out of the picture for the time being.

We can never know the heart of a person. That leaves us unable to judge. And none of us, in ourselves, truly hates sin. Let's face it. God is He who hates sin. We have vengeful feelings towards others for things we are also capable of.

When you have the grace to do certain things right, you cannot comprehend someone else who cannot do what you can. This usually leads to judging. I have been amazed at the conditions of some people's lives where, "there but for the grace" truly. A person of higher standards feels robbed more, hurt more and more disappointed. Un-forgiveness is likely to be that person's sin stronghold.

A person who is able to live by his own standards better than others will find it harder to comprehend why someone else cannot do the same, and will find it harder to forgive, easier to condemn. Usually, the one sin of the person of higher standards is self-righteous pride, but unfortunately, this sin is a bigger sin than a lot of others. It is one of the most deadly sins.

A person of higher standards may live isolated and alone and feel unloved. In this bastion of problems, un-forgiveness becomes a stronghold.

I don't believe that people are necessarily unwilling to look at their own pride in this situation, it is just that they have strong values and live by them, missing the one truth that can save them-that nothing they have has come from themselves.

1. Know that God tests to see if pride goes before other things
2. I must learn to see that I have been given grace from God!! It is not my righteousness!

3. Emptiness and loneliness happen when you stand apart and make a stand on something not shared by the group. It can make you very critical simply because you feel lonely and abandoned. The answer is to draw from the unseen friend, and wait for quality love relationships with humans. If we don't go to God in this we are in trouble.

4. The more one sees things as they ought to be the greater the pain in seeing things as they are. You must gain the grace of God to wait in patience for others to see what you do, and understand that they just can't for now. It requires walking in a kind of bubble with God whereby the sting of reality is taken away as you look towards the unseen God.

5. Everything goes back to our relationship with God. We get scared and question God when disappointment goes over our heads. Keep trusting.

6. When you are truly righteous and wise, you learn that you cannot possibly know or understand another person's life or heart enough to know how God sees them. Even Jeffrey Dahmer and "Hannibal the Cannibal" alias, David Berkowitz got saved as a result of being caught!! It was possible for the sins of the fathers to finally accumulate and result in an insane child who did not understand his own actions. God saved them. He considered two men who ate people and sodomized them and took off their skin, etc. people He wants to share eternity with!!! If he wants them, what can you know about how much he wants other wretched sinners who today aren't even close to His likeness?

7. God has no use for your self-sufficiency and condemns it!

8. Seeing one's values torn down and one's values being trashed by others becomes unbearable. It becomes so hard to say, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." At this point you must take on the mind of Christ to begin understanding that your own righteousness is a gift of God and not in the least owned by you. You must grasp the conformity to the one who "though in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself..."

10. I have anger and un-forgiveness towards others often when I see them degrading themselves and thus robbing everyone else of a good example of an elevated way of life. I hate to see human life being degraded and I get exasperated with it. I get sick of people being lazy and rebellious and foolish and destructive. They rob me of things I so long for. So, the people who are most likely to judge and find forgiveness difficult are the ones who had higher hopes for others as well as themselves. Doesn't that make sense?

I have always had such high standards for what this life should be; consequently, my criticism has been so much harsher. Martin Luther was mad at the Jews because he thought they would come to Christ by the multitudes after he helped them see truth, so I hear. So now, the anti-Semitism that got a stronghold in Germany has been traced back to Martin Luther, of all people! This is only according to a couple of sources and not proven.

11. What has us hung up is knowing some people truly sin without cause and will never repent. We never know if that's what we're dealing with and we (rightfully) want to despise that. But the problem is, we can never know if that's what we're dealing with and that's the point. God has set us in a mystery of not knowing a person's heart, at least not until we know them extremely well. That takes oodles of time. Sometimes even time leaves us in a mystery. People are a great mystery. Suddenly, many people do the unexpected. So few people allow us the luxury of transparency, and I love the ones who do, I must say!!

12. When we are hurt, if we are healthy we acknowledge that we do not know that person's heart or life, or why they have done this. We acknowledge that God is testing us, and we try to pass the test. I am learning to stop and remember that I am being tested. I am telling you that sometimes the test is so blatant and so ridiculous (I mean, things seem so hopelessly ridiculous) that I have to laugh at God as I realize--IT'S JUST A FRICKIN' TEST!

