He Came as a Thief in the Night

Hearing and doing the Word often involves learning not to hate people in the various ways in which it is possible to hate. When we become aware that hatred is verboten, it sets in motion a sequence of events that uncomfortably fructifies us as we realise the presence in us of recurring violations; and consequently, in a state of humiliation, we confess to our own hearts, in the presence of God, our insufficiency to liberate ourselves from chains of which we were not aware. Romans 7:7 - King James Version <7> What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. Violations of the commandment not to hate recur like the impulse to smoke a cigarette recurs to the addict. Similarly, the violations are pleasurable. There is a Hellish pleasure and a Heavenly pleasure, a pleasure in chains and a pleasure in liberty, a pleasure in uselessness and a pleasure in use. If we feed t...

  2 Thessalonians 3:10-11 - King James Version <10> For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. <11> For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. While avoiding sexual sins like adultery or fornication of course matters, people often forget how strongly the Bible condemns things like being a busybody, a gossip, an idler, a parasite. Yes, the Bible dislikes behaviours many of us regard as toxic, and sees them as like chains binding people to Hell. When people have a predisposition to do some particular evil, this is part of their portion of original sin, which varies from person to person as regards the strength of the chain binding people to different sins. One person may be more likely to say sharp, mean, jerky things than another, being as addicted to it as a cigarette smoker. Another person may have a predisposition to covetousness, or to desire t...

A Further base pair relations "Do they provoke me to anger? saith the Lord: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?" The sin in question is "anger", and the error of the sin is "provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces". This one is Jeremiah 43:2: "Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: the LORD our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there:" The sin in question is "proud", and the error of the sin is "Thou speakest falsely" etc (since Jeremiah, of course, actually speaks truly). Matthew 27:41-2: "Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him". The sin in question is "mocking", and...

Right, so one of the most important elements of our doctrines involves teaching people to pick up and tease meaning from relationships between Biblical images. We show you how they reverse, and how they associate in pairs. This is just a brief recap, so see the text "Image and image pair polarity in the Bible: a detailed guide". Now, the following verse is not contained in that text but follows the same pattern. There are, as we know, both positive and negative pairs of Biblical images, and the most famous of course would be bread and wine (good and truth) vs bread of iniquity and wine of violence (sin and error). So this verse to follow demonstrates the latter, sin and error:  Jeremiah 43:2 - King James Version <2> Then spake Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the proud men, saying unto Jeremiah, Thou speakest falsely: the Lord our God hath not sent thee to say, Go not into Egypt to sojourn there: As you can see, there is an association...

  Acts 17:29-30 - King James Version <29> Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. <30> And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: Romans 2:14-15 - King James Version <14> For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: <15> Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another; ) God provided that His commandments would be disseminated across the world in vessels appropriate to the cultures of the people concerned. These people were led to understand through various vessels that they were not to commit adultery, steal, murder, bear false witness, covet, or fail to support their par...

Someone afflicted with suicidal ideation once related that they didn't even want to kill themselves; effectively they had a nagging woman (or man, for that matter!) in their head haranguing them about something they personally didn't care too much about: self-harm. It is as though they were a mirror and a werewolf approached it, then went away. They recognised instinctively that the werewolf was not intrinsic to their mirror but alien to it, like another person who meant them harm. They experienced in effect a flood, a "rain", some swollen Jordan or fiery trial along the way. "A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike" (Proverbs 27:15).  "Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain" (Ezra...

The Bible contains numerous symbols, such as "oil", "bread", "wine", "milk", "salt", and so forth; like pieces on a chessboard, these images follow certain consistent and perceptible rules which occur in meaningful, dependable patterns. In general albeit with certain exceptions, a given image from the Bible will have a positive and a negative pole, a heads and a tails. One will demonstrate this pattern using the image "leaven": Matthew 13:33 - King James Version <33> Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened. Matthew 16:6 - King James Version <6> Then Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees. In the first verse, we see positive or heads "leaven"; whereas in the second verse we see negative or tails "leaven". A second, depend...