How much more of this poison do we need to hear??

The following is from Christians United For Israel’s blog and news letter, which I receive weekly I thought it time to bring some of this here so you can see what you may not be aware of, that is in the world.

Mind you this was at a meeting of held under U.N. auspices.   Is it time for some hard thinking vis a vis our relations with them and others??

Rev. Bruce

Author David Broder from his blog;

Last week, the day before Holocaust Remembrance Day, Iran’s President Ahmadinejad addressed the United Nations anti-racism conference in Geneva.  Here, he did a great favor for all who love Israel — he was honest.  He allowed his virulent hate for Israel and his bizarre anti-Semitic conspiracy theories to flow from his tongue largely unfiltered.  It was an ugly performance. 
 
The delegates from most European nations walked out on Ahmadinejad’s speech.  Even the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, was moved to criticism.  Most other delegates, of course, remained in their seats.  Many cheered. 
 
But Ahmadinejad is rarely so honest.  And he is rarely so helpful.  It is what this man does in the shadows — not what he says in public — that is most dangerous.  And what he does in the dark typically gets far less attention.    
 
In a little-noted development last week, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, citing an Egyptian source, reported that unidentified warships torpedoed an Iranian cargo ship off the coast of Sudan.  The Iranian ship was reported to be laden with weapons bound for the Gaza Strip.  The warship is believed to have been Israeli
 
In January, there were numerous reports that unidentified warplanes attacked a convoy of trucks passing through the Sudanese desert.  The trucks were reported to be filled with Iranian arms bound for Gaza.  Well-placed sources have confirmed that the planes belonged to Israel.   

Israeli observers believe that this arms convoy contained Iranian Fajr rockets.  Such rockets — with a range of 70 kilometers — would give Hamas the ability to strike the heart of Tel Aviv. 
 
Looming large behind all of these efforts against Israel, of course, is Iran’s nuclear program.  Iran continues to enrich uranium in contravention of United Nations resolutions.  In February, United Nations officials acknowledged that Iran now has enough enriched uranium for an atomic weapon. 
 
Which leads us to one final news item from last week.  In hearings before Congress, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton warned that the US is laying the groundwork for “crippling sanctions” against Iran if diplomacy fails to stop its nuclear program.  This is a certainly a positive development.  Offering Mr. Ahmadinejad carrots without a stick in sight was unlikely to elicit much of a response. 
 
The Iranian threat is not going away.  And walking out on Ahmadinejad’s speeches — while important and deeply appreciated — does nothing to stop his steady, daily, determined actions to confront Israel.  Offering negotiations — while quite possibly a good way to build greater international support — must not be allowed to turn into yet another opportunity for Ahmadinejad to delay and stall.  It is time for the world to graduate from gestures to actions. 
 
Iran has proven itself able to talk and act at the same time.  The Israelis, too, are acting with constant vigilance to keep Iran from arming its proxies on Israel’s border.  There is no reason why we should not act as well.  There is indeed a time for “crippling sanctions” against Iran.  That time is now.  

 These are dangerousd times and we ALL of us owe Mr David Broder and Reverend Hagee our thanks for bringing these things to our attention when so many will not, especially our main stream media.

Rev. Bruce Holzrichter Sr……………………….Tawodi

A conversation in progress with a Chaplain friend

I made a post on another forum and thought it might make for interesting reading here;  The beginning premise of the questions are,   prevenient grace from God.

O.K.

The accusation of not being able to be objective wears a little thin with me and here’s why. For most of my life you could have called me an agnostic at best.

I studied, compared, analysed, debated, argued, fussed, fumed and finally said, the hell with it all, at about the age of thirty two.

Then came Jan 8th 1983….ah crap!!! talked to my counsellor I was seeing at the time, told him what happened and finally said to myself, O.K. fool, now you know what a nervous breakdown feels like!! And got on with it….that’s the way I am, for a whole host of reasons, quit B***chin and GET ON WITH IT!!!

