The Ace Theological Company’s 95 Theses # 57 The Teachings Of The Eons.

The Teachings Of The Eons.
Part One: God Made The Eons In His Son.

Good Morning Happy One… (even if you’re mad, at the moment, you have every reason to be happy as you are His.)

5:11 a.m.
Saturday, Feb. 26th, 2022

As we used to say in my evangelical days “This is a day the Lord hath made.”
In my days as an evangelical christian we didn’t know a damn thing about the “eons”. Even though the greek word AION shows up in the Bible 199 times. — The New Testament.
199 times ??? And we didn’t know a thing about it… what gives dude?
We knew all about “the trinity” — a word that NEVER shows up in the Bible.
We knew all about “the immortal soul” — another word that NEVER shows up in the Bible.
And of course, we knew all about man’s beloved and untouchable “freewill”…. You know, the “freewill” that God can ’never’ violate… yeah… that will. — and of course that word also NEVER shows up in the Bible.
And finally, we knew all about “HELL”… that it was “ENDLESS CONSCIOUS PUNISHMENT” — conjecture… but NOT in the Bible.

We’ve been trying to weave our way through evangelical christian teachings — to find the truth in God. (I only reference “evangelical” because that was part of my epic journey… I was never a Catholic, but I suppose they are included in our examination.)
So… “leaving behind” all or some of that stuff… I say, let’s see what we really can find in the Scripture.
AION — as I said — shows up in the New Testament 199 times. Why is it christians know nothing about it ???

I bet we can see God, if we can peep into the eons. Let’s go:

1. The eons were made in Christ.
   This is revealed in Hebrews chapter one. Hang on, let me copy and paste it here…

TO THE HEBREWS
Chapter 1

1 By many portions and many modes, of old, God, speaking to the fathers in the prophets,

2 in the last of these days speaks to us in a Son, Whom He appoints enjoyer of the allotment of all, through Whom He also makes the eons;

Keep in mind AION is the Greek word, EON is the English equivalent.
The opening lines of this book of Hebrews are so lovely. Dare we say that if you take these 2 verses… they are so beautiful… that you could toss the rest of the Bible away… ???
God makes the eons in Christ. Notice the verb form “makes”… The Greek of the New Testament has a verb form that we don’t have in English… a “timeless” form. Neither past, present, nor future.
So the best we can do is… God MAKES the eons in Christ.
Timeless… because we’re not talking about just one eon. As near as we can tell from the Bible’s language… there are 5 eons of time, in God’s eonian purpose.
So, of course, the writer of Hebrews says God “MAKES” the eons in Christ. He made the first eon, the second eon, we are now in the third eon… and there are two more to go… thus: God “MAKES” the eons in Christ.
So, God speaks to us these days in a Son — through Whom He makes the eons… wow… So God makes us… all of us… and God makes all of time… as we know it… God makes the eons… in or through His Son.
Ya know… this verse, is flat out comforting… when you think about it… that God is totally in control of TIME. He not only “made” the eons, He goes beyond that short sighted thought… He “MAKES” the eons… wow.
God makes the time periods. Days, weeks, months, God makes them all. Years, decades, centuries, millennia, God makes them all. Even eons. Nothing is outside of His creative eye for detail.
Not even blinks, as Greg has tried to tell us on this channel many times. His word is “twinkle” which is a half of a blink.
Chapter 11 By many portions and many modes, of old, God, speaking to the fathers in the prophets,2 in the last of these days speaks to us in a Son, Whom He appoints enjoyer of the allotment of all, through Whom He also makes the eons;
How does God speak to us? Well… He speaks to us in many ways. But these day… God speaks to us in a Son.
And what do we know about this “Son”???
Well… He is the “enjoyer of the allotment of all”… OMG, what does that mean? How do we fit all that “endless hell” business into our understanding if the Son of God… is the enjoyer of the allotment of all… Lord have mercy, this is a deep thought… I confess… I’m not qualified to lead us down this primrose path of understanding… but I’m the best you got, as I’ve had one cup of coffee so far… and you guys are just getting up… ha.
2 in the last of these days speaks to us in a Son, Whom He appoints enjoyer of the allotment of all, through Whom He also makes the eons;
Through Whom He ALSO… I love the word ALSO.. it’s a busy word… it shows God is trying, trying, trying to shove so many thoughts into our heads… do you think we can handle it all? ALSO…
What is God up to??? He “appoints” his Son as a or perhaps THE enjoyer of the allotment OF ALL… (can we preach a universal salvation from this phrase?)
Enjoyer of the allotment of all… Oh my.
EMC SAYS… “The implications of the atonement is good news for all. It does not allow for a reality where Love endlessly torments the majority of it’s creation.”
Hang on… I’ve been saying that “God made the eons in Christ”… but I don’t think that’s quite right… God made the eons in His Son… before his role as “the Christ”… this is important… this is family. This is before we have a clue… Father and Son… and what does He do with His Son… two things… TWO BIG things. He appoints His Son as the enjoyer of the allotment of all….
2 in the last of these days speaks to us in a Son, Whom He appoints enjoyer of the allotment of all, through Whom He also makes the eons;
The word “appoints” has a TIME element to it, right? At some future time… The Son of God… will be the ENJOYER of the allotment of all.
That “hell” business says He will enjoy only a portion… YIKES… forget that.
2 in the last of these days speaks to us in a Son, Whom He appoints enjoyer of the allotment of all, through Whom He also makes the eons;
Note: “the last of these days” is a TIME reference too, right? As we understand the teaching of the eons, there are 5 eons altogether… we’re in the 3rd one, at the moment. It’s called “this wicked eon”… by Paul. There are two more to go… when they are mentioned together they are called “the eons of the eons”…. When the very last one is mentioned, it is called “the eon of the eons”….
So… since we’re in the 3rd one… we’re over the hump… eon wise. At most, two and a half eons to go… good news…
2 in the last of these days speaks to us in a Son, Whom He appoints enjoyer of the allotment of all, through Whom He also makes the eons;
What happens “in the last of these days”… Why of course, God speaks to us in a Son… wow. How kind of Him. Speaking to us in a Son, makes so much sense… in my mind.
Hebrews… Chapter 11 By many portions and many modes, of old, God, speaking to the fathers in the prophets,2 in the last of these days speaks to us in a Son, Whom He appoints enjoyer of the allotment of all, through Whom He also makes the eons;
So, a long time ago… God spoke to “us” in the Jewish prophets. But these days, He speaks to us in a Son… Does God speak to us “in Christ”… hmmm? Not sure… but He does “speak” to us in a Son… very intimate… very family.
God does so much through His Boy… we prattle on this channel about how God saves all in Christ… but here, in this passage, we can see that God even made THE EONS in/through is Son.
The eons are the longest period of time, discussed in the Bible. Generally speaking, we can see that an EON is a geologic measure of time… whereas “days”, “weeks”, “years”, etc… are all celestial measures of time. The current eon began with Noah’s flood. It will end with an earthquake that accompanies Christ’s return to the Earth.
God makes the eons, in Christ… or rather, in His Son. Not just one eon… God makes the eons… deep.
I love time travel movies. They are so fun. So many crazy notions. And I wonder if we can love that God makes the eons in His Son. Can we see crazy notions in God’s work here in Hebrews 1:1 and verse 2. ???

Hebrews… Chapter 1

1 By many portions and many modes, of old, God, speaking to the fathers in the prophets,

2 in the last of these days speaks to us in a Son, Whom He appoints enjoyer of the allotment of all, through Whom He also makes the eons;

Lord willing, I want to take a peek at every place where this word AION shows up in the New Testament… and see what we can see. It’s laying there, 199 times for use to delve into. I figure Hebrews 1, verse 2 is a fine place to start. The beginning of the eons is in the Son of His love.
God has a big plan… a wonderful purpose… and as far as we can tell, He changes things up a bit from time to time…. Speaking to us sometimes in the prophets, but nowadays in a Son. But at least… God is speaking to us, right?
It’s not like we’re not on speaking terms.
And to suggest that He speaks to us in a Son… my god, that is way out there… very intimate… who could ask for a more personal means of getting close to the Father???
He speaks to us in a Son. I’m humbled.
He speaks to us in a Son, through Whom He makes the eons, also.
Can we dare say that BECAUSE He makes the eons, it’s yet another way He speaks to us?

Hebrews… Chapter 1

1 By many portions and many modes, of old, God, speaking to the fathers in the prophets,

2 in the last of these days speaks to us in a Son, Whom He appoints enjoyer of the allotment of all, through Whom He also makes the eons;

God speaks to us in the eons?
God speaks to us in the prophets, in a Son and in the eons of time. — Seems like God has thought of everything.
I’m thrilled that the Son is the enjoyer of the allotment of all. Wow. I know I’m included in that word “all” — somewhere. The Son is going to enjoy ME ???? hmmmm. I’m gonna faint.
Dare we suggest that “we” are as important as the “eons”???
He merely “makes” the eons in Christ…. But He ENJOYS all us boys and girls… Hmmmmmm.
Hebrews… Chapter 11 By many portions and many modes, of old, God, speaking to the fathers in the prophets,2 in the last of these days speaks to us in a Son, Whom He appoints enjoyer of the allotment of all, through Whom He also makes the eons;
Who is Christ??? He is the enjoyer of the allotment of all. Wow.
He earned it. He earned us. We are part of the all.
Ask any “christian”… ‘Hey, let me ask you a question, who is the enjoyer of the allotment of all?’ … you know… you know they will look at you like you’ve got 2 heads…
And it’s not like we’ve got something on them, if we can peep into this passage and it goes over their head… they are part of the all, as well. My point is to push you into a deeper appreciation of the revelation of God. God makes His Son to be the enjoyer… wow.
The enjoyer of what? Of the allotment. The allotment of how many? Of all !!!!!!
This thing is deeper and sweeter than anything we ever thought about. It’s a good thing God thought about it all. A good thing God planned out the EONS in Christ. Nothing, is outside of His scope of thinking and planning and His purpose… hot dog.

Hebrews… Chapter 1

1 By many portions and many modes, of old, God, speaking to the fathers in the prophets,

2 in the last of these days speaks to us in a Son, Whom He appoints enjoyer of the allotment of all, through Whom He also makes the eons;

This passage… is about God. And God’s operations.
This passage is not necessarily about the “Son”… nor is it about us (the all)… it’s a revelation about God Himself. How He speaks. What His plans are. How He’s going to pull it all off.
What a great passage.
After we’re done prattling about this passage, concerning the BEGINNING of the eons… I think we’ll look at the END or ENDS of the eons… to see what we can see.
But Hebrews 1:1 and 2 is a fine way to launch into this teaching of the eons. Remember, it’s a real teaching of the Bible… because the word shows up some 199 times… and all we want is to know what God meant by using the word… and what God was trying to convey… and we want to shed our old, false notions about time and eternity… if needed.
So far… we’re off to a fine start (“fine start” get it… another time reference? A pun?)
Our concepts of time… apparently are VITAL to the message of God. If we have the wrong concepts of TIME, we’re sure to have the wrong notions of God’s purpose as well.
TIME, as we understand it, is limited.
“Time” is a measure of change. Things change. When they do, we mark the spot as a TIME measurement.
There was a TIME when there was no TIME…as “change” did not occur as we understand it all… for God was all in Himself, and had not begun creation yet.
Christ, according to Colossians 1:16…. Is the firstborn of creation. Can we say that that MARKS a TIME change?
And according to today’s passage (Hebrews 1: 1-2) God MARKS off time in His Son… wow. He makes the eons in His Son.

Hebrews… Chapter 1

1 By many portions and many modes, of old, God, speaking to the fathers in the prophets,

2 in the last of these days speaks to us in a Son, Whom He appoints enjoyer of the allotment of all, through Whom He also makes the eons;

“Many portions and many modes” indeed. You can’t outthink God. I know there are a lot of folks who’ve got advice for God. And if God would only listen to them, things would be so much better. But, alas, God did not consult with the whiners before He began this hootenanny.
And aren’t we lucky.
Just imagine the nightmare the universe would be if the wise of this world had ginned it all up. Twilight Zone comes to mind.

7:18 a.m.
I’m so excited to head down this road of looking at the eons of the Bible. Let me know what you guys think, in the comments, or by email if you have my email.

If you want to check out Joseph Kirk’s article on The Eons… here is the link:
https://acetheologicalco.wordpress.com/2020/11/27/the-eons-of-the-bible-by-joseph-e-kirk/
There he also covers all 199 times where the word shows up. And if you hop over there, you’ll go to the head of the class. You’ll see things we might miss and maybe you can look over my shoulder and guide the discussion, etc.
Thanks for hanging out with me this morning.
I appreciate it.
Grace to you.
7:23 a.m.
Bye for now.

