Chapter 14: Unwrapping the Ransom
I can unwrap it in one sentence. What Jesus did for us on the cross is not a sacrifice.
Jesus told us plainly what it is. It is a RANSOM.
There is a big difference between a RANSOM and a sacrifice. Both are payments. However, one is real and the other is playing make-believe. Knowing... versus... “believing.” Precisely why Religion is such a destructive farce. Ouch. Why would I write such a terrible thing? Because it is the Truth. Religion replaces the Reality of knowing God with the counterproductive fantasy of “believing” in God. Jesus agrees, 100%. A RANSOM is a tangible Reality; whereas, a sacrifice is a theatrical performance.
Religion is cranked out by MAN. It is processed bologna inspired by NOTHING. Fancy that. It ALL started with MAN inventing the need to leave something on the nightstand for “God.” A burnt offering. The RANSOM Jesus gave for us has been wrapped up in imagined old bologna skin —
“We owe God.”
The most important aspect of teaching the A, B, Cs of Christianity is to make sure the student sees his sin as “a DEBT that he OWES God.” A “FEE” or a “BILL.” As if God were a Clerk in a candy store with His hand out to get the coins from our piggy banks. Or, laughably, as if God were the One with the psychological problem. Don’t laugh. According to Judge Fleming, it IS God Who has psychological trouble. God is obviously suffering from a megalomaniacal, multi-personality disorder. Or, is this just the train wreck that occurs when we cram the Good News of the New Testament into the savagely backward, sacrificial-blood-rite voodoo of the Old Testament? Want to know what Jesus calls it?
“Putting new wine into old wineskins.” (Mark 2:22)
Bad enough that Religion is manmade imaginary bologna. Worse, we have made our bologna insanely complicated. God plays ALL the multiple lead parts in the panoply. Firstly... as the loving God Who gives His... secondly... only begotten Son (also God)... thirdly... to the High Priest (also played by God) Who takes our unblemished New Testament animal (our Savior) to an alter (in this case, the cross) and slaughters him on it as a sin offering... to appease... fourthly... Himself, the wrathful Holy God, too Holy to look upon His sinful Creation — namely, us. Better said, what’s become of us since “the Fall of Man.” Just hand the microphone to the intellectual Neanderthals and let them explain it to you:
Blood HAD to be shed because God DOES have a problem. You see, SIN is Divine-Kryptonite to God. If God were to even look upon SIN, His Holy Head would explode. For, God’s very Holiness prevents Him from looking upon SIN. Thus, the only thing that could possibly satisfy the SIN-debt of mankind was God requiring the shed blood of His unblemished Son on a cross. Through the shedding of blood, redemption is provided — BUT... (yup, wouldn’t be Christianity without a BUT thrown in) God’s blood-redemption only works for us as long as we pay it back (put something on the nightstand, so to speak).
1) We must pay for our redemption to The Church by being good, tithing Christians — AND...
2) We must pay God for our redemption from here on out by striving to live nothing but saintly Lives.
Amidst ALL of the voices in Paul’s head, Paul’s Pharisee voice is ALL over this one:
Hebrews 9:22 (NIV) “In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”
Really? Which law? What law? Who’s law? Manmade Religious Law. Why not add a dead chicken and a voodoo doll with ALL four of its appendages punctured into the equation? Paul, if you would for us, please, rewind your manifesto ALL the way back to Romans 6:14 (two verses before catastrophe struck). I distinctly remember the Holy Spirit declaring through your open pen that, as true acceptors, we are no longer under the Law. What was that? Oh, yeah. The done-deal. Don’t be bashful. You can say it out loud:
“Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the Law, but under (PERFECT) Grace.”
Thank you for playing. Have a safe trip home. We can ALL forget about Religion, Sin and the Law; become true acceptors and get on with our Lives. “Go in peace.”
News bulletin. What’s been done on the cross is meant exclusively for OUR needs. God has no needs. Why does Religion always have to step in and make things so difficult? This is God’s Done-Deal for us. Is there any reason why God can’t simply RANSOM ALL our sins AWAY? Out of the GOODNESS of His very Being? Blanketing us in real FREEDOM through PERFECT-Grace?
Of course He can’t. God’s hands are tied. God needs blood spatter and yellow tape surrounding a crime scene to satisfy “His Justice” and “His Law.”
Sorry. I suppose there is no need for abject satire. Moronic-stupidity is automatically built-in the moment you start pontificating what God cannot do. Wake up a little more, Virginia. Here, drink this down... as if it were your morning coffee: God can do whatever the blank God wants to do. Try letting God fill in “the blank.” Not Paul. Especially every other morning when Paul comes down off of that Holy Spirit inspired madness to his Pharisee senses. One can always tell in Paul’s writings when that happens. Whenever Paul starts pontificating Pharisee Judgment in the name of “Justice” and “Law.”
Paul has the same problem as his Tradition of the Elders teachers — a problem which Paul religiously passes on to his avid students: Not knowing how to separate God from Religion. The God’s-Honest Truth? It is Organized Religion that needs blood spatter and yellow tape, surrounding a crime scene. So... let’s ALL double-down on Neanderthal-Stupidity: Since blood is INVOLVED in a crucifixion (GET THAT, merely involved — for Jesus was certainly not bled-out and incinerated as a burnt offering) let’s turn the most PERFECT psychological help we could ever get for changing the way we think into yet another blood-sacrifice voodoo song. Gimmie that OLD-TIME Religion! We’ll slaughter us an unblemished cow on an unblemished alter to an unblemished deity!
The magical, sacrificial blood. Not coagulated blood. Rather, the squirting and dripping blood of a screaming and writhing sacrificial object has always conjured up ALL sorts of *Good* things for MAN. Healthier crops, healthier children, the defeat of our enemies, the making of rain and, yes, atonement for our sins. Just so long as we never commit another sin after eating this nonsense. We’re warshed in da blood!
Warshed clean in da blood!
Father G, of the Roman Catholic “faith,” asks, “Why then did God demand blood sacrifices from the Old Testament Jews?”
He didn’t. No more than the god, Baal demanded blood sacrifices from the Old Testament Baal worshipers. ALL Good & Evil-Inspired Religious Sacrificial-Voodoo comes from MAN. The men of Lycaonia wanted to sacrifice bulls and flower wreaths to Paul and Barnabas, thinking THEM to be gods (see Acts 14:11-15). Paul refers to their idiocy as worthless “vanity.”