Here's an example of a test I've had from God: I can't find one single Christian man in my town, and finally, one day, a man at my job confesses that he is a Christian, and sure enough - he's the guy with the high-water pants and thick glasses, body odor and a very low IQ who has to have everything explained to him a hundred times. It's like, "come on God - you can do better than that, can't you? Why does everything look so hopeless?" And then, I just start laughing, cuz it's a test.

And then there's my computer printer. This story is true. All the sudden it doesn't emit jet ink even though I put in a dozen cartridges. I send my computer back to the dealer who sold it to me and order another one, which they promptly send. The new one does the same thing. The technician tries to work with me over the phone on what to do to make it work. We can't find a single answer. Then, they report that they received back the printer that wasn't working for me. "It works fine," they say. OK, God, very funny.

13. Un-forgiveness in you primarily comes from not being able to get what you need from God.

14. There are almost indelible patterns in us-people fall into treating us according to the given pattern. The patterns are like furrows that are dug fairly deep in a garden, and if you walk casually and effortlessly, you cannot help falling into them, but if you walk carefully and attempt to stay outside the furrows, it is possible, you just have to try a lot harder. Kind and loving people carefully step so they do not fall into treating people as they are used to being treated.

It takes strong people of major conviction to treat us differently than the patterns suggest. How do we get rid of the old patterns? We go to God and he heals the deep patterns and takes them away-no other way. Once he does, even dealing with weak people won't expose us any more to the relentless patterns-there's nothing left to fall into.

My cat "Bonita" seems to have suffered some things at the hands of people. She has always had reservations and stuff so you can tell. I have found myself treating her worse than my cat "Fred" simply because that's what she is used to. I find myself saying--"oh my Lord, what is wrong with me? I am hurting my little girl cat!" But it is still hard for me to resist treating her in a way she is used to. So it is with humans.

15. You must look at what was wrong, (what happened in your past) and acknowledge what it did to you. How can you understand your anger and the sad state of your life? How can you understand the things you have done or have been done to you unless you see what the wrong is?

When someone comes along to explain to you what has happened to you, and that reality for you has been enough to cause terrible hurts and difficulties in your life, this is one way to experience the love of God. It is love to your soul to have it explained. You understand that you have, indeed, mountains of difficulty, and you finally understand why you hurt so much.

16. Un-forgiveness causes you to resist even the "violin" experience. That's true bitterness, when you no longer want it even explained.

What can you say about the people who have given in to bitterness, so hurt and angry they cannot and will not care about others? They won't look at anyone else's pain, only their own. In fact, they inflict pain in the name of their own pain. They expect others to take responsibility for their needs and problems, not themselves. Psychology has a name for that- a "character disorder".

We all want to hate them-we want them to get their just due. But if you desire to "live Godly in Christ Jesus," you have to take another position.

We're all robbed. What do we pray? What do we say, what do we do? What do we say to that person? How do you cope with someone who wants no help?

17. You can't even depend on your loved one getting well. Once again, it's a case of having to let go of something that most people want in their natural minds, and it's a form of depending on man, to depend on that person getting well. Even your loved ones having the things you always hoped for is something you cannot depend on getting in your life, because although you can appropriate all things in your own life through faith, YOU CANNOT MAKE THE CHOICE OF FAITH FOR ANOTHER PERSON. It is one of the most difficult lessons in life.

You have to stop crying for them and expending all your energy at some point. You have to acknowledge that this person has signed away love, both giving and receiving it, and has chosen hopelessness and bitterness. That is something we cannot reward them for.

HOWEVER, God IS THEIR JUDGE. WE CAN NEVER JUDGE BECAUSE WE DON'T KNOW THE HEART. ONLY God DOES. SO WE DO NOT HAVE UNFORGIVENESS TOWARD THEM FOR DISAPPOINTING US, AND WE DO NOT CONDEMN THEM FOR WHAT APPEARS TO BE THEIR REBELLION AGAINST God.

18. I have found that once you know the conditions of a person's life, it is amazing the things that went into their weaknesses and problems. We must rejoice that we were given immense grace by God that we cannot comprehend or deserve, and that God does not give us license to despise those who apparently don't have this grace, since we DO NOT DESERVE IT, NOR DID WE EARN IT. Just be in awe, just be in thanksgiving! That's the most important response.