The Ace Theological Company’s 95 Theses #56 Freewill VS Grace

Freewill VS Grace

Friday, Feb 25th, 2022
4:55 a.m.
18º out there, high of 32º expected.
They say Wed we’ll have a high of 58º

Good morning Dear One,
Just 5 minutes into this effort and the wifi has booted us out twice, don’t know what’s up with that, but let’s press on.

Today, we step into the ring to challenge the worship of “freewill” yet again.
As you may know, the word “freewill” only shows up ONE time in the whole bible. And that’s in a reference to an offering — a specific offering made by those guys in the Old Testament.
The offering was called a “FREEWILL” offering… But just because they gave that offering the name “freewill offering” DOES NOT MEAN the “doctrine” of “freewill” is a thing.
No more than calling a pastry “Denmark Strudel” means it came from Denmark or is headed to Denmark, or is owned by Denmark, or much at all. It’s just a name, and it might mean something, or it might not.
A “freewill” offering, is a name not a teaching.
Keep in mind, I’m pointing out that the doctrine of “freewill”… is real popular among the Babylonian monster we might call the modern day “church”.
But you won’t find the word “FREEWILL” in the Bible — other than that one reference to some obscure offering occasionally made in the O.T.
But you will find the word GRACE all over the place.
GRACE VS. FREEWILL… Who do you think is going to win in this battle of ideas?
You know… As long as there is an “Ace” theologian prattling about these matters, I’m going to give all the points to GRACE.
Worshipping human “freewill” seems just awful to me.
Ok. Let’s get down to business.
“Grace” means THE FAVOR OF GOD SHOWN TO ONE WHO DESERVES THE OPPOSITE.
“Freewill” is a means of deserving the favor of God. The doctrine of “freewill” says — in essence — do this or do that, and God will owe you salvation.
Listen, if you can do anything… to deserve the favor of God, then “grace” is not really “grace” — it’s a debt owed to you… and God MUST save you according to the (shall we say) “contract”.
But if GRACE is in play… then God saves the underserving. And God is God.
Don’t try to MIX the two ideas.
Don’t say God saves those who use their “freewill” to do the right thing.
You see, salvation is the work of God, not the obligation of God. You can’t obligate God to save you.
The doctrine of “freewill” makes salvation the work of man. How do we know this… because all freewillers say…
“If a sinner goes to hell, he can only blame himself, for God gave him the same opportunity as He gave all mankind, only he didn’t use his “freewill” to make the right choice.”
Never mind that when you apply the same standard to “christians” — you’d have to say “If a Christian goes to heaven he can only praise himself, for God gave him the same opportunity as He gave all mankind, and he used his precious, little, “freewill” to make the right choice.” So… PRAISE THE CHRISTIAN… is what I always say.
Grace VS Freewill. They don’t mix.
You see, the “free” will is very much subject to all kinds of influential factors. Most of all, the human will is subject to the influence of God.
The will is NOT free of influence. Right?
So, when God tells that guy in the Old Testament “Choose you this day, whom you will serve !!!” — That is not a clear teaching on nature or character of HUMAN WILL.
What if… What if I’ve got a gun to your head and tell you “Get with the program”. ???
Is that a clear teaching on whether or not your willingness to “get with the program” is “free” of coercive factors?
The very idea of “GOD” is a coercive, influential force in the universe.
The idea of “freewill” is a doctrine of demons, designed to take your eyes and your heart off of God… and focus it on yourself.
If God says “Choose you this day”… it’s no comment on who is really running the show.
We are told over and over again, that God CHOOSES…
“God chooses the foolish and weak, not the high and mighty”…
“God chooses us in Him BEFORE the foundation of the world”… etc.
Why would we honor and glorify man’s choice in matters under consideration… but minimalize and marginalize THE CHOICE OF GOD?
Years ago… before the internet became wildly popular… there was a cynical, christian magazine called THE WHITTENBERG DOOR… they would poke fun at regular old “christian” ideas and myths… especially stuff that came out of evangelical, fundamentalism.
Well, one issue they dared to tackle… was “feminism”. On the cover, was the main editor of “the door” … with the caption saying something like “As the editor of The Whittenberg Door I’m here to say we stand with our feminist sisters…” and when you turned the page of the cover, you discovered it was a folded page, and you got to see the COMPLETE PICTURE of the editor… who had a gun to his head, held by a woman.
So, God holds all the cards. God holds all the factors of influence and outcome. And God tells Joshua “Choose you this day…” As if He doesn’t know the outcome and what He is doing. His dealing with Josh, and His dealings with all humanity… are sure. And sealed in the cross of Christ. And human “freewill” can contribute nothing to the purpose of our Father.
Human freewill is a subject for minors to chatter about.
Remember our little phrase “Appearance is everything, reality is nothing.” — that might apply here.
Grace is a thing. Freewill is not.

6:00 a.m.
I think … oops… the roboting continues…
It’s coffee refill time.. .hang on.

Remember, how I said there is a “Doctrine of Freewill”… Well… it’s not really a “doctrine” in the Bible… it’s really more of an “inference of freewill” — the Bible DOES NOT teach that mankind has an uninfluenceable “free” will.
The freewill crowd — the best they can do is “infer” the matter. It’s not a clear teaching of the Bible.
But there is a “clear” — teaching we call “The Doctrine of the Eons”…. And if we can get folks acquainted with the DOCTRINE OF THE EONS… it will choke out their love for the “doctrine of freewill”.
You see, the main reason they love “freewill” is they don’t want to “blame” God for the plight of the sinner ending up in endless hell.
No, we can’t blame God for such an awful mess… so let’s blame the sinner for his own plight. But if these guys knew that God has this purpose … this eonian purpose (Eph 3:11) they might chill out. They might see that God is God.

Instead of worshiping man and man’s Almighty “Freewill”
Of course we have a “will”… no question. But as to our will’s limits ??? Hmmmm.
If the christian world knew of God’s eonian purpose… the “doctrine of human freewill” would melt away.
God’s purpose is not to burn the silly sinner in hell forever. God’s purpose is to glorify His Son and His Grace and His work.
Freewill glorifies man and man’s “work”.
Seems only right to grow up and realize that “God’s choice” is a thing, and “man’s choice” is an appearance of a thing”. LOL.
So, God says to Josh, “Choose you this day.” And God has already chosen Josh, so really, what “choice” does Josh have?
If God has chosen Josh, then God is going to supply all that’s necessary to make sure His choice is accomplished. Josh has no “choice” if God is the one “choosing”.
We are God’s. We do His bidding.
Josh has no power. Josh has no say in this universe. Josh did not create himself. Josh — when God says “Choose you this day…” Josh, says “OK”… and gulps. Like he had a choice in the matter… many factors were set in motion… like saying “LET’S GO”… when a Tsunami wave comes in. Let’s go, indeed. Like you have a choice… you are going whether you like it or not.
So, with the Doctrine of the eons, we can see clearly that God’s dealing with humanity appear to be this way or that way during the eons… But after the eons are closed, all bets are off.
During the eons, God deals with humanity in various ways… in innocence, in conscience, in law, in judgment, in grace, in justice… various ways. All for His purpose.
God never deals with humanity as if we had a “freewill”… and were equal to Himself. That’s silly.
But the freewillers come along and say goofy things like “God would never violate man’s freewill”. — Bullshit. God violates our freewill all the time. Ask Jonah. His freewill was NOT to go to Nineveh… he was hightailing it AWAY from Nineveh when God introduced him to a Whale of a good time. “God will not violate man’s free will” indeed.
During the eons, God’s eonian purpose rules. Man is subject to the Subjector of all.
Man is placed by the Placer of all.
I tell you, it pisses me off to hear the OSAS people pretend to brag on GRACE…. And then close out there sermon by saying, “Well, I suppose, if there is just one sinner who, of his own freewill, rejects God’s offer of Grace, then I suppose, he will have to go to endless hell, after all, God has done all he can do… and he can’t do no more.”

6:46 a.m.
Hang on, let me check the temp…
16º — too cold to go out back.

First of all, those freewillers need to know, there is no such thing as “GOD’S OFFER”… God does not “offer” grace. God OPERATES in GRACE…
When they prattle on about “God’s offer”… they are going on, really, about God being an “assist”. And that “salvation” is just a helpful thing… but it’s not the real thing.
The real thing… is your freewill. And all you get from God is a little boost. You did it. Of your own freewill. God is an assist… but He’s not the God of the universe.
Oh, they prattle on about “God is holy” and can’t abide sin… But there’s nothing “holy” about creating humanity with weaknesses and faults and ignorance… and then BLAMING humanity and torturing humanity in endless flames.
Freewill is a ruse.
Grace is the real deal.
Freewill is the enemy of Grace.
Freewill pushes to you worship yourself.
Grace pushes you to see all that God has done for you and will do for you. And you are His. Don’t forget it.
Freewill, is “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” type of thing.
Grace is a description of how God is operating all.
So, this wind this sucker up…
Freewill and Grace cannot be compatible.
Freewill obligates God to you.
Grace is the operation of God… showing FAVOR to those who deserve the opposite of favor.
If “freewill” were a thing, then once you exercise your “freewill” in the right kind of way, you would DESERVE to be saved… and you’d DESERVE God’s blessings and rewards. Just the opposite of our concept of “grace”.
If you insist on winning this debate, Mr. Freewill Lover, then you’ll have to change the idea of GRACE to be something akin to WORKS. Grace is no longer Grace. You remember that line, from Galatians, right? Get with it brother.
God operates in GRACE… He shows favor to anyone and everyone who does not deserve even a glance of favor.
Universal salvation and reconciliation is clearly implied in this GRACE thing, why? Because “God is no respecter of persons” and “God is not partial”… so if God shows one poor sucker, “grace”… and that poor sucker did NOT deserve such favor… the UNpartial God of the universe MUST bring all of us home to His bosom… sooner or later. (Thus, the importance of the doctrine of the eons.)
Go tell those pretend ‘gracers’ that… they are full of crap… for God operates in Grace and there are no “offers” of grace. And ‘grace’ clearly implies that God bring all back home.
“Free gracers” are actually “freewillers” with a spin. They worship man’s will, and do not honor God’s will. They turn “God’s will” into something God wishes you would do… but they don’t know… God’s will IS something God is doing. And God’s will, whips man’s puny will… ALL THE TIME.
GRACE TO YOU.
I’ll close this up… heat some some coffee… put on two coats, and join you outside so we can read this sucker.
7:11 a.m.
Exit, stage right.

The Ace Theological Company’s 95 Theses #55

The hidden meanings behind GRACE

Wednesday, Feb 23rd, 2022
4:58 a.m.
We had a snow dump last night.
Looks like 2 inches out there.
It’s 21º outside, with a high expected of 28º.
That’s bothersome cold.