The earth and the sky do not make “payment” to God. Nor do the birds of the air. Nor do the animals upon the earth. Nor do the fish in the sea. God’s alleged “need of payment” from what He created is found only in the worthless vanity of MAN. Shaped under the harsh whips of Master Knowledge of Good & Evil.
What did Jesus say about sacrifices to God? Actions speak louder than Words. Jesus, the Light of God’s Life (who does ALL things pleasing to the Living God of Light) never once presented a burnt offering to our Father in Heaven. Boy, doesn’t THAT speak loud volumes. Sacrifices are Cain’s discovery. (Thanks, Cain) Improved upon by his younger brother — the lad who introduced the grand idea of using live, writhing animals. Adding a bit of action and zest to the sport. (Thanks, Abel)
What “sport”?
MAN'S invented game. It is called Religion. To begin the game, the player takes an object of personal value and destroys it as payment to God. Like destroying the personal value of an ox by throwing it into the sacrificial fire or destroying the personal value of a hundred dollar bill by throwing it into the collection plate. Not unlike Tip-Offs when MAN put together the game of Basketball. To begin the game, the referee throws a basketball straight up between two opposing centers. Or the Puck-Drop in Hockey. To begin the game, the referee drops a puck between two opposing centers.
MAN — always with the “why” questions about God. Why did God demand blood sacrifices? One might as well ask: Why did God demand Tip-Offs between NBA centers? Or: Why did God demand Puck-Drops between NHL centers? Duh... because MAN decreed it. Why do we insist on blaming God for the silly things that MAN decrees? The Living God never demanded sacrifices. MAN would be hard-pressed to say that God even “allowed” them. The Old Testament Jews and ALL their goofy Neanderthal ways are a touchy subject for the Living God that I know. The first time I read the entire Old Testament, God continually broke into my reading (out of the blue) saying in frustration...
“What am I going to DO with these people?”
“These people!” Oh... so, it’s like that?” I would joke with Him.
“Neanderthal-Stupid! It’s like that!” He would bellow back. *“They are given ten commandments, they decree six-hundred more!”*
Always following His “Neanderthal-Stupid! It’s-like-that!” with a tag-on one-liner. The *one-liner* (directly above) occurred while I was somewhere in the Book of Exodus. It took me years to discover the facts contained in what I presumed were proverbial one-liners. God was not embellishing through parable. He was not joking. He was not even exaggerating for comic effect. The Jewish organized Religion actually did end up compiling a total of six-hundred and thirteen commandments (Torah) — one-hundred of which are Korbanot (specifically centered around the rite of sacrifice). Geeze.
Under the guidance of Master Knowledge of Good & Evil, ALL of our games (Religion, War, Romance, Law, Finance, Basketball, Hockey, etcetera) have ALL become more and more complex and convoluted throughout the years. We (humankind) like to see it as “refining the game.”
It only took Judaism two-hundred years to turn ten commandments into six-hundred and thirteen. Since then, the never-ending additions, amendments and adjustments are in the billions. Don’t forget, our disease accelerates mathematically. The ratio derived by plugging these numbers into a simple inverted proportion is, remarkably, always the same. Gosh, why do you suppose that would be? Because the ratio is directly influenced by The Knowledge of Good & Evil accelerating exponentially every ten years of human existence. As for things directly swayed by the internet, the accelerated increase is incalculable.
On September 20, 1845, the first rules of Baseball were published. A total of 20 official rules were listed. That count has dizzily expanded to 981 official rules, with nineteen adjustments, addendums and additions added in 2019. It never stops. In 2020, twenty-nine more rules were added (ten of them because of Covid-19). In 2021, nine additional rules were drawn up. Three more in 2022. Three more in 2023. Come the year 2045, the official rules governing Baseball will have been around for two hundred years. The ratio suggests that, at that time, there will be 1,180 official rules in force upon Baseball.
Personally, what does the Lord God have to say about Old Testament sacrifices?
“I, the Living God, would much rather share a sunset with an Old Testament Jew than a sacrificial burnt offering.”
I (your trusty author) no longer bring up the s-subject (sacrifices) with God. He does NOT want to talk about it. I suspect that if the Living God ever was “involved” in the ancient rite of sacrifice (in any way) it was in an attempt to change the sacrificer’s way of thinking — accomplishing little more than denting their thick skulls (a few celebrated exceptions aside, such as Noah). This, I KNOW. Besides being religiously forced to Take-Time-Out-Of-Your-Day-To-think-About-God (in a remarkably perverse way by senselessly slaughtering an animal), there was no Holy-Super-Real “getting-nearer-to-God” thing happening with it. Sorry to disappoint anyone or bust anyone’s religious bubbles. There never was any “holy magic” in the sacrificial blood. No supernatural formula that miraculously “floats up to Heaven” and turns God’s pouty-face and/or frown upside down.
Stop already with the “harrumphing.” (I hear you Judeo/Christians out there.) Try to de-cheese just for a moment. Poke your head up out of the sand, Virginia. The “aroma” pleasing to God was not the burnt flesh and fur of the sacrifice, but rather (on those rare occasions) a changing mind.
The rite of sacrifice was not for God’s benefit — certainly not as far as the Living God of Light is concerned. God has no needs. If sacrifices (burnt offerings) ever did have His “approval” the entire ritual was “allowed” for MAN'S benefit. That way, the ritual could... perhaps... produce that much-needed psychological impact upon the person performing the ritual. Occasionally it did.
BUT — (as usual) — Big Organized Religion stepped in (ALL the way in) and turned sacrificial offerings into a business. Actually, quite a lucrative monopoly. The Temple-Tyrants ultimately decreed that the only place a legitimate sacrifice could be performed was at the Temple. For the Good of the people, of course. Talk about an infomercial.
“Hey, ya’ll! Tired of ALL that mess to clean up, afterward? Is it taking you ALL day long to even FIND an animal? Then, ya come to find out, it’s not even a spotless one!
Are ya havin’ just a LITTLE trouble chasin’ down that BIG ox?
Watch out for that fire, partner! You’re supposed to be sacrificin’ the ANIMAL... not YOURSELF!
