Dear Brother Jim,
I am adding to what I wrote last night. I was so tired, I couldn't think straight, and God had given me a verse to share with you.
Did you know that you are BLESSED!
You are blessed brother, because you seem to have the same problem Jesus had.
John 6:1 And he went out from thence, and came into [b]his own country;[/b] and his disciples follow him.
2 And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?
3 Is not this the carpenter, [b]the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us?[/b] And they were offended at him.
4 But Jesus, said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and [b]among his own kin, and in his own house.[/b]
5 [b]And he could there do no mighty work,[/b] save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.
Now watch as the story of Jesus and the relationship with his mother, brothers and sisters and then friends changes as begins his ministry.
John 7:1 After these things Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.
2 Now the Jew's feast of tabernacles was at hand.
3 [b]His brethren[/b] therefore said unto him, Depart hence, and go into Judaea, that thy disciples also may see the works that thou doest.
4 For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world.
John 7:5 [b]For neither did his brethren believe in him[/b].
So what did his brethren do? Probably went something like this.
MOM....can't you see he's beside himself, going a little nuts, do you realize how this is going to make us look, and the trouble it could get us in with the neighbors and the religious leaders. We've GOT TO DO SOMETHING.
Matt 12:46 While he yet talked to the people, [b]behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him.[/b]
47 Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee.
48 But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren?
49 And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
50 [b]For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.[/b]
Get this into your heart and soul Jim, because it will be both your mother, and your friends which will try and persuade you to give up on what God has called YOU....YOU....""YOU"" out to him for. Only with YOUR STAND does any of them ever have a chance.
Please read this next record carefully, paying close attention to verses 21 and 31, where it shows that [b]the family and friends of Jesus, endavored to work together to aprehend him, thinking he was beside himself.[/b] This after he healed the man with the withered hand, and then chose 12 to send forth to do the same as he did.
Mark 3:10 For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues.
11 And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.
12 And he straitly charged them that they should not make him known.
13
And he goeth up into a mountain, and calleth unto him whom he would: and they came unto him.
14 And he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach,
15
And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils:
16 And Simon he surnamed Peter;
17 And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder:
18
And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite,
19 And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him: and they went into an house.
20 And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.
21[b] And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.[/b]
[NOW WHO REALLY ARE THE INSANE ONES HERE? His friends and family see him doing all this, and think HE'S the one beside himself. EVEN THE DEVILS knew who he was, but his own family and friends as you will continue to see wanted to STOP him.]
22 And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.
23 And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?
24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
26 And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.
27 No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.
28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:
29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.
30 Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.
31 [b]There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him.[/b]
[Why do you think they were calling him? They wanted to get him out alone so his friends could apprehend him. After all he was "beside himself", he was as far as they were all concerned possessed.]
32 And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him,[b] Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.[/b]
33. And Jesus said unto them, Oh MAN...I forgot to do the dishes. If only I'd done the dishes, I'd of been a better Christian, and they'd believe...oh wait a minute....no such thing as Christians till Acts 11:26...Nevermind.
33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?
34 And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!
35 For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.
Definately sounds like a cult to me.
You know the way friends and family are. The Lord had the SAME PROBLEM.
I mean doesn't it just BLOW YOUR MIND, that his friends and family including his MOM did not believe in him. Well it was after all EMBARRASING! What would it do to their standing in the community and "synagogue" (Church)?
Do you know that years ago, two Catholic young women, converted to a protestant denomination, like the Baptist church, and their parents had them kidnapped and deprogramed, and these girls were adults, going to nursing school.
It's funny because if you were Baptist parents, and your kid converted to being Catholic you could hire the same people to kidnap your kid. Though I think taking people by force now is illegal. But it was a big money business in the 80's. Parent's paid up to 15 to 20 thou. to have their kids kidnapped by a bunch of big thugs and held against their will and forced to renouce whatever it was they were choosing to believe in.
Onc man's cult is another man's church and visa versa. To the RCC every protestant denomination is a cult. And to the established protestant denominations every non demomination is a cult. Jesus was accused of being in a "cult", the SECT of the Nazerines. Truth is, it's the COMPETITION, that's a cult.
Your mom is trying to put a fear guilt thing on you by just using the word "cult". Well buddy, you are in a cult, you are in a sect, the "sect of the Nazerines". Your family, friends and the world will hate you and think your a NUT!
They will think that you are beside yourself, and obvioiusly don't have the brain of a knat, and are just being influenced by those crazy cult people.