Good Morning Saint,
I thought we’d explore the hidden meanings behind GRACE this morning. Why not, nothing better to do than ‘revel in grace’… that’s what I always say.
I’m sure you’ve seen those so-called “grace preachers” … like John MacArthur, (is that the guy’s name?) — who calls his ministry “Grace To You”.
And others out there like the typical church you might drive by called “Grace Baptist” or whatever.
Well, the problem (as I see it) is those guys are not very gracious. They’re kind of proud, if you ask me. And grace… if I’ve got the right definition of the thing… is humbling, not pride-sticking.
And remember, “pride will stick to anything, even the Nazi’s were PROUD of being Nazi’s” … so, just because a fellow is “proud” of something, doesn’t mean that something is much to be proud of … get me?
A lot of silly-ones, in the christian faith are proud of their “beliefs”. And if they “believe” they are saved by something called “grace”…. Oh my, they are so proud of it… don’t cha see.
Well, my understanding of GRACE is that it’s a very humbling situation. It’s not something you can actually be proud of… it’s like, you MUST acknowledge that something is not “fair”… something is not “right” as men judge “right” and “wrong”.
GRACE is favor shown to one who deserves the opposite of favor.
And I swear on a stack of Playboy Magazines, “grace” is really one of the most hated topics in christian circles.
You’ll find “grace” emphasized mostly in Paul’s letters of the Bible. The rest of the Bible is written to… for… and about the nation of Israel. But Paul’s letters were penned to all the bad boys out there, who were not “Israel”… and had no training in the law and the prophets. No clue at all.
Check this out:
If, “grace” is favor, given to one who deserves the opposite — that means — like — you’re watching a basketball game, and you know the BLUE team lost, flat out lost… but the refs GIVES the game to the BLUE team… who did not DESERVE to “win” the game…but they gave it to them anyway… and you’re pissed. It’s not fair. What’s wrong with those refs ???
Now, I don’t care much about basketball. But, I did watch the last game of that famous basketball player, what’s his name??? Michael Jordan? Yeah, that guy.
Keep in mind, up until that game, I had never watched a basketball game all the way through, before. But this Michael Jordon guy was so famous, so much in the news for years, and this was to be his last game, so I sat down and watched it.
And as I saw the game unfold, the refs we cheating in Jordan’s favor. They should have called him OUT over and over again, but NO, they let him get away with “murder” so to speak.
Again, I don’t give a fig about basketball, or Michael Jordan. But I understood WHY the referees were essentially “cheating” in favor of the guy. He was a good player, but he had made so much money for the basketball industry… and this was his last game… and of course everyone wanted him to go into retirement with honor — So, all his fouls and double-dribbles, and “mistakes” we’re overlooked, and those refs showed him — GRACE… “favor shown to those who deserve the opposite”.
I’m watching the game… and I don’t really care about basketball or Jordon, but even I was a little mad at the refs for “showing favor to this dude who did not deserve the favor.” — But, it was his last “hurrah” so cut the guy some slack, right?
The refs, had a purpose in letting Jordan cheat.
And when we survey the purpose of God… (Ephesians 3:11) we can see why God would CHEAT on our (believers) behalf.
Grace is cheating. Grace is not fair. Grace pisses off those who are sitting on the sidelines, just watching God’s operations.
God is showing favor to knuckleheads who flat out don’t deserve the special treatment.
The Jews of long ago were terribly pissed that Paul was out there bringing gentiles to a place where they too “revered” God… and he did it “aside from the law”… boy were they pissed.

5:32 a.m.
Coffee refill time…
Hang on…

5:37 a.m.
Back at it…

So, we’re trying to wrap our minds around this GRACE THING. — God showing favor to those who deserve the opposite. That kind of means… God is cheating, as we judge things, right?
God is bringing us yahoos into the game and letting us “win” — giving us a favored position in his plan and purpose… why, that’s just not ‘right’… that’s not ‘fair’.
No wonder, the christian world hates “grace”… they want to earn God’s favor. Just like the Pharisees of old.
They may give lip service to “grace” but just as soon as they take another breath, they’re all about works, and law, and what you MUST do and not do to get into God’s “kingdom”.
The snow plows just went by.
So, in GRACE, God cheats on our behalf.
Why? What’s the meaning of all this???
When I watched the last game of Michael Jordan, I could see that the refs were letting him get away with everything BECAUSE it was his swan song. Without him, all those years, they wouldn’t have a job. And the team owners wouldn’t have sold all those advertising slots… and shoes, and shirts, and tickets, and everything.
So, maybe, metaphorically, we can say Michael Jordan “saved” basketball, and he “earned” the right to be honored so, on his last game.
But, the question before us is… what did WE do to deserve such special treatment from the God of heaven? Nothing as far as I can see. The fact that we’re brought in by faith… has nothing to do with our talent, or contribution or any such thing… this is the plan and purpose of God.
And the reason GRACE pisses off regular ole christianity, is they are trying so hard to earn a place in God’s operations… but it doesn’t work that way.
And guess what… they secretly know that if GRACE is a thing… it means God can cheat all the way to get all that he wants. And God can save all. Because the show is His.
Never forget, we’re told numerous times that GOD IS NOT PARTIAL. — And that means if God saves just one yahoo who does not deserve to be saved, He has to save all… or God is cheating. He’s showing “favoritism” — I guess we’re trying to see if GRACE and FAVORITISM are one and the same? Help me out.
Does God play “favorites”?
I think not… that’s why, I suspect, “universal salvation” is a thing.
Does God play “favorites”?
It seems so… but we’re only at half-time, let’s see where the whole show ends up, right?
Does God play “favorites”?
He did “favor” Jacob over his twin brother. And his twin was born FIRST… not fair.
God is not fair. He’s got this bigger picture going on in His head… and He doesn’t share the insider game plan with us… so much… Most of God’s dealings with humanity are clouded and shrouded, and mankind is clueless as to what God is up to.
Hell, God sent His own Son to Israel and they hung Him on a pole. That’s clueless if you ask me.
So, God comes along and shows FAVOR (grace) to a bunch of us who deserve the opposite — and all those guys out there who are trying their best to DESERVE IT… scream and screech… and stomp their foot. They know it’s not fair.
Hang on… let me find that verse in Acts…
I found it… Acts 18… check it out:

12 Now, Gallio being proconsul of Achaia, the Jews with one accord assaulted Paul, and they led him to the dais,
13 saying that, “Aside from the law, is this man inducing men to revere God.”
What’s going on in this verse? Well, the Jews were pissed at Paul for bringing Gentiles in to a place of reverence for God. And he did it “aside from the law”… The Jews had worked so hard… and here the bad boys from the outside world were just loving the same God too… “We can’t have that.” They were kind of saying. So they got mean and nasty with Paul.
And the religious of today are still mean and nasty with Paul and Paul’s band of recipients of GRACE.
So, if God “cheats” on your behalf, and says “YOU WON” when you know you did not win… isn’t that humbling? You know, you didn’t deserve to win any special awards, or trophies !!!
And yet you were chosen !!!
God must have a bigger plan going on than we realize. Why, the “Creator of all” just might be the “Father of all”… and just might be the “Savior of all”. Now that’s a big plan.
So, the haters of GRACE come along and clearly change the definition of GRACE to be something less than Gracious.
They say “God offers grace”.
Check it out… if God “OFFERS” grace, then “grace” is no longer “grace”. It’s an earned reward… it’s a contract in which you keep your end of the bargain and God will keep His end of the bargain.
And God is less than “gracious”… he has to be “stern” if ‘grace’ is merely an “offer”.
CHECK IT OUT, BOYS AND GIRLS…. There is no such phrase in the Book of God as “God’s offer of Grace”…. It’s shameful that christians would use such a term… once you get clear on what exactly GRACE is.
God operates in grace. But does not ‘offer’ grace.
Those SOBs who change the word of God and the concepts of God and the purpose of God need to be spanked. They’re cheating… but then again… I’m arguing that God saves cheaters. For His own purpose. So, “Chill brother Ace, chill.”
God cheats on our behalf.
We don’t deserve any special treatments. But God changes the rules on our behalf. Anything we do… if it’s all wrong… why in God’s eyes, it’s all right.
The vast majority of “christians” are so rule-conscious… so works-oriented… that they just hate this grace business.
And even the guys with “grace” in their name… like John MacAuthor’s outfit, and the “free gracers” are afraid to carry this idea all the way out to its logical conclusion… THE RECONCILIATION OF THE WHOLE UNIVERSE. (Colossians 1:20)
Why are they “afraid”????… Maybe they’re just playing it safe… Just in case God is holding a grudge against ‘cheaters’…. It’s a funny thought, I know… but check it out… God cheated on behalf of everyone… CHRIST DIED FOR ALL, and HE WON… and the proof that He WON is that God raised Him from among the dead and GIVES HIM A NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME… get it? A NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME means universal reconciliation.
So, those guys hate grace, but why?
Well, ya know… “pride will stick to anything” and there’s nothing in God’s ‘operation’ of grace, that they can be “proud” of… so they change ‘God’s operations of grace’ into ‘God’s OFFER of grace’… and it makes a mess of things.
If God’s grace is an “OFFER” and the average ole christian “accepts” the “OFFER”… and keeps up his end of the ‘bargain’ … then the christian can be proud. Real proud that he accepted the so-called ‘offer’.
But, GOOD NEWS boys and girls, GOD DOES NOT OFFER GRACE…
Instead, God operates in grace.
Wow, the implications are HUGE.
To continue with our metaphor of Michael Jordon…
And our understanding of GOD’S OPERATIONS OF GRACE… the refs let Michael Jordan get away with all kinds of crap in his last game.
But Michael Jordan was not the boss.
And the refs were NOT the boss.
The real “boss” was somewhere behind the scenes.
So, if God brings us into the ‘game’ and let’s us win a spot at His right hand… who are we to argue with God’s eonian purpose ???
God bends the rules.
The birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, was God bending the rules. The resurrection of Jesus was definitely God bending the rules. And God bringing us bad boys into the fold of believers is also God bending the rules.
And if the self-righteous don’t like it, they can bite me.
We are saved in Grace. — Grace is the favor shown to those who don’t deserve any special treatment or recognition and in fact, deserve the OPPOSITE of favor… and it just ain’t FAIR… so bite me again.
Take it up with God.

6:37 a.m.
Coffee refill time…

6:40 a.m.
The sun will be up at 7:11 a.m.

Now get this… anyone out there preaching that human “freewill” has anything to do with man’s eternal destiny… is clueless about this GRACE thing.
— the coffee is a little cold… oh well, onward.
The typical freewill preacher insists that “If a man goes to endless hell he can only BLAME himself !!! ”…
I’m here to report: the fellow who says such things is clueless about GRACE.
GRACE is the favor shown to UNDERSERVING rascals. BLAME… is kicked out the back door.
GRACE is God’s ‘cheating’ program… where God brings in a fellow who deserves BLAME but gets UBER REWARDS… get me?
And if God takes one fellow who actually deserves BLAME… and rewards that fellow with justification, redemption, reconciliation, salvation, and a special place at the table of God… THAT IS NOT FAIR…
And freewillers preach FAIRNESS.
The freewillers insist that God will not “violate” man’s freewill… WHO ARE THEY KIDDING ??
The whole operation of God is a violation of man’s so-called ‘freewill’ !!!!
I don’t know if you been keeping up with current events but God violated Jonah’s freewill.
I don’t know if you been keeping up with current events but God violated Pharaoh’s freewill.
I don’t know if you been keeping up with current events but God violated Saul of Tarsus’ freewill.
Everyone wants to have their cake and eat it too.
No one uses their freewill to come on board.
God operates in grace.
God does not “offer” grace.
And that is good news worth spreading.
And grace is … truthfully… humbling… there is nothing in our calling to be “proud” about.
The only thing we can and should be ‘proud’ about is what God did in Christ’s cross.
Check out the word “GLORY”… I think you’ll find the core meaning hidden in “glory” has something to do with having PRIDE in some accomplishment.
And Romans 6:4 is very clear about God taking pride in what His boy accomplished on the cross. Hang on, let me copy and paste it here:
Romans 6 —
4 We, then, were entombed together with Him through baptism into death, that, even as Christ was roused from among the dead through the glory of the Father, thus we also should be walking in newness of life. “through the glory of the Father” it says…
…not the “glory of God”… but the “glory of the Father”… something is going on here between a Father and His Son. It’s a pride thing.
What God achieved in Christ’s cross, allowed Him to “cheat” and save anyone and everyone He wants to save… which, lucky for us, is ALL.
God’s operations of grace, are very humbling indeed. We double-dribbled all the time. We were caught walking all the time. We fouled all the time. We stepped out of the lines all the time. We even missed the basket and we were given 3 points anyway.
Can you see the magnificence here?
We want to magnify God’s GRACE… not man’s “freewill” co-operation. God brings in cheaters, not the deserving. Get it?
God has something up his sleeve. Even Paul says this thing is “the untraceable riches of His grace”… in Ephesians. (KJV ‘unsearchable’).
The message of GRACE and FREEWILL are opposed to each other. You can’t reconcile them.
Freewill is prideful.
Grace is humbling.
That “untraceable” business is in Ephesian 3… let me paste it in for you….
7 of which I became the dispenser, in accord with the gratuity of the grace of God, which is granted to me in accord with His powerful operation.8 To me, less than the least of all saints, was granted this grace: to bring the evangel of the untraceable riches of Christ to the nations,9 and to enlighten all as to what is the administration of the secret, which has been concealed from the eons in God, Who creates all,10 that now may be made known to the sovereignties and the authorities among the celestials, through the ecclesia, the multifarious wisdom of God,11 in accord with the purpose of the eons, which He makes in Christ Jesus, our Lord;
Feast your biddy eyes on that for a while… there is so much there… it’s my back-up passage for this message but I’m not even touching it in any depth yet.
All I’m saying is —
God does not ‘offer’ grace… instead —
God OPERATES in grace.
And all this stuff was “concealed” for a long time. And by any measure you look at, it still seems to be “concealed” from the vast majority who claim to “be on God’s side”.
Wait a minute… doesn’t verse 10 say this stuff is being reveal to some muckily-mucks in high places??? Could we infer that regular ole christians are NOT those muckily-mucks, so they don’t see it yet? Just thinking.
Grace is humbling. There’s nothing in the operations of God that we can brag on. Our brag can only be in what Christ accomplished on Calvary’s hill.