I Kept reading though, checkin’ things out, still wouldn’t fully commit to ministry, though I did attend church sporadically from 1991 on and did work as a lay speaker and things.

2002 June, Bang!!! Slam!!! Dunk!!! Alright why me, and moreover, why NOT me?? Started REALLY checking things out and found out something….there have been literally hundreds of times when things that I did, made no sense what-so-ever for the person I was at the time, but they all each and every one of them turned out good and sometimes with totally unforseen outcomes that were NEVER seen that way before by me till I sought the answers.

And man, did I get some flipping answers!!!

Now, I don’t ask a single person to accept, or believe, the reality that I have found, because they have to find it on their own….but it is real, it is proven, and I live it every day and will till I die!!

AND!!! It was REASON that brought me here!!

So make of it what you will, I will not argue it, I will not defend it, it needs no defense, I’m not selling it to you, if you want it, it’s free!! Take it or leave it…your choice…..

Choose wisely….T

And, immediately followed that with this for others who participated.

Alright fellas I needed to say the forgoing first, because there’s more!!

The above is about me, and me alone. Others have had similar experiences and feel as I do. Some are not as erudite as I, so be it. Some are much more so….so be it.

There are others though, that have NOT done the work I and others have done. They listen to others tell them things and parrot those things as gospel and fall into large dark places and bring others with them. I don’t argue that point with you, or anybody else, because it is true.

Extremeism is ugly, destructive and deadly, as we all know and it is destructive in ways that are not violent but destroy the person, not the place, on personal levels not seen with the eye, in families, in society and in the world in general.

All of you also know I’m not afraid to call a spade a spade and point out along with you, those times when it needs doing, and I do more than just point fingers, as you all know as well.

But to stop the destruction, stop the violence, and stop the devision, you guys of no religious systems and I, are in my mind, allies and brothers in arms, as we once were, for real, in the world. I take pride in seeking justice with you in those times when it is hard to find, or simply overlooked because of biases that some possess and can not see beyond.

So, stick that in your hooka and smoke it!!

T

And then my friend asked the following question;

Bruce…

Did you ever wonder why we only see the real prevenience when looking back. Sometimes over many years and in many situations, but always when looking back. Just some thoughts…
Be well…
CJ

And, the answer was………

Yeah C.J., I have wondered that, and don’t any longer.

What has to transpire, is the loss of surity of, “self”.

Some thing, or series of some things, must occur to rattle you down to your very core and force you to ask questions of your self, that are too frightening to ask under normal circumstances, or the need simply never arises within you to ask them.

That something does NOT have to be life threatening, destructive, or simply uncomfortable. It must motivate you, to do the work, to see who you REALLY are though.

You must be willing to stand naked in front of the mirror of your mind, SEEING the scars and how you got them, the pimples, the warts, ALL of it, and take each answer as it comes, honestly, no matter how disparageing to your self image it may be, no matter how painful the truth is, and incorporating it into who, and WHAT, you truly are.

I have learned, that very damned few of us will do that.

I learned it by the time I was twenty, I never could stand the illusions that people try to foist off on me, and could not stand excuse making on my part either. This has caused untold misery for me in my life, because if you have no illusions about yourself, others see that, and they understand that you will not tolerate theirs, about themselves. This is enemy making 101 in the social hierarchy that we have created in the world today. Perhaps it always was, I don’t know.

I mostly kept to myself, even when participating in so many different things, throughout my life.

The short answer to your question is, we always credit ourselves with too much, when citing our accomplishments, forgetting family, friends, co-workers, and too many others, that are forgotten along the way, that we learned from, took advantage of, or simply observed and copied, to achieve whatever it was, we have achieved.

Never mind giving credit to God, for the very life we enjoy!!!

I sincerely believe, that when people see how little it is, that they truly “control”, it is of a power to drop most to their knees!!! It scares the average person to their core, to realise the helplessness that each of us truly labors under, when we tout ourselves so highly, unthinkingly!!

