What is the Hebrew Passover?

Jewish Passover is an event that originally took place in Egypt. Under the pressure of exponential judgments which will be exercised against them, the oppressors of the people of God will be forced to let the Hebrews go, who under the guidance of God will be able to resume the path of their conquest of a conditional freedom, that of the sons of God. Despite their sorrows and despite the brutality with which they were treated during these four hundred years of captivity, the Israelites have multiplied and they leave, taking with them the strength of Egypt. The primary meaning of the word Pesach, or Passover, comes from the “passage of the Lord” who comes in person to precede his people. That night, an angel of destruction will kill all the firstborn of Egypt. Why does God attack the firstborn? God chose to share his reign and authority on earth with man. By attacking the beginnings of man's strength, God reminds us that man has transferred this authority to an illegitimate government represented by the pharaohs, but in reality made up of fallen angels. But the Son of God, his firstborn, will present himself as a substitute for all those who recognize him as their savior. The Lamb of God had not yet been slain, but grace was available in the form of secured credit if you will allow me to put it that way, for it had been foreseen before the foundation of the world.

“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God”. 1 Peter 1:18-21.

This voluntary sacrifice will therefore be prefigured by that of a lamb without blemish which will have to be consumed on the night which will precede their departure. The Hebrews had to eat this meal in haste, being dressed, their coat tied around their waist, standing with their shoes on their feet and ready to leave at the signal given by Moses. We are thus invited to share these signs in what is called the Lord's Supper or the communion of the Lord, every day of our Christian life, being attentive to the signs of the times and waiting for the secret moment when Jesus will “pass” to look for us.

“Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that  day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.”    Luke 21:34-36.

In Luke 17 starting in verse 20, Jesus says that one will be taken, the other left, and that we should remember Lot's wife and not look back. He ends by saying that we will no longer need our bodies, at least that is one way of understanding the last verse, and Paul reveals to us that we will be changed in a flash into glorious beings, as we go to the meeting Christ. When will this happen? It is part of God's strategy : Jesus says that the Son of Man will come when we do not expect him.

“It’s like a man going away: He leaves his house and puts his servants in charge, each with their assigned task, and tells the one at the door to keep watch. “Therefore keep watch because you do not know when the owner of the house will come back—whether in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or at dawn. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping”.   Mark 13:34-36.

Jesus gives us however some benchmarks, such as the fact that this will happen in the generation that saw the restoration of the nation of Israel, and we know that it was reconstituted in 1948. He also says that this will happen when everyone has the impression of peace regained after a period of conflict. But this peace will actually be the calm before the storm.

“There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. People will faint from terror, apprehensive of what is coming on the world, for the heavenly bodies will be shaken. At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” He told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they sprout leaves, you can see for yourselves and know that summer is near. Even so, when you see these things happening, you know that the kingdom of God is near. “Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. “Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you suddenly like a trap. For it will come on all those who live on the face of the whole earth. Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man”.   Luke 17: 25-36.

 

So, what are our Easter celebrations in this context of a counterfeit religion?

It really all comes down to this: Satan, we understand, offers us a kingdom of God from now on and for this world, “his world”. While Jesus speaks of a delayed kingdom, acquired at the cross, and which comes to be established in the hearts of the disciples before appearing on earth. To which of these two paradigms is our Passover celebration linked?

The English term Easter is derived from the Saxon spring festival dedicated to Ēostre or Āsteron, the goddess of spring. They decorated eggs, a symbol of life, they gave each other rabbits to suggest fertility and they made small round biscuits meant to represent the body of Tammuz, son of Āsteron or Ishtar, the Queen of Heaven – a dead son who resurrects every day, as the unconquered sun. They had spent forty days in a sort of abstinence before engaging in sexual debauchery supposed to produce babies that would later be sacrificed. These practices called for by a god with a sick mind were sickening, and this Passover should not even be considered by Christians. Paul writes to the Galatians as if they had lost all common sense.

“Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you. Be like me, for I also am like you. Brothers, I beg you”.   Galatians 4: 4-11.

“But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir”.

Easter has become for Christians, the feast of the resurrection of Jesus. But is this how Jesus himself envisioned the Passover celebration? Jesus is charged with a mission which is not that of anesthetizing men while waiting for their own resurrection. On the contrary, he comes to prepare them for a new Passover, for a new passage, as the word Pesach suggests.

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world”.  John 17:24.

He will provide them with proper teaching, and then he will equip them by breathing into them his Holy Spirit, not so that they will sit around celebrating his resurrection with champagne, jelly eggs and chocolate, but to prepare them to leave this world. On Passover night, God passed over Egypt and took his people with him. Yes, we will leave soon, to return and reinvest the world, but in another form, in a glorified body, whatever this new identity may be. Because there is a persistent misconception about Heaven. Heaven is God's domain, and its courts are only a place of transit for men, – Jesus says somewhere: “as in the days of Noah” –, an ark in which they will be kept safe, but our heritage and our reality will always be linked to this Earth and to the new Earth that will one day replace it.

“For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words”. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.

“Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape”. 1 Thessalonians 5:1-3.

“May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones”. 1 Thessaloniciens 3:12-13.

“Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years”.   Revelation 20:6.

 

The Elements that Transform us.

Jesus is the fruit, or the fulfillment, of all the prophetic words that were spoken in the Old Covenant. And just as Moses brought the people of Israel out of Egypt, so that God would transplant them into a new land, Jesus wants to take us with him so that once transformed into his image, we return to conquer an earth which will then be entirely renewed by his word. But do we want this future? Or are we satisfied with what we have? The forty years lost in the desert are a lesson for us. It was easier for God to bring his people out of Egypt than to pull Egypt from the hearts of his children.

The lamb was to be consumed entirely overnight, accompanied by a brew of bitter herbs, and the remains were burned in the fire – a single and definitive sacrifice.

When he says: “I am the bread of life!” or “He who eats my substance has everlasting life”, Jesus is not asking us to engage in human sacrifice and cannibalism, as some people who were scandalized upon hearing him understood. But it alludes to the fact that He is the creative word of God. “Everything was created by him, and without this word, nothing was created”, it is written in the Gospel of John. I'm not going to repeat myself, but I go more in depth in previous month's sharing.

“He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord”.  Deuteronomy 8:3

The word of God endures forever, says the Bible. Christ is not only the Word and the Lamb of God, but he is also our Passover.

“Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth”.  1 Corinthians 5: 7-8.

To commune with this cup is to identify ourselves with the substitute that God himself has provided, so that he can spare us! It is no less than looking into the eyes, the one whose body was bruised and who agreed to die in our place, before he could take charge of us for this exodus. This is why this rite is formidable. By it we are delivered and healed if our intentions are pure, and by it we would condemn ourselves if by levity we betrayed Jesus by keeping one foot in this world from which he tore us away at the price of his life.

“So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup”. 1 Corinthians 11:27-28.

 

The Bread of Life and the Bitter Cup.

After Jesus had fed the crowd by multiplying the loaves and fishes, these men remembered the manna, which Moses sent down from heaven like dew in the desert. Jesus seeing the crowd following him said to them:

“Verily, truly, I say to you, you seek me, not because you have seen signs, but because you have eaten of the loaves and have been satisfied. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you; for it is he whom the Father, whom God has marked with his seal.” John 6:26-27.

“Then Jesus said to the people, “For sure, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you bread from heaven. My Father gives you the true Bread from heaven. The Bread of God is He Who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to Him, “Sir, give us this Bread all the time.” Jesus said to them, “I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to Me will never be hungry. He who puts his trust in Me will never be thirsty. I said to you that you have seen Me and yet you do not put your trust in Me. All whom My Father has given to Me will come to Me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to Me. I came down from heaven. I did not come to do what I wanted to do. I came to do what My Father wanted Me to do. He is the One Who sent Me. “The Father sent Me. He did not want Me to lose any of all those He gave Me. He wants Me to raise them to life on the last day. He wants everyone who sees the Son to put his trust in Him and have life that lasts forever. I will raise that one up on the last day.”  John 6:32-40.

Why does Jesus also ask us to drink his Blood?