And, careful with that knife, buddy! How many times do YOU end up with MORE stab wounds than the animal?
Fed up with waistin’ what’s left of your day trying to get that dag-blasted fire started? Not an easy thing to do — even if ya got the latest and greatest fire-makin’ tools in modern-day 175 BC civilization. And, what if it’s windy? Or raining? Aren’t you tired of goin’ home beaten-down, un-sacrificed and havin’ to tell ALL yer wifes and young-uns that the curse of God is still upon yer household?
Well… NO MORE! Come on down to SRU! We’re your good friends here at Sacrifices ’R Us!
You pay US to do your sacrifice FOR you!
NO MORE bloody hands to clean up! NO MORE huntin’ that animal down! We provide YOU with the animal — uh, fer a nominal fee, of course.
So come on down to SRU, brothers! Where the sacrificial fires burn 24-7!
That’s SRU! Conveniently located at your nearest Temple.
That’s SRU! Don’t miss our Shavout Festival Sale! Come on down to SRU!
An’ get right with God!”
The people’s response? Warshed in da blood! We’re warshed CLEAN in da blood!
Psychologically? At best, maybe 64% warshed-clean in the blood.
Alrighty then! We’ll just have to savagely knife and burn a BIGGER animal tomorrow... and get 69% warshed clean in da blood!
Would you like to know the secret behind the sacrificial “covering” of the blood? The Hebrew Kipper/Kopper? The Christian Atonement-Moment? Would you like to know the “supernatural mystery” of the blood? Brothers and sisters-a, gather round and I will reveal to you the magical powers of “the blood.” Ya see... the liquid part is called plasma. It is made up of water, salts, and proteins. The solid part contains red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets...
First of ALL, it never was God Who had the psychological problem. And, second, Jesus did not come to warsh us in his blood; but, rather...
“...to give his Life as a RANSOM on behalf of many.”
Happy trails. ALL the Clowns can get back in the car, now. Thank you for playing. It’s been entertaining. The Circus is over.
The biggest problem with Judge Fleming’s early “ideas” concerning the RANSOM and “the cross” is that no one in ALL of Christendom had the first clue as to how to correctly answer the most important RANSOM-question:
Who is the kidnapper? Meaning... who gets the RANSOM?
ALL the Pope’s horses and ALL the Pope’s men could not feasibly answer this mystery. And, so, ultimately, “The RANSOM Theory” (and consequentially the Word RANSOM itself) was completely abandoned by The Church (the Circus) and by ALL of the Clowns that keep popping out of the car (Christian Denominations), both Formed and Re-Formed consensuses — with one exception. The Jehovah Witnesses (the Blind-Insane Clown, running this way and that way across the entire Circus Ring. The poor, blind thing needs to be led back TO the car). As of the writing of this, the Jehovah Witnesses are the only Christian denomination that still use the Word “RANSOM” in its Atonement Doctrine — calling it “Jesus’ RANSOM Sacrifice.”
Unfortunately... “RANSOM-Sacrifice” is an oxymoron. A dim-witted contradiction of terms. Like as if some Jesus-Cult were to envision Jesus driving an automobile and, in the writing of the doctrine, some top-level guru cult member refers to the car as “Jesus’ CHEVY-Mustang.” Each and every Jehovah Witness still sees his or her “atonement” from the exact same ditch as the rest of Christendom. The Word RANSOM is meaningless to Jehovah Witness dogma and, therefore, completely negligible. Who gets the RANSOM? Who is the kidnapper? No one — as far as “Jehovah” is concerned. To this Christian camp, RANSOM is merely another word for “Satisfaction” and eye-for eye justice. Old Testament-sacrificed-animal-made-into-New-Testament-Satisfaction: God consuming God’s Son as God’s much-needed sacrifice.
Along with ALL the rest of Christendom, Jehovah Witnesses are wrapped up in the exact same contradiction of Paul. On the one hand, “salvation” is described as “a FREE gift from God,” but on the other, “unattainable without slavery to obedience and every aspect of the Law” including (let me tell ya, brothers and sisters) the strictest moral guidelines to which you’d ever want to be chained (making the Jim Jones’ cult feel like they were on a trip to Disney World); knowing the JW interpretation of the Bible inside and out; pledging allegiance to the JW Organization as God’s Earthly Vessel (which, of course, includes actively recruiting more tithing-members into this very exclusive country club) and... oh, yeah — Paul (or whomever authored “Hebrews”) confirms it — you will end up damned to eternal Hellfire if you ever intentionally sin again. (Thanks, Reformation)
Imagine Jesus coming face to face with the Christian Church. Not in the sky (as Christian folklore would have it), but very much down to earth. Face to face with the institution that, for two-thousand years, encased blood-sacrifice bologna-skin around his RANSOM. Let us bow our heads and ask the most revered Christian question:
What would Jesus do?
Probably have a full-blown fit equal to the one he had the day he cleared the Jewish Temple brick and mortar of this perverted nonsense.
Well, then... we need to reform The Church.
Nice thinking. “Holier” folks than our modern-day pilots have already tried reforming this abominable sow’s ear. But, alas, the best that MAN can turn a church into is a silk purse. (Ka-Ching!) Dr. Youssef is right. There is no “saving Christianity.” There is no betterment in “reforming The Church.”
The Living God is... DONE... with The Church.
I apologize to any and ALL Church-Enthusiasts. I am Truly sorry to have to be the one to make you face this Reality and process it. Seriously. I am fully aware that, for many of us, the social feature of CHURCH has become an engrained part of our Lives. It helps to form relationships by bringing people together. Unfortunately, its teachings make it impossible for the people it brings together to Truly-Accept, 100%, with no ifs, ands or buts, that ALL of our sins have been taken AWAY by What’s-Been-DoneFor-Us-on-the-Cross. Too many ifs, ands and buts. Too much at stake (EVERYTHING). Still, I cannot help the way I feel... an inward need to underscore my apology. It is genuine. Me having to be the one to have to tell you ALL this, makes me feel like the bad-guy parent exposing the Santa Claus fib. Sorry. There is no putting Santa back together once you know the God’s-Honest Truth.