Then when you see, as I have, the indomitable courage of the aged to face life on it’s own terms as the end come rushing toward them, it is the most humbling thing to endure as you witness it.

The posturing of the politicians, and the power that people ascribe to them, to control their existence is laughable. When you KNOW the truth about life. The atheists have, by and large, bestowed the fealty that you and I feel toward God, to men, politics, and themselves. It would be sad, if it wasn’t so futile and empty, becuase of it’s predictable futility.

Politics is the new religion of the twenty first century. It’s too bad that it is already showing itself threadbare and worn, as the politics through the ages, have shown them selves to be.

CLUE; the oldest continuous writings we have, are found in the Bible and almost EVERYBODY misses the point!!!

This is the story of human kind!! NOT how it was formed. NOT who God is. NOT what God wants!! BUT, the stories of HUMAN BEINGS and how they interacted with each other, and the things they SHOULD have learned about God, and didn’t, along the way. The stories always have a human protagonist don’t they? There’s a reason for that, the POINT, is how the HUMAN responded, NOT God!! God is consistant, even predictable, while through out the Bible man is not!! All the variables, the foibles, the frailty, the dishonesty, the thieving, murderous nature of us all, is exposed for all to see, and people concentrate on God when they ought to be examining themselves!! THAT is the point!! Self examinination and THEN, apply the lessons learned in the BOOK!

So, all in all, that is why we don’t see it, till we look back!!

T

As you can see there is some stuff here to think about that is of a personal nature for us all, as I said choose wisely!!

Rev. Bruce…………………………………….Tawodi

Old things, New things, Different things

I have been ill for the last three months on and off,  that is why,  with apologies,  I have not written much at all. Quite frankly I wasn’t sure if I would be able to keep going at all but things are,  for now,  improving.

As most of you, we are also girding our loins for the future,  which is any thing but clear for all of us. In as much as the financial institutions of the country and much of the world have been gutted, by the people and politicians who were in charge of,  and also supposed to protect them,  and us. 

So,  like everybody else,  I have been watching carefully the turn of events and praying for a good outcome….we will see.

O.K. now for something new. For some time I have been in touch with a man who is in India conducting a ministry of support for 15 local villages and their people.  Most of what he has been doing is teaching people how to create small truck gardens to help feed their families by growing vegatables and such. In that area,  a small patch the size of the average living room here in the U.S. can provide almost all the needs of a small family,  year-round with careful tending. Also,  his helpers and he,  have been teaching reading and simple math skills and other things to the children, as the government is almost totally absent from this area and does not provide these vital steps up for it’s people.

They are located in Andrha Pradesh in Orissa state and some of you may be aware that,  that area of India has been the victim of outbreaks of anti Christian violence over the last few years. There is a great deal of inter-religious strife, ignorance and violence because the local shamans see Christianity as a threat to the social structure, such as it is.

This man,  Pastor Cornelius Sikala by name,  has helpers who conduct with him this life saving and enriching work in 15 villages in the local area. And they need,  rather desparately,  the help that some may be able to give.

I have checked very carefully and these are ligitimate people and activities, so I am throwing whatever I can for support their way and reaching out to all everywhere for help for them.

You can reach them at the following e-mail address  graceministries177@gmail.com  once you have contacted him he will give you all his bank particulars so you can check him out and then send whatever help you can.

This is the first time I have done this and is a new thing for Tree of The Mustard Seed Ministries, as we also operate solely on a no fee and no compensation basis ourselves, to provide the care we do.

I am going to up load a few pictures of their work at Grace Ministries for you to see here. Pastor Sikala has sent me dozens of pictures.

 

Immediatly above is Pastor Sikala,  above that are pictures of his congregants gathering clothes,   food and tools for the villages they serve. Please help these people all you can,  ANYTHING you send will help.

Blessings on you all,  here’s hoping I can continue……Rev. Bruce………………………Tawodi

RAMADAN GREETINGS!!

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Monday, September 1, 2008

Ramadan

Today, or yesterday, depending on where you live in the world and the method of reckoning, it is the beginning of Ramadan.