God forbids the consumption of blood. So of course, Jesus is not referring to the blood itself but to the life that is in the blood. Blood represents a being's life, and His own blood made atonement for our life. We were dead in our trespasses says the Bible, but Jesus brought us back to life by covering us with his blood. The only life worthy of renewing our life is God's life, since He is the giver of our life. It is his spiritual life that now renews our body.

“For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life”. Leviticus 17:11.

But during communion, his blood also represents his death. Before being arrested, Jesus said to his disciples, “Can you drink the cup that I must drink?” He was referring to his ordeal.

“For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 1 Corintians 11.

Paul reminds us that to drink from this cup is to proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes. And it is again a reference to the Jewish Passover and the bitter sufferings of this flawless lamb representing the Son of God, who is immolated on the eve of the exodus from Egypt and whose blood will cover the houses of the Israelites, so that when God comes preceded by the angel of destruction, the believers shall be spared. The bitter cup can also point to the sufferings of the Israelites enslaved in a foreign country. By drinking from this cup we remind ourselves that this is all going to end soon as Jesus returns.

“Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. When the Lord goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down. “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants”. Exodus 12: 22-24.

In the old covenant, the blood of an atoning victim is a covering from which those who are sprinkled symbolically benefit. Peter brings to our attention that this lamb foreshadowed the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God. In 1 Peter 1, he says that God, the Father, has chosen those who according to his plan have been cleansed by the Spirit, to obey Jesus Christ and benefit from the sprinkling of his blood. Let us note the steps: The Spirit sanctifies or renews us, so that we can obey Jesus Christ and thus participate in the sprinkling of his blood, or in other words, receive our safe conduct to the Kingdom that comes. Jesus will say:

“But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be. At that time there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. Be Ready for His Coming. “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming”. Matthew 24:36-42.

Let's make sure that we're ready for our Passover !

 

I had never thought that one day, I would talk about the serious things that concern our world, and I never even wanted to be interested in them. All I wanted was live in peace in the company of loved ones, and explore with them some parts of a magnificent world. But no one escapes the reality of the world. And when the devil no longer knows which of your weaknesses he can attack you with, he will attack those around you, and mainly those who persist in not wanting to take responsibility for their faith and their knowledge of God. Jesus knew that: “A prophet is only despised in his country, among his parents, and in his house.” If you have not known at some point to follow Christ by leaving father and mother, then, instead of living this adventure of obedience to God by surfing on your faith and on a few miracles, you will soon be cornered into a situation where you will constantly plug the gaps that the demons will open among your loved ones, to monopolize you and discourage you from undertaking things that could advance the Kingdom of God. And this is exactly what is happening in the world. The devil goes berserk because of the efforts of those who advance the knowledge of God, and he sets fires everywhere. Many journalists and politicians are worried. Evil explodes. But what we actually see are the lures that serve to mask the real issues. An imposter remains for the moment, the master of the game for a majority of men. But fortunately, whatever evil he intends for us, us who have come under the leadership of another Lord, we know that God will return it in our favour.

 

Lesson of the day: If the world is bad today, it is because the true knowledge of God has been lost.

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”  Hosea 4:6.

As another Passover holiday approaches, it seems that time is racing, and it could be another sign of the end times, God shortening time in order to encourage awareness among us. For many, Easter is synonymous with celebration. Spring replaces winter, primroses follow snowdrops. For Christians, life has finally had its victory over death. But the prelude to this Passover is much less joyful.

When reading the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, one thing jumps out. Some of the Jews are very angry. They are deeply disturbed by those who announce that Jesus is the Messiah of Israel. It must be said that Israel has just gone through a brutal and painful period, and this is certainly not the time to awaken a dormant conflict by drawing upon them the gaze of the imperial eagle and renouncing the fragile Pax Romana. Their leaders do not need another agitator or a “savior” who will anger the empire. So they're going to stick with the status quo. This Jesus is a sweet dreamer, a careerist who came out of nowhere and has no idea of the responsibilities they face. He does not match by any extent the criteria that they have established concerning the hypothetical liberation of their nation by a prince of war. If only they had read the prophets... But they stick to their prejudices and now they will have to get rid of this impediment to going around in circles quickly, and with him, of all who follow him, in order to prove to Caesar that they are still a stakeholder in his empire and that they remain in favor of the Roman peace. As Caiaphas, the high priest, said: “Don’t you see that it is in our interest that a single man should die for the people, so that the entire nation does not disappear?”

This will not prevent the Romans from crushing their nation once again, seventy years later, by razing the temple as Jesus had announced, and by renaming the Kingdom of Israel: “Palestine”, that is say “land of the Philistines”, in order to deprive the Jews of a future identity. The Philistines, these descendants of Cretans with a bad reputation according to Paul, seem to have ravaged the eastern Mediterranean towards the end of the Bronze Age, and conquered these now ill-famed coasts where, among other things, the cult of Baal, or Dagon, lord of thunder, and Ashera or Astarte, his mother, queen of heaven and goddess of fertility. The Canaanite peoples devoted themselves to the cult of Moloch or Chemosh, to whom babies were sacrificed by burning them alive, as well as to ritual prostitution. God having resolved to make these abominations disappear, Joshua and the kings of Israel will conquer them, before being in turn dispossessed of those territories by the Romans. Advances granted by God are conditional.

 

What happened in Jesus' time, is happening again.

Was it not precisely to avoid this confrontation with the empire of iron, that many Christians have tacitly accepted compromise throughout history, in order to live in peace in a world which remains fundamentally opposed to their God and their ideals? For about a century, the expression of the Christian faith has enjoyed unprecedented freedom in certain Western countries. God favored this freedom so that the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ could be preached to all the nations of the earth, before the end comes. For, as God gave each individual the possibility of making choices that will determine their eternity, he wanted each nation to also have the possibility of choosing or rejecting the God of Israel, in order to be judged fairly. What determines the beginning of the end of this world is the progress of the preaching of the Gospel. A providential and yet very illusory peace. Faith in the God of the Bible, and obedience to his precepts, may soon be made illegal. Laws are regularly passed, and it is already illegal to have pro-life positions in some states, or to discriminate against people whose sexuality is deviant. Parents are being taken to court because they demand explanations from teachers who violate the consciences of their young children by showing them things that children should not see. The world seeks to sweep away all that remains of biblical ethics, in order to establish new laws which will relate, in particular, to the genetic and bio-technological modification of human beings, and involving artificial intelligence as a means of control. A persecution is being organized which will spare no God-fearing man, not even our brave universalist Catholic brothers. But before this project of eradicating biblical values can be applied on a large scale, the salt of the earth must have been removed from it, in other words, Christians filled with the Holy Spirit must have been raised up near Christ. Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth. If this salt loses its flavor, what should we salt it with? This salt is no longer worth anything: it is only good for being thrown out and trampled on.”

“You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness”.  Romans 8:8-10.

Christians who do not see fit to receive the Holy Spirit will be in great danger, having become a nuisance to the world, and disowned by God himself. Therefore Isaiah said:

“Turn therefore to the Lord, while he may be found. Address him while he is near! Let the wicked forsake his way, and the man of iniquity his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, who will have mercy on him, to our God, who never tires of forgiving.” Isaiah 55:6-7

 

Paul warns his disciple Timothy of the dangers of biblical illiteracy.

Biblical illiteracy constitutes a breeding ground in which no tree can grow. Only prejudices, superstitions, deviances and passions of all kinds thrive there.

“Know that in the last days there will be difficult times. For men will be selfish, lovers of money, boasters, haughty, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, irreligious, insensible, disloyal, slanderers, intemperate, cruel, enemies of the good, traitors, heady, puffed up with pride, loving pleasure more than God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying his power. Stay away from these men. There are among them who enter homes, and who captivate women of a weak and narrow mind, loaded with sins, agitated by passions of all kinds, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth”.

“You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work”.  2 Timothy 3.