Don't be surprised as this thing goes on that you don't come home one day, and sitting in the living room is good old Uncle Joe and Father Flanigan, wanting to have a nice little conversation with you, to talk some "sense" into you.
Don't be surprised if you continue to stand, that you see your sweet mother, become very much more unsweet, and even tell you, you cannot live there anymore.
I feel in my heart, soul, mind and spirit, that God has really called you to his service, and all hell is going to come against you, to try and dissuade you.
But if you STAND against the whiles and onslaughts of the devil, working through the people closest to you, you will defeat him not only in your own life, but in the lives of many others.
YOU ARE NOT NUTS!
YOU ARE CALLED!
You need to follow Jesus around, by going to the gospels and spending time, learning from him, to be like him! HE is your mother, your brother, your father, your sister, you Lord, you Savior, your all in all, and he is CALLING YOU.
Do you not think that if Jesus had problems with his frineds and family that his disciples also had the same?
Look at what they left. Peter and Andrew left the fishing business...well they left it with the servants and their father. You think he was happy about that?
Jesus asked them to leave everything and follow him, because at that time, he was the only one speaking what he spoke, and in order to learn from him, you had to literally follow him around all over the place.
The written word is in your hand today and right next to you. You don't PHYSICALLY have to leave much of anything except the TV, and you can go and be with Jesus Christ and follow him around just like they did, to hear his every word.
The biggest thing Satan is trying to talk you out of is that WRITTEN WORD. What is it that causes the contention in your home? It is your speaking the truth of what you know the written word teaches.
What was the LIVING WORD? It was Jesus Christ in the flesh walking around TALKING and teaching what the spirit of God told him.
What is the written Word? It is that same Jesus talking, you reading, putting in your mind repeating, and bringing to life his SPIRIT once again.
It is not persay, your mother that is the problem, but the "spirit" in your mother. Because your mother literally has the same spirit that was in the mother of Jesus, his family and his friends. This is not the spirit of Jesus, but the spirit of the world the spirit that took over the Church many many hundreds of years ago. That spirit that loves Mary the mother of Jesus, more than Jesus.
NOT that it's literally the spirit of Mary the mother of Jesus, but the spirit that was working in her, her other children and the friends of the family, who were all in the SAME RELIGION. It's a religious spirit.
Here is your most basic mission from the Lord Jesus Christ, now that you have believed in him.
John 8:30 30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.
John 8:31 [b]Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.[/b]
This would be a good record for you to become familiar with. Because right after he tells them this, they start to ARGUE WITH HIM!
You see, they finally just believed on him, realized he was the SON OF GOD. So he tells them to now continue in his word, which means to live and abide in HIS WORD. That is to learn and understand his teachings and do them.
But then they start to ARGUE. They believed in who he was, but did not want to believe what he SAID! This is that religious spirit that you are dealing with, that wanted to KILL Jesus.
As you read the record of his discussion of with THOSE WHO BELIEVED ON HIM, you will see that they finally got so mad they went after him.
It is the same, in that this religious spirit, would like to kill off the Christ in you. I can see it in what you have related in what your mother says to you. Father forgive her for she truly knows not what she is doing, in what she is saying to her son.
You are basically a new babe in Christ, simply meaning that you are just now really starting to learn the words of Christ. [b]Christ is formed in you, as you learn and grow in his teachings.[/b]
[b]Just as the devil endeavored to kill Jesus as a babe, so will he do to the Christ that is forming in you.[/b]
Brother please take my suggestiong to heart, when I saw that you need to leave all, by way of what is the [b]priorities[/b] in your life, and get your head in the gospels, and put yourself with Jesus.
I do not mean quit school, sell all you have, leave home [b](though you may get kicked out)[/b], I mean that you need to prioritize you TIME, in being with the Lord in his WORD.
Not in the words of men, the traditions of men, the books of men and their opinions, but literally in the Bible, in the gospels, with Jesus following him around every day in his word.
LEARN FROM HIM!
If the devil cannot get you through friends and family, then next place he will try and get you is through the RELIGIOUS LEADERS.
By that I mean he will distract you, into thinking you have to read all these books by all these men, telling you what the word says, rather than just going with the Word itself, and letting the spirit of God teach and guide you as you read.
Please! Be careful of reading other mens books more than you ever wind up reading the gospels.
Even Paul's letters cannnot be truly understood until you have the foundation laid of what jesus taught in the goseels.
