August 8th.

"You will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD.

So the deal is that God created all that can be seen and comprehended by observation, from the humongous ball that is turning at the perfectly balanced and sustained speed always—never speeding up too much or slowing down too much but holding true and steady without wavering—to the development of the embryo in the womb with its billions of necessarily coordinated events that must occur in a proper and precise order. On and on the complexities and perfections go, from the way seeds turn into plants into trees into forests that can sustain huge populations.

Then there are the humans who come in and build strip malls and parking lots in the name of their right to acquire and possess property, and universities in the name of their illustrious capability for intelligence. They say things like, "If God is so smart then why doesn't He just show Himself to us and we'll believe. But He doesn't, so they say that He must not be there. That is the feeling that permeates the societies of humans everywhere, that there must not be any God because He doesn't show Himself, so it's just up to them to decide whatever they want, and go with that, which is the right way to go for them, because they don't matter. If they did then God would show Himself to them and they would be found.

There are some who build churches in the name of being able to contain God and keep Him in their box, who presume to be able to know and own the way and the explanation of the proof of God's existence. They claim to be God's protectors in the world of humans, His spokesmen who carry on His defense. They develop the creeds of their particular organization and also say those are from God, even though they were just made up by humans who presume to know so they can own, possess and control Him for their benefit. They haven't found God any more than the atheist or the rich capitalist exploiter, because none of them truly want to seek Him with all their heart. They say, "You don't have to seek God with all your heart and soul, you just have to be like us and do what we say, cause we're the ones God loves." What the humans want is to just live out their animal existences in the peace of their own welfare and pursuit to find as much enhancement as they possibly can, according to what's in them to want to seek after. But what does God want?

If you seek the LORD your God, you will find him—
if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul.

The LORD looks down from heaven on the sons of men
to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.

"Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.

Any who understand what? That God wants to be hidden, to see if there are any who want to look for Him, based on the logic they possess that says something like, "Here is this incredibly beauteous perfection, yet where is God? I looked over here and over there and He wasn't there. I went to the churches and to the universities and the other places the humans love to celebrate and though they claimed to know where He was, or have the answers, they are all totally full of shit." The beauty and perfection of God is that He doesn't show Himself. He creates this universe that seems magically able to function, and is truly incredible in the way it actually does; then He hides from the humans so He can't be found. He waits for someone to want Him, who is willing to take the risk associated with searching and continuing to search in the light of all the bullshit the humans propose about where He is (or isn't)

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

That is, if you are given eyes to see where the door even is, and ears to hear what the words actually mean and a mind that can understand that searching for God and not believing the lying humans who don't have a clue about where He might be is the only thing worth doing in this life. Soon it will be over, and contrary to the liars' lies that go something like, "If you do what we say and be a good person (one of us), or reiterate the correct credo, then you'll all just go to our make-believe heaven that doesn't exist," once it's over it's over and there is no more chance to search for God. That is, for this discussion's purposes, what this life is for—to search for a God who is obviously hidden, and not by accident. He chooses to make Himself hidden for a particular purpose—to see if anyone will actually look for Him with any gusto whatsoever.

Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.

The Son at this point was talking to a handful of men whom he knew had been given those eyes to see who he was and ears to hear what he was telling them about the Father. He was telling them not to give to the dogs and pigs (the mere animals who assume to be so much higher than the rest, but aren't according to God) what had been given to them by the Father—those eyes which could see and ears which could hear what the animals couldn't (because these had been chosen by the Father to become His sons, which is why He gave them their special eyes and ears). The Son was telling them not to trust the dogs and pigs (the humans who claimed to know about God) because they didn't know anything about God or where He might be found.

Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.

According to this model and formula outlined in the words that have been preserved, the Father chooses particular humans and gives them just a little bit of what's real according to Him. Then He wants them to search for Him, and keep searching, never being satisfied with the loads of crap the humans are trying to pawn off onto them and everyone else about where He is, because He isn't there. They know that there's something genuine to be found by them because that seed is in them, but it doesn't seem to be anywhere. So they have to keep searching and when they do they're rewarded just a little bit. But that doesn't mean they have come to a place where they can stop because they think they've fully found Him, because He isn't found like that. The premise that He wants to be hidden should always be in their mind i.e., He wouldn't allow Himself to be found so easily. It's just a little taste of what is true and genuine so he will keep looking and not become smug and satisfied. The premise continues to function as the ongoing one that the journey to the Father is built and based upon. The Father wants sons who are willing to search for Him, who are willing to go on that journey of finding Him, and to give up what needs to be abandoned in order to keep going, away from the plethora of bullshit and toward one single thing—where the Father is.

And David's time to die drew near, and he charged Solomon his son, saying:
"I am going on the way of all the earth. And you must be strong, and be a man."

Going on the way of all the earth is a good way of describing this temporary creation based on cycles of existing (called life), then destruction, death and decay. It is what all plants and animals (things that exist, have life in them) are subject to, being turned back (plowed) into the soil so that it is no longer recognizable as something that once had life in it and roamed or grew in place above the earth. The way of all the earth is to just be forgotten because another has come and is ready to take your place, now that your time has expired to exist as a separate part of the natural creation. Now you must become one with it like everything always does.

The fate of the sons of God is not like everything else in the natural creation. Their fate, if that is the intention of the Father (and it's not just a given), is not to be forgotten forever but to be remembered. That fate is guaranteed in them by the Father putting His seal of ownership onto them, making them His instead of the world's. That mark isn't something that can be seen, just like God Himself cannot be seen because He has chosen to be hidden, which is also how He makes His own sons in the world of animals—their identity totally hidden from the rest of them.

