November 2nd.

When all this had ended, the Israelites who were there went out to the towns of Judah, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. They destroyed the high places and the altars throughout Judah and Benjamin and in Ephraim and Manasseh. After they had destroyed all of them, the Israelites returned to their own towns and to their own property.

Hezekiah assigned the priests and Levites to divisions—each of them according to their duties as priests or Levites—to offer burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, to minister, to give thanks and to sing praises at the gates of the LORD's dwelling.

As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously gave the first fruits of their grain, new wine, oil and honey and all that the fields produced.

For they were faithful in consecrating themselves.

This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah, doing what was good and right and faithful before the LORD his God. In everything that he undertook in the service of God's temple and in obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.

In the account of Hezekiah a kind of formula emerges for the sons of God. One thing that will prevent us from understanding it is an ignorance of what exactly are the modern equivalents of the sacred stones and Asherah poles that want to live in our hearts to make us dishonest before the Father, that make us want to run and hide from Him like the first humans did as soon as they died. The present day equivalents of the foreign idols and gods, and everything else that sets itself up against a knowledge of the Father, are what the sons have to identify and wrestle with, even to be able to admit (come out from our place of hiding).

I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.

The way to start to understand these instead of just assume they're even close to what the liars have been saying they are for so many thousands of years, is to listen to the teacher. He can only be heard if he is there, purposely planted in us by the Father's will that His life be revealed in us. He teaches us what it is to actually know what God hates—what stands in the way of knowing God and being in an actual relationship with Him. That is, that His own sons allow themselves to be led by the animal nature which led them exclusively before they were called to the revelation of His life in their body. This understanding is reserved for those who have been chosen to know, because that understanding is a part of God's purpose and will for those particular humans. Just as each of the sons learned to find its way as an animal, so also they are all taught in the way they understand, according to their own fears and hiding places.

The rest can just scorn, scoff, laugh, shake their heads, wag their fingers, roll their eyes, all with the comfortable consensus of the other humans who haven't been chosen to know what's real. The animal loves consensus because it's the way it has learned to find its comfort, what is acceptable to it. However, there is nothing generic about the transformation, because it doesn't go according to how the lie goes—that it is generic and mostly the same for everyone because everyone's welcome as long as they do what the liars have told them is the proper thing. They assume to speak for God, out loud so anyone and everyone can hear. What they can't know, even though it's written in the bibles they assume to follow, is that the real God is secret and hidden, and He doesn't want to be found by any and every yayhoo that has some idea he can get something from God for himself and those who agree with him (everyone's goin' to heaven).

We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

The assumption to all this is that God is so bland and indifferent to whom He wants around Him, that it could possibly be true. Everything in that bible contradicts their assumptions—God chose Abraham, and Israel, Moses and David. All of His holy prophets (sons of God) were chosen by Him, specifically according to His desire that they know Him (be partakers of the Israel of God, which is the secret family of sons He has been calling throughout the centuries). The Messiah was chosen by God, as were the disciples. They knew this because they knew there was nothing generic about what was happening inside of them. The reason the christians assume it's a generic calling is because nobody's been being called in the same way they were being called in the first century—because that phenomenon went away, as per God's desire and the predictions of His prophets.

Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. When they fall, they will receive a little help, and many who are not sincere will join them.

"Those who are wise" were that way because of the life of the Father and the Son, living in their bodies to make them wise toward grabbing hold of the salvation that came from the understanding that the Jesus they killed was the Messiah they were looking and hoping for. They didn't recognize him because he was kept secret and hidden from them. Just as the Father is secret and hidden, so was the Son. Even though his body died, he was raised up and since he was with the Father he had the Father's power to be able to live in the bodies of some of the humans, as the Father had lived in the Son's body. That's what happened in the first century, before the prescribed end would come at the appointed time.

Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.