Someday I will tell you again how I was touched by the Holy Spirit, simply by reading the New Testament in my parents' Catholic Bible, when I only wanted to prove to myself that God did not exist and that in reality, man was God. God then joined me in my ignorance, and it was He who proved to me that I was not without Him. In a message I linked below, titled “Finding Your Destiny in The Kingdom of God,” the teacher reminds us of some passages of Scripture in which God reveals to us that He has known us since before we were born, and even that he has been interested in our future since before our conception ! We all have a hidden identity within him, an identity that our parents have not know, and that we did not even suspect until he allowed us to discover it. Psalm 139:13. Jeremiah 1:5. Matthew 16:18.

 

Clinging to God is for our good.

Jeremiah offers us this magnificent and well-known text, in which God contrasts the man who relies on human wisdom, and the one who seeks God.

“Thus says the Lord, “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind And makes flesh his strength, And whose heart turns away from the Lord. “For he will be like a bush in the desert And will not see when prosperity comes, But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, A land of salt without inhabitant. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord And whose trust is the Lord. “For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit. “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.”   Jeremiah 17:5-10.

 

What does religion represent today?

Of course, we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Religion teaches principles that are beneficial to life in society. However, this is not the case for all religions. Does religion fulfill its role today? What we see is that the world is becoming irreligious on the one hand, and fanatic on the other.

The problem with religion, perhaps lies in the very etymology of the word.

Two etymologies are possible, which are not opposed:

1) Religere = to connect, to find an understanding in order to control the belief. We can by extension connect the term to the idea of a government, moral or political.

2) Relegere = reread, ensure of the intelligence of a belief, as opposed to a simple superstition.

Both of these eventualities involve human intervention. Men consult each other on the means of controlling belief and its content, or of controlling men through belief. These approaches can be justified, but only up to a certain point. Belief must guide, but it must not become an end in itself. Belief is a set of human precepts assigned to the observation of a rite. Mass and worship are rites, and by definition, human steps aimed at attracting the good graces of a divinity, or those of the participants in worship. By definition, religion, like the law of Moses, is unfulfilled, in the sense that the rudimentary elements exposed therein serve to prove to men that they are in a state of perdition with regard to the demands of God. But religion alone will not be enough to save them. Religion should lead men to meet the Father, and then withdraw to allow men to emancipate themselves in a relationship with him. As an institution, however, it has every advantage in keeping men dependent and captive, just as, for example, medicine makes patients dependent on a healthcare system that finances it. The doctrines and elements of religion are unstable and have varied over time, while the content of the Bible is not.

In Matthew 21, Mark 12 and Luke 20, Jesus denounces the fact that the winegrowers seized the vineyard for themselves, after having killed the legitimate heir. Those who hear it cry scandal and that these winegrowers deserve to be severely punished! …before understanding that it is them that Jesus is talking about. “After hearing his parables, the chief priests and the Pharisees understood that it was about them that Jesus was speaking, and they sought to get hold of him; but they feared the crowd, because they considered him a prophet.”

“Why did the Gentiles rage, And the peoples devise futile things? ‘The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the Lord and against His Christ.’ For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur”.    Acts 4:25-28.

The plot of the religious people against Jesus – and by extension, that of men against God – was completely predictable. David had already announced it in the 2nd Psalm. Jesus makes a clear observation about the religion of his time:

“Jesus said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. ‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”    Mark 7:6-8.

Isn't the observation the same today? What in our mind has force of persuasion is not the word of God, but it is that of a man – whether we call him pope, apostle evangelist, Dalai Lama, imam or head of state. And over time, the pope gives in to the adjustments demanded by his faithful. So much so that the Gospel is no longer the Gospel, but has become a message transmitting a kind of peacemaking kindness, humanist and almost Buddhist in its essence. Jesus does not eat of that bread. He said to his disciples, “I have food to eat that you do not know. My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work” John 4:32.

 

What we contemplate, we become.

“And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14.

The thing about contemplation is that it transforms us into the image of the object of our contemplation. The young bird which emerges from its egg will imbibe the image of the parent which it will contemplate when opening its eyes. Jesus invited Nicodemus, this righteous man searching for truth, to be born again. Nicodemus was, like his people, born into a society and into a religion. But Jesus invites him to be reborn by the Spirit of Truth. But how? he asks. “You are the doctor of Israel and you do not know these things?” Religious people spend their time contemplating their religion. We just need to do the same, this time contemplating the glory of the only begotten Son who came from the Father and imbuing ourselves with his word.

“And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate

the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit”. 2 Corinthians 3: 18.

From then on we are no longer of the world, even if we still live in this world.

“If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.”   John 15:19.

We all want to be loved. But we must accept that we cannot be friends with everyone, in a world that maintains a rebellion against God. God puts us to the test in this way. “If you love me, keep my commandments.” “Do not put yourselves under the same yoke with those who have not received the same sonship.” We cannot partner in business with those who do not have the same values, nor marry someone who does not have the same beliefs, or it would be calling for tons of trouble. And this also implies that we sometimes have to take positions that go against the grain.

 

The Bible: a subversive book and some understood it well.

Who wrote the Bible? Many men have written parts of it. Who brought these writings together into one? Again, men came together, and after prayer and deliberation, they were led to preserve the writings that constitute the Bible. They did it under the inspiration of the same spirit: the Holy Spirit of God. We can therefore conclude that the Bible was written under the inspiration of God. Many men have attacked the Bible in an attempt to prove that it is not genuine. Most threw in the towel, but a few converted during the exercise. The Bible is a book that presents a mathematical perfection that cannot be explained other than by admitting that it is inspired. There is a connection or thread that runs throughout the books of the Bible. Jesus and the apostles mention passages from the books of the law and the prophets, thereby recognizing their legitimacy. The Bible as a whole is a patchwork that reveals to us the true face of God. The fact is, the Bible is a whole. It is self-supporting and self-explanatory. One can only understand the meaning of certain words by having a thorough knowledge of the Bible as a whole. The New Testament is inseparable from the Old Testament. There are things in the Old Testament that are difficult to accept until we understand their validity. But at some point, Christianity saw fit to separate the Gospel from its Jewish-Hebrew background, and to bring it closer to Greco-Roman culture. This distancing was not innocent, since it was felt that the Church would henceforth replace the Jews in the continuity of God's plan for the world. To support the foundations of the Replacement Theology, the fathers of the church drew certain notions from Babylonian culture, and from ancient Egypt, and they grafted them onto the revelation of the New Testament, or vice versa. This is how a whole series of non-biblical doctrines and rites appeared, such as the cult of the Virgin, alias the Queen of Heaven of the Babylonians or goddesses of the same order. I say this with the greatest respect for Miriam, the mother of Jesus, because the poor woman had nothing to do with it, but this cult has replaced the traditional understanding – Israel giving birth to the Messiah, who in turn gives birth to the people of the redeemed. The ceremony of the Catholic mass introduces a new sacrifice. A form of human sacrifice in which one literally consumes the flesh and blood of the Son of God, through the transubstantiation of the ancient Egyptians. This rite replaced the sharing of the bread of Heaven, which is the word that Christ, or the Messiah, brought to the world. Yet when Jesus instituted this habit called Holy Communion, his disciples did not devour him. They understood very well that Jesus' words referred to the Passover lamb sacrificed the day before the people of Israel left Egypt. God then gave them this sign as a foreshadowing of the sacrifice of his Son, whose blood would cover their sins so that they would not be judged with the Egyptians, and whose Truth and Spirit (the flesh) would give them a supernatural strength to complete their transition towards freedom. They immediately understood that all this symbolism found its realization before their eyes, around this Easter table, and in the tragic and at the same time salvatory events which would follow.

“For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such a declaration as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory: “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased”— and we ourselves heard this declaration made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture [m]becomes a matter of someone’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God”.   2 Peter 1: 16-21.

 

“Hunger for knowledge is born from doubt. Stop believing and learn.” André Gide.

