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Messianic Confessions - A Spiritual Odyssey of a Soul's Search for Truth
I became a "messiah" at 1 PM, September 11, 1958, by an isolated lake outside of Brownwood, Texas. I was nineteen years old and newly married. Today, entering my sixties, I look back on this important event in my life with mixed emotions: a degree of shame mixed with part unimaginable joy. The former because of what I was to finally learn as I approached sixty. The later, because, at long last, through much agony, I believe I have finally attained what that experience along that quiet lake 40 years ago was intended to accomplish.
The Nazarene Commandments
Jesus Christ the Nazarene spoke with love to his private disciples on that Passover night: "If you love me, you will observe my commandments. you are my friends if you do what I am commanding you...
The Nazarene Principles
Almost two thousand years ago, Jesus of Nazareth made the claim, ‘I am the Truth.’ The Nazarene’s dearest disciple wrote of his Master, ‘The Truth came to be through Jesus Christ.’ [See Jn 1.17] His greatest missionary preached, ‘Truth is in Jesus.’ [Ephesians (Ep) 4.21] Today one third of the earth’s population, nearly two billion persons, lay claim to a form of belief in this carpenter from the Middle East. However, few actually have read his teachings as recorded in what are called the Gospels. [Matthew, Mark, Luke, John] Fewer still have made any serious study of what Jesus the Nazarene taught. This manuscript will outline and discuss The Seven Principles as the ‘primary doctrine of the Christ’ using the Lord’s Prayer as a format and outline...
The Nazarene Community
This is not a manual of rules or orders save in those places where "the Lord’s commandment" or the inspired writer’s directives are clear and specific. The "manual of discipline" is prepared for those who wish to commit to the association of Christians called the Nazarene Saints or Nazarene Community of Christian Saints and who now identify themselves as such.
Jesus the Nazarene taught he had come to build his own Congregation...
The Nazarene Apocalypse
The following will occur during or after the 21st century or Jesus Christ the Nazarene was a false prophet: ‘The sun will be darkened. The moon will turn blood-red. The asteroids of heaven will fall to earth. Disgusting sores will come upon humans. The sea will turn to blood. Drinking water will turn to blood. Humans will be scorched by the sun’s fierce heat. And the Seventh Angel will empty his bowl into the air and a great voice will boom from the Celestial Temple: "THE END HAS COME!" Then will occur flashes of lightning, great thunder, and a violent earthquake without parallel since humanity came to be. The cities of the earth will collapse.’
These words are claimed to be those of Jesus Christ the Nazarene as he made it known by an angel to his dearest disciple John near the end of the First Century. These words are recorded in what has come to be called Revelation or the Apocalypse....
Where are the Dead: According to the Bible
It is safe to say that virtually everyone has given some thought to death or life after death. Death is the one absolute all must agree will someday befall each one. There has never been a culture on earth that did not hold to some belief in life after death. A rejection of the idea of the soul surviving the death of the body is very new. Those few who believe in a godless universe feel sure that death ends all existence and, therefore, any possibility of continued life elsewhere.
By far the majority of people today believe in a life beyond the grave. On what do they base this idea?...
Is Jesus Present or yet to come?
Perhaps the most defining difference between all Christians and the Associated Bible Students/WatchTower view of the Lord’s return is the manner of his arrival and presence. The Associated Bible Students belief is that he arrived invisibly in 1874 (Watchtower in 1914) and has been carrying on the work of tearing down the world systems and preparing the last members of his bride. The pivotal point of this contention is the Greek word parousia. It is well known that this word in its simplistic sense means ‘presence.’...
NAZARENE Mountain Teachings
(or, "The Sermon on the Mount")
INTRODUCTION
This most famous of all spiritual teachings is often called The Sermon on the Mount because of the location mentioned in Mt 5.1, 2. The sermon is about 2,000 words. (The account in Luke 6.20-49 is called the Sermon on the Plain by Barclay and there are some differences which cause some to feel Luke’s account is a similar sermon on another occasion. These verses in Matthew make a separation between the "crowds" and "his disciples." There are some subtle uses of the plural and singlular "you" provided by the Greek translator (possibly Matthew) which deserve note. It is the longest single sermon by Jesus the Nazarene with John chapters 13-17 and Matthew chapters 24 and 25 nearly as long.
With this background now, we see the Nazarene waiting for the crowd on the mountain side to quiet as he prepares to utter his first public words in a full sermon. He is a perfect human with all the powers of language and vocabulary at his command. We hold our breath. What is he to say? What will be his theme? What subjects will he consider? What subjects will he omit? Will he describe God and the heavenly realms? Will he lay out ‘religious forms’ that will lead to the establishment of a High Church?
The Nazarene’s first words are revolutionary! "Blessed are the Poor, for the Celestial Realm is yours.’ How that crowd must have stirred and then smiled, for that is what they were, poor. In one word what is his key topic? "Love." The Nazarene makes the most famous summary of the Mosaic Law: ‘Love your neighbor.’ But, he goes beyond this to, ‘Love your enemies.’ With every possibility before him, Jesus tells us what the Father wants of us. How are we to show this "love of neighbor and enemy"? That is what the Mountain Teachings are about. God bless!