Over My Dead Body (Poem)

‘Uh uh! No way! Only over my dead body, ¹

Will that ever happen, of that you can be sure!’

Such strong words, usually spoken quite bluntly,

To send the signal, You’d better take a detour!

Perhaps you may have said or thought such words,

When you really felt a strong need to fight,

And your views were quite strong and clear, not blurred.

On that matter, you were sure you were right!

A fight to the death! Let’s get ‘er on!

Two strong wills set in staunch opposition.

Now the fight’s not with brains, but with brawn.

Sweat pourin’, hearts pumpin adrenalin.

Segue this scene to Jesus’ pre-cross fight,

Wrestling with forces that would block His mission,

Knowing that of His life, His death was God’s highlight,

And that in death, He’d plunge into hell’s dungeon.

His fight was to give to you and me a choice:

Where we would elect to spend all our eternity.

Our vote is not a ballot, but it’s our voice,

Thus before the cross, He fought, with great anxiety.

The fight’s over! He conquered both hell and the grave,

And arose to oversee God’s salvation Grace.

To sin, no longer do we need to be a slave,

If only His sacrifice for us we embrace.

In Christ’s resurrection, two roads were impacted.

The road or way to Heaven was at last opened!

Yes, opened! Though quite narrow, all are invited.

By God’s Word and Glory, this road is enlightened.

The road or way to hell remains as broad as before, ²

Decorated along the way with deceptive beauty.

But now there’s a roadblock and sign you should not ignore:

‘You will only get to hell ...over My once dead body!’

Friend, take time to ponder God’s Truth in this declaration,

Let’s consider it as the ‘backside of The Gospel.’

For our sins, Jesus paid the price, God’s propitiation.

Ignoring this warning will be …forever fatal.

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¹ An expression used to emphasize that one opposes something and would do anything to prevent it from happening; objecting to a proposed action, the author/speaker is willing to fight with every ounce of his/her life to prevent the action

² ‘Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.’ (Matthew 7:13-14)

Cornerstone: Cause⇒Effect (Poem, Part 3)

See the series here

When opening lines of a book your interest spark,

To read some more, you’ll surely be stimulated.

When opening lines are so breathtakingly stark,

Your imagination will be captivated!

The Book of Job is like the first chapter, essentially,

Of God’s Bible message in 66 chapters. ¹

It distills His composite message, quintessentially,

With opening lines, imaginations captured!

In The Book of Job, the spirit of pride is arrayed,

Manifesting itself in worthless indoctrinating. ²

The pride of Job, his wife, friends and satan …all displayed,

About God and His ways, carnally pontificating.

Enough!

Into this babble, God did forcefully interrupt,

To clear the decks and set faulty thinking aright.

Over time, such would certainly His image corrupt.

Thus He spoke, and put Godly ignorance to flight!

In The Book of Job, look until you can see,

Wisdom that so many choose to disdain,

Echoed in ALL Bible Truths, assuredly!

If you’re in Christ, you’ll see this familiar refrain:

         ~ The imperfect righteous, tested by God,

         ~ Tempted by satan, delivered by faith, redeemed.

         ~ The imperfect unrighteous, by pride flawed,

         ~ Tempted by satan, felled by fear, cursed, God-blasphemed!

Having perfectly laid this cornerstone,

In Job’s epic story, so horrendously,

On this, God laid His ‘Old’ and ‘New’ keystones, ³

To thus complete His Word to humanity.

With a closer look, you’ll surely not miss,

In its opening lines, expressed so vividly,

This Pearl of Wisdom that many dismiss:

Life’s a façade, cloaking a world we cannot see.

Take a moment to imagine, if you will dare,

What’s not revealed, but may likely have happened,

Between Job 1:12 and his ensuing despair. ⁴

Some things unseen occurred that left Job’s life …ruined.

Now skip if you will to Job 42:10,

What happened when Job got himself off his mind?

What lesson do you glean for your life’s tailspins?