To our Brothers and Sisters of Islam, Salaam Aliekum!! May this Holy season of rededication to Muslim, be fruitful for you.

May your observance bring you peace as you once again fast and move closer to The One God of Abraham, Lord of ALL, the benificent, The bringer of all things sweet, The bestower of blessings, beyond counting, of all of His creation.

The bringer among us, of all the prophets,(p.b.u.t.) to lead us to submission to His way.
The teachers of restoration, of relationship in submission to Allah, The most merciful.Peace be upon them all!

May He attend you in your reflections on how you can relate, May He grant you peace in your life, peace in your family, peace in your countries, peace in your soul, as you move toward rededication contemplating ALLAH (pbuH) in this Holy season for you as you submit once again to Allah.

This from your brothers and sisters of Judaism and your brothers and sisters of Christianity, helpers all.

Wa, Aliekum Salaam

Rev. Bruce Holzrichter Sr. The People of Abraham

In answer to a question

This was an answer to a question posed by a young man in regard to the status of the Jews in the world today and if God’s covenant was still in effect.

 

 

 

 

 

I will endeavor to answer your questions seriatum.
God’s covenant with Israel was never rescinded. The laws He gave Moses, over time, became enmeshed with the laws of men. As such they were not true to the spirit of the law. By the time of Jesus’s birth they had become a travesty of legalisms and, virtually impossible for people to understand, let alone follow. The priesthood and scribes from the time of Moses had added to the ten commandments 603 “Fences” that they felt were to protect the laws of God. As if He needed their help!!

The first hint of a Massiah appears in Genesis. Chapt. 3 verse 15 through the entire Bible there are over two hundred and twenty “hard” prophesies, concerning the Massiah and his two forms. The first is as the suffering Massiah and interssesor “Priest” on the order of Melchizedek. And, the second is as the conquering King.

In His time, it was believed that the conquering King was the ONLY Massiah. The people of the Jewish faith still hold this view, as probably do you.

No one, and no thing, can take Israel’s inheritance from them! Once again, arrogant men in the form of Preachers and Pastors over the centuries have foisted this view that God gave up on the Jews, there is no way that these men and women could be farther from the truth.

God does NOT, change His mind!! When He said an everlasting covenant He meant it!!!

We are now in the age of the Gentiles, soon to end. Hopefully we, as the people of the Book, can forstall the violence and blood shed foretold, and bring peace to all our brothers and sisters as we, as those said people, have been commanded to do by our Creator!!

Any of God’s burdens are light, it is man’s arrogance and bridling at any restraint, that causes us to rebel. It is in our nature to do so. God knows this, and has provided many means to bring ourselves to Him in submition. You may notice I did NOT say surrender, Jesus NEVER surrendered!! He submitted to the will of God!! There is a vast difference between the two.

Some men should not be Pastors, some should not be teachers and, some should not be counsellors. It is the arrogance of being educated, that causes so many to lead themselves into temptation. God doesn’t do it as we beseach Him in the Lords prayer not to do. It is we in our stupid surety that we, and we alone, have THE answer, that leads us into temptation!!

None of us have THE answer, unless it comes from God, it is no answer at ALL.

At the end of this age, there will be a reckoning, and all will be restored as God told us. It will be HIS will, that WILL be done!!

Now I’m just a man, do you need to believe a word of what I just wrote?? No, of course you don’t!! But ask God to lead you, search your heart, as you should with every thing of the spirit. If it rings true, it IS true!! If it does NOT, it is NOT. That is the best that any living man can tell you, or instruct you to do.

As always, choose well!! Be well friend……..Tawodi

Operational Notice!!!!

Posted at The People of Abraham   http://peopleofabraham.blogspot.com  tuesday  July 15 2008

 

Today I announced, on Tawodi’s Hawks Nest, that today, the Board of Advisers is open for questions. We have the great honor and good fortune to have as volunteers, Nine people very knowledgable in their religions. Some have Masters and upward degrees in their disciplines and worship practices. Welcome to all of them!!