Be sure to leave a comment or two, and tell me that I’m fulla bulla or whatever.

Grace to you.
7:18 a.m.

The Ace Theological Company’s95 Theses #54

How Does God Really Feel About “Death”?

I don’t know if you’ll ever hear a sermon topic with this title… but let’s give it a try.

We’ll get right to it without the usually formalities… as I’m getting a late start… and we won’t have much time together.
1. What does God “feel” about death…???
If you listen to the usual “christian” clap-trap… God must “like” it… why? Because the usual prattling of christians is that “…as soon as you, you go to heaven, or to hell.” And if you go to heaven, AS SOON AS YOU DIE… then of course God must be happy to welcome you home… so, God must just LOOOOOVE DEATH. — ARE YOU LAUGHING YET? Yeah, I know it’s ridiculous, right?
And if you’re a sinner and you die, God sends you to hell, right away, to get you out of His hair, until He can group all of you together in one “judgment day” for His convince – don’t cha see – and then He’ll toss all of you into the lake of fire at one time… no messing around… right?
So either God must see “death as a blessing” — as He gets to be with you (His child) — or God must see “death as a hassle” as now He has to deal with you (if you’re a child of satan) and you’re interfering
with His day.
OK… let’s get something straight… All these religious knuckleheads who say “Death is a blessing” … are knuckleheads.
Death is not a blessing.
Death is a curse.
Death is the opposite of life.
Life is a blessing.
It’s pissing me off that “christians” have such loose language and unclear thoughts when it comes to these vital topics of life and death and what is revealed in God’s word about the matter.
Death is not “another form of life”!!!!!! That is bull shit. Death is the opposite of life.
How does God feel about death ???
Well… the first mention of death in the Bible is in God’s talk with Adam.
“To die shall you be dying.” He says.
How does God feel about death… Well, from this passage in Genesis — it’s a damn serious topic, right?
“To die shall you be dying”… sound serious. And having a “serious” chat with your newly minted “son” — can’t be easy. (Keep in mind, Adam is referred to as a “son of God”… and keep in mind that Adam was ignorant… and talking to an ignorant child is never easy.)
So, how does God “feel” about death?
If the “christians” are right… and death is not death… then death must be a friend, right?
But, I say those yahoos are wrong… death is death. And death is no friend of us or God.
In fact, our beloved I Corinthians 15:20-28 reveals that DEATH IS GOD’S ENEMY too.
Most people… if they have ANY emotion over death… they CRY… a few disturbed folks throughout history might be happy about death… but they’re sick… forget them. Most folks CRY over death.
It’s the bullshit artists that tell us that death is another form of life, and suggest that death is a good thing. And “christians” fall into that silliness too.
Death is rough.
Death is not fair.
Death is the opposite of life.
Death is mankind’s enemy.
Death is the enemy of God.
And Death is the last enemy on God’s list to tame, dismantle, abolish, sweep under the rug…
“THE LAST ENEMY IS BEING ABOLISHED; DEATH… says I Cor 15:26.
——————————
Romans 5:12 Therefore, even as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death (ENTERED INTO THE WORLD), and thus death passed through into all mankind, on (THE BASIS OF) which all sinned –
13 for until law sin was in the world, yet sin is not being taken into account when there is no law;
14 nevertheless death reigns from Adam unto Moses, over those also who do not sin in the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him Who is about to be.
—————————————————————————
I COR 15…

20 (Yet now Christ has been roused from among the dead, the Firstfruit of those who are reposing.
21 For since, in fact, through a man came death, through a Man, also, comes the resurrection of the dead.
22 For even as in Adam all are dying… thus also in Christ shall all be vivified.
23 Yet each in his own class: the Firstfruit, Christ; thereupon those who are Christ’s in His presence;
24 thereafter the consummation(:), whenever He may be giving up the kingdom to His God and Father, whenever He should be nullifying all sovereignty and all authority and power.
25 For He must be reigning until He should be placing all His enemies under His feet.
26 The last enemy is being abolished: death.
27 For He subjects all under His feet. Now whenever He may be saying that all is subject, it is evident that it is outside of Him Who subjects all to Him.
28 Now, whenever all may be subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also shall be subjected to Him Who subjects all to Him, that God may be All in all.)

And don’t forget… Christ went to the cross…
He DIED… And God was not a happy camper.
Death ROBBED God of His Son.
But what was accomplished in His Son’s death was so great, that 3 days later, God, for the first time, broke death’s grip. God raised Christ from the dead UNABLE to die again.
And that changes everything.

We’ll talk later.
Grace to you.
Copy and paste this in other forums.
Christ’s death and resurrection changes everything.
IT IS THE GOOD NEWS.
Onward.
Ace.

The Ace Theological Company’s95 Theses #53

Why Did God Give Me Cancer ?

Friday, Feb 18, 2022…
7:02 a.m.
The snow melted from yesterday, but it’s still cold out there.
It’s 32º out there… and a high of 48º expected.

Good morning dear one,
And good morning Father,

I guess we’ll start with this lousy question:
Why Did God Give Me Cancer ?
The question is such a trap. No answer will satisfy the one asking such a question. One of the “games” in Dr. Berne’s book is called (as I remember) “Oh, that will never work”.
It’s a “game” that some people play in order to waste your time, or elicit sympathy, or some other motivation… but it goes like this: A fella (or gal) comes along and has some terrible complaint or some terrible situation they are in… and you fall into the trap of giving them suggestions as to how to solve the problem… only to be met with that person saying over and over again “Oh, that will never work.”
In other words… they don’t want a solution… they just want to enjoy the complaining and whining, and it goes on and on.
And when you think about it, if you do come up with a solution to their complaining problem… they might even get mad at you. It’s a game. And they get you ever time. — “Oh, that will never work.”
So, someone comes along and says “Why did God give me cancer?” — Are we going to fall for it? Will any answer satisfy? Or is it a trap to get us chasing our tails… to answer an impossible question… a question that’s not even real.
So… just between you and me and the chirping birds… I’ll give some half-*ss answers… just to get the coffee juices something to do.
Did I just mention coffee… excuse me, while I do a refill.
7:16 a.m.
7:22: a.m.

Why Did God Give Me Cancer ?
OK, I’ll take the bait. I’ll give some lousy answers to this lousy question.
1. The word “Solipsistic” comes to mind.
(If you don’t know that word, it’s kind of all about “me”, “me”, “me’.)
2. And, perchance we can move beyond the “ME”, “ME”, “ME” part… Why did God give John Wayne cancer? Why did God give Steve McQueen cancer? That list would be pretty near endless.
3. But, for me, here is my best answer:
From the book of Acts… Paul’s yelling match with the Greek philosophers of Athens. You know, brainiacs. Know-it-alls….
Acts 17: Paul shouts out — something about…
24 The God Who makes the world and all that is in it, He, the Lord inherent of heaven and earth, is not dwelling in temples made by hands,25 neither is He attended by human hands, as if requiring anything, since He Himself GIVES to all… life and breath and all.
—
28 for in Him we are living and moving and are ,

So, “Why did God give ‘me’ cancer ???
Silly wabbit… God gives LIFE to all… I never heard you say “Why did God give me life ??” Nor, did I hear you giving THANKS for life.
Silly wabbit… God gives BREATH to all… I never heard you say “Why did God give me breath ?? Nor, did I hear you giving thanks for the breath you have.
Silly wabbit… God gives ALL to all. Would it be too much to suggest you give thanks for something? Anything?
Dare I say, that even your ability to complain and whine is a gift of God. LOL.
For God gives life, and breath and ALL to all.
Whiners are of God.
Now… if God GIVES life… who are we to bitch, if He takes it back… FOR HIS OWN PURPOSES.
Now if God GIVES breath… even if it’s only for a short time — I’m inclined to say “Whoa, Thanks Father.”
Now if God GIVES all, to all… dare we suggest that cancer is a “gift” — after all, cancer is part of the ALL which God gives us, right? Or am I going too far outside the solipsistic realm of reality?
I’m so glad God gave life, and breath and all to John Wayne. And Steve McQueen. — And me.
I’m glad God has given life and breath and all, to even annoying game players.
So, “Why did God give ‘me’ cancer ???
What else did God give you? Start there !!!
Life? Breath? All?
Start there.
Shhhhh…. God gave you Christ !!!
Don’t tell “nobody” (which is a double negative, which means; do tell everybody.)
So, “Why did God give ‘me’ cancer ???
Indeed, — did you see the word “give” there?
As in “gift”… How about this:
So, “Why did God GIFT ‘me’ cancer ???
Are we gettin’ down yet?
Keep in mind, I don’t recommend you share this episode with the persnickety or any one with a “know-it-all” attitude… you know, like one of them “stoic philosophers” from Acts 17 in Athens…. When they ask you such a question like “Why, why, why, did God give me cancer?” — They don’t ask with tears in their eyes… they ask with resentment in their voice… it’s a trap. They want to bring you down to their level of whining. “The Games People Play” is a good book. I recommend it to any and all.
If you’re naive, it will help you avoid the traps of the game-players. If you’re a game-player you’ll find your own name on every 3rd page of the book.
And most of life are various games we play with one another.
God bless John Wayne.
God bless Steve McQueen.
And if you have cancer… God bless you.
God gives life, and breath, and all, to all.
From verse 28….
For in Him we are LIVING…
… and MOVING…..
…. and ARE.
To a great degree, we have been exploring God’s purpose — God’s eonian purpose.
And if God gives us LIFE… it’s for HIS purpose.
If God gives us BREATH… it’s for HIS purpose.
We don’t have much of a say in the big picture or the small picture. We are His. He gave us life, and breath and all.
So, knock it off, with this damn attitude as if you are your own piece of work.
Dr. Berne’s got your number.
It’s ok, not to understand God’s eonian purpose. Most never bother to explore the question. But I can tell you this… it’s an “eonian” purpose… meaning, it has limits. It has a beginning and middle and an end. And, if God sees fit in His eonian purpose, to give you LIFE — lucky you…. And BREATH — lucky you… And ALL — lucky you. What’s a little cancer????
The Giver of Life, surely has the right to take it back. The Giver of Life, seems to have a message for us, in the cross of Christ… He gives LIFE to Christ, and for a few days, took it back. But THEN… He gave Christ LIFE beyond the reach of death (GK “vivification”) — So, can we see the promise of God and the PURPOSE of God in the cross of Christ? Well, some of us can. But soon enough… we’ll all be able to. And when all of us come home and stop playing games … solipsistic games… every knee will bow, and every tongue will shout… and acclaim… and sing the praises of Him who lead the way… “Jesus” the name above every name.
Wait a minute… When Jesus was on the cross… didn’t He have a “Why Me?” moment? Didn’t He say “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Isn’t that the same thing as saying “Why did God give me cancer?” — Can we see ourselves in Christ?
I’ve had family and friends die of cancer.
God gives life and breath and all to all.
And the purpose of God apparently includes more than a nodding acquaintance with death and its pals (pain and suffering).
On the 3rd day… something happened.
On the 3rd day… our answer came.
On the 3rd day… ever mouth was stopped.
(Except for the whiners who haven’t caught on yet. But they will— every knee will bow, every tongue will acclaim.)
On the 3rd day… a new operation was revealed.
On the 3rd day… an earnest payment was displayed for all.
On the 3rd day… the consummations of the eons were revealed. He rose. And we are in Him.

8:19 a.m.
Grace to you.
Thanks for spending some time with me.
Exit: Stage right.
Ace.

Ace Theological Company’s95 Theses #54

“Why You Will Sin…
More After You Become A
“Christian”

Saturday, Feb 19th, 2022
6:25 a.m.
Still plenty dark outside, hang on, let me check the temp — It’s 32º out, high expect of 53º. Wow, that’s warm… and the sun peeks through at 7:16 a.m. this morning.

Good Morning Father,
Good Morning Saint of God — yeah you !!!

Father, if it’s not too much trouble, we’d pray for a spirit of wisdom and revelation in a realization of You.