Kudo-sorry to ALL you fans of the Reformation. Jim & Tammy Bakker, Joseph Kony, David Koresh, Jim Jones, the Mormons and the Jehovah Witnesses are ALL glaring examples of the Reformation. Not to take anything AWAY from the rest of Fundamental Evangelical Protestantism.
The Reformers did have one good intention. “Grace Alone.” Crack! (It’s a well hit ball!) Team-Light piles out of the dugout, gazing up in anticipation. (Is it gonna be a home run?) PERFECT-Grace? (Aw crap!) Just another foul ball.
PERFECTLY-Autonomous-Grace-Alone would have been more than enough of a pursuit for any good, God-Inspired Church-Reformer. Unfortunately, the Reformers’ Church-Taught/Church-Bent quest for unveiling “Grace Alone” ended up with ALL those other good-intentions. Asphalt for the road to Perdition. Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that any one of these well-intended Christian Reformers (because of their personal contribution to this mess) is “predestined” to go to what they themselves refer to as “eternal damnation.” No. Please, allow me to clarify. The entire idea of “Let’s fix The Church” has long-since gone to Hell in a hand-basket along with the institution itself. It did so since day one. I am strictly speaking from an organizational, corporate and business standpoint — the down-to-earth, brick & mortar perspective. Same as Jesus predicted would happen (and did happen) to the stone & mortar Temple in Jerusalem — the last holy tangible asset of JA (Judeo Airlines) — “Not one stone left standing upon another.”
At the business level (and you can mark my words on this one) every tangible asset of CCI (Christian Church Incorporated) including the originally Formed Corporation and “The Break-Up” (not unlike what happened to AT&T, previously known as “the phone company”) — from every Catholic asset to every Protestant land-holding; from every brick of the Latter-Day Saint’s property to the hymnals in the pew-bench at the little country church; from clipboard to cathedral (with the exception of the internal ceiling portion of the Sistine Chapel) every penny’s worth is going to be hurled into Fire Lake. Might I add, hurled by the Living God with the exact same enthusiastic-indifference as the dude in the Corona commercial flings his cell phone into the ocean.
I have been given the green light to do some fist-pounding. (Attention ALL Protestants: Make sure you’re sitting down.) First, and sadly, the Re-Formers had the exact same communication problem as the Formers. They couldn’t help themselves. They had been taught by the Formed Church (established for fifteen-hundred years) to keep things monopolized, complicated and above the average person’s head by saying ALL these “sacred things” in a combination of Christianeese... and... the rest of it? In a language foreign to the average ear. Was I being redundant? No, I was not. In addition to the Christianeese (both borrowed and coined) the Re-Formers had long-since begun their own religious Lives, learning ALL of this enchilada-stuffing from the Latin ditch into which they themselves had fallen. And, so, that is how they understood it — and taught it.
Sola gratia. Latin to English? “Grace Alone.” It is Truly unfortunate that none of the fathers of the Reformation ever got around to considering PERFECT-Grace... “Alone.” Instead, they bogged themselves down with more solas. Five solas to be exact. Sola Scriptura (“Scripture Alone”). Solus Christus (“Christ Alone”). Sola Gratia (“Grace Alone”). Sola Fide (“Faith Alone”). And Soli Deo Gloria (“The Glory Of God Alone”).
Beginning to see the logistical problem? No sola can truthfully stand “Alone” if you add anything to it. Especially another sola. Much less five solas ALL together... and each one stands... “Alone.” It would be like starting a physics theses by saying that Bob (a boy) stands on the red table “Alone” with four other boys; ALL of them, each, also standing on the same red table... “Alone.”
Second problem. The Reformation fathers left a lot to be desired when it came to “testing the Spirits.” Given to plenty of Darkness and Death in their own heads, they easily mistook the mouthpiece of the Dying God of Darkness for the actual voice of the Living God of Light. As Jesus would say:
“ALL of them to the person, a house divided against himself.”
The prophetic leader of ALL this “Reform,” Martin Luther, was an avid (more like rabid) anti-Semite. Yet, at the same time, Luther was a certified Pharisee, cut carbon copy out of the pattern of his mentor, the most extreme Pharisee of ALL Pharisee-Extremists... brother Paul of Tarsus.
That’s impossible. That is totally contradicting.
Exactly.
Brace yourself. Luther’s hate-speech is goose-steps beyond someone dropping the K-word in a ten-year-old email to a high-school buddy (K-word, being the derogatory slur against Jewish folk). Not even close. Are you ready for this? In his 65,000-word treatise Von den Juden und Ihren Lügen (On the Jews and Their Lies), Luther officially documents the Jews as “poisonous envenomed worms” and eloquently writes that we, as Christians, “are at fault in not slaying them.”
Most historians are convinced, Luther’s anti-Jewish rhetoric contributed significantly to the development of German anti-Semitism in the 1930s and 40s. (Ya think?) Not only did Luther provide Hitler with his spiritual “rebel-yelp” for the Nazi Party; moreover, Luther delivered a step-by-step blueprint for perpetrating the Holocaust.
Unbelievable? Below is a word-for-word excerpt from On the Jews and Their Lies (written by Luther in 1543 AD) detailing the eight steps that “we” as good Christians should take with the Jews:
“First, to set fire to their synagogues or schools... This is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians...
“Second, I advise that their houses also be razed and destroyed.
“Third, I advise that ALL their prayer books and Talmudic writings, in which such idolatry, lies, cursing, and blasphemy are taught, be taken from them.
“Fourth, I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach henceforth on pain of loss of life and limb.
“Fifth, I advise that safe-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews. For they have no business in the countryside.
“Sixth, I advise that usury be prohibited to them, and that ALL cash and treasure of silver and gold be taken from them.
“Seventh, I recommend putting a flail, an ax, a hoe, a spade, a distaff, or a spindle into the hands of young, strong Jews and Jewesses and letting them earn their bread in the sweat of their brow. But if we are afraid that they might harm us or our wives, children, servants, cattle, etc,... then...
“(Eighth)... let us emulate the common sense... (and) eject them forever... If we wish to wash our hands of the Jews’ blasphemy and not share in their guilt, we have to part company with them. They must be driven from our country…like mad dogs.”