To take advantage of this service, you can contact them at the following E Mail address….

the-people-of-abraham@googlegroups.com Pose your question in a proper form, your email address WILL NOT be given for any reason to anyone after your question is answered it will be discarded. We will keep the questiion and assign it a file number but your name and any information, will be deleted. SO! don’t get angry with us if we don’t remember you!! On your answer you will recieve this file number, keep it! Use it to refer to the first question if you want to correlate them for some reason, to us.

The second way to pose a question is to use the comment section on this blog. Yep, that’s right, you can do it right here. We have expanded the comment section to full page size!! This is to give you plenty of room to pose multiple questions and even submit an article!! That’s right, you can post here!! It will be moderated, (for obvious reasons) and then, posted if you wish. Or we will simply answer your multiple questions.

You need not be a member of The People of Abraham to use this service, we’d like it if you were, but it is not necessary. This service is open to all. And, more importantly free!! We are all volunteers, everything here is FREE, there is no charge to join, no charge to use the services, no charge for anything you copy and use elsewhere. This is our Calling, take advantage of it!!

The most important thing to remember is this, we will allow NO cross religion debate, NONE!! It is devisive and sometimes destructive and will not be tolerated. If you want to fight, go somewhere else!!

The form to pose a question, is as just that, a question.

Items that are submitted such as “Did you know that such and such religion does/believes thus and such.” Any question posed this way will be considered a “challenge question” and will be given a file number and discarded. The second submission of this nature, after the first one has been flagged, will result in your being banned from ALL of our sites, NO EXCEPTIONS!!

This group is kind of unique in one way. Most are for people who are professionals in their faith structure. We are for ANYBODY, blue collar, white collar, any religion, anywhere in the world.

Welcome to all,   Be well friends………..Rev. Bruce…………….Tawodi

THE ORIGINS OF CONFLICT

I am with this post trying to clear up two great misconceptions between the world of Islam and Judaism and Christianity.
The devide has existed for hundreds of years and with the presentation of the first accounts of Ismael in the Old Testament, or the Torah, you will see that this story is far older than the formation of Islam.

And when Sara had seen the son of Hagar the Egyptian playing with Isaac her son, she said to Abraham:
EBD NTB SBD TTT
Ge 21:10 Cast out this bondwoman, and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.
EBD NTB SBD TTT
Ge 21:11 Abraham took this grievously for his son.
EBD NTB SBD
Ge 21:12 And God said to him: Let it not seem grievous to thee for the boy, and for thy bondwoman: in all that Sara hath said to thee, hearken to her voice: for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
EBD NTB SBD TTT
Ge 21:13 But I will make the son also of the bondwoman a great nation, because he is thy seed.
EBD NTB SBD TTT
Ge 21:14 So Abraham rose up in the morning, and taking bread and a bottle of water, put it upon her shoulder, and delivered the boy, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Bersabee.
EBD NTB SBD TTT
Ge 21:15 And when the water in the bottle was spent, she cast the boy under one of the trees that were there.
EBD NTB SBD TTT
Ge 21:16 And she went her way, and sat over against him a great way off as far as a bow can carry, for she said: I will not see the boy die: and sitting over against, she lifted up her voice and wept.
EBD NTB SBD
Ge 21:17 And God heard the voice of the boy: and an angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, saying: What art thou doing, Hagar? fear not: for God hath heard the voice of the boy, from the place wherein he is.
EBD NTB SCO SBD
Ge 21:18 Arise, take up the boy, and hold him by the hand: for I will make him a great nation.
EBD NTB SBD TTT
Ge 21:19 And God opened her eyes: and she saw a well of water, and went and filled the bottle, and gave the boy to drink.
EBD NTB SBD TTT
Ge 21:20 And God was with him: and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became a young man, an archer.
EBD NTB SBD TTT
Ge 21:21 And he dwelt in the wilderness of Pharan, and his mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.
EBD NTB SBD