“You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.”  James 2:19

It is certain that Mary had nothing to do with the establishment of the worship of the Virgin in the Church. Mary always considered herself the servant of the Lord. When consulted, she refers people to her son, telling them: “Do all that he tells you.” She had complete faith in the word that had been spoken to her, that she would bring into the world a savior for Israel. Despite the difficulties which surrounded this virgin birth, and the dangers during the first years of Jesus because of Satan's attempts to suppress him, she only understood late how God was going to reveal this saviour to the world, as indeed the other disciples, who until the last moment expected something completely different. This unexpected turn of events was part of God's plan. As is often the case with him, God challenges our certainties to better catch his enemies and defeat them. But the fact that she was not a prophet does not take away from the fact that Mary behaved like a worthy daughter of Abraham. So why would she ask, centuries after she was in the eternal presence of her son, that the Catholic Church be dedicated to her and that she be venerated throughout the world? You don't have to be very perspicacious and even a dilettante like me in matter of religion can understand it. By reading the Bible, we understand, through certain overlaps, to whom the apparitions of the Virgin of Lourdes, and all the other apparitions, are attributable. Marie has simply suffered identity theft.

Mary is innocent, so why should this sword pierce her soul? It could be what the Bible calls, the iniquities of the fathers. Mary represents our human nature giving birth, for each individual, to a divine being through the impartation of the Holy Spirit – we truly become new creatures, the Bible says, when we are born again. But so that this new being from Heaven can grow, the earthly one must die in a way. Marie was human like all of us. She had inherited a mentality. She could even have been influenced during her lifetime by certain religious biases that were current among the Jews. Her son has only limited trust in her. Sometimes he has to moderate her. In Mark 3 and Matthew 12, Mary thinks that Jesus has lost his mind. Her spirit is tormented and she urges her other sons, Jesus' half-brothers, to go and get him to bring him home by force. Satan knows that Jesus loves his own, so he seeks through his family to influence him and dissuade him from risking his life and their reputation by carrying out his mission. His family was undoubtedly under great pressure from community leaders.

If Jesus is of divine origin, Mary remains fully human. The prophecy about her says: “A sword will pierce through your soul, that the thoughts of many may be revealed.” What is this about? There are probably other ways of understanding it, but I imagine that many Jewish women had kept, as a custom, a form of forbidden veneration that is sometimes described as “crying Tammuz”, or “offering libations to the Queen of Heaven”, and which the prophets of the Old Testament regularly denounce when they see these representations displayed on every street corner and on the hills. Don't these descriptions suggest anything to you? I'm not saying that Mary engaged in these rituals, and I don't think she did. But Mary is a child of her people and she carries things within her unconsciously, what some call: intergenerational curses. We know for instance, that Rachel had stolen the theraphim from her father's house and that she took these idols on their family odyssey. Solomon had married foreign women who reintroduced the worship of their mother goddesses to Israel. It is an endemic belief that dates back to the Garden of Eden, and more specifically to the myth of Adam's first wife – Lucifer versus Christ. I know women who are not Catholic, who do not go to church, but who have a virgin or perhaps a Venus on a shelf in their house, and who will not hesitate to burn a candle to invoke the good graces of this deity if the the opportunity presents itself. This is a custom that originated in paganism, and has affected our understanding of who God is for generations. I never cease to be amazed at the graphic imagination of image designers. At the moment I see flocks of rabbits and kittens passing through my Whatsapp contacts, flights of bells scattering painted eggs and hearts of all kinds with touching Madonnas and even Jesuses. Smooth, smiling Jesuses, not the torn and bloody Jesus of Passover reality. I don't understand how people can be encouraged by these tasteless things that carry no truth in them. The imagery is one thing – let's assume it's a medium to convey benevolent feelings – but the custom is far from trivial since it leads us to worship the serpent.

Jesus knows very well what this is about and he speaks about it severely in his letter to the Church of Thyatira. In Revelation 2, he warns the church that if it does not turn away from this association which he describes as adultery, he will cast its members on a bed of pain and he will have to make his children “die from death”. Dolorism is the acceptance of a curse. Why such harshness? Because the Church must realize that this practice brings Satan, who is the rival of Christ, into the Church and into families! The spirit behind dolorism and the worship of the Virgin is a satanic spirit and Jesus must set an example for other churches, we are told later in the text. Catholics do not like being reminded of this side of Jesus. Yet, in laying down his life for his friends, Jesus demonstrated the greatest love that anyone can express. He died so that we might have health and life in abundance. In return, he demands that we be obedient and true. God loves us with an unrequited love, and he has the right to expect us to love him alone, and with all our being.

“You shall have no other gods besides Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, inflicting the punishment of the fathers on the children, even on the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing favor to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments”.   Deuteronomy 5:7-10.

 

Jesus has purchased our healing. But are we ready to take three steps in his direction to receive it?

In fact, the Catholic Church has allowed itself to be stripped of its Christian identity. It reintroduced the exclusive priesthood of priests, when in reality every believer becomes a priest through the work of Jesus. For example, she lost her prerogatives in matters of divine healing. What was the inalienable heritage of every Christian living in the light, is now expected from an obscure divinity resurfaced from antiquity and sheltered in a cave, a statue to which the same words are recited indefinitely, which is contrary to the Christian faith. Jesus said: “When praying, do not multiply vain words, like the pagans, who imagine that by dint of words they will be heard.” Even the salvation of souls is now attributed to the so-called Queen of Heaven. This belief gives rise to situations that are intolerable. You have in front of you a normally constituted, intelligent and cultured person, a capable housewife, valued spouse and mother, a convincing and efficient businesswoman. But when it comes to demonstrating her faith, she behaves in an unintelligent manner. And this because religion has put in her head since she was a child, fanciful ideas about God and a romantic understanding of what faith is. Deprived of the authority of the believer, she does not know how to deal with spiritual problems and finds herself completely helpless the day she falls ill, an illness which hides itself in all possible forms and which none of the many doctors consulted know how to definitively treat. From a certain age, this person experiences a state of chronic and pathological anxiety. All her certainties collapse. Satan's trap has closed on the person you love, and masses and pilgrimages will only worsen her dependence on the illusory goodwill of angels who are, moreover, reprobated by God. Her friends and co-religionists will be of no help and can only encourage her to bear with dignity and resignation this condition which is also theirs. This is the condition of those who have abandoned the living God. They simply do not know that Jesus took upon himself all our suffering and illness during the torture and crucifixion. For God actually delivered and healed us on that day, two thousand years ago. Now secure in the hand of God, we can snatch our healing from the hands of Satan, by faith. Because our own merits will not gain us anything. If we have forgiven others their trespasses and if we place ourselves under the almighty hand of the Lord by renouncing sin, the spirits of illness will not be able to resist us. And God who forgives us our trespasses will also make our healing effective. But it is up to us to learn to ask and receive, knowing that all that is according to the will of God – and that we prosper is the will of God, is granted to us. The Holy Spirit constantly intercedes for us but, but we will not always have a human intercessor available to do this for us. Those who do not ask or ask in the wrong place, or who doubt, receive nothing from the Lord, says the apostle James.

“You shall not make for yourselves idols, nor set up any graven image or statue for yourselves, nor shall you place any stone adorned with figures in your land, to bow down to it; for I am the LORD your God.” Leviticus 26.

You would like to open these people eyes and make them consider God differently so that they understand where the error is and so that they are no longer bitter against this Father God who resists them and forced to find their consolation elsewhere. If they only accepted their error, they could repent and give their children a chance to be delivered in turn from intergenerational curses. But religion has built real fortresses in their minds: the walls of self-importance, those of the superiority of tradition, a misplaced community pride and the fear of betraying and disappointing, to be judged, rejected by their families and their community, as they sometimes did for others. Would you believe me if I told you that some Christians are like some Muslims who would rather see their children and relatives die without God and go to hell, than see them find God and be born again in another denominational environment?

“Large crowds were travelling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ‘If anyone comes to me and is not ready to lose father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters – yes, even their own life – such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple”.  Luke 14:25-27.

“For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.” Acts 28:27.

 

The knowledge of God is humbling. But to cultivate humility is to cultivate hypocrisy.