The end would come because the "many who are not sincere" would indeed join them when they saw the church as an opportunity to consolidate power for themselves, just like the animals they were (not sincere in their proclamation), wanting to get stuff for themselves. They ascended to leadership roles in this organism that once was ruled by the life of God living in a handful of humans, but now the animal started taking over—that is, the will of the human animals who consolidated their human power to make what was good into what became desolate of the good, for the sake of the animals (early church leaders who received political power, egotistical satisfaction and money). There is the abomination of the unclean animal (the will of the humans animals) being set up in the temple (the bodies of the chosen sons), which caused the desolation of everything good that happened; as per the record which indicates what was happening according to the testimonies of the NT writers, in that short time before the abomination.

Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.

It is predicted by Daniel, and reaffirmed by Jesus. Also, there are instances in the NT letters that they knew something bad was coming to the life they were living.

Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

The time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.

The reason for all this talk is not to get caught up in all kind of wonder and worry about the times and what will happen. It is to show that certain things that the NT writers were concerned about already happened in the few centuries just following the temple destruction. The reason there seems to be so much darkness, why it always seems so unlike the time in the first century, is because that time has been over for a long time. It was supposed to go away and it did. This is the knowledge that contradicts the lies of all those whose institution rests on the ignorance of that desire, an explanation to the sons about the darkness, even though it's difficult to conceive of. The hardest part may be in wondering why God would let it happen.

The surprise comes from an ignorance of who God is though, according to the same lies being dispensed by the whore and her daughters about God loving the humans because they are so inherently good. When we understand how happy and complete the Father is, now that His Son is with Him where He can truly enjoy him, we might wonder why He would ever want to deal with the humans at all anymore. Knowing this we might see why the darkness exists, because the Son was with the Father so there was no real need to interact with the humans as He had for so long (what the spirit is for). Unlike their assumptions about themselves they aren't inherently good, but unclean and evil, chaotically driven by what makes them hate God, not love Him—just because they're so much unlike Him in every way He wants His own sons to be.

The ability to start seeing the way the Father wants/expects His own sons to be comes first by being able to identify what makes them how He doesn't want them to be. The animal nature naturally lives in the humans and drives them by instinct to be in love with the things the humans naturally love and run after, because these are the things that aid them in their quest to survive. The sons begin to realize how the humans are afflicted with it as a genuine force living inside them, instinctually driving them to be what they are (unclean animals separated from God).

There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

The similarity between the humans and the wild animals, driven by fear to protect themselves, will start to become apparent to the sons because they see it in themselves; as will the instincts, cravings, lusts and the desire to hide from the truth in their quest to survive in so many complicated ways. Admittedly, those instincts that drive the humans are much more complicated than that which drives the animals, because of the added ability to reason and strategize on an intellectual level so they can hide in many complicated mental and emotional ways.

We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

The first (easier) part is seeing it in the other humans (ironically because of the same nature). Jesus instructs his disciples that they must recognize and see the animal in themselves, because it's the very thing that stands in the way of them finding/knowing the Father, because it's what makes them unclean.

"Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them. "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man `unclean.' For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man `unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him `unclean.' "

His chiding is pointed and masterful, pretty funny that he calls them dull. He wants them to see that what makes them unclean is already living in their heart, keeping them from coming near the Father (because nothing unclean can come near Him, as per all the Tabernacle and Temple ceremonial accounts of the commands about clean versus unclean, and nothing unclean being able to be brought into the place where God lived). He wanted them to know that there was no point in trying to be clean by avoiding people (Samaritans for instance) or food, because those are natural things. The secret message of the law was to point at the better thing, what mattered to the hidden God (unseen because He is the spirit who is elusive to the obtuse humans, operating in ways totally unexpected and unlike how they are able to observe, and be able to control Him).

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

The ability of the sons to see it in them is the setup for what matters, for them not the humans (who can't see it because they don't have eyes to see). The hard part is to come out from our own hiding places by recognizing and admitting its rule in us too, because we came from the humans, toward the end that it might be extracted from our hearts. There is no easy extraction from its total strangle hold. There's no pretending it's not there, or merely divorcing ourselves from the idea of it and thinking it doesn't affect us. That's precisely what the liars teach, because they don't know, yet they don't have any problem taking the mantle of teacher, even though they've been warned about presuming to be one.

Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

There is one Teacher for the sons of God. He is perfect like the Father, so he can teach perfectly because he can get as close to the son as the animal nature is. He is not like any man who because of the animal need and craving to have his ego caressed and lifted up, in effect wants/needs/craves to be worshipped like a god (standing up in front of a bunch of people calling himself pastor and teacher, yet just dispensing the whore's lies). The teacher can live where the natural instincts live, and so be effective in raising up the son for the Father's sake. He can accomplish God's purpose and will because of his ability, what no human possesses, and not just randomly but with specific purpose and targeting.

But you are not to be called `Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth `father,' for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called `teacher,' for you have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

The animal nature is the sinful nature, and it has a hold on us and we don't even know it because that hasn't been identified and taught even though it is the most basic and obvious thing, and has its inception in the garden. Being human is synonymous with being evil, unclean, a son of the serpent—because of the binding via the nature of instinct. There are none that are good, none that seek God as He expects. The humans are ironically just deceived by that very nature which makes them human and gives them their identity, of which they are all so proud. It is the deceiver and adversary, that thing inside the humans—what they are by nature—which has always been the obstacle to finding favor with God. The sons have to separate themselves from them because they never reinforce what's good, only what wants to keep them evil and unclean.

The only One who ever found favor with God was Jesus, because he wasn't ever an unclean animal. He didn't allow himself to become one with that nature because he didn't let it lead/rule/guide him like it does the animals. He gave up his life for the sons of God, for God's sake, so he could present the Father with a family. He did it out of the motivation of the love that was in him for the Father, the gift that was given to Him which first came from God. His intention, born out of God's desire for love, was to have a Son who loved Him. By the Son's love for the Father, many more sons would be born to Him, at which so many things in the recorded and preserved are pointing.

I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep my covenant with you. You will still be eating last year's harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. I will put my dwelling place among you, and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

We don't talk too much about the devil, maybe because it's hyped so much everywhere else. But it needs more attention if it is the deceiver and adversary of God and His people. The great and important thing about the temptation of Jesus is that it demonstrates the activity of the devil and what its MO is. Also, that it was Jesus' actual thoughts which were identified as "satan" in the text. It is not an entity, not a fallen angel (another lie) but a force that keeps the animals separated from God.

If we cannot understand that the "devil" was actually in his own thoughts and motivations, what was able to get in and tempt him, test him on the same level where the spirit of God also lived in him, then we cannot understand the very crux of man in relation to God. Nor will we ever understand how we ourselves are tempted, if we have been called to overcome that nature we were born into, as per the curse that's on all the humans. We will never be able to understand our predicament before Him, or what He wants and expects from us if we are to be His people, because the same nature that pulled on Jesus is also the one which pulls on us and wants to continue to rule and therefore define us as animals, just like the serpent out of a kind of jealousy wanted the humans to follow it instead of God.

If we don't understand it we just give in to it, thinking it's one thing when it's another, because that's just what humans do. When we allow it to lead us, to love what it loves and satisfy whatever craving and need is in us because of it; then we become impure, unclean, and unable for the life of the Father and Son to dwell in us. The bodies of the sons, more specifically their hearts, are the real temple, the spiritual reality at which the OT temples pointed. The things that the humans love and run after without even being aware of it—what we are tempted to follow after too—are represented by the idols, sacred stones, altars for the foreign gods and Asherah poles existing in the place where God was supposed to have been dwelling, in the midst of His people (the copy of the Israel of God—His secret family of sons).

In the first month of the first year of his reign, he (Hezekiah) opened the doors of the temple of the LORD and repaired them. He brought in the priests and the Levites, assembled them in the square on the east side and said: "Listen to me, Levites! Consecrate yourselves now and consecrate the temple of the LORD, the God of your fathers. Remove all defilement from the sanctuary. Our fathers were unfaithful; they did evil in the eyes of the LORD our God and forsook him. They turned their faces away from the LORD's dwelling place and turned their backs on him. They also shut the doors of the portico and put out the lamps. They did not burn incense or present any burnt offerings at the sanctuary to the God of Israel."

The preserved words are so preserved for the sake of the sons of God, not to become experts about and so own, possess and control their meaning, in the tradition of the humans who need and crave their ego to be caressed and lifted up, worshipped for their keen expertise, wrapped in some righteous and noble pursuit. God