Now… to this topic of why you’re gonna sin more after you become a “christian”…. Generally speaking, before you become a “christian” you don’t sin much. Yeah, I know you only hear the opposite of that, in christian circles…. They are always saying “I was such a sinner and then God saved me.” Or words to that effect at testimony time… but here’s the deal…
… Sinning is missing the mark. (Remember our definition comes from those 700 left-handed guys in the O.T. who could sling a stone and hit the the target within a hair’s breath and NOT SIN. — yeah, yeah, the KJV says “not miss”… but it’s the same dang word as is translated everywhere else as SIN.
So, the “christian” testimony that they all stopped sinning AFTER they asked Jesus into their heart is a bunch of hooey. The real sinning doesn’t start UNTIL they become a so-called “christian”. Here’s why…
After they become a “christian” they are just flat out TRYING, and TRYING, and TRYING not to sin. And that’s when you “sin” the most. You see, “christianity” is mostly a bunch of rules and regulations — LAW, WORKS, you know, measurable things you do or don’t do that they can hold against you.
“Christianity” is not really about Christ and his accomplishments on the cross. Forget that.
So, before you knew all the RULES, and REGULATIONS, you were just living your life and you didn’t “sin” so much… because you weren’t measuring anything…. But when you started going to church and they gave you all kinds of measuring sticks… some with which to smack your hand…
So… instead of “becoming a ‘christian’” … I’m going to recommend a different strategy…
STOP CARING.
Stop caring if you “sin”.
Stop caring if your neighbor “sins”.
Stop caring if those biddies at church “sin”.
And I’m telling you, you have a road map to this INDIFFERENCE… in the cross of Christ.
You see… the secret sauce is in the word FOR.
Ready…
Christ died FOR our sins.
The word “for” is such an overlooked darling of a word. You use it so much we plumb forget it’s significance… and it’s a shame.
Christ died FOR our sins, … Check it out…
He paid FOR you car.
The cops came FOR your husband.
I came over FOR a piece of pie.
I think there is such overlooked meaning in the word FOR that we can just stop worrying about the matter of whether or not we sinned or all those yahoos in our circle of friends sinned… just forget about it, and go wash some dishes and/or plant some tomatoes.
The best way to STOP SINNING is to take away the goal posts. If you have no target, you can’t miss.
Just throw the ball in the general direction and have some fun.
Where sin did abound, grace did much more abound. — Kind of like the “special olympics” where everyone is a winner… Because in God’s view… the goalposts (targets) have been removed and no one’s keeping score… except them thar “christians”.
So, in God’s game… where sin did abound, He moves the goalposts … all over the place, in your favor. Hellava thought, huh?
OK… if we can… for a bit in our lives… stop setting up goalposts for everyone to aim at… so we can blame them for SINNING… and get down to business… and seeing with our own eyes what Christ was doing up on that cross… man o man…. Then SIN might not look so interesting.
I remember reading that the woman (Dorothy Sayers) who wrote the “LORD PETER WHIMSY” crime novels… (a Sherlock Holmes kind of guy)… once said “The older I get, the less I care who’s having sex with whom.”
I think that’s the direction we all need to go. What was Christ doing up there on the cross? 7:01 a.m.
Coffee refill time.

Now I will admit… sniffing out other people’s sins is so much fun. Gossip is just a kick. But the truth is… it’s not helpful in any way… Gossip never makes THEM better. It makes YOU feel better for a moment or two, till the high wears off. But gossip never does a damn thing for them.
Kind of like that one marriage councilor (sp?) said, “Serious talk hurts the relationship most of the time. Instead keep it to small talk, happy talk.”
Fault-finding is a popular hobby. But it is rarely productive.

I was thinking of going over to yet another freewiller channel… because Brother Larry put a bug in my hear… and I think it’s a good one. It goes like this:

DID CHRIST SAVE ALL OF US AT THE CROSS, SOME OF US AT THE CROSS OR NONE OF US AT THE CROSS?
I just know they is gonna LOVE this question.
I’m thinking I’ll have to tell them it’s no fair to use the word IF… if they have to use the word IF to explain what Christ did on the cross, then they are saying in essence “None of us”. He saved no one on the cross, if they have to say “He saves you IF you do this and that.”
Now consider that question in light of my notes on the word FOR… He died FOR our sins… now look at that question —
Did Christ save all of us at the cross?
Some of us at the cross?
Or none of us at the cross?

4. So, yesterday, we (I) was going on about “Why did God give me cancer?” — and of course the idea that God creates both good and evil sure does piss some people off.
   It’s not an easy subject to consider. But it’s true that there is only one God. So, it’s something everyone is going to have to acknowledge… that the ONE GOD created all things… things good and things not so good.
   Our favorite troll left a comment, to the effect “If your God gave me cancer, He’s a POS”.
   Well, he’s not the first to shake his fist at God.
   One time, I was hiking in the woods of Northern Idaho. I came upon a small clearing and I guess a mouse had claimed that little area for a home. Because as soon as I came in view, that little mouse, stood me down and was squeaking at me… like it was tough and could handle me. I could have stepped on it. But I didn’t. I kind of admired it’s boldness.
   Those who shake their fist at God are kind of cute. But not really.
   God has no business stomping on mice.
   God calls us all into existence… and gives us all the perfect experience… and when all is said and done, we all have pretty near the same experience.
   We live, and breath, and die.
   With a few minor details in between.
   One guy dies of cancer. The next guy dies of traffic injuries. One lady dies of blood clots. The next one dies of old age. Minor details.
   BTW… What was Christ doing up on that cross?
   — Was He saving the world???

— Or was He adding one more layer of confusion to the whole confusing program of HOW TO GET “SAVED”?

5. I’m in the mood for something from Romans… hang on, let me find something.
   That was easy… Chapter one, verse 4…

“Who is designated Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead),”
And I’m betting the word DEAD here is plural… adding more to it than we can dare plumb.
So, my question “What was He doing up there on the cross???” — Here is one thing He was doing, He was getting the proper DESIGNATION — Up on the cross, He got the designation “Son Of God With Power” — Wow, what does that mean?
And Who gave Him that designation? It seems to say “the spirit of holiness” gave Him the title/designation. — And the thing that seals the deal is His and everyone’s resurrection. (Since the word DEAD is most likely plural).
So, what was He doing up on that cross? He was getting a designation. Holy smokes.
And keep in mind, we don’t want to mention the cross without noting that the resurrection is a vital part of that cross story. Get me?
And of course the word “cross” is just “pole” in the Greek of the first century. So, “cross” is a figure of speech referring to His death and resurrection.
Can we say that the Son of God went to the cross IN or WITH a spirit of holiness? Somehow… the SPIRIT OF HOLINESS is associated with the Son of God’s experience on the cross.
I wonder if we can… for say, a month or so… stop saying “Son of God”… and start saying “Son of God with Power” — I wonder how that would effect our understanding of things.
“Son of God with Power”
“Son of God with Power”
“Son of God with Power”

Just getting in some practice.
“Son of God with Power”
“Son of God with Power”
“Son of God with Power”

Romans… Chapter one, verse 4…
“Who is designated Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection of the dead-(PLURAL)),”

I’m quite sure this “spirit of holiness” has nothing to do with me. I must be talking about His own holiness… I contributed nothing to this program, don’t cha see.
So, according to the “spirit of holiness” He was designated ’Son of God’ — I’m still trying to wrap my head around this idea… you got something? Leave a comment.

 “Son of God with Power”
  “Son of God with Power”
  “Son of God with Power”

 So, Son of God with power, huh? Now what were you saying about eternal conscious punishment? 

There is so much we don’t know or understand about God’s eonian purpose. But it sure is fun to throw a hook into the lake and see what bites.

Ok, 8:04 a.m.
Time for breakfast.
Thank you so much for hanging out with me, this morning. We have such a darling Father, and that Son of His… wow… He’s the “Son of God with power”. And I’m more than impressed with those Two.
I’m sweet on Them.
Grace to you.
Exit: stage right.
Ace.

The Ace Theological Company’s 95 Theses #52

Big Trouble In Little Verses

I tried ocean sounds, but that was annoying for me here in this cold climate of Utah. I tried flat out “sounds of snow storm” but good golly that was awful. So, let’s stick to rain on leaves sound in autumn.

Good Morning Saint of God…
Good Morning Father of all. (By the way Father, your plan… that is… your purpose… is way cool… or should I say “mind blowing”. Thanks for including me somewhere in it all)

6:25 a.m.
Thursday, Feb 17.
And it’s kinda cold out…
25º right now, with a high expected of 42º.

And a big fat, GRACE TO YOU.

This morning I was thinking of exploring II COR 5:18-21 with you. It’s not a popular verse. But it is a “killer” verse. I think Bill references this verse sometimes to promote that “FREE GRACE” business and that OSAS business. But I’m a-gonna challenge myself here, to see what I can find in it and share it with you.
BY THE WAY… Both Lawrence and Paul Paulsen have made it a point on this channel that we don’t “need” the Bible or to be Bible students and we don’t need to be “Concordant” Only-ists…. Like the KJV only-ists.
Lawrence points out that the “Bible” is no help unless the spirit of God makes you alive to the matter being discussed. And that’s true… you can slap a verse on a fella, and it doesn’t mean he’ll get it. I love certain verses these days… that at one time… went right over my head and in fact, I argued with the verse and the fellow presenting the verse to me. Dang.
Paul Paulsen points out that there are plenty of mentally disabled folks out there, you know, like so bad they are in institutions. And those folks couldn’t follow the logic of THIS idea or THAT idea, if you gave them money to try. And ya know… that’s really true of all of us… we can’t understand the things of God without a miracle of God happening to us, and in us and for us.
As my Granddad, use to say “They can’t hep (no “L”) it.
And, as Paul Paulsen was pointing out, God can bring us along to a new understanding apart from any Bible or apart from any specific translation of the Bible. And yep… gotta agree with that one.
And get this boys and girls… it’s God’s job to bring us along. He alone is the Creator of all, the Father of all, and the Savior of all. Does He need any help from us? Nah. One of our “Little Verses” confirms this thought… I think it’s Acts 17:25… or 27… it says “as if God needs anything from us.” (Words to that effect.)
So, our title BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE VERSES is an homage to that great Kirk Russel movie, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA. — I gotta pull that out of storage and watch it again.
OK… here are our verses for today:
NOTE: I’ll leave it here as one unit, then copy it, paste it in again… and cram my thoughts in to the new section. Hang on…
II Cor 5:
18 Yet all is of God, Who conciliates us to Himself through Christ, and is giving us the dispensation of the conciliation,
19 how that God was in Christ,
(1) conciliating the world to Himself,
(2) not reckoning their offenses to them,
(3) and placing in us the word of the conciliation.
20 For Christ, then, are
(4)…we ambassadors, as of God entreating through us. We are beseeching for Christ’s sake,
“Be conciliated to God!”
21
(5) …For the One not knowing sin, He makes to be a sin offering for our sakes
(6) that we may be becoming God’s righteousness in Him.

II Cor 1:
2 Grace to you and peace from God, our Father,
and the Lord Jesus Christ.