This superiority complex that arises from our ignorance prevents us from having a detached and objective perception of the global political context and, for example, from having equitable positions with regard to the Palestinian problem. If our spirituality is at the level of the soul, we will judge, not on the basis of a historical background and proven facts, and even less according to what the Word of God affirms, but we will allow ourselves to be moved by these shenanigans which are widely relayed by journalistic circles which thrive on emotion and sensationalism. The human soul is far too easily manipulated. Although they may not realize it, these people are captive to the spirit of the world that opposes God's reign on earth and his plan of redemption, a spirit that is fundamentally anti-Semitic and anti-Christian. They thus bring upon themselves additional curses intended for the enemies of God. This is a very sad situation that even a Christian can find himself in. And this is essentially what Paul is explaining to Timothy above, when he says, “Always learning, but never coming to the knowledge of the truth.”  You can therefore only helplessly watch their descent into hell. Don't ask me how I know...

But if you do not listen to me and do not do all these commandments, ... I will make the hearts of those of you who survive in the lands of their enemies faint; the sound of a agitated leaf will pursue them; They will flee as one flees from the sword, and they will fall without being pursued. …

Those of you who survive will be afflicted with sorrow for your iniquities in the lands of their enemies; they will also be afflicted with sorrow for the iniquities of their fathers. Leviticus 26.

 

Do you really know Jesus?

This is why God is uncompromising regarding idolatry. And whenever the Jewish people are overwhelmed, helpless, sick, pursued or robbed of their crops by enemies, the prophets require them to break and get rid of the signs of this veneration, and to return to God with all their hearts, that he may heal them. If this gives you ideas, however, don't go destroying objects that don't belong to you. Jesus comes across one of these bigoted women at one point, the story is found in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 11. This event occurs at the time when Jesus is giving teaching on demons. Sometimes demons manifest themselves when we talk about them, and this does not fail to happen. This is the spirit of veneration of this entity with Babylonian origins which is represented carrying its son, the unconquered sun.

“When the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and not finding any, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds it swept and put in order. Then it goes and takes along seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first.” While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed.” But He said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.” Luke 11: 24-27

The soul and the feelings – what the Bible calls the heart of man – are all deceptive. The word of Jesus is sometimes described as a sword coming out of his mouth. We must not forget that Jesus is a warrior. He showed up in occupied territory to deliver us from the lies of the devil. And if the sword sometimes waves, it is in this direction and not to harm us. We must allow His word to deliver us from ourselves, for we were born in sin. Mary finally understood this, and she participated in the dispensation of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

“And all of you, in your dealings with one another, clothe yourselves with humility; for God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time; and cast all your anxiety on him, because he himself takes care of you. Be sober, watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him with firm faith, knowing that the same sufferings are imposed on your brothers in the world. The God of all grace, who has called you in Christ Jesus to his eternal glory, after you have suffered a little while, will himself perfect you, establish you, strengthen you, make you steadfast.” 1 Peter 5:5-10.

 

Jesus, the Hebrew.

This is how several Jewish festivals and traditions were given a new meaning, by detaching them from their origins and linking them to Babylonian traditions, and sometimes even to pagan rites which were current among us, I think in particular of the Day of the Dead. According to Jesus, God is the God of the living and Christians do not associate with the dead. Calvinist Protestantism is not above suspicion, far from it. But if we delve a little into the depths of Catholicism, and by extension, into traditional Christianity, we realize that certain elements are an offense against Christ himself. From Constantine to Charlemagne, Rome became a kind of anti-Jerusalem. The first millennium will be marked by a debate between the two powers which both claim to be “constituted by God”: the pope or the emperor, who is sovereign? Forgetting that the head of the Church is in reality Christ, who leads it in a spiritual way, men will attribute worship and believers to themselves. The spiritual movement initiated by the Holy Spirit through the first apostles returns to a carnal and quasi-pagan religion. The cult of the Queen of Heaven is surreptitiously reintroduced into the church until it supplants that of the true God.

But is it wickedness to reveal certain things that some would like to keep hidden? To what extent should we honor the beliefs of others, when we know that people are deceived, and that what they believe causes them to face the wrath of the very one they claim to be their God? Jesus said that sooner or later, everything hidden will be revealed and the best kept secrets will be shouted from the housetops. You must know that in the eyes of God, those who endorse a church or an organization are responsible for the blood that has been shed by this church or this organization. Jesus told the Jews that those who rebuild the shrines of the prophets are like those who once killed those prophets.

We are born within a tradition which provides us with a certain background, generally made up of good principles, but which are sometimes questionable in their application. And it is up to us to then gain our maturity by separating what is holy from what is not, as God asks us to do in the Bible. The God of the Bible is not Yin and Yang. He is light, and in him there is neither shadow nor variation.

“Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.”  James 1:16-18.

His character does not fluctuate. But our own shadows are projected onto our relationship with him.

“Why is my suffering continuous? Why is my wound painful, and won't heal? Would you be to me like a deceptive spring, like water of which one is not sure? Therefore thus says the Lord: If you cleave to me, I will answer you, and you will stand before me; If you separate what is precious from what is base, you will be like my mouth. It's up to them to return to you, But it's not up to you to return to them. I will make you like a strong wall of bronze for this people; They will make war against you, but they will not conquer you; For I will be with you to save you and deliver you, says the Lord”.  Jeremiah 15:18-20.

Why did the prophets serve the truth with such zeal and dedication? Perhaps it is because they saw the Truth personified at some point. When you see something perfect, you can no longer settle for pale substitutes and live in compromise.

 

“Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me”

It is therefore not so surprising that Christianity is considered by many Jews, as an offense to their identity and to their faith. However, Jesus and his apostles were all pure Jews, and I doubt that he had the blue eyes and blond highlights that are attributed to him in the pious engravings that depict him. But in reality, it doesn't matter and anything is possible. “It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is of no use. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life,” Jesus says in John 6:63. Jesus said another word full of wisdom elsewhere: “Pay to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Why want to make amalgams in order to appropriate what belongs to others? If Catholics consider themselves the children of the Church and the Virgin, and Protestants as the sons of Luther or Calvin, of Wesley, Spurgeon or one of self proclaimed modern apostles, true Christians are simply the sons of God in the sense that they are the spiritual seed of Christ through the gift of the Holy Spirit, and the heirs of the promises that Jesus made to Abraham.

“You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”. “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds”. John 8:57-59.

For it is indeed this Yeshua, whose name means “God saves” or “God delivers,” who once met Abraham, under the oaks of Mamre. Yet men don't recognize him and they want to kill him for his daring. Men only recognize what is theirs.

“But as for you, do not be called Rabbi; for only One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers and sisters. And do not call anyone on earth your father; for only One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called leaders; for only One is your Leader, that is, Christ”.  Matthew 23: 8-10.

I don't know if by reading these lines you realize the extent of the misconceptions and preconceived ideas that are transmitted to us by religion. No religion is virgin. The world remains for the moment in the hands of an enemy, and religion does not escape its control. It would be useless to try to fight against windmills, because due to sin the entire creation has been subjected to vanity and our efforts will not be enough to turn the situation around. But it is vital to understand that we each bear responsibility for our lives and for the things we adhere to. When we face the throne of God, will we be able to justify ourselves by hiding behind the political and religious leaders we have followed, when the latter will be condemned? During the Nuremberg trials, could Nazi officers claim that by sending innocent people to be massacred, they were only obeying Hitler's orders? Do our laws of war prevail in the eyes of God? God recognizes only one law of war: “As for my enemies who did not want me to reign over them, bring them to me and let them be put to death before me.” These are the words of Jesus in Luke 19:27. And, “Whoever was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.” Revelation 20:15. It is therefore better not to have to confront God on the basis of our laws. Because in reality, God has not left us without resources, and to survive in a world occupied by the enemy, we have the possibility of drawing from its source, pure water, and this is not the case in all parts of the world where it is sometimes forbidden to own a Bible under penalty of death. Everything that emanates from the world is nothing but a vast deception, and religion is not the only one to blame. Even the way we react to such comments is dictated to us by the world. This is why Paul, in Romans 13, and James, ask us not to rebel against authority or against order and religion, but to submit to God by obeying established authorities, as far as this which is required of us does not violate the law of God, in order to resist the devil who is the destroyer, and to serve as a testimony to all, so that God can exalt us in due time. The apostles had the habit of putting priests against the wall by telling them: “Judge for yourselves: We must obey God rather than men.” Jesus came to open our eyes and ears, not to make us bark and bite.