As you can see the Masoretic texts are represented here and show that niether God, nor Abraham, discarded, or “threw away” Ishmael. The mighty that is God, while maintaining His covenant with Abraham made sure, that even in his iniquity, (Abraham) this was not used as punishment for the child, who was innocent. All merciful God provided for him and produced another great nation of him (Ishmael)

There, you now have the Biblical account, we will now go to the exigitical basis for the names of God, or Allah, as can be proved by diligent study of facts on the ground so to speak. Instead of speculation of a faith you don’t understand, or have never studied, as to do so you have been told, will corrupt your understandings of your own faith. If such is possible, how deep was your faith??

Once again the question has been raised as to the name of God, in relation to Islam and Christianity and Judaism.
Once again it is Christian fundamentalists, and others, who make spurious accusations about the word Allah. Here for all of you is the truth where the name comes from, who the father of Islam is and, what the name, Allah, means and why it means it. There are not ninty nine “names for God In the religion of Islam. There is one name and, one name only. The rest, that many would have you believe are names, are nothing more than descriptions of attributes, just the same as Jews and Christians have over thirty five such descriptions of the attributes of God.

I have engaged in this battle for years and when it is put down in one location once more, it pops up again in another location. Apparently these people think, like Geoseph Geobbels of W.W. 2, if you repeat a lie long enough, loud enough, it will become the truth. this is not so!! A lie, is a lie, no matter how many times you repeat it!! Receive the truth!

I get so tired of stating the truth of things, only to have the very same people come back and speak the same lie, all over again.
TRUE STATEMENT;
The Hebrew EL, was also the Cannaanite EL, or transcendant Chief God. The word is the root of thirty five Attributes of God linguistically for Jews and Christians alike.

ILLAH……pronounced ILL “Yach” ( “ach,” gutteral, glottal stop, implied by “ah” in the semitic languages.) Shortened to AL (prefix word -the-) apposed (attached) to Illah to make the compound word,ALLAH. Phonetic pronunciation Al- ach or The God Taken to mean, litterally, the ONE God of Ishmael, Older brother of Issach, by fourteen years, who, the Bible tells us, that God was with as he grew, to be the father of his own people, to whom would be descended twelve more tribes of people.

Their father???? Abraham !! The Father of the two semitic tribes, Hebrews and Arabs.

Read your Bible people!!!! The Arabs didn’t make this up. We did!!!!!

K.J.V. Biblical,
Citations, Genesis 21: V.9: -21.
Descendants of Ishmael: Genesis 25: V.12:- 18.
These Verses come after the discription of Abraham’s children by Keturah, their names and the dispersal of Abraham’s estate to Issach only, as the child of the covenant between Abraham and God born of Sarah, as God promised. Now for the life of me, I fail to see how you can blame Muhammad for what is in Our own Bible!!! If you figure out how he did that, maybe you can tell the rest of us!!!

Read and learn, I didn’t write this, or invent it, it is in OUR Bible…….

It is very important that you understand that I am a DEVOUT Christian Minister of many years service. The people of Islam have a different understanding of their worship of God. Is it necessary for me to accept it?? No, it is necessary for me to accept that they do. Nothing more is required of a Christian or Jew, other than that. Respect the fact that these things are what they believe and, leave it alone!!! You arenot required, to convert them, attack them, or abuse them for their faith, because you don’t agree with it. Jesus tells us, state your case and walk away, be as harmless as doves. Why as Christians, must we always forget those admonishments, that we were given by the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we profess to follow?? Keep your heart at peace and walk your own path to God, as others walk theirs, you are but human beings, you are NOT to judge, it is written……..

To all my Brothers and sisters of The People of Abraham and for those tired of being afraid.
Rev. Bruce………………………….Tawodi

GREETINGS FOR MEMORIAL DAY

GREETINGS FROM THE TREE OF THE MUSTARD SEED AND IT’S PEOPLE;

This dedication is to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces worldwide.
And to all those Veterans, living and passed on.