II Cor 5: X-I find it almost strange that we find this good stuff in II Corinthians… this passage is like a summation of all the good stuff of the Bible… personally, I’d expect this to be in Ephesians, Colossians, or Philippians… but NOOOOOOO… Paul was revealing THIS way back??? Way back when he was writing to those rascals in Corinth??? I suspect he was holding back a bit… ok… onward…
18 Yet all is of God, X-These have got to be the most hated four words in the Bible… “all is of God”… And this is not the only place where these four words show up… but every time I bring up these words as something to be delighted in, some freewill brother or sister will start showing beads of sweat around their forehead… and say “Noooooo, nooooooo,” as if they are a character in a movie about to go over a cliff. They always run to that verse that says something about someone being “OF YOUR FATHER, THE DEVIL”… as if THAT proves that “not all is of God”
Now, one way we can “BELIEVE” God, when God says “All is of God”… is to note that somethings in the Bible are said in the absolute sense, and some things are spoken in a relative sense. In the ABSOLUTE sense, all is of God, relatively speaking some folks are “of your father the devil”. And it’s a shame that more folks don’t or can’t consider figures of speech. And the Bible is FULL of figures of speech.
For example: One verse says NONE ARE RIGHTEOUS, NO NOT ONE. Another verse says John, the baptist’s parents were “righteous”… WHAT? A contradiction?? Nah… John’s parents were “righteous” relative to all those knuckleheads who were alive and were neighbors and were running the show at the time, John was born. In the absolute sense, God says, God assesses that “none are righteous, no not one.”
So, don’t be a baby, everyone uses figures of speech, and one figure is to speak of somethings as relatively true, and other things as absolutely true. And it is absolutely true that ALL IS OF GOD. Relatively, some folks act like a-holes, so we might say “they are OF their father the devil.” Jesus did.
So… we begin our dive into this passage with the words “ALL IS OF GOD”… a perfect set-up phrase.
Does the author need to go further… our minds are blown already… “All is of God” indeed. Who can handle such a thought? All is of God. Hmmmm. And Hmph.
Check it out… He says ALL IS OF GOD, then goes on to say…
Who conciliates us to Himself through Christ,
X—Whoah… what do we have here? God conciliates us to Himself ??? This is starting to sound interesting. Why? Because everyone and his brother seems to say that God has a big, fat, chip on His shoulder. They seem to suggest that God is pissed. And He’s going to kick ass, any day now. But here… we see a different message. A message likely to go right over our heads… because it’s so wildly different that all the stuff we’ve heard about this “angry God” all these years.
God “conciliates us to Himself”… wait a minute… This sounds tender. This sounds lovely… this sounds like God does not have a chip on His shoulder. This sounds like God is not angry after all. God is conciliating us to Himself — NOTE: it does not say that “WE” are conciliated to Him, just that HE is conciliated to us. I think we still have a chip on our shoulder about many things. But let’s go on…
He is conciliating us to Himself THROUGH CHRIST. Hmmmmmm…. how do we approach this thought? Through Christ? This conciliation thing must require a PLAN and a vehicle through which the plan is carried out: Christ.
Ok… next part —
and is giving us the dispensation of the conciliation,
X— There’s that word DISPENSATION again. So, can we say that we are in a DISPENSATION right now… a dispensation called “THE CONCILIATION”… Cool… In other parts of the scriptures we see “the dispensation of grace”… and “the dispensation of righteousness”… we might see the “dispensation of justice”… but HERE we see “the dispensation of the conciliation.” Something to ponder.
Now check this out:
19 how that God was in Christ,
X— God was in Christ ???? In my mind… these four words are STAND ALONE words… There have been times I would walk around saying to myself “God was in Christ”… just trying to explore the depth of it’s meaning. God was in Christ… wow. In a sense… no matter what kind of crap is going on in the big, bad word… it somehow is a tempest in a teacup, compared to the thought that GOD WAS IN CHRIST.
Now, the question is, WHAT WAS HE DOING THERE??? (Coffee refill time… brb)
7:27 a.m.
If you see my numbered notes below… looks like we can say that God was doing SIX different things there, when He was in Christ. Let see what we get…
(1) conciliating the world to Himself,
X— So, in this passage we first discover that “all is of God” then we discover that WE, personally, are conciliated to God — through Christ. Right ? So, this “all is of God” business has to start somewhere, so we see a personal and tender thing… the PROOF that all is of God begins with “us” in that God conciliates us to Himself through Christ… and guess what… He then GIVES US the dispensation of the conciliation… so we’er not done yet. Right? He gives us a job ?? Is that right ?? This “job” called “the dispensation of the conciliation.”… what is this?
(2) not reckoning their offenses to them,
X — check this out… God is not reckoning the world’s offenses to them? What’s going on here?
STOP PRESSES !!!…
EMERGENCY POWERS MEETING !!!
GET BILLY GRAHAM ON THE LINE !!!
OH, HE’S DEAD? WELL, GET SOMEONE ON THE LINE… THIS IS BIG… GOD IS NOT, I SAY “NOT”… RECKONING MAN’S OFFENSES AGAINST THEM? WHAT THE HELL?
Here it is, feast your beady little eyes on this:
“God was in Christ, conciliating the world to Himself, not reckoning their offenses to them,”
X — If you’re like me, it’s like “time to take some medication… heart medication, or something… this thing is too rich for my blood. Listen, the question is… how far do we take this passage of scripture ???
Ya gotta know, all the freewiller’s and the OSASer and the so-called “free-gracers” — they all go out of their way to marginalize and minimalize this passage. Those guys always put CONDITIONS on acquiring God’s grace, favor or blessings. You MUST meet conditions, and they won’t shut up about the CONDITIONS you MUST meet to win the game of “everlasting life”…
But as I see it, this passage clearly says God met the conditions “in Christ” and man o man… it looks like the only thing left for us to do is have a party about the matter and INVITE FOLKS TO THE PARTY. Let’s see if I’m right…. Up next: We have verse 20 and item #3 and #4…
(3) and placing in us the word of the conciliation.
20 For Christ, then, are (4)…we ambassadors, as of God entreating through us. We are beseeching for Christ’s sake, “Be conciliated to God!”
X — “Ambassadors” are the folks who are inviting others to the party, so to speak. And we are “beseeching”… not for YOUR sake, but for “Christ’s sake” — Now, if this “eternal hell” business were real, it would say “we’re beseeching you for your sake so you don’t go to an endless hell.” But NO. This message is for Christ’s sake. Dare we say that this message is so that Christ won’t pay the price for nuthin’ ??? — Just a figure of speech here.. I say GOD WAS IN CHRIST… and it will play out exactly as God wants…
Get this… when it says that we’re out there shouting :Be Conciliated To God… are we kind of saying “FORGIVE GOD”… ??? We’re saying, “Come on folks, give God a chance. He’s conciliated to you, now you can be conciliated back to Him… and don’t cha know, it’s gonna be all right. (Using figures of speech here boys, don’t get your panties in a tight-wad.)
PLEASE NOTE: The word “conciliated” here in this passage is KATALASSO and suggests a one-sided change of heart… the change of heart coming from God only, at this moment… but in Colossians 1:20 we see… finally… a two-sided change of heart… and we have the word APO-KATALASSO a stronger form of KATALASSO. So here, in II COR 5, we have the story of God being conciliated to all mankind, but as the story progresses to Colossians 1:20, we have both God and mankind and the whole universe, being conciliated to each other… thus in Colossians 1:20 the stronger form of the word can be used.
Right now, most of the world is either mad at God or indifferent toward God… totally indifferent. And it’s all by design… get it… our opening words: ALL IS OF GOD… is the set-up, for the discussion… it’s the foundation of Paul’s thoughts here. ALL IS OF GOD…is the “tell”… He’s got all the cards.
You know… it’s actually fun, to have this ambassador thing as a gift… to be out there shouting to the word (so to speak) HEY, FORGIVE GOD… or, if you insist — BE CONCILIATED TO GOD… knowing good and well, that they will be conciliated to God, if not today… one day… and not to worry that they are ignoring our message of love and relaxation and peace and grace and joy… and on and on… they can ignore it because ALL IS OF GOD… and God is in the TIME and TIMING business… and one day… all will become apparent.
SIDE NOTE: One boy says “Why preach to men if they are not under wrath”… and the fact that they stub their toe, and it bleeds, is proof that they are under something… call it “wrath” if you want to… but this life is painful because Adam sinned and “death (mortality) passed through onto all mankind.” (Romans 5:12) — proof, that we are all under wrath… when we get signs of mortality, and our toe is bleeding like crazy.
21 (5) …For the One not knowing sin, He makes to be a sin offering for our sakes
X — I put the word “offering” in dark background, because it’s not in the Greek of the New Testament. In the Concordant translation, they let you know it’s not there by using lightface type for the word “offering”… In an article as to WHY did inserted it there, even though it’s not in the Greek, they admitted that it was likely going to piss off a lot of regular ole christians who would freak out that the scriptures actually say —
“The One not knowing sin, He makes to be sin, for our sakes.”
So, it was a “marketing” decision, on behalf of the editors… but in the next edition of the Concordant Literal New Testament… they are going to ditch the word “offering” since it’s not there anyway… and let the scriptures stand or fall on their own… since the regular ole christians get pissed off at “Big Little Verses” anyway… let them deal with II COR 5:18-21 as they will.
(6) that we may be becoming God’s righteousness in Him.
X — Finally, we get to this closing thought.. that we “MAY”… be becoming God’s righteousness. And don’t you for a moment think that this “MAY” is suggesting that it MAY or MAY NOT happen. That, you “may” become God’s righteousness, or you “may not”… it’s all up to you.
This “may” is a result of all that has gone on before. God was in Christ, and the result, is that WE ALL WILL BECOME God’s righteousness.
It’s like this… I push the hammer to the edge of the table that it may fall off. The hammer’s action is not dependent on the hammer, but on my action.
We become God’s righteousness due to God being in Christ and doing what He did there.
It would be cheesy of your to suggest that this MAY suddenly switches to a dependency on Human action, when the whole passage is all about God’s operations.
God operates that we may be found in Him.
After all, “All is of God”…. And … “God was in Christ”… and “was conciliating the whole dang world to Himself” Wow.
Exit: Stage Right.
Thanks for joining me, Paul, Nancy, Francis, Jeremy. etc.
8:33 a.m.
I’m sweet on this passage. I think there’s more to see in it. We’ll have to go over these thoughts again, later on. Grace to you.
Amen.
Ace.

P.S. Here are the notes from brother Paul Paulsen:

1. There are two verbs in Greek on RECONCILATE – the general καταλλάσσω = I RECONCILE, as used six times from Paul, and the more COMPLETE FORM with the prefix APO ἀπό as quasi “addition” – ἀποκαταλλάσσω
2. …I FULLY RECONCILE (= from ALL sides of the parties), as used three times in Eph + Col…
3. For He makes a sin offering for our sake in 2 Cor 5:21, as the Concordant Version translate, IS MOST SURELY FALSE & MISLEADING!
4. The Greek is clear – He (= GOD) MADE or PERFORMED SIN FOR OUR SAKE is most correct & meets fully PAUL`S INTENTION!
5. According to Paul, God does not worry to get dirty hands when it comes to LOVING HIS ENEMIES! And God doesn´t consider Himself too good TO GET SPAT IN HIS FACE & later get killed FOR THE SAKE OF US!
   6. GOD SO LOVES HUMANS, THAT HE CHOOSES 1. TO LIVE IN THEM AND 2. TO FIGHT SIN BY “SINNING HIMSELF FOR THE SAKE OF LOVE”! This is the only scripture I know TELLING THAT GOD BECOMES A SINNER!
   7. GOD SO LOVES HUMANS, THAT HE CHOOSES 1. TO LIVE IN THEM AND 2. TO FIGHT SIN BY “SINNING HIMSELF FOR THE SAKE OF LOVE”! This is the only scripture I know TELLING THAT GOD BECOMES A SINNER!
   8. I find myself deeply connected knowing THAT GOD DOES NOT FEAR HIMSELF DOING or PERFORMING SIN FOR THE LOVE OF ME! That is called REAL SOLIDARITY! And REAL LOVE! Yes, God is a SINNER FOR LOVE`S SAKE!
6. Only Paul tells so, only Paul! Is that the reason Paul is so UNPOPULAR & even SUSPICIOUS especially among. as you cale it, “ole christians”? I fear so! But I can live with humans believing GOD BEING..
7. …TOTALLY UNABLE TO SIN! To me it appears those humans WILL BE HAPPY LIKE LITTLE KIDS AT X-MAS ONCE THEY FULLY UNDERSTAND THE FULL TRUTH ON GOD!
   Again… grace to you.
   Happy Thursday.
   8:46 a.m.

The Ace Theological Company’s 95 Theses #51

…even as Christ was roused from among the dead through the glory of the Father, thus we also should be walking in newness of life. ROMANS 6:4….
25 Who was given up because of our offenses, and was roused because of our justifying. ROMANS 4:25

Can you believe we’ve done 51 typing sessions on this theme?

Wednesday, Feb 16, 2022
6:06 a.m.
It’s 34º out there, a high of 39º expected.
I can’t tell because it’s dark, but I think we got a little snow last night.

Good Morning, Father.
Good Morning, Dear Saint. 