 

The Gospel does not consist only of words, but it is a demonstration of the Power of God.

When John the Baptist was informed of the miracles of Jesus, he sent two of his disciples to him to inquire: “Are you the one who is to come, or should we wait for another?” Jesus gave them this answer to pass on to him, which to John was unambiguous:

“And He answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them. Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me.”   Luke 7:22-23.

The best way to preach the Gospel is to demonstrate it. Men are sensitive to displays of power, because true power is what is missing in our world and in our society. People read two lines of my writing, and move on. John for his part, preached in the power of Elijah, and the people were convinced. Jesus did not raise his voice, but he performed the miracles of God's grace and the crowd followed him. It was captivated by his words: “Never did any man speak like this.” But Jesus himself said: “Blessed are those who believe without having seen”. They are blessed because they have in themselves the testimony of the Truth. Receiving the Holy Spirit also means having within oneself the capacity to understand and judge – something indispensable in this world of all kinds of influences. To discern is not to judge according to our criteria, but it is to hear the voice of God. And it must be said, this is not something that can be learned overnight. Peter heard God tell him that Jesus was the Christ, the son of God. But on that very day, he proudly said something to Jesus, without even realizing that he had heard it from Satan. If you have been made capable of hearing the voice of God and of recognizing the suggestions of the devil through your inner testimony, you are happy says Jesus. To the extent that you cling to this testimony, you will have a good chance of being saved from the unprecedented political, moral, and religious confusion that is engulfing the world.

“As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him”. 1 John 2:27.

 

A Word made flesh.

But how to receive the Holy Spirit? Here again, things must be clarified, because there is Holy Spirit and Holy Spirit. There is of course only one Spirit of God, which is also the Spirit of Jesus. Jesus said, “No one comes to me except the Father who sent me draws him.” How can the Father draw us to Jesus? Here again, let's not look for noon to two p.m., it is still and always about the Word. The Father is the creative Word, the Son is the Word made flesh, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Word who accompanies us.

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty: there was darkness on the surface of the deep, and the spirit of God moved above the waters. God said: Let there be light! And there was light". Genesis 1.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.” John 1:1-4.

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things, and will bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” John 14:26.

In the spiritual world, you can have all kinds of encounters, and believe me, none of them are advisable. There is only God we can rely on. But how to meet God? By simply reading his Word! The Bible, the one whose content is universally recognized, is the testimony transmitted to us by the Holy Spirit, of the redemptive power of the words of Jesus. And Jesus tells us that his words are actually those of the Father. Prefigured in the Old Testament, revealed in the New, this bread truly restores life to the world, and it heals those who are steeped in the lies of the devil. Illness is one of the fruits of lies – someone said in French : “maladie : mal a dit”. Because as we breathe, walk and eat daily, the word that accompanies us is alive and practical. It is our spiritual food, our oxygen, our bodyguard and our antibodies. It must become our daily bread, as Jesus mentions in his prayer. Do we understand how our body transforms our food into strength and vitality? Not necessarily, but we generally eat every day. Likewise, it is not necessary that we understand everything we read. The important thing is to consume the word of God without restraint. Our spiritual being will know how to digest it. I remember the appetite I had for the Bible when I first read it when I was twenty-two. I only had my parents' Catholic Bible in the beautiful version of Abbé Crampon. However, without knowing anything about it, I was not attracted by the so-called “apocryphal” books, but an inner guide led me towards what made sense. Some apocryphal books are historically or literary interesting, but they are not essential to our faith. Some bring confirmation for things already mentioned elsewhere. And we should easily spot the false gospels that the world is fond of. Among ancient books however, a certain very controversial book, but quoted by the Apostles, could be very valuable to us in the last times for the explanation it gives of the whole angelic context of our world, such as the revolt of the angels and their final judgment. This book mentions very actual details about what will happen in the end times. Strangely, it was removed at one time from almost all versions of the Bible, yet was passed down through Ethiopian tradition. I regularly reread the Bible, whether it is a classic version or the one in current language, and for a long time I have been looking for an explanation to difficult passages using Greek and Hebrew translations which are easily accessible thanks to Strong's references. And now that my eyes are tired, I also listen to it willingly. We are extraordinarily fortunate to have access to more quality Christian teachings through the Internet than we could possibly listen to. And what previously required one to attend a Bible school can be learned from home and in an extraordinary variety. The Internet will never replace community life and experiences, but it is undeniable that knowledge has increased, as Daniel prophesied in his prophecy for “times far gone.” The Bible reduced to its essentials offers a word which is truly “living” and which permits to our spiritual being to grow and assert itself. This word renews our intelligence and gives us a different perception of things. Furthermore it heals us physically, and applying it gives us Life and saves us from the prospect of having to pass through Hades - the same word is used in the original text for physical healing and for the regeneration of the spirit .

“In their distress they cried out to the Lord, and he delivered them from their distress; He sent his word and healed them, and brought them out of the pit. Let them praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works for the sons of men! Psalm 107:19-21.

 

A Living Hope.

Peter also tells us that our hope is alive, since the Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives in us. It is therefore not a simple religion but it is a new life. He then says that God keeps the inheritance stored up in heaven, and that it will be revealed at the end of time. Perhaps this is what Jesus' contemporaries did not know or did not want to accept: that there was a precondition for the coming of God's reign. They would have wanted to see this kingdom manifest on earth, to then begin to believe and sanctify themselves. A few miracles will not have been enough to convince them of this reality. Peter reveals to us that in his wisdom, God chooses those who obey Yeshua without setting their own conditions.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which perishes though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”  1 Peter 1:3

 

Will the Gospel of Jesus Christ prevail?

In the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, confronted with the pugnacity of the Apostles, the guardians of tradition end up admitting that they are sure of nothing. This Jesus could be who we say he is, so let's give ourselves a chance for him to prove himself to us.

“Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; don't risk fighting against God.”  Acts 5:38-39.

 

He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen. Revelation 22: 20-21.

 

Who do I belong to?

What influence, what current of thought, what movement, what religion, what God, what devil? Because let's not kid ourselves: little men don't belong to themselves. The idea that we could have appeared spontaneously on earth is a mirage blown up by a low-grade philosophy from socialist universities. We are no more self-determined than we could be self-sufficient. Our very atoms come from a primeval dust – stardust – which is lent to us. The energy that agitate our molecules and the spirit that animates our flesh can be taken away from us at any moment.

And to begin with, what is an identity? I think therefore I am, said the philosopher. Do we think we are only the sum of what we believe about ourselves? If this is the case, let's be careful not to fall asleep because we would risk immediately disappearing. Would our consciousness go back to our birth? This would be presuming a dazzling evolution. Or to the origins of the earth? This would reduce it to the expression of a random vibration coming from a global geomagnetic fluid. Who am I really? It is in reality a puzzle that neither scientists nor the thinkers of this century have managed to elucidate. Where do I exist, where does my ability to think, feel and express, to stiffen or, on the contrary, to become ecstatic come from? And what do I need to acquire over the course of my life that the animals around me have only received in limited proportions?

 

What is the fundamental difference?

The book of Genesis describes the origins of the earth and what it contains. But there is something or someone even older than the earth, and this entity speaks, it expresses itself, it shouts in our streets and stands at the crossroads of our lives to challenge us. But often we don't pay attention to it.

“I was born when there were no depths, No springs laden with water; Before the mountains were established, Before the hills existed, I was born. He (God) had not yet made the earth, nor the countryside, Nor the first atom of the dust of the world.” (Translation from the Louis Second Bible)

That which is thus expressed in Proverbs 8 is wisdom. She says in verse 24 that she was brought forth as the first of God's works, before any atom in the world existed.

“I played on his earth in the inhabited world, and found my delight in human beings.”