Submitted for your approval, one, Martin Luther — the producer of modern Fundamental Evangelical Christianity. Chilling, to say the least. This malfunction is beyond Twilight Zone. Rod Serling himself would be hard-pressed to create such a character, reflecting the severe dichotomy of Luther. Not only does Luther evolve (through Sanctification) into a monstrous Jew-Hater, his perpetual devotion to Fundamental Christianity (his Life’s calling) is directly centered around him being a forthright disciple of the pinnacle Jew’s Jew — a Pharisee-Extremist.
Shakespeare? Mamet? The best of playwrights could never invent such an antihero so self-divided against himself. Certainly not a believable one. No one is born into our world this twisted. Far beyond congenital insanity. One has to learn this self-imploded way of thinking, embrace it and then become it.
At the height of Germany’s Third Reich, Bernhard Rust (Hitler’s Education Minister) was quoted in the Volkischer Beobachter as saying, “The time is past when one may not say the names of Hitler and Luther in the same breath. They belong together; they are of the same old stamp.”
They do, indeed, have identical postage tattooed upon their foreheads; a major flaw, linking Luther and Hitler’s brains together. Both mindsets were greatly afflicted by a common falsehood: The idea of God & Church being indistinguishable. Rendering two entirely different conclusions. Both horrific. Most Protestants are unaware of the vast majority of Catechism (Old-Church dogma) that passed through into Protestantism un-reformed — like poop going through a goose. Luther embraced most every unreformed aspect of Christian dogma as “inspired,” “inerrant” and “faith-inspiring.” While Hitler saw the vast majority of Church dogma exactly for what it is. “Absurdity,” “humbug” and “lies.” Leading Hitler to the same place modern-day Atheists go: If The Church is a fraud then there is no God. Not that Hitler himself was an Atheist; he saw himself AS GOD. Still, as one ponders WWII, one must consider the enormity of Church error and contradiction that led Adolf Hitler to see “the God of The Church” as nonexistent. (Thanks Church)
The mindsets of both Luther and Hitler were — by ALL reason — adrift. What a legacy. Paul teaches Luther. Luther teaches Hitler. On the one hand, the Reformers promoted the FREE gift of God’s “grace.” On the other hand, they danced around Paul’s plane crash. Not that they side stepped around it. Like most Lutherans do today, doing the Texas two-step with blinders on to avoid the horrific contradiction. No. The original Reformers danced around it like wild savages. As if the smoldering aviation crash site were the Burning Bush — entirely brainwash-perverted by Paul’s manifesto. They embraced it. Actually seeing slavery and FREEDOM as being one in the same. I still hear dogmatized Christian intellectuals voice this contradictory, house-divided-against-itself madness:
“We can only be FREE by becoming slaves to obedience.”
They have it completely ass-backward. First, become what Jesus calls “FREE-Indeed.” That means FREE, with no ifs. No ands. No buts. No circus. Do that first. Become PERFECTLY and completely FREE... then you won’t need to be told by your fellow man what to do.
The Reformers — God save them. The same men who, renouncing ALL others, saw themselves as the sole interpreters of Holy Scripture. Still, they managed to accept and embrace enough Established-Church dogma to choke a horse... “Alone.” More than enough to make a billy-goat puke... “Alone.” Enough to strangle each one of their banner waving solas... “Alone.”
The Reformers gladly kept Est Originale Peccatum (Original Sin) as a rotted foundation beam and continued to “believe” in the abomination of Creatio ex Nihilo (Creation out of NOTHING). You will not find one Holy-Spirit-Motivated Word promoting either of these manmade-speculations throughout ALL of inspired Scripture. No further than Genesis, and the Reformers have already flushed their “Scripture Alone” sola down the toilet.
Same as the Formed Church did in The-Before-The-Reformation Time, the Re-Formed Church quotes the contradicting daydreams (and nightmares) of Paul as often if not more often than the unwavering Words of Jesus. So much for Jesus “Alone.” Actually, the Reformation’s term (“Christ Alone”) exemplifies the double-down-dismissal of one of Jesus’ most insistent commands:
“Tell no man I am the Christ!”
The Re-Formed Church passes around the collection plate as often as the Formed Church ever did. After ALL, money makes the world go round... and keeps the lights on in the vestibule. So much for “Faith Alone.” But, hey, guys, why in the world would we ever want to “reform” the cash-cow THIS thing has turned out to be? (Ka-Ching!) Only it gets worse. These modern-day Pharisee-Extremist Reformers actually turned the man-made-organized-Church into GOD. Something their great-grandfather, Paul, would have denounced not merely as “faith shipwrecked,” but “faith” blown out of the water. Many Fundamental Evangelical pilots flat out proclaim this exact abomination as part of their “Faith” and flight plan:
“The Church is the extension of God on Earth.”
Boy, isn’t that lucrative? What a way to close the financial sale when the conversation inevitably comes around to that crucial time at worship services for Judge Fleming to get into your purse and pocketbook:
“You need to give to God!”
Excuse me? Did I hear you correctly?
“Yeah-a, praise Jesus-a! Look in your bank account and see where YOUR heart is. How much is going to God? Sinner! You need to partner-up with God!”
“Partner-up” with God. That is a very popular sales-close these days. Partner-up: Whosoever came up with that one should be getting at least a couple cents on every dollar taken in. Because, that is pure Madison-Avenue genius.
You don’t need to be a-wastin’ your Sundays watchin’ that devil’s ballgame! Or out there knockin’ that ball around on that devil’s golf course. Brother! You don’t NEED to be ridin’ that golf cart! What you NEED for a “ride” is to come up in here and ride the Glory of the Lord! (“The Mind Twister”) Sundays — brothers and sisters — you need to be HERE to spend your time with God!
Like... a... yeah. The only place to find Him is either at the church alter or hearing this sales-pitch in any other place made “holy” BY the sales-pitch. Paul has no one but himself to blame for such an abominable outcome. ALL us Christians, together, we’re “the Body of Christ.” The organized structure is “GOD-Almighty” and the corporate-congregation is “the Body” of Jesus. Both halves of molten pyrite, cast-molded and then soldered together, forming our golden calf. We have created god on Earth. Seen from Heavenly-Reality? An abomination in the Sight of the Living God.
How does this abomination work in down-to-earth practice? It doesn’t. Church history is filled with the stark evidence of a different pursuit of solas. Three (a trilogy). Murder “Alone.” Untruth “Alone” And, Hypocrisy “Alone.” Hypocrisy being the unmatchable constant.