Brother I feel great ugency to warn you of all these things, for as I said, I sense a calling on you.
Brother, I realize this is a long response, but in ending, please it is most urgent that you become very familiar with the parable of the sower and the seed.
Jesus went though all the temptations that he mentions in this parable. [b]He teaches it so that as a young disciple, you can CHOOSE which kind of believer you will be.[/b] It is in fact a warning to you and every other believer. We are warned, so that in being warned we can be on the alert and make wise choices, when these things hit us.
Matt 13:18 Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.
19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
We must choose to have "root in ourselves" duing those times. And this is also what you are enduring in your situation now.
22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
This will come at you too brother. Be warned, be alert, to recognize it, and make a wise decision, not and EASY decision, but a wise decision.
23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Brother before you can get the mote out of others eyes, you have to get the beam out of your own eye so that you can see clearly. Prioritize your time with the Lord, and he will make you see clearly, as to what and how you are to wittness. For the wittness is the testamoney of Jesus and the testamony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of prophecy is in his word, for he has said "THE WORDS that I speak unto you they are spirit and they are life". Those words are at your finger tips.
Brother the big problem the Catholic Church has always had with the protestants, is that they put the written word before the Church and the Pope. Jesus also did the same with the Religious leaders of his time. He knew the truth of the scripture when they did not.
I am praying for you, that when you are tested, when you are tempted, you will STAND on his Word.
This and only this is the true salvation for your mother, just as it was for the Lords.
Please look here at some more facts about Jesus family.
Luke 2:33 And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.
34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;
Luke 2:35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
Considdering that Mary also did not believe in his ministry, and how she is lauded above him today, this is quite a prophecy. But as you know, at the crucifixion, his mother was by that time a believer.
Luke 2:16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
19 [b]But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.[/b]
Pondered here, means she debated with herself over what she heard. Everyone else who heard was leaping and prasiing God, Satan was already at work on Mary getting her to doubt what all these things meant.
Jesus HAD to be tempted in every thing we are tempted with. This would include the unbelief of his own mother and father.
Were Jesus to grow up to be a mighty warrior that would rule Isreal, usher in the Kingdom of God and restore it to Israel, by kicking the Romans out, they all would have been for him. They were all looking for a great politcal leader and king, not a physician and savior of the soul. They wanted someone who would make them look good, not someone who would confront the whole comminity on their sin.
Jesus was subject to his mother and father until he was 30 years old. Tradition had it that you were not your own man until you were 30
Luke 3:48 And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.
49 [b]And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?
50
AND THEY UNDERSTOOD NOT THE SAYING WHICH HE SPAKE UNTO THEM.[/b]
51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: BUT HIS MOTHER KEPT ALL THESE SAYINGS IN HER HEART. (AND AS WAS SAID, DID NOT UNDERSTAND THEM.)
52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.
So you see what you are up against here. The very person revered the most in the RCC, did not understand HER OWN SON.
You don't think that's the only saying he ever said, even after that, that she probably didn't give him a look or two for, or even argue with him, do you? I wonder as he learned the scriptures, how many times he said things that reproved her own attitudes of heart.
So that by the time he actually starts his ministry you have this going on between them.
John 2:2 And both Jesus was called, and his disciples, to the marriage.
3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.
4
[b]Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.[/b]
5 His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
Believe me or not, but Jesus's mom may not have been that nice of a person. Not to have wine at a wedding supper was a social and cultural fopah. I persoanlly think she was looking down on the people, as in Humph. they have no wine, what kind of wedding is this.
Jesus was probably use to her social climbing got to look respectable,ways. And once you realize how they tried to stop him in his ministry, because it would make them all look bad. You can then look back and see why he then said what he did and why she said what she did.
Mom, saying "FINE, whatever JESUS wants to do, he knows so much, just do it.
He was tired of having her contradict the truth, and she was tired of him contradicting tradition. The fact is when the truth is in your heart, you cannot help but speak it.
Pardon my heretic beliefs on the precious virgin here. And obviously she never stayed a virgin, since she had at least 5 other kids. I don't think that's something you might bring up with your mom though, at least not right away.
But again we do know, that she was there at the cross, and they Jesus hour had come, and that as a good son, he commited the keeping of his mother to antoher disciple. For it was the eldest sons responcibility to take care of the parents when they got older. I think that was very wonderful of Jesus to think of that while he was laying there in agony dieing.
Regards,
El Harris
The Bible and it's people. It's REAL LIFE, just like your's and mine.
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