And there I say well done ! People with long stern faces, cold eyes and deep, inexpressive voices, probably got it all wrong. Wisdom is a child, the earth is its garden, and we the human beings are its playmates ! I am thinking at this moment of the blessing pronounced by Jacob on one of his sons. “Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.” And it is through the swirling words of a loose doe that God makes the thoughts of the wise and intelligent waver. The wisdom of God is alive, while that of the world contains and conveys death. The gemstone that symbolizes Naphtali is the diamond. Diamonds reflect the light in a particularly brilliant and sometimes unexpected way. The diamond is hard because it is pure. It is a carbon crystal in its raw state. If you rub a hard object against a diamond, it will be nicked before you can chip it. When the word of God dwells in Naphtali, God will use him to convince and free the prisoners through powerful prayers. And that is what it takes because God's people are a stiff-necked people, according to God's own complaints. Ezekiel was not from this tribe but he was a Levite, the tribe of the priests. God made his forehead as hard as diamond. This did not mean that Ezekiel had to engage in verbal sparring with the naysayers, but when he was confronted with the hatred of those who opposed the words he had spoken in behalf of the Lord, he was able to hold on despite persecution, until circumstances prove him right.

“For he who finds me has found life, and obtains favor from the Lord. But whoever sins against me harms his soul; All those who hate me love death.”

If you do not know how to become like these little children again, you will not enter the Kingdom of God, Jesus said. The world was created by God for our enjoyment, and all the wonderful things in it are there for our jubilation. But we know that the world has been hijacked and perverted for the benefit of another. To find its originality, we must read the Bible. The Bible is a description of the lost world, and the projection of a world renewed by being placed under the creative breath of the divine wisdom, which should soon be manifested. The children of light are above all the children of this Word. The great originality of this word is that it is alive. This does not mean that God's principles are outdated or haphazard, but it does mean that God cannot be put in a box. God is not ceremonious. I think back to this story in which Elijah fled from Queen Jezebel after he had put her false prophets to death, during a ceremony in which God intervened powerfully, and which was fatal to them. Appealing to divine judgment is a dreadful outcome because it puts us in a position to be judged ourselves. Elijah was undoubtedly marked in his mind by the implacable move which caused him to execute these men. He then finds himself completely depressed and discouraged of all and of himself. So, in the mountain of Horeb, which is Mount Sinai where God had given the law to Moses, and where Elijah thinks he can find the link, God must make him undergo a reset of the spirit that now inhabits him. Elijah undergoes a kind of spiritual cardioversion.

“The Lord said, Go out and stand in the mountain before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by. And before the Lord there was a strong and violent wind, which tore the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces: the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind there was an earthquake: the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake there was fire: the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire, the murmur of a soft and light breath. When Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his cloak and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. And behold, a voice called to him these words: What are you doing here, Elijah?”   1 Kings 19:11.

 

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways.

As the sky is high above the earth, so are my ways high above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts”. Isaiah 55:9.

It must be said that all kinds of so-called spiritual awakenings are taking place these days. Some are based on tradition, and it is a return to legalism. Others, about bizarre spiritual manifestations, still others about being on fire for the movement we are trying to grow. These movements arise in reaction to the sin that reigns in the world. But at the risk of offending some, God did not initiate these movements in their expression. God wants to revive us through a personal relationship with him, in all wisdom and in his peace.

God is not always what we imagine. The world experiences many disasters, wars, disease and death. All of this suffering happens because of our sin as humans. But let us be careful not to equate God’s character with these events. Many people try to create their own representation of God, to escape the cliché of the supreme God of the Romans and Greeks, or even the God of Mount Sinai. We see these statuettes or New Age concepts displayed everywhere. But none of these representations come even close to what God actually is. You shall not make any representations, God said as one of his first commandments. The Gospels show us that people who were too fixed in their understanding of God, were offended by the words and actions of Jesus. Yet Jesus taught us to pray: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.” The Greek word “Hagiazo” for hallowed, means to cleanse from the outside, to purify, to make holy. Jesus places this requirement at the top of his prayer list. Mythology, religions and sects have tainted the name of God with all kinds of false concepts, prejudices and preconceived ideas. Wisdom says:

“I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me.”   Proverbs 8:17.

“I will let myself be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring back your captives.” Jeremiah 29: 14.

Jesus tells men who are captive to the spirit of Satan, that they need not be afraid of bothering God !

“And I say to you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and the door is opened to him who knocks. Who among you is the father who will give his son a stone if he asks him for bread? Or, if he asks for a fish, will he give him a snake instead of a fish? Or, if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion? If then, being evil as you are, you know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him.” Luke 11:9-13.

Wisdom is an inexhaustible source of benefits and wealth.

“Men, to you I cry, And my voice is to the sons of men. Stupid, learn discernment; Fools, learn intelligence. Listen, because I have great things to say.”

“For wisdom is better than pearls, more precious than all precious things. I, wisdom, dwell in discernment, And I possess the science of reflection. The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil; Arrogance and pride, the path of evil.”

 

What kind of burden do I carry?

Paul said to the Galatians:

“Brothers, you have been called to freedom. Only do not make this freedom a pretext for living according to the flesh; but make yourselves, through love, servants of one another.” Galatians 5:13.

“Bear one another’s burdens, and thus you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2.

To be a servant is the most beautiful mission and it is within everyone’s reach. Jesus himself came, not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as the ransom of many. Servant does not mean servile. Jesus did not engage us in an assistantship. He did not found a humanitarian work, even though these things are sometimes part of our commitment. By feeding the thousands with a few loaves and fishes, Jesus simply demonstrated who he was, and he did it to remind us of who we are, as a big brother would care for the little ones by showing them what life is about and learning a few things so that they in turn can get by in life. “Give them something to eat yourselves,” Jesus said to his disciples. Did he want to make them an army of bakers, or for them to return to their fishing nets? Maybe for some. But by confronting them with the impossibility of this task, Jesus wanted above all to make them understand that their commitment must be at another level. By multiplying resources, Jesus demonstrated to these crowds, who he was. Despite this, most of the people who followed him were there simply because they had had something to eat. “You will always have poor people with you, but you will not always have me,” he said aside to his disciples. And if we don't watch out, the devil will overwhelm us with poor people of all kinds. People satisfied with their popular and religious wisdom, and who will feel no attraction for the wisdom of God. They will keep us in the prison of their constantly needing to be satisfied. These people who do not feel their state of poverty also do not see the need to attach themselves to the abseiling rope. Even in free fall to hell, they are satisfied with themselves and all they strive to do is not go there alone.

Let us remember what Jesus said to this young man who wanted to bury his father, before joining him to follow him:

“Let the dead bury their dead, and you come and follow me.”

Jesus teaches us that there is another way to help others, and that is by demonstrating the existence of what he calls: the Kingdom of Heaven. This is the dimension in which God reigns and where his inexhaustible resources are placed at our entire disposal, so that we can share them. Things that the wisdom of God communicates to us spontaneously and of which we could soon have a great need, when the world will be hit hard by the pending economic crisis. But the source of all these good things is God, it is our Father, let us not forget. He loves us and through all these amazing experiences, he wishes to make us fall in love with him and with his incomparable wisdom.

To most of the challenges of life, we can find answers from an immediate perspective, and that's what we are doing most of the time. Or we can zoom out. And the more we zoom out, the more detached we become from the actual reality, but also the more clarity we gain on the issues. “We must act like a man of thought and think like a man of action,” wrote a man named Henri Bergson. “For a conscious being, to exist consists of changing, changing to mature, maturing through indefinitely creating oneself” said this same author. So our duty is to constantly zoom in and out in order to respond effectively to the practical challenges, but with an appropriate perspective – an evolutive process in which we grow as grows our understanding. How this thought is developed remains to be defined. We are all influenced to some extent by mimicry. For instance, the kid who plays with his truck in the sandbox is very serious about what he is doing and you shouldn't tell him that when he is “playing”, he is wasting his time. Same for the girl who plays with her dolls. As they play, kids are laying foundations steps on which their practical and relational life can build. Our existences are built on our imagination much more than they are built on our education. Imagination develops through playing, drawing, reading, talking and listening to others, through education, through music, watching films, and of course taking photos, wandering, meditating, dreaming, worshipping, in fact just about everything. That's also why we should be selective and gather the right materials, in order to build the house we want, and in a proper place.