19. We pray, we hope, and we never give up for that person, but we go on. We hope for others to forgive that person who may be keeping him or her in bondage because of their un-forgiveness. We pray to release that person. But, we cannot judge those who haven't forgiven that person either. We have to refrain from holding them in debt, while we nevertheless pray.

20. When you are very, very hurt and no one says, "I'm sorry," you feel immobilized. You don't know how to begin to forgive because you MUST have that touch from God that makes it possible. You cannot wait for man to respond to you with an apology. Unfortunately, many people are too wounded in their relationship to God to reach beyond their pettiness in order to touch Him, in order to heal. We must acknowledge that establishing a relationship with God has been our privilege, and that it is a very hard thing to do! We have to see that many people have not been able to establish a healing bond with Him.

21. You can't start with nothing in order to forgive. It isn't fair to say that people have no excuse in their un-forgiveness. People are in holes, in traps. It's a 'Catch 22' when you find it hard to trust God because you have been hurt from the beginning of your life. You have to trust God before you can get above your situation, but how do you trust God until you get above it? The hurts in your life have caused you to question the love of God. The hurtful actions of man are what have damaged our relationship to God in the first place, yet it is imperative that we reach God in order to get beyond what man has done. The answer: God's miraculous grace. And I, as one who receives God's miraculous grace, hope to someday truly be a vessel, in human flesh, of that grace.

22. We humans are so absurd, each of us hurting and saying to the other (especially in marriage) "well, you don't love me, and you don't care for me!! I'm not going to do this or that until you first do this or that for me. I need love. I cannot love you without your love."

This is what we say to EACH OTHER! It is a pit, a dead end. It cannot go anywhere. Neither side has the resources to begin loving, but both sides are waiting for the other person to go first. The only progress in life is when that one person reaches up to God, by some miracle, and begins to draw from the higher source what is needed for one's own love hunger, and from there, loves another. It does not happen to a large majority of people! This is what Jesus meant when he said, "few there be that find it." I believe he was referring to abundant life.

Single people keep expecting betrayal from others. They're afraid, unsure, angry, hopeless and frustrated; always waiting for someone else to make the first move, always second guessing the other person. We do not live in a world that fosters trust!

The only way out: God LOVES YOU OR ME FIRST, AND THEN YOU OR I LOVE OTHERS. We take from the spiritual realm what we need in the natural. We do not go to man for our needs. He will inevitably come to us. Relationship is always sharing and always give and take with man. It is never meant to be just one or the other.

I LOOK UP TO God TO GET OUTSIDE MYSELF. I stop asking the pauper to pay the debt, who has no money, and I go to the King who is more than ready to pay the whole thing, who owes me NOTHING (!) God says, "I will pay that person's debt! Stop going to him or her! Stop that! I have all the money in the world! Stop that!"

People are weak. They are waiting for you to make the first move, to have the power, because they cannot make that move themselves.

23. Yes, some are purely evil and have no intention of changing. But you may never know who is hopelessly evil. You may not be sure of who is the evil one who will never repent and will perish (the seed of Satan).

24. Discipline is another subject to cover, that we do need to discipline others who do wrong. But you cannot be a disciplinarian until you have been made ready for the task, and you better be sure that you are in a position to do that!!

25. IT'S BETWEEN US AND God. WE HURT OTHERS IN ORDER TO HURT God!

RESPONSE TO JOHN ARNOTT'S BOOK:
REASONS WHY THE HURT FROM OTHERS MAY NOT BE COMING FROM YOUR OWN UNFORGIVENESS:

1. People hurt us because they cannot resist falling into the patterns which are engraved upon us from the way we have been treated. It takes a strong, supernatural person to get beyond the patterns. The way we have been treated invites people to treat us the same way and most people are weak enough to fall in. People fall in and they go ahead and hurt afresh the injured person. MIKE MURDOCH SAYS: "BULLIES LIKE TO BEAT UP WOUNDED PEOPLE."

2. A person can feel that there is deep hurt in someone else, but they truly cannot make up for what the other person has lost; they cannot go in and heal because it is beyond them. Chances are the hurt is so deep and horrible that an outside party would have to be God and play God in order to heal the wounded soul, however, they are not God and they cannot do it. So, in such a case, the outsider may just be or appear negligent, but actually feels helpless and cannot cope with the need they see.