From day one, the Formed Church demonized sex outside of marriage as the “Carnal sin.” “Evil.” “Unholy and debase.” Yet, a ghastly percentage of its Church-Taught priests became serial pedophiles, sexually molesting and sodomizing the parishioners’ children. Dire as THAT certainly is, the blue ribbon of hypocrisy goes to the Re-Formed Church and its revamping-of the sin of “idolatry.” Newly interpreted: Anything you put above God. And, so... the pastors hurl their Judgments. Accusing modern man of putting his sports above God. His TV above God. His work above God. And, even of putting his children above God. ALL the while these same pastors put their “Faith” above God. Their “Bible” above God. And, most especially, their “Church” above God. So much for “The Glory Of God Alone.”
Are you done, yet? asks Judge Fleming (self-injecting his morning shot of Fentanyl; wincing briefly, in anticipation of release). Anything else?
How about untruth “Alone”? Your inserts: “Faith” and “belief” (substituted for “absolutely knowing”), “church” (for “gathering”) and “repent” (for “change your way of thinking”) are but four cesspools of falsehood to drain. The further into the Weeds we go, the more Tares we find. One cannot read the Word of God in any Church-Inspired Bible translation without stepping through sinkholes of Church-Injected slime. Amazingly inclusive, God’s Living Parable pretty much covers it ALL:
“That man there is a slime! If he’s allowed to go FREE there’s something really wrong going on here!”
Anything else?
Absolutely, Judge. Number One on the abomination trilogy. Murder “Alone.” When it comes to those thou did smite in the name of Christendom, thou hast not the square-footage amongst ALL thine Cathedrals (bell towers to catacombs) to conceal the blood thou hast spilled upon thy doorstep. How can one ever forget the Crusades? It is supposed, in grand total, the dead murdered at the hand of the long arm of the Formed-Church pilled up to 20 million in the holy land and Arab/Turkish areas alone. As for the Re-Formed Church? In the hundreds of millions. The native peoples of South and North America were slaughtered to the tune of establishing “religious FREEDOM” in the new world. How does one reconcile ALL this madness within the scope of the Jesus-Mission?
Forgiven and forgotten.
Not yet. In John’s Revelation, many of those yet to Truly-Accept Jesus’ RANSOM are the very Christians who committed these atrocities in the name of Jesus. You can read ALL about them at Revelation 22:15 — the final holdouts put without. Hardly “forgotten,” since ALL of Time is happening at the same time. The Living God sees every second of carnage happening right now as you are reading this. These “works” are entirely opposed to the Jesus-Mission. The Church, stained in murder, pollutes the air by calling Jesus “Lord, Lord.” The God’s-Honest Truth? Master Knowledge of Good & Evil is “the Lord” of The Church — its father as well. Need some highlights? First Crusade, under Pope Urban the Second. Only God knows the exact number slain. At least in the hundreds of thousands. In Antiochia more than 100,000 Turks were slaughtered. According to Christian chronicler Fulcher of Chartres, the Christians “...did no other harm to the women found in the tents — save that they ran their lances through their bellies.” Good or Evil? *Good* according to the Christian Church.
Jerusalem: Conquered by Church-Forces on July 15, 1099 AD. The Christians racked up over 60,000 kills... in one day. In the words of one Christian witness, “There (in front of Solomon’s Temple) was such a carnage that our people were wading ankle-deep in the blood of our foes.” Perversely tear-drenched, the Christians celebrated the *Goodness* of this. “Happily and crying for joy, our people marched to our Savor’s tomb, to honor it and to pay off our debt of gratitude.” (Leaving something on the nightstand.) The Archbishop of Tyre, a somewhat sane eye-witness, wrote: “It was impossible to look upon the vast numbers of the slain without horror; everywhere lay fragments of human bodies, and the very ground was covered with the blood of the slain. It was not alone the spectacle of headless bodies and mutilated limbs strewn in ALL directions…Still more dreadful was it to gaze upon the victors themselves, dripping with blood from head to foot, an ominous sight which brought terror to ALL who met them. It is reported that within the Temple enclosure alone about ten thousand infidels perished.” Good or Evil? ALL *Good* according to the Christian Church.
In 1231 AD, the Inquisition was founded. The Church-Mission? Search and destroy surviving and hiding heretics. Estimated one million victims. The burning of Joan of Ark is a definite stand out.
That was a long time ago.
Really? The modern-day Church is caught up in the same self-deluded/self-created dilemma. If The Church decides to include the LGBTQ A to Z+ community with open arms, it does so at the peril of excluding the vast majority of its dues-paying members which make up 99.7% of its lifeblood. The very continuation of The Church depends on maintaining its Medieval mindset. Same mindset that formed the official Church-Charges against Joan of Arc. Among them: “Violating divine law by dressing like a man.” Joan was nineteen when the Christian Church burned her alive as a heretic.
Imagine, taking a nineteen-year-old girl, tying her to a stake and setting her on fire. Her screams, falling upon the deaf ears of “The Faithful.” The “Faithful,” themselves, being the most trashed victims. Blood-drunk from the absolute-insanity of Church-Taught dogma.
It is God’s law that a man should be a man! And a woman should be a woman!
Would you like to know the God’s-Honest Truth, Judge Fleming, your Honor? You and your God-Forsaken creed are sickened by man. And, fearful of woman.
Fancy that. Sickened by man and fearful of woman. Anything else?
Whatever your pleasure, your Honor. Which should it be? Men or women?
Let’s stick with women.
The Salem witch trials and subsequent hangings are a powerfully Dark attention-getter; only, not “Alone.” There were crushings there as well, ALL courtesy of the Re-Formed Protestants.
“Crushings?”
Yes, your Honor. That’s where Pure-Christians are taught by the Pure Christian Church (known as Puritans) to put a flat board on top of a ninety-pound woman and keep adding rocks upon it until she is crushed to death. Crushing women seems to be another Church-Constant. For umpteen centuries, The Church has almost single-handedly kept women pinned under the Darkness of its insane Biblical-World-View: Women simply have no rights whatsoever, and are nothing more than a man’s property, beginning with the woman’s father and ending with the woman’s husband — the lord of the household.
We don’t believe like that anymore!