But why are we always striving to attain perfection by buying better tools, acquiring better technique, comparing ourselves to others, to finally never be satisfied? Are we just luring ourselves with our artwork? Why does our quest for beauty constantly drift towards the means to achieve it? Why do we admire the resulting image and not the person who served as a model, the creation and not the Creator who stands behind it? We probably need to breathe in imagination in order to breathe out creativity. Sometimes, new tools come in to help us in that sense. But we should find our creativity in the source of our life. There was a king named Solomon. He has put together some meaningful sentences. In the Book of Proverbs, chapter 25, we read:

“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter. To search out a matter is the glory of kings. As the heavens are high and the earth is deep, so the hearts of kings are unsearchable”.

I believe that this sentence contains the essence of all science. Art is a form of science, and if science is about discovering the universal laws that govern disorder, then art can be interpreted as an attempt, at an individual level, to dominate over chaos through some lines sketched in a pleasant way. “The highest ambition of art is to reveal nature to us”, said the same Henri Bergson quoted earlier. But also to reveal our nature to us, I would add, and to help us transform it.

I have to speak about it with the humility of an uneducated man, and I'm also that kid who plays in the sandbox when it comes to my faith in God. There are laws that we know, and there are other rules that we don't know yet. We know for instance that if we venture to step onto the pond's surface, we might soon meet the catfish. But limitations are there to be challenged and boundaries to be crossed. We become kings, or masters if you prefer, when we move out of our comfort zone and give us chances to discover and subsequently apply some new set of rules, rules that are pre-existing but in a concealed form. It's what the discoverers have done. Is there an end to the discovery? Maybe, maybe not. Despite all the advances of science, the universe remains a mysterious place and new still unknown laws of physics are regularly implied if not yet understood.

I am not a religious person, but like all humans, I'm a worshipper. I try to be as imaginative as the beauty of this earth invites me to be, while taking care not to slide in the dim and gloom, – in the dark side of the force as George Lucas puts it. And so, in my quest for the elusive white wolf, I came many years ago across this book called the Bible. Far from being what most of us understand as a religious book or a collection of fables, this sum of writings is mind opening and offers very interesting hints on the existence of hidden sets of rules, or rulers, who govern our immediate reality. The writings might be perceived as religious at first, but their aim is to free us from mere religion and bring us into another perspective on life, by inviting us to worship and be in communion with the source of truth and beauty. That is what Son of Man did throughout his life. He was irreligious and was hated by the guardians of tradition for it, but he had life in him. Everyone has some truth within them, but THE Truth is actually a person, the master builder, and the Bible reveals the plans he has for us.

Without zooming out when our nose is stuck in the mud, all we can envisage from these unknown rules is that they are God's special interventions and we call them miracles. Then some religion appropriates the miracles in order to bring people's mind captive of religion itself. But that's not my point here.

We can advance and grow in knowledge, as Solomon suggests, by groping in the world of our senses and through our knowledge, and that's how science progresses. Or we can get to know the master builder and access his plans directly but without knowing all the hows. There was this man who has introduced us to the master builder. He taught us that the reality we see is not what we think it is. Knowing God is not checking the boxes of a religion. We think that the reality is immutable, and it is to some extent, otherwise any organized form of life would be impossible. But at the same time, it is completely mutable. I'm not a physicist and my brain is too shrink to understand what their approach to this question is, but we know from school that the hard matter, even metal and stone, our camera, it's lens, are made of moving particles. We call electro-negativity, magnetism or gravity what binds the matter together. But what controls ultimately that force is something we don't know. We know what happens when we break the bounding energy of atoms, but what prevents the whole Universe from blasting is a mystery. The Bible explains it in a way that can be understood even by uneducated people like me. It says that the world, and everything in it, is bound together by the word of God. When god says something, matter obeys and binds together in a certain way. So evidently, words have power, at least some of them.

We also know that we humans, have the same word-will creative power, to a bridled extent thankfully. “Life and death are in the power of the tongue, and he who exercises it shall eat it's fruit”, says another of Solomon's proverbs. “Nothing is impossible to he who believes” says the Master. “If you have a hint of faith, you shall say to this mountain, get out of your way and throw yourself into the sea, and it shall obey”. Have we ever wondered what happened to this star which led the Magi and was about to fall on a stable in Bethlehem two thousand years ago? I have my idea on this. This is something we should perhaps remember if a large meteorite menaces the earth, since Bruce Willis might be long retired by then. But the bottom line is that this should make us understand that some of the ill that we reap or see happening in our personal life as well as in the world, comes from words. Careless malediction words pronounced by others, but also too often self destructive words. By ignoring the elementary principles of creation, we allow the devils schemes to work all too easily. When we say, “My sickness”, “I'm going to die”, “My father was like this and it's in my genetics, “My Mum had breast cancer and I'm going to have it”, “My, My!” But once our mind is renewed, we understand that the good comes in the same way, through spoken words, and that's how many people protect themselves from harm, heal themselves and prosper, simply by declaring the things they want to see happening according to God's good promises. But some of course know how to use those laws to prosper on the back of other people or to dominate. That's why it is so important to deny ourselves if we want to access that power for the good, otherwise it can become a root of all evil.

And so, what could be the future of photography when considered in this light? Someone said that a photograph is a work of the spirit. That's certainly not true for all photographs, but it becomes true when someone composes and perfects an image that complies harmoniously with his or her inner perception. For now, we need paint brushes, cameras, programs or electronic substitutes to convey the perceptions of our inner being. But maybe there are other ways that we don't know yet? As when we depict a scene with words, maybe we will be able one day to convey the visions that we have inside, and display them to others in a spiritual way? Science fiction? No, simple heavenly human reality. A man did this with some of his close disciples. And we can all get glimpses of other realities trough our night dreams. If you listen to people who had a NDE, a near death experience, many witness that when the curtain opened, they were stricken by the beauty, the colours, the sounds, the good looking people – even the grass was beautiful.

Today, much of what belongs to us is still denied to us because we are immature in our identity and in our behavior. Accessing it would permanently destroy humanity unless it is first renewed. The Bible tells us that the entire world had to be rebooted in safe mode at some point in history, and many extensions were disabled, extensions like universal language and understanding, eternal life. We sometimes wonder why some of us find a means of escape in video games, films, AI and augmented reality, image and creativity, religion, esotericism and contact with the occult. These substitutes are designed to fill the absence of something we are missing. But when the world has experienced the great upheaval and its government has been placed in the hands of the Messiah, the world can then be restarted on the truth of God's Word, and everything will become available again in its true colors. For a thousand years the Bible says, the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. A new flood is coming to the earth, not of water this time but of the glory of the knowledge of God, and it will destroy all evil. Our renewed imagination will play a big role in our daily achievements. We will no longer have to work on substitutes and at the sweat of our brow, but the authentic will emerge as we speak. What will it look like? The Bible says that no man in his present state is able to conceive it. But I believe that whatever we can imagine for good will then be ours. Our vision is currently limited to the weft side of the weaving. What we cry or regret is not the tools that accompanied us and from which we are forced to part for lack of space, it is not the people who passed to the other side. But it is the disappearance of our memories. The passage of time which, like the waves, erases our footprints on the sand. But let us remember what Jesus said: “He who believes in me shall not die, but shall live forever.” “And not a single hair on your head will be lost.” This comforts me, and not only for my hair but for everything that the world has lost ! The body fades to make way for a new body, and time is a destiny that only affects our material reality. In the past, people wrote on scrolls. Time becomes linear when the sheet of paper is cut and laid flat. But when you roll it, its ends come together. This is why God can say, “I am.” Nothing that is precious is lost, and when God will reveal the grand picture of His plans for humanity, then we will see the answer to all our pains and the reward for all our efforts.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure”.   1 John 3: 1-3.

 

“For God, who said: Light will shine out of darkness! has shined the light in our hearts to shine forth the knowledge of the glory of God which radiates from the face of Jesus Christ. But we carry this treasure in vessels made of clay, so that it is the extraordinary power of God that is manifested, and not our own ability”. 2 Corinthians 4:6-7.