The Freewill Chick has made a new post.
Hang on… coffee refill.
The butler’s off today, so I have to get my own coffee.
Ok, where was I, oh yeah… the Freewill Chick has come out of hiding and made a new video.
It’s only some 3 minutes long, but she’s prattling yet again about how it’s all your fault if you don’t do the right thing, and thus, inferring that you can’t blame God for sending your *ss to hell.
Her 3 minute angle goes something like this: “God gave you ears to hear” (some verse in Proverbs) so don’t blame God if you can’t hear. God has done all he can do… He gave you ears to hear, but if you F it up… you got your ears all clogged up with earwax or something… but don’t blame God… he gave you ears to hear.
Well, the very best part of her video, is the opening seconds, where she’s getting ready, and she makes this mouth popping sound…so cute. LOL.
I started making a reply… then, remembered that we can do it together, here, early in the morning.
Here’s what I got so far…
My reply:
“My favorite part: The initial POP…. so cute.
AND NOW FOR SOMETHING DIFFERENT —
“For I am not willing for you to be ignorant of this secret…
…lest you may be passing for prudent among yourselves… ROMANS 11:25
ALL IS OF GOD… II COR 5:18.
ALL IS OUT OF HIM… ROMANS 11:36.
ALL IS THROUGH HIM… ROMANS 11:36.
ALL IS FOR HIM…. ROMANS 11:36.
TO WHOM HE WILL…HE IS HARDENING… ROMANS 9:18.
GOD GIVES THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR… ROMANS 11:8.
GOD GIVES THEM EARS … NOT TO BE HEARING… ROMANS 11:8

“Your message that it’s your own damn fault if you go to hell, is so gangster-like. Mean. Awful. No empathy.
And the real problem with this message of yours is not that you’re blaming the creature, rather than the Creator… the problem is your focus on the whole story is entirely creature-centered. Focused so much on man and man’s response to the so-called “offer” of salvation… that you can’t see God… and I can’t see God in your message. All I see is “I”, “me” and “mine”.

That’s all I got, (I think) for her…so far…
Now… let’s explore a different topic I was thinking about Judas… and how we must see him in the light of God.
How does God see Judas… man… with a tender heart I can only suppose.
You see, without Judas’ role, we could not have a risen savior.
And I was thinking, Judas is Adam. Twins separated at birth. Both were torn between two different directions. Both were hesitant. Both were trapped. Both loved God. Both did something that effected all humanity, in the long run. Both were us, in reality.
I think we can say that Judas loved Jesus as much as any of the 12. I think we can say they all betrayed Him … Peter did. Thomas was full of doubt. They all have much the same story as Judas. We all put Christ on the cross. We are no different than Judas. Only… we haven’t be caught, yet.
So, Judas comes along and give Jesus a kiss. I can’t imagine it was a kiss of total evil… surely Judas did love the Lord, and that kiss must have contained some fondness or affection… oh sure, it was a kiss of betrayal… but what the hell… Judas was among friends, and Jesus was the leader of the clan.
God bless Judas.
Christ died for him.
Christ died for all sinners and all sin… including Judas.
Imagine the tender mercy going through Jesus’ mind, when Judas was kissing Him on the cheek. He knew what was up. He knew what was about to happen. And since Jesus is all that we know of “love”, hell, He had to feel ultimate tenderness toward Judas at that moment. No bitterness. No resentment. No vindictive feelings toward Judas.
Just imagine Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, Savior of the world, saying to Judas, “I’ll get you for that.”
Karen would say that, but not Jesus.
Jesus had a hard job to do. I mean going to the cross and all. But Judas’ job was no piece of cake.
He had to betray the Inaugurator of Life. Who would want that job?????
God bless Judas.
One day, we’ll all have to go up to Judas and thank him for his part in giving us a risen savior.
And it’s not hard to imagine that in the oncoming eons, the Lord out of heaven, has special tender feelings towards Judas. Wow.
In the wisdom of God, God “trapped” Judas into doing what he did. He (Judas) had at least 3 powerful forces moving him along…
1. The prophecy that he would do it.
2. Satan “entered” him to do it.
3. Jesus told him to his face — “do it”.
SIDE NOTE TO EZRA, NANCY and others who question the idea of us having the chance to thank Judas for his role in that awful scene…..
A. God is in the TIMING business. He ain’t a-going to do all things at once. In Hebrews, 1:1 or is it verse 2… it says God made the eons in Christ. Get it? He’s in the timing business.
B. The “Kingdom” is just one time period. And thankfully, there are time periods both before the “kingdom” and after the “kingdom”. (I COR 15:20-28 promises a day, when Jesus will give up the “kingdom”. So… rejoice.
C. God is the Father of all. Including Judas. Including YOU BABY.
D. God doesn’t mind keeping things hidden from the vast majority. As I was saying above to the freewill chick:
God hardens..
God blinds…
God locks up all in stubbornness. (Romans 11:32)
God, (Jesus) speaks in parables so they DON’T get it.
So… the idea that sinners (for whom Christ died) will not end up in the “Kingdom” does not bother me, as I know the “Kingdom” is a temporary thing. What happens after the kingdom… HOT DOG… glad you asked… See Romans 8:20-21… Ephesians 1:10… I COR 15:28…
So there.
God bless Judas. What an unlucky dude. After all was said and done, his heart was sick about the matter. He saw no way out.
Imagine Judas’ torment after the betrayal. He’s got no place among the disciples. He’s got no place among the religious, self-righteous Jews who put Christ on the cross. His whole life was now going to be sh*t.
He was one of the worst sinners in recorded history. Paul was actually the worst, but Judas was right up there.
So of course, Judas’ suicide was inevitable.
OMG… we all owe Judas, a debt of gratitude.
We all owe him at least a handshake and a “Welcome Home” basket.
I can imagine, Jesus’ tears of joy at Judas’ arrival.
Jesus’ first words to Judas might be, “Now you get it? Now, you understand?” — Oh my.
Nothing will be sweeter than that reunion.
Never forget, Jesus is the Savior. He saves. That’s what He does. When Jesus next lays eyes on Judas, ‘whole lotta emotion gonna be happening between those two.
So, the Freewill Chick and her tribe of freewillers all over the world cannot see that our wills are effected by almost everything. Our education, our parents, that left-over pizza we ate last night… everything.
So, Jesus, the Savior, and Judas the betrayer, finally meet at the conclusion of the eons.. their eyes meet… won’t Judas swallow hard… in fear… dread… shaking his head…
And won’t Jesus, the Savior, throw open His arms, and give a great belly laugh… and say, “WELCOME HOME BOY, SO GLAD YOU’RE FINALLY HERE.”
God bless Judas.
Yeah, I know, in our stupid little brains, we can only think of being vindictive if we don’t get our way… so of course we’d project that onto the God of heaven.
But God needed someone to betray His son. He NEEDED Judas. This is and was God’s design.
Oh sure, on the surface of things, Judas and Adam and all of us, “disobey” God’s will… but regarding GOD’S INTENTION ??? That’s a bigger story.
God’s will and God’s intention might be two different things. Romans 9:19 — “For who has withstood God’s intention?”
It’s a rhetorical question, get it? NO ONE HAS WITHSTOOD GOD’S INTENTION.
God bless Judas. He certainly did not withstand God’s intention. God’s will? Yes. God’s intention?… nope.

Opps… got to get going.
7:30 a.m.
Grace to you.
Thanks for joining me… looking over my shoulder. And making comments.
Ace.

The Ace Theological Company’s95 Theses #50

“GOD IS ONE”
+
GOD CREATES EVIL.

5:46 A.M.
Monday, (TGIM) Feb 14th, 2022
30º outside, high of 58º – wow, that’s almost hot.

Good morning Saints,
Good morning Father,

By the way, Father… hope you don’t mind, we’re just gathered here trying to figure you out. You’re a big fat mystery to us, but we’re kind of sweet on you.
So, Saints, like a fool I was hanging out over on the freewill-lovers channel, yet again, yesterday. And I thought I’d have some fun by blasting the thought revealed in Isaiah 45:7 — you know, that beloved verse that says GOD CREATED EVIL… yeah, that one, the one that gets all them christians upset.
As soon as I started quoting that verse to them, they started throwing plates, and food and poop… everywhere, it was a mess.
You see, the truth is, there is only ONE GOD. But the vast majority of religionists have some kind of mythology that there are two gods, battling it out, a “good” God and an “evil” one. And to hear them tell it, that evil dude, the evil God, (they call him Satan)… he wins the biggest number in the end, and the poor ole “good” God… He must be happy with the left-overs.
“Well, I never” (that’s an old Southern phrase, not sure what it means.)
Sure enough… right there in the beloved KJV… you know, the Bible that everyone says is the only-ist one you should be using… in the KJV it say, “GOD CREATED EVIL AND GOOD”… in Isaiah 45:7.
So there.
So, Rev Bill comes along and tells the folks that GOD DID NOT CREATE EVIL…. That the word there for evil should be CALAMITY… and that I should be ashamed of myself for belittling the reputation of God… and all that stuff.
Well, get this… the word EVIL in Isaiah 45:7 is the old Hebrew word RAH… and it’s the very same word you’ll find in the Garden of Eden story, where we have this tree of the knowledge of good and RAH. Same word… so… bite me.
So, God comes along… and He’s got this plan. It’s a big plan. It complicated. At first it’s gonna piss everyone off… but hang on… God’s got this plan.
So, I’m sitting there hanging out with freewill-lovers and you have to know, it’s so fun. They love cookies and all… but they really love human freewill. It’s like they worship human freewill.
They’re all, like, “Look what my freewill did today.”
Anyway… so, in their worship of human freewill, they can’t get beyond — to the idea that “All is out of God” (an actual scripture says that) and that “God is the creator of all” (yes, it says that too) and that “nothing exists apart from Him” (come on, you mean the Bible says that too? Yep.)
So get this… if God creates evil… there goes “Freewill” right out the window.
And if God creates evil, and there is only ONE God… then…”WE GOT THIS WHOLE DANG THING ALL WRONG??? IMPOSSIBLE !!!” — Thats what they be saying between the lines.
But, I’m here suggesting that God has got this plan. And it’s a big plan, and it’s a little complicated at first and it’s going to piss folks off, at first. But hang on.
So, God, with His boy Adam, tricks Him into taking the bait. Adam is a patsy. The fall guy — get it? A double entendre “fall” guy…. LOL.
And Adam, falls for it, takes a bite and now he gets it… he understands GOOD.
Wait… what did you just say Ace? Are you suggesting that Adam was ignorant… ???
Yep, Adam had it good in the Garden but he was a dumb-ass about it all… he did NOT know how GOOD it was there… He could not know. All he knew was good… and you can’t know good, until you have something to compare GOOD to.
You can’t know “good grammar” until you hear bad grammar.
You can’t know “good spelling” until you see someone making a mess of dem dare, words.
I’m telling you boys… good is good. But we sure do need a taste of EVIL to appreciate the GOOD that comes our way.
So, God’s got this plan. (Hinted at in Eph 3:11)
And in His plan, He sets in motion this creative juggernaut and it won’t stop until the prophecy of I COR 15:28 comes about… God being All in All. Hot dog.
So, uncle Bill, gets in a pissing contest with me, and he’s got this big idea that God did not create EVIL…
You see, he’s one of them freewill-worshippers, and if God is ONE and God created both GOOD and EVIL… it’s gonna rob them guys of the glory they think they are going to get by being good boys here on Earth.
But God’s got this plan. And it’s a big plan.
The plan goes backwards as far as the eye can see… and it goes forwards as far as the mind can imagine.
The Bible (PLAN) begins at Genisus 1, verse one, and it ends at I Corinthians 15:28.
But Bible begins with “God creates the heavens and the Earth… and the Bible ends with God being All in All.

6:30 a.m.
Coffee refill… brb.

6:31… a.m… I’m back.

So, let’s go over this JUDGMENT thing.
The freewill-lovers have this story angle that for all those who don’t use their freewill in the right kind of way and join the freewill-lovers club, then they will stand before the so-called “Great White Throne” and be “JUDGED” … and toss like trash into this burn pit, oh… and they’ll not die… they’ll be ever alive in the burn pit…. And too bad for them.
That’s what you get when you don’t know or believe that there is ONE GOD…
You see, under the TWO GOD scenario, it’s a big mess… and the so-called “good” God, has to take out the trash of the “bad” God… and what… ??? Get back to watching heavenly TV???? With no real, satisfying solution for each and every creature the dude brought into being?
Listen… God is one. How many times does the Bible say so?
And, get this… man’s final destiny is not determined by man’s precious little “freewill”… NO, NO, NO, !!!
Man’s origin and destiny is determined by the purpose of God.
These freewill-lovers spend oodles of time defending man’s freewill… but they don’t spend much time at all defending God’s freewill.
Man’s freewill… is NOT free of God’s influence.
But dare we say it… God’s freewill, is free of man’s influence. We can try and try and try all day long to influence the will of God… but, God smiles. Rolls His eyes. He’s got this plan, don’t cha know.
So, this Great White Throne business… It is “white”, right… nice color.
And this JUDGE and JUDGMENT thing… isn’t it the role of the JUDGE and JUDGMENT to makes things right… to set things right?
If we all come to our mom with a boo boo, a skinned knee, and ask for her JUDGMENT, she kisses it and puts a bandaid on it…. THAT IS JUDGMENT, right?
God, at the judgment, is going to make things right. And for Christ’s sake, let’s not forget the role of the cross in all this… Christ’s death on the cross… WAS THE GREATEST JUDGMENT of all. How can these freewill-lovers make such a big to-do over the great white throne, and fail to see that the cross of Christ is a bigger deal. Way bigger.
God is one. God creates evil.
The one who creates evil can just as easily undo evil. And that’s the plan. Once evil has done it’s job of giving us perspective… it cannot hang around.
But the freewiller’s God, apparently is unable to end evil altogether… no… according to them, evil is just as eternal as God. This lake of fire business, is “eternal” according to them. So evil is eternal. It’s just contained to lakeside property.
But what if… evil is temporary? Oh my.
What if evil is part of God’s eonian purpose? Oh my.
(6:52 a.m… the sun’s coming up.)