“Believe” it or not. “Like” it or not... THAT'S Biblical. “The Bible says... the Bible says!” This is the twenty-first century. Both Scripture and Hindsight are supposed to provoke God-Given Wisdom. Instrumental for separating The Darkness-Inspired rhetoric of Master Knowledge of Good & Evil (the Tares) from The Light-Inspired God’s-Honest Truth (the Wheat). Do you know why Jesus’ parables, The Wheat and the Tares and The Sower, were able to make their way down to us intact? Because Judge Fleming assumed Jesus was talking about separating “the saved” from “the damned!” There is Wheat. And, there is Tare. There IS the Word of God. And, there IS Death-Inspired, MAN-concocted lunacy. I am so sick and tired of hearing that imbecilic rant: “The Bible says... the Bible says!”
“The Bible says homosexuals are an abomination before God!”
Well, then, hypocrite-“believer,” why don’t you kill them? For, that is exactly what the same verses in the Bible “say” that “believers” are supposed do with gay people. Round them ALL up, take them to the city gates and put them to death. The Bible says: Slay the gay! Why do you not obey the Book? By NOT doing so, you are disobeying what “the Bible says.” Give a Jihad-Christian apologetic (as in, I-support-murder-on-behalf-of-my-Faith use of the word Jihad apologetic) a half hour and he can “wisely” justify this discrepancy for us. As Jesus says:
Matthew 11:19 (NKJV) “‘Wisdom’ is justified by her children.”
Personally, I don’t need a half hour to theologically explain why our modern day Christian leaders in “the FREE-world” DO NOT DO what the Bible “says” — as in: “You MUST systematically rid your community of every gay person among you... by killing them.” I can sum it up in one sentence.
Because it would be PURE MADNESS to do so!
Most Christian leaders would have to agree that the sanctity and sacredness of Life outweighs Jihad. Anyone who knows the Living God instantly recognizes these Old Testament verses as Death-Inspired, manmade-madness. However, with THE INERRANCY OF SCRIPTURE stamped upon the Jihad-“believer’s” brain, the Jihad-“believer” must devise a way to make it ALL fit... somehow. How DOES one pound gigantic square pegs into such little round holes? ALL one needs is a dummied-down brain and a big enough sledge hammer.
Half of our human population is comprised of women who, in the FREE world, are still wet behind the ears from swimming out of the Church-Taught Biblical World View. Now, women have the Woke-Taught World View to deal with. What about it, ladies? Have ALL of your bruises... yet... healed? It should make PERFECT sense to us why, in God’s Living Parable, the victim is depicted as a woman.
Did you actually watch the video posting of The Living Parable? Did you see how God bargains with Satan to reduce a felony charge against the victim, on behalf of The Church? Battering women has been a Judge Fleming staple for two-thousand years. Did you at least notice which character is depicted as Satan? Oh, you missed ALL that? For sure... Satan is in the courtroom. You can’t have the Christian Church without Satan. It’s the Craig T. Nelson character, Frank Bowers, the District Attorney: The Accuser, otherwise known as “the Prosecution,” plainly referred to as “Frank.”
If ALL these little tidbits got past you, you should stop right now and re-watch the video.
I suggest watching the full 8 minute, 45 second online excerpt. The 2-minute version is also still available. Check it out. It’s ALL there, in Living Parable. The Living God (Arthur Kirkland). The Desolate One (Frank). The Christian Church, looking so dashing and debonair in its $700 suit (Judge Fleming). And... one female victim. That’s right. Just one. One out of twenty centuries of women mercilessly raped and destroyed by the Honorable Henry T. Fleming.
“Hey Frank? Ya wanna make a deal? I’ve got an insane Judge that likes to beat the shit out of women. What do ya wanna give me, Frank? Three weeks probation?”
Why do you suppose “God” keeps using such offensive language?
Excuse me, your Honor. The Living God always likes to answer this one for Himself:
Says the Living God, “Because, ‘Time to get up, sleepyhead’ doesn’t put the morning alarm bells in motion. I want you to wake up from ALL of your horribly misplaced Christian values. I WANT you to feel offended, so you can step back and take a realistic look at your feelings. Ask yourself. How does your morality fit hand-in-hand with the Big Picture? Together — you and Me — let’s sort it out. On the one hand, you Church-Taught Christians are offended by My strong language. On the other hand, Me — and everyone else in the Relative Universe — are offended by JUDGE FLEMING! Do you understand? This is a Judge who brutally rapes and batters women. Do you ‘feel’ Me? There ARE NO WORDS STRONG ENOUGH to address this guy!”
Still, Dear Lord, as Christians, we are put back and audibly stung by these... certain... words.
The Living God replies, “And yet, the word ‘Christian’ sounds pleasing and righteous to you. As did the word ‘Pharisee’ to a Pharisee back in the day.”
Religion is Religion. Christianity is Christianity — Formed or Reformed. When Martin Luther and John Calvin took to the air, they still flew ALL of the previously established Paul & Augustinian flight patterns. Including (but not limited to) a woman is a man’s property and a gay person is an abomination before God. Wow. With enemies against the devil like these, why would the devil need any friends?
Allow me to put that another way. With Reformers like these, what was left for the devil to do? Sit back and howl in laughter, of course. Seeing AWAY buried deep in the ground and our RANSOM totally destroyed, it must have been a comical sight for the Desolate One to watch the Christian Church continue onward. The plague continues. Determined pilots, flying this way and that way, spewing their own versions of the Bible. The reformation of what? A REAL abomination.
Bringing us to the last layer of Christian-Baloney-Skin, Church-Wrapped around our RANSOM. Today, The Church’s position on Mark 10:45 (Jesus’ Mission statement: “I came to give my Life as a RANSOM”) disclaims the RANSOM part of Jesus’ testimony outright. That is correct.
This RANSOM Jesus speaks of, was not literally a RANSOM at ALL.
Mark M. Mattison, a contemporary Christian author and “scholar of atonement” sums up the twenty-first century Church-View of RANSOM, claiming: “It (RANSOM) is merely a metaphor Jesus used to describe the significance and dramatic effect of his death.”
Now, I’m laughing out loud.