To cloaked truths and persons, please don’t remain blind. ⁵

To the goals, objectives, the strategies and tactics,

Of resourceful forces unseen to our natural eyes,

In Job, some are uncloaked, without detailed specifics,

The rest God reserved for His other books, hints to the wise! ³

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¹ 66 books in The Bible, each the equivalent of a ‘chapter’ in a composite ‘book’ written by God’s Spirit through several men 

² Teaching a person or group to accept a set of beliefs uncritically

³ The rest of the Old and the New Testaments

⁴ Try to perceive what may have happened between Job 1:12-13.

⁵ Blind to spiritual personalities

Come! Know! Go! Wait! (Poem)

Christ commissions His followers, to ‘Come!’, then ‘Go!’

Between the two is the command, ‘Me, hunger to know.’

Spending time with Him, His Word, and like-minded others,

As iron-sharpens-iron, so do we, your sisters and brothers.

Of these three, the command to ‘Come!’ is easiest to heed,

While getting to know Him takes time, like planting a seed.

But whether/where/when to ‘Go!’ is a whole ‘nother story,

The end of which is all about who will get the glory.

If to ‘Go!’ in trust vs. presumption looks alike.

And between your mind and heart there remains a big fight,
Then carefully examine your motives and roots.
Rather than ‘GO!’, home may be where to keep your boots!

As your seed faith sprouts, roots downward, shoots upward,

Prompting you and others to look Heavenward,
And fruits of The Spirit in your life starts to abound,

You’ll be quite ready to ‘Go!’, without a fear or frown.

Don't be shocked when people say, ‘To go is presumptuous,

And to stay at your comfy job is far more scrumptious!’

Don’t be surprised when the spirit of stay adds to your load,

Giving all sorts of reasons to stay in your comfy abode.

God knows and sees the souls He, through you, will feed,

If only His still, quiet voice you will finally heed.

Check your motives, get them right, strengthen your trust,

Making sure comfort and ease are not what you lust.

When you go, whether far away or a place nearby,

To your self-centered desires you must certainly die.

And when you die, His DNA inside will surely thrive,

Giving you and others through you LIFE...incredibly ALIVE!

Today, some say Christ’s Great Commission,

May have become His Great Suggestion,

Since sharing the Gospel proactively,

Is something we may do hesitantly.

Commission - instruction, command or duty given,

Requiring the right attitude, some words and action.

The context in which commissions are issued,

Will help determine how they should be pursued.

Let’s take a closer look and you will clearly see,

Christ’s Great Commission is ‘sandwiched’ resolutely,

Between a well-earned rebuke and a warning to wait:

Scolding for unbelief and power to compensate! ¹

Commissioned to ‘Go!!!’ on the heels of an upbraiding!

Yet commanded to ‘Wait!!!’ for God’s power enabling! ²

Imagine the tone of commands issued forcefully,

And the sense of them as somewhat contradictory.

Recall other occasions of rebukes Jesus issued,

To Pharisees and cities for their errant turpitude! ³

Feel the heat, imagine His passion.

Apply that to His ‘Go!!!’ commission!

If we never feel Christ’s passionate rebuke,

By the notion of going, we will be spooked!

If we’re never baptized with power enabling,

To all involved, our going will be …frustrating!

Yep, Come! Know! Go! But first Wait!

Steps of Christ’s Commission, Great!

This is what I see written in His Word.

The 2^nd and 4^th empower the 3^rd.

Endued with power from on high,

We cannot help but testify.

When God’s in-dwelling power in you runs over,

You will be a most enthusiastic …Goer!

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¹ Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature…’ (Mark 16:14-15, NKJV)

…and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart (KJV)

… He took them to task most severely for their stubborn unbelief (Message)

² Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry [wait] in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high. (Luke 24:49)

And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father… you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. (Acts 1:4-5)

³ Wickedness and depravity. See: Matthew 11:20-24 and 23:1-36

Cornerstone: Cause⇒Effect (Poem, Part 2)

See the series here

Shields Up!, the forceful command of the starship captain,

Known by anyone in the Star Trek generation.

The shield, a force field for incoming enemy fire,

To protect the ship and crew through a pending quagmire.

There are other popular Star Trek commands,

That a committed Star Trekker understands:

Engage! Energize! Beam me up!

To such commands, there’s no letup.

‘Your mind to my mind,

your thoughts to my thoughts’,

A Vulcan mind-meld, probing juggernaut.

No need for a lie detector test!

Into one, two minds will coalesce.