3. People test us to see if we are going to get angry and bitter if they treat us bad, suspecting we have been mistreated before. People test us with the idea that if they see us fail again and get malicious and bitter, this is our fault and that they need not assume any responsibility for it. So, they test our ability to forgive.

4. Some just can't handle a sensitive person and see that a person is too sensitive they just want to get it over with: hurt that person because they'll have to end up hurting them anyway.

5. The flesh of man enjoys perpetuating the lust that bitterness produces either for material things or for sex, and enjoys perpetuating bitterness and hatred as well. Many people who have enough bitterness of their own like to go ahead and create a hotbed of malice and anger and bitterness in others.

6. It takes two to tango and many people reject us before we reject them.

I tried for an unbelievable number of years to go out into the world and start afresh with people, putting behind the past and hoping for love and friendship and respect, and still got shot down time and again. I felt that I was being tested and that people still wanted to perpetuate hurt even though I was beckoning for something else. I realize that I did harbor bitterness where I didn't realize it before, and that people were testing me also to see if I could forgive, or if I'd respond to hurt with un-forgiveness. I always failed the test because I could never understand why there would come hostility when I sought reconciliation and it was so discouraging I would just want to give up. I didn't know how to go to God and say: "the debt is yours, not theirs-you pay me and I'll forget their debt."

...end of response to John's book.


How we should think and pray when others hurt or malign us, or hurt others, or just disappoint us in major ways?:

PRAYER OF FORGIVENESS

"I do not know the heart. God knows the heart. I am a sinner too and I cannot love or hate sin any better than anyone else except by the grace of God, so I cannot exalt myself above anyone else. I don't understand this person's attitude or behavior, but I cannot see all the details, or claim to know the mysteries of every human heart. I forgive this person the debt he or she owes me for robbing me or another person, or for inflicting wounds that have no just reason or cause, and I trust God to repay me for the debt another owes-God who has the means to repay the debt, while this person may not have the grace to do so. I look to God to refresh my soul and make it up to me for what has been lost or destroyed.

I look to God to befriend and help me, to heal my soul of its wounds and to give me love that surpasses all knowledge and understanding. I wait for God to bring new souls into my life who have wisdom and power to go beyond human failings and petty conflicts, and understand that all those who come into my life before the right people do are there to test me, to see if I will forgive and trust God. Since there is a curse on those who trust man and not God, I make every effort not to bring this curse upon myself, by acknowledging that I look to God for every need in my life, and stop expecting man to provide for me the things my deepest soul needs.

I love others as God gives me the grace to do so. If I cannot love enough now, I'll also look to God to understand that my weaknesses and imperfections are preventing me, but look forward to the day when I will truly walk in newness of life, with the renewed inner man operating in all facets of my life, and when supernatural love from God will be able to flow.

I acknowledge that man is weak, and that someone has to make the first move in human relationships, and it might as well be me (or should I say, I probably got stuck with the job!)"




WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU NEED TO FORGIVE

1. RECOGNIZE THAT GOD DID NOT, IN HIS PERFECT DESIGN, INFLICT THIS PAIN UPON YOU. GOD LOVES YOU. MAN 'S FLESH AND THE DEVIL BRINGS EVIL.

2. FIND HIS LOVE, SO YOU HAVE POWER TO FORGIVE. YOU CAN'T DO IT IN YOUR OWN STRENGTH.

3. ASK HIM TO SHOW YOU UN-FORGIVENESS and keep repenting.

4. ASK HIM TO MELT THE HEART OF STONE, AND KEEP ASKING.

5, FIND THE POWER OF YOUR CONFESSIONS....

"God is at work in me to will and to do of His good pleasure."
"I have the mind of Christ..."
" I am the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ."
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."
"The love of God is shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit."

FINAL

There is the forgiveness we grant to those who ask for forgiveness, that is, the forgiveness we show them. For all those who never ask, God requires that we forgive them in our heart, but we have to have a wise strategy for those who require that we take more and more suffering than already given. Forgiveness is not allowing them to continue, to do more damage. We should make them accountable and bring an end to the evil being committed. Did we see fit to forgive Hitler, by letting him continue? Would that have solved it?

We cannot, however, stand against our enemies unless we examine ourselves and repent of our own sins.