God is one. It means something. I don’t fully grasp it. But several times, the Bible goes on about GOD IS ONE…
And, Isaiah 45:7 says God creates both good and evil. Makes sense to me. As there is only ONE God, of course He’s the creator of all. Good things as well as hard things.
It’s our job to complain about God’s purpose and plan. Our job is to say “WHY ME?”
LISTEN… figuring out God is largely a pain in the behind. We’re all doing the best we can. And in our efforts to figure out God, we all have to use these metaphors and figures of speech.
When we assign human emotions to God… that ain’t right, exactly. But it’s the best we can do for now. Assigning human emotions to the deity is sketchy.
God is love — (a human emotion)
God’s wrath — (a human emotion)
Etc.
Now it sure does appear that God deals with His creation in various ways at different times… so, to explain what we’re seeing we might say that God’s anger came upon the people in that day… but it’s figurative language.
Did God love Adam… sure He did. Did His “love” towards Adam change after Adam took a bite? Nah… it did not. For God was not a bit surprised at Adam’s behavior. God was counting on it. God has this BIG plan, don’t cha know. It includes Adam and Christ… two counter weights. (See Romans 5, and I COR 15:20-28)
Does God still love Adam… you bet. Christ’s work on the cross covers Adam. It saves Adam. It brings Adam home.
Thank God for Adam.
Thank God for God.

Grace to you guys. Thanks for looking over my shoulder.
I’ll post this in the first comment, lawd willin’.

7:08 a.m.
Ace.

The Ace Theological Company’s95 Theses #49

DIDN’T JESUS SAY “FEAR NOT” —
WHAT IF “HELL” IS REAL?

Saturday, Feb 12th. (Can you believe it? Didn’t we just have Christmas and News Years Day, recently?)

2022. 
      6:30 a.m.
      27º out, high of 50º expected.

Lots of people “SAY” they believe in Jesus and His “teachings” Dear Saint of God….

But parrots can talk. But their understanding is limited.
It seems to me, that a large number of people who SAY they believe in Jesus, also “believe” in all that “hell” mythology. But, this morning I wanted to take a spin around the idea that Jesus said “FEAR NOT”…
Keep in mind, I have not read Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, in quite a while… so, I don’t remember where this FEAR NOT business is… nor do I remember the context of Jesus’ two word quip.
But here’s the deal — if this hell mythology is true… it’s sounds awful… so awful that it should be “top of mind” for the Son of God… it should be that He’d be yakking about it day and night… to save as many folks from hell as possible. Right?
Now, He did give a threat of Gehenna to some self-righteous, meddlesome, a-holes… but it sure wasn’t very clear, and He sure did not go on about this “hell” thing (as if “Gehenna” and “hell” are the same thing). So… what is Jesus’ problem? He had an audience of 3,000 people on one occasion and 5,000 on another… feeding them rather miraculously… and I don’t think He mentioned ENDLESS CONSCIOUS PUNISHMENT in this hell thing. — 8,000 opportunities missed, right?
And on another occasion, (don’t know the context) but He tells someone, somewhere “FEAR NOT”… Has He lost is ever-loving-living mind?
Fear not, indeed. If hell is EVERLASTING, it should be the hottest topic of Jesus’ life. I mean we’re talking “EVERLASTING” here.

Brother o EMC o says —“ How is it that the saints can have true peace and joy knowing that the majority of those they have been called to love are being eternally tormented in literal fire by Love?”

It’s so easy to just buy into spoon-feed tradition. Most of us don’t challenge very many ideas that come along… it’s hard work to say ‘WTF’ … and to think a NEW THOUGHT.
So Jesus says “FEAR NOT”… How dare He?
(Now keep in mind that we humans seem to love a little “fear” now and then. We all ride the roller coaster, and we all go see horror movies, and we kind of like it when someone scares us as we walk out of the bathroom.)
So, maybe this HELL thing feeds our addiction and need of fear. Maybe.
But when it comes to LOVING God as our Father, and Savior… we’ve got to shed some of that cloudy thinking.
I’m quite sure most christians don’t “love” God.
They will say they do. But mostly they love their comfortableness … their cookies… their TV shows… their stuff. They don’t “love” God enough to explore wisdom and revelation in realization of Him.
So… you have to deal with these people with kid gloves. “Pass the potatoes and gravy” kind of thing. Don’t rock the boat. They will turn on you.

6:55 A.M. — COFFEE REFILL TIME.
6:59 A.M. I’M BACK.

HERE ANOTHER ONE FROM BROTHER EMC:
… “And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?
But he turned, and rebuked them, and said Ye (you all) know not what manner of spirit ye are of.
For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.” Luke 9:54-56

Man, oh man… that is a lovely little passage, EMC… thanks for pointing that out.
Now the question is… why, oh, why… do regular ole “christians” tend to exaggerate all the bad news verses but they minimize and marginalize all the good news verses.???????????????
Now if I were just a run of the mill psychologist, I might answer that question by saying “They do so because they have low-self esteem.”
So christians come along, and condemn everyone but themselves to hell… and they don’t see a problem with it all. It’s not like they are any better in any measurable way to those whom they condemn to hell. No sir reeeee.

They condemn people to hell… and they threaten with hell. And of course, they’re not going there. And get this… no one they love is really going there either.
So Jesus drops this bomb shell: FEAR NOT… I’m telling you, boys and girls… this is big… for Jesus to say in ANY context, FEAR NOT… shows that eternal, hell fire, is not as big a threat as the dull witted religious folks would have you believe.
It’s not like I’m making an argument for being “intellectual”… Heck… the “dull-witted” religious folks have something (more enjoyable) than the high-brows. And as long as you don’t piss off the religious, you can almost have some good fellowship.
But hanging out with high-brows… from my experience is way too shallow. “Oh, where did you get that shirt, look at those buttons, the fabric is sooooo nice. You really must try this bisque.” etc.
Keep in mind, we’re basing this show on the idea that our Lord dropped these mystical words: FEAR NOT.
And guess what… EMC found another good one:
John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid.”
And again… if hell were a thing, a real thing, a threatening thing that threatens most of God’s creation… Jesus should be punished for ignoring this thing and going on about “fear not” crap.
Alright… now get this… If Jesus does not see this HELL thing as a big deal… then can we ask… WHAT IS A BIG DEAL to Him?
My morning head is foggy, as I’ve only had a cup and a half of coffee… but I think we can say, from many evidences… that ISRAEL is a big deal to Him.
And if we’re going to follow the advice of our HELL-FIRE brothers and sisters who say to us… “you’re taking that out of context”… (I TIM 4:10, Eph 1:10, Col 1:20, Romans 8:20-21, I COR 15:20-28 etc.) then… when we look at “FEAR NOT”… can we say that He only spoke it to ISRAEL?
I’ve been told by Stacy and others, when I quote something like Colossians 1:20 (All to be reconciled by the blood of the cross.) – that “You’re taking that out of context, he was talking to the church in Colossae, so only the church in Colossae will be reconciled” something like that… you know… all the GOOD NEWS must be smashed… and all the BAD NEWS must be exaggerated.
So, maybe FEAR NOT — is to be smashed as well. And maybe FEAR NOT is an Israel thing. Who knows… but what if you have some fun by asking questions… questions that making you see God in a bigger light.
Will I go to hell if I open my arms to FEAR NOT???
Do you avoid HELL by believing in HELL?
Those guys seem to think so.
They don’t go out of their way to “BELIEVE” any real, serious, long-range “news” about Christ work on the cross… but they will insist that you BELIEVE in everlasting HELL. Insist. Insist and insist again.
It’s like they love HELL.
OK… let’s forget those guys for now.
Let’s explore something more exciting…
How about OUR EXPECTATION?
How about OUR STANDING in Him?
How about THE SECRET OF THE EVANGEL?
How about THE SECRET OF CHRIST?
How about what was going on “BEFORE”… BEFORE THE EONS?
How about OUR CALLING?
How about being JOINT ENJOYERS?
How about THE GIVE-GUSH (English: “lavish”) OF GRACE.
How about how “THE CONSUMMATIONS OF THE EONS ATTAINING TO US” (I COR 10:11)?
Listen, there are plenty of things in the sacred scriptures that go FAR BEYOND our cloudy understanding of HELL and any version of a terrible human destiny.
We know we’re here “now” — we speculate about our origin. And we speculate about our destiny. And we claim to know God and perhaps even “the mind of God”… but it’s just crazy to suggest that there is a God of heaven and Earth and yet suggest He’s about as smart as a 5-year old in a sandbox building sand castles, with no idea of what he’s doing and no consequence if he smashes the sand castle and starts over.
Will I go to HELL if I assign wisdom to God?
Will I go to HELL if I see goodness and depth and ultimate loving kindness in Him?
Speaking of WISDOM… Drew has a new article about THE PROBLEM OF EVIL… I think you guys will get a kick out of it. I’ll post a link in the side chat, and then hop over there, and copy and past some of it here. Hang on…

DREW’S article is several ways we can look at evil… and he’s thinking aloud about the matter. The title is:
Unmerited suffering and God
Now, keep in mind… I’m only going to quote the 7 ways you can look at this topic (from Drew) you’ll have to hop over there to see his answers to each query.
Wait… before I drop the 7 here… let me give you the link: https://www.concordantgospel.com/suffering/
OK… let’s here the 7 ways to look at it… Drew says:
1. God doesn’t want this suffering to occur (meaning He doesn’t actually enjoy witnessing it happen), but it all happens against His will because He’s powerless to stop it.
2. God doesn’t want this suffering to occur (meaning He doesn’t actually enjoy witnessing it happen), nor does He will it to occur (meaning He isn’t actively behind it in any way), and there’s no ultimate greater good that comes out of the suffering, but while He has the power to stop it, He decides to just sit back and let it occur anyway.
3. God doesn’t want this suffering to occur (meaning He doesn’t actually enjoy witnessing it happen), nor does He will it to occur (meaning He isn’t actively behind it in any way), but while it would be within His power to stop it, the suffering somehow magically does work out for the greater good, so He simply sits back and lets it happen.
4. God wants this suffering to occur (meaning He enjoys witnessing the suffering), and although He doesn’t will it to occur (meaning He isn’t actively behind it in any way), because the suffering somehow magically does work out for the greater good, and because He enjoys watching us suffer, He sits back and lets it occur.
5. God wants this suffering to occur (meaning He enjoys witnessing the suffering), although He doesn’t will it to occur (meaning He isn’t actively behind it in any way), and while there’s no ultimate greater good that comes out of the suffering (other than God getting what He wants), and while He could stop it at any time, He sits back and lets it occur because He enjoys it.
6. God wants, and even wills, this suffering to occur (meaning He enjoys witnessing the suffering, and is even actively behind much, if not all, of it in some way), and while there’s no ultimate greater good that comes out of the suffering (other than God getting what He wants), He actively makes sure that much of it occurs because He enjoys it (I say “much of it” because some of it might also be incidental to His actively making it happen, but He presumably enjoys that suffering too or it’s likely He wouldn’t let that particular suffering that He didn’t cause happen as well).
7. God doesn’t want this suffering to occur (meaning He doesn’t actually enjoy witnessing it happen), but He does will it to occur (meaning He’s actively behind it in some way), because He knows there’s ultimately a greater good for all of us that will come out of the suffering.

Listen… Drew is a good thinker. Hop over to his site and go over his article. And leave a comment back here on this show, we we know what you think.
Thanks you guys for peeking over my shoulder.
Maybe we can get together later today.

Grace to you. (“Give-Gush”)
Ace.
8:08 a.m.
end.