‘What’s your point, J!, in this, your Star Trek revue?’

Some insights with Godly wisdom to imbue.

If you’re perceptive spiritually,

Perhaps you may be well ahead of me.

These Star Trek commands may help to summarize,

Things on God’s heart that He wrote to symbolize.

The Book of Job may be like His first stepping-stone,

His first step toward us …His Bible cornerstone.

If so, this book is worthy of our keen attention,

To perceive insights from what therein is written.

Like the first chapter in a good, but lengthy book.

Revealing opening lines, do not overlook.

Shields up! Around Job, God had a hedge,

Through which satan & co. could not wedge.

But into that hedge, and opening did appear!

Listen now to what from God satan then did hear.

‘All he has is [now] in your power.’

So who told that hedge to move over?!

Hey! Who or what was ...'the hedge bulldozer'?!

To the astute, this should not be a blur.

To these questions, Job himself gives us his answer!

Thus he reveals to us his persistent error.

Though righteous God certainly declared Job to be,

Some things he said and did in fear, so faithfully.

‘What I greatly feared has come upon me,
And what I dreaded has happened to me!’ ¹

Shields down! The result of living in satan’s fear,

God’s creative force in him, oops in …reverse gear!

Satan must have missed the gap in Job’s hedge,

So he rushed to push Job over the ledge. ²

Please note, God did not stop what Job had allowed!!!

So why walk in fear, when with faith we’re endowed??

This critical insight from the opening lines,

God’s first message to us, His cornerstone enshrined.

He designed our life with cause-and-effect,

So we won’t be surprised ...at what we get. ³

Shields up! Energize! In this life, Engage!

Guard your righteous hedge, so trials you’ll assuage. ⁴

‘God’s mind to your mind,

His thoughts to your thoughts’, ⁵

Staying in faith will foil enemies’ plots!!!

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¹ See: Job 3:25

² While satan is indeed crafty and has eons of experience, he’s apparently not as smart as he makes out to be, otherwise, he would have perceived/seen the gap in God’s hedge around Job, and exploited it much earlier!

³ See: Job 1:4-5 and Jeremiah 17:10

⁴ My son, keep/guard your heart/spirit with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life. (Proverbs 4:23)

⁵ For who has known the Mind of The Lord that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16) The Mind of God and Jesus Christ is spiritually revealed in The Bible by The Holy Spirit.

We ‘n Trees

See the Lessons from Trees series here

Jesus said we will know [the inner qualities of] a tree

by its [outward] fruit.

Our lives are like a tree in so many respects. How so? Consider the following 7 relatively parallel qualities between trees and us. ¹

1. Seed-sourced

--Trees come from seeds planted, then unseen in the ground.

--We come from unseen seed planted in a womb.

2. Germination/Fertilization

--The tree seed germinates, then sprouts downward roots, and an upward shoot.

--Into us God-breathes His spirit, thus we become a living spirit in a physical world, designed with both spirit and physical to connect and relate.

3. Taproot Systems

--The tree’s root system establishes a taproot, the biggest, deepest, most important part that nourishes tree growth.

--We develop and cultivate a spiritual taproot early in life, connecting with the spiritual kingdom of Light or darkness that nourishes our spiritual development, and influences our physical development.

4. Tripartite Beings

--The tree develops in tripartite form: roots, trunk, and branches, in that order.

--In parallel, we develop spirit, body and soul (mind, will, emotions, intellect, imagination), in that order.

5. Branches Clothed

--Onto its branches, the tree grows leaves and flowers. These are the trees ‘sky roots’, equivalent to its ground roots. From both root systems, the tree draws water and nourishment for its ultimate purpose. ²

--Our soul is our branch equivalent, our ‘sky roots’, through which we access our physical/carnal world and draw growing nourishments, whether good or evil.

6. Fruit-bearing

--For the fruit-bearing tree, its ultimate objective is to produce good fruit in its seasons. Fruits develop from ‘pregnant’ flowers! No flowers, no fruits. ³

--God designed and purposed humans to live fruit-bearing lives. Our fruits develop from ‘pregnant’ imaginations, what Genesis 6 calls the thoughts and intentions of our spirit/heart, most of which are evil rather than righteous. (Genesis 6:5-6)

7. Pollinators/Seeding Imaginations

--Tree flowers have ovaries that must receive pollen from an external source in order to ‘conceive/become pregnant’, and produce fruit. In all natural settings, this pollen comes on ‘the wings of the wind’, either via flying or other insects/animals, the wind, or unnaturally via human hand spraying.