They serve and have served, all of humanity by their selfless sacrifice to bring Liberty to the oppressed of the world and to maintain it here, in the United States of America.

Historically we, as a Nation, have pursued the dream, with all of our faults, that the rest of the world does not understand, is still alive in the heart of every American, man or woman, serving and living, liberal or conservative, religious or not, anywhere in the world today.

This, a dream, that constitutes our reality and continues to enable, this great People to reach for the stars, even though we may stumble and fall at times.

It is this dream that enables us to rise above the individual, whom we cherish and, march as a people to ever greater endeavors to enrich the future of all humanity.

To do so enriches us not in a worldly sense but, in what ever concept of human dignity one may hold. To uplift the one, is to uplift the many. To oppress the one, is to oppress the many. Thus it has ever been and so shall it ever be, in the minds of a truly free, great people, who wish nothing more than to spread it to the hearts, of all mankind.

From the Congregation;

This is to signify that YOU, by your service and contributions. Have taken to heart the foregoing and by so doing, you recognize the family of MAN and WOMAN KIND.

Whether it is by belief in a higher power, Or belief in the powerful synergy of collective conscience and human endeavor, YOU have recognized we ARE a family and you, by your service, have done and are doing your utmost, to uphold that truth.

If you have the faith of a grain of mustard seed you can move mountains. This you have proved by your selfless service. We as your indebted fellow citizens, have that faith in you, and as such, we offer to you our thanks and, humbly accept the gifts, you so honorably have given us.

THANK YOU

The Tree of The Mustard Seed,   Dennisport ma.  166 Upper County Rd. 02639      Rev, Bruce Holzrichter………………Tawodi

Religious concepts of soul 6

W.T. is right in one respect the body is temporary. The “Breath of life” animates it, Or is our first connection to God.

As the mind progresses it learns the necessary things to survive, adapt to society’s needs, comport behaviour to accepted norms according to the culture surrounding it and finally is ready to leave the parents on it’s own course in life. Tradition and scripture suggest that a child be raised in faith, but this is sometimes not done or is not effective.

The reason for the failure is unimportant. The truly important detail is this. God has provided a way to have Him accompany you on your walk, or to re-establish a connection that, for what ever reason, was not nurtured or withered away as one approaches adulthood.

This can take two forms, if you were Baptised as a child, you can stand in front of a congregation of Christians, of your choice, and renew your Baptismal vows. There are some that say you must be Baptised but the Holy spirit needs be conferred only once. In my faith, perhaps not yours.

Full immersion or sprinkling, is acceptable to most, but then again that is your choice.

The purpose of Baptism is not an initiation but to prepare a clean dwelling place for the spirit to be within as well as signifying a washing away of the old and a turning from the ways of sin. The very word “repent” means “to turn from”, in the Greek.

It is not as complicated as it sounds the Baptist church has a booklet that explains many details or you can talk to any pastor of your choice. What is important, is to be at peace with your form of worship, before you decide which course you will follow. Reading and instruction can do this for you.

Now, once the mind is reconciled to the indwelling spirit, your out look about everything will undergo subtle and increasingly complicated new ways of seeing yourself and the world around you …….It is beautifull to experience this! Most take several months to notice the changes, but change you will!

This is why we who have passed through these things know the concept body, mind and spirit. To us in our understanding as Christians we know ourselves as this till death then, at death, the mind with all it’s experience merges with the spirit and, Becomes! The Soul, and as W.T. said goes onward, to what ever it is God has planned for us!! Some will not agree, some will, ALL are free to choose their path with Christ to God. He knows our hearts and how true or not, they are. Even better than we ourselves do, He will judge our intent, not men.

I have renewed my Baptismal vows several times, why several? Because like the other day, I feel pain and react unwisely, just as any other would do, if not sufficiently discipilined in nature. It’s sometimes very difficult for an old street kid like me to avoid that. No excuse, just the truth. Knowing this about myself makes it wonderfully easy, for me to apologise for this and MEAN it, as I am aware of this fault within my self, then move on.