Although, Mr. Mattison accurately represents our modern-day pilots; still, to claim Jesus’ use of the Word, RANSOM, as “merely a metaphor” is a predictably easy way out for a scholar to save face while dismissing the ignorance of the theological world around him. Does Christendom even know the difference between REALITY and METAPHOR anymore?
REALITY: We are set FREE-Indeed by the RANSOM of Jesus.
METAPHOR: “We are washed in the blood.”
Wake up, folks. “Washed in the blood” is the metaphor (not reality). The reality of anyone being “washed in the blood” is what cinema depicts to have happened to Carrie at the prom dance.
Bakers Evangelical Dictionary of Bible Theology defines the Word “RANSOM” as: “The price or payment made for our redemption.” Did you catch that typical Christian definition? The very specific meaning of RANSOM is wrapped up in a generic burial cloth and buried. Our “belief-system” nonspecifically defines RANSOM to mean “price” or “payment.”
Come on, Judge Fleming, spit it out. What kind of a payment?
“Satisfaction.”
See? Total ambiguity. The modern-day affliction of the Age-Old-Church-Curse — having killed the Jesus-Word, RANSOM and having replaced it outright with The Church word, SATISFACTION, fueled by the elusive Paul word, “Justification.” The closest any Christian priest or preacher ever gets to any specific kind of payment is to think of “the cross” as a SECOND MORTGAGE.
Our sins and imperfections are a huge debt that we owe — one that Jesus assumes for us as a secondary mortgage holder. We assign our debt over to Jesus; and, then, brothers and sisters, we need to roll up our sleeves and get to work at paying him back.
This is ditch-babble. Swallowed hook, line and sinker by “the godly.” This is a falsehood. A complete twisting of the Truth. Jesus is very careful not to deprecate his RANSOM by calling it a LOAN:
Mark 10:45 “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to GIVE his Life as a RANSOM on behalf of many.”
He is flat out GIVING his Life as our RANSOM. No strings attached. No ifs, ands or buts.
I have tried to keep this history-lesson entertaining... to get through it. Admittedly, a few brutal and particularly irreverent laughs at the expense of “The Church” (to keep from crying). The most tearful part of this manmade monster is what has become of What’s-Been-Done-For-Us-On-the-Cross. What DOES Satisfaction and Penal Substitutionary Atonement mean to us, “the many”? It means exactly what Judge Fleming teaches us it means. It means we are debtors. (Thanks, Church)
It is high time we look at ourselves... precisely... within the framework of the first wonderfully simple Word of Jesus: RANSOM. We are kidnap victims. That is exactly what we are.
Is the kidnap-victim the bad guy? Certainly not. The bound and gagged, little child, down in the basement did not conspire to become a kidnap victim. Your core self (the little YOU hidden in the basement) is not the bad-guy mixed up in this scheme.
Is the kidnap victim ever responsible for paying back the RANSOM?
Of course not. Not even a “thank you” is required. Truly, once the RANSOM is paid and accepted, it makes no difference to the done-deal pay-off whether the FREED kidnap victim knows to be thankful or not. Little he or little she has been “paid for in full.”
If Jesus were to come back tomorrow, it would be like winning the billion-dollar lottery for him to find one Church-Taught Christian who Truly knows What’s-Been-Done-For-Us-On-the-Cross. I have been searching and searching for one. And, still, I cannot find one. Judge Fleming (through his stepfather, Paul) gives us two choices. Plantation #1: We can be the obedient Slaves of Sin. Or... Plantation #2: We can be the obedient slaves of Obedience... which always leads us right back to Plantation #1, being the obedient Slave of Master Sin. It is the Paul/Church Mandate: As long as you are alive in this world, you will always be a slave of sin.
That lie is diametrically opposed to the Jesus-Concept. You did not choose to become a slave. You are enslaved. YOU (your core-self, down in the basement) are not an active accomplice in this fiasco. YOU are the victim. The kidnap victim. YOU did not conspire to become a willing participant in this kidnapping scheme.
My testimony to you is simple and True. I am Living in what Jesus calls “The Place of Life.” Jesus tells us that the way to this Place is “The Road to Life.” The Road to Life is built upon five wonderfully simple Words of Jesus. In writing these Truths to you, I am trying... very carefully... to walk a razor-thin line between two of The Twenty-Eight Points (Discerning-Points I learned verbatim while I was High in the Spirit). Point #12:
“Hold on to what you know is right by what’s been proven right by the Holy Spirit in your Life.”
Point #11:
“And, absolutely — don’t say others have to do what you have found to be right for yourself.”
In light of Point #11, it would be presumptuous (and stupidly wrong) on my part for me to commandingly proselytize you to take the key that sits on the table in front you... the key that unlocks the cage. The cage in which your kidnapper is keeping you.
Instead, I will cite Point #10:
“Do what’s right for you.”
My task in this endeavor is to make certain that you CAN clearly see the key on the table. And... simply assure you that, indeed, it does unlock the cage. For, I have used the key and I am FREE-Indeed. I am no different from you. No better, no worse. You and I are two parts of “the many.” Us seeing Jesus give up his Life as a RANSOM to eternally pay off our kidnapper is exactly What’s-Been-Done-For-Us-On-the-Cross. That is the key. Once we fully apply Jesus’ Word “RANSOM” to What’s-Been-Done-For-Us-On-the-Cross, then (and only then) can we — as kidnap victims — begin to ask our Father and His Holy Spirit the relevant questions.
Where are we?
Yes, for me, that was a very important question to ask. And, not just for myself — for ALL of us, “the many”). Indeed, since we ARE kidnapped: Where are we being held hostage? Even more important: Where were we before we got kidnapped? How are we being held hostage? ALL these initial questions have already been Truthfully answered early on in our discussion... while we were airing up the ambulance tires.
Where are we being held hostage?
In a hole, down in the basement.
Where were we before we got kidnapped?
In a place that was ALL-Good — “The Place of Life.”
How are we — “the many” — being held hostage?
We are kept in a prison of Darkness run by a whip-cracking warden that goes by the same name as ITS prison. Both IT and ITS prison lurk behind the same door. A door our Father warned us never to open. A door clearly marked: The Knowledge of Good & Evil.
Then... there is the most difficult RANSOM question. The question the greatest thinkers in the entire history of the Christian Church could never Truthfully answer.
Who is the kidnapper?
Allow me to answer an easy one first. How much is our RANSOM?