--We have a very fertile spirit into which other spirits (human and otherwise) deposit their pollen equivalent (spiritual seeds, ideas, notions, beliefs, theories, etc.). Only those seeds that we cultivate, through persistent meditation and speaking about, take root, and will produce their eventual fruits, good or evil.

So what’s your life’s fruit saying about your tree’s

roots, trunk, branches, leaves, flowers and pollinators?

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¹ See also: Dirty Circumstances

² See: Some tree leaves drink water

³ See: All fruits come from flowers

Cornerstone: Cause⇒Effect (Part 1)

                See the series here

According to conventional wisdom, in any endeavor that’s worthwhile, it is the first step that serves as a fulcrum or a cornerstone -- the most important step that will guide all others to follow. One of God’s most worthwhile endeavors toward humanity is His Word, His message regarding how human life ‘works’, His plan for our salvation from the ravages of sin and for a glorious, eternal future for those of us who would ‘get it! In Jesus Christ, God's Word became human.

So pray tell, what is The Cornerstone of His Word, The Bible?? In response to this question, some friends answered: Love, Jesus, The Gospel, God, the Sovereignty of God and faith. The literal definition of cornerstone is: the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation, important since all other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. ¹ Conceptually, a cornerstone is the initial, fundamental, indispensable idea or premise of prime importance to any conceptual framework. In light of this, the cornerstone of The Bible (not The Church) is most likely (ta daaa…): The Book of Job, widely estimated to be the oldest, and thus first book of The Bible to be written. ² As such, this book sets the stage for God’s message to humanity, and thus includes core concepts and truths around which every other book of The Bible turns or is set. The capstone or last written book of The Bible is The Book of Revelation. (Circa 94-96 AD) ¹  Accordingly, God’s message to humanity effectively includes, and is sandwiched between these two books.

The first chapter in any book is critical in setting the tone and inferring what’s represented in the rest of the book. The first chapter of a book is absolutely vital to any would-be best seller! Similarly, the rest of any book should elaborate, elucidate and build on the pivotal concepts established the first chapter, and especially in the first lines of the first chapter. God’s Book, The Bible, does exactly this! If The Book of Job is indeed the first chapter of God’s message to humanity, then the first chapter of Job must be critically important in establishing the conceptual framework for His overall Book, The Bible.

Right out of the gate, Job chapter 1 reveals:

  1. The importance of man having a relationship with God

  2. Potential physical blessings of a God-fearing, righteous life ³

  3. The existence of evil, and the importance of shunning it

  4. The possibility that even a righteous person can iteratively speak and act in fear ⁴

  5. The existence of holy angels, of satan and his designated function in human life ⁵

  6. The Sovereignty of God

  7. The cause-and-effect nature between the unseen spiritual and the physical worlds

wOw!!!!!!!

The entire rest of The Bible’s 65 books essentially regurgitates, demonstrates, elucidates, elaborates and accentuates these 7 core points. Incredibly, despite mankind’s progressive strides in many areas of life, much of our world today flat out denies, dis-believes, rejects or is blind to these cornerstone concepts, yet they remain real and active. In fact, the more they are denied/dis-believed, the more potent these concepts appear to be (especially #7), catching people by surprise and leaving them in shock-and-awe!

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¹ Wikipedia

² See: When Was Each Book of the Bible Written?

³ Imagine the seed of the so-called Prosperity Gospel showing up in the first lines of God’s message to humanity. No wonder devils fight so viciously this fundamental concept that is both iterated and demonstrated across the pages of The Bible.

⁴ More on this in subsequent parts of this series. Meanwhile please ponder this question: Is it sin for a righteous person to live/walk in fear?

⁵ ‘…going to and fro on the earth, and walking back and forth on it.’ (Job 1:7) Thousands of years later, The Holy Spirit elaborated this function through The Apostle Peter who wrote: ‘Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a
roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.’ (1 Peter 5:8)