When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."

The Son of God, the Messiah of Israel wasn't known, even to his own flesh and blood family members. The Father kept his identity hidden even from them. In line with the establishment of this principle about how God works, and the enduring premise of Him being hidden on purpose, the true identity of all the sons of God are only known to themselves and the Father; the fact of their being chosen is a secret fact, and the process that transforms them into sons is a secret process. Everything stays in line with the original premise that God hides Himself from the humans, so He also hides His genuine sons as well.

Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you."

"Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother."

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one I meant when I said, `A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.' I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel."

Who we fundamentally are because of what we came from is detrimental to us as sons of God, because our identity was formed by our knowledge of the world around us and what we perceived the opportunities and threats were to our physical and emotional survival, and the wild animal nature that served as the foundation upon which our former house was built. That is, what we became, what our identity was, what we possessed, what we knew, how safe we were, etc. It's the process that all of the humans who ever lived—except One, the Lamb of God without blemish, which made him worthy (because he was untouched by the animal nature) to take away the sin of the world from God's sons so they can be like the Lamb—go through when they move from vulnerable, dependent child to mature, independent adult. The fact that the Son didn't go through that process is what made him what John knew him as, and later Peter.

Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. 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 forefathers, 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.

The Son is known and beheld by the Father as the One who was worthy to do the work of saving all of God's sons from the beginning to the end (those who hadn't yet existed when he did the work), because the animal nature hadn't been able to contaminate him as it does every one that is born, as per the terms of the curse.

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."

This work of providing salvation for the humans God loves and wants surrounding Him (His own sons) is based on one very important thing—that the Son didn't become bound to the animal, which would have made him like all the other humans who ever lived (even the sons). If he had allowed himself to be bound up with the nature of the wild animal, which is the substance of the temptation account in the desert, then he too would have been blemished, unholy, not consecrated and unworthy to be offered by God as the sacrifice that would be acceptable to be a ransom for the sons' lives. He wouldn't have been able to save the family and give it to the Father as a gift, by his conforming to the right way and rejection of (separating himself from) the wrong way—that is, the way of all the earth, the way that the world full of animal goes, being bound to the natural creation via the nature they all share and one with it. Ironically, God's Christ, the only perfect human—not bound up with the wild animal nature—was ultimately bound up with it, as it was "put on" him, and so became his identity so that he could destroy it on the cross.

My Father, if it is possible, may this cup (of your wrath, which you are making me drink) be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.

When I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all [God's sons] to myself.

When he was lifted up, the perfect and spotless Lamb of God was transformed into the serpent, as per Moses' bronze snake on the pole, so that all who were given eyes to be able to look at him would be drawn to him and the Father, and be saved.

Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.

The nature of the wild animal is the foundation upon which all men build their house, the tent and shell of their body which contains who they are, their identity in the world. It's so seamless and perfect they're not even aware of it. That's a testament not to their inability or stupidity, but the power and perfection of God to put it into place and accomplish what He desires to have happen on the earth with regards to the humans versus His sons, whom He pulls out of the world and their condition as humans. The new foundation, upon which the new nature and identity is built, is the exact opposite of the nature of the wild animal—the nature of the Only Son of God. That is the nature which gets "put in" to the sons as the process of transformation happens from wild animals (what all the humans are) to sons.

The things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.'

The condition of the man's heart is what makes him clean or unclean to God, meaning wild animal or son. That's the perfection of God, because if they are animals, they cannot come close to Him because they're unclean. But God's sons are the very bricks, the living stones, who will be built into the real temple where God desires to actually live forever, totally surrounded by the love that is radiating out from all the sons into the heart of the temple where God is. In a very real way this is God making Himself a safe place to live and be hidden within the walls of the love that the sons generate, and He in the heart and center of them all, hidden and safe.

The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray.

For now, as we journey toward the Father, we have to deal with the wild animal nature that is still in us, causing us to constantly be pulled back to the earth, ruled by the prince of this world, the devil, satan, the serpent from the ancient times. He is the wild animal who wanted to bind up Jesus with his nature. It is a force which exists as that animal who rules all of the humans and wants to rule the sons too. When we choose what we know is passing, the impulses we used to act upon; when we satisfy by our own hand the cravings and urges that used to give us satisfaction; when we run after the things that used to identify us as just another wild animal, and nothing to God; then we are not being sons who are pleasing to the Father because we're looking like animals instead of sons—like the serpent instead of Him.

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

The sons are shown in real and powerful spiritual ways when that happens, so we learn by suffering how to be good sons for our Father. Understanding how the wild animal nature continues to drag us away and entice is suffering, because when we follow it and allow it to rule us, we will suffer in our relationship to the spirit living in our heart, teaching us the new way. We will suffer in physical ways too, to teach us.

Even not choosing the easier way, the way that's tempting us, what we crave in our animal body, but denying it the pleasure of leading us, is suffering indeed. The rewards don't always automatically come immediately. Sometimes we choose the right way, only to have more suffering come, which teaches us to persevere even though it seems one thing is happening when another actually is. We learn to see the natural, what seems to be, what we understand with our natural wild animal minds, as the lie. There is much more and the teaching of the spirit is so complex. It moves and grows and changes as we change and are able to accept its word for us. It's alive and lives in us when we become born unto God, His sons and not the serpent's anymore.

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the wild animal nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the wild animal nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children (not children of the serpent any longer, like the majority of the other humans remain). Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.