Via Con Dios friend……….Tawodi

THIS ONE’S FOR ME.

A strange and very upsetting thing happened last night and I thought it was worthwhile to write about it, but didn’t want to on the venue where it happened.  I have been called a lot of things over the years and last night was a real capper. I don’t know if I will publish this but for the last year or so it’s almost as if I can’t really think,  unless I’m writing for some body elses understanding. So if I can make sense to you, maybe it will to me.

As most of you know I have a blog radio show and do a lot of posting on a forum else where. On this forum one of the people,  who I respect a great deal,  posted a starter piece for discussion. In it he referred to apostacy in a poorly vieled compilation of scriptural quotes and analysis, that though flawed in it’s scholarship, was very pointed in it’s direction. In it he pointed out,  as many have,  that anyone who adds or takes away from the “word” is of,  or from,  the AntiChrist. I was floored as I do a lot of think pieces there and on my show,  as most of you know. I do not condemn ANYBODY for their beliefs, that is a wrong thing to do, if I do not believe as they,  and they ask,  I will tell them that but in the same breath,  tell them it is not necessary for me to. It is only necessary for me to ACCEPT that they do, understand their viewpoint and work within those parameters,  to include them in my thinking as we converse. Also to be sensitive to the beliefs of others and not step on them inadvertantly by my own ignorance,  something I am not always successful at. WHO IS??

I responded somewhat strongly to his treatise, then went back later and deleted what I had written, as it did not support my image of myself and,  who and WHAT, I choose to be. I left a short explanation of one of the errors in scholarship,  said why I was leaving,  and did.

This is really eating me up because I thought in all of my writing ( 3200+ posts and articles there ) here on the blog and the things I address on my show it was absolutely clear who I am and,  my intent to bring peace between people of ALL faiths,  we need not be afraid of each other,  never mind be killing each other.

I am extremely careful to tell all that read and listen,  that I have NO AUTHORITY to tell anyone anything,  or how they shoud or MUST believe. My belief is that we all walk a different path as we come to know God, each of us is unique and no two of us will know God the same way. There are generalities yes,  but each relationship is unique!

I firmly believe that each one of us is special and unique, in his ot her,  own way and that we are MADE that way by God,  to reflect the many things we can not apprehend about Him.  As we realize this, we see that God is unlimited, that is the PURPOSE of our unique-NESS  ( is that a word?? )

It is possible that he never even considered me as he wrote what he did,  but it felt directed, as many there speculate on aspects of and the nuances of,  God and the lessons brought to us by Jesus, The Christ.

Many know that I don’t believe that Jesus was God. He was OF GOD given great power to do His mission as DIRECTED by God.  Here at the beginning of the world and will rule over that which God gives him to rule,  in Heaven and on earth,  as the Massiah and conquering King of all. He told us he will prepare a place for us in His Fathers mansions and,  He will sit at the right hand of God in Heaven itself,  as He does so.  After all that’s what Jesus said,  isn’t it?  He said that God was in Him and,  He in God.  He did NOT say that He WAS God!   When in Nazareth He could do no miracles because of the people’s unbelief and tells us that all of the things he did were by Gods power, never claiming that power for Himself. He stated that all of the things He did were to glorify God,  not Himself. He told us that the father will decide when to end the world as we know it,  not even the “Son Of Man” knows when this will happen!! If He was God why did He not say,” when I’m ready,  you’re TOAST!!”  evrything in scriptures is stated this way except the changes wrought by two unknown scribes known by scholars as ‘Q”  and the  other is known as “P”.   We know this by changes in syntax and the writing examples themselves on the oldest documents extant.

Can some body,  ANYBODY,   tell me where I have stated anything different??

I got to tell you,  I can’t remember ever doing so!!  I guess I’ll put this in “thoughts and sharing” if I publish it,  I was gonna put it in “Can anybody help me!”  But maybe I’m beyond help!!

Pondering………….What NOW???? ……………be well all…………….Rev. Bruce…………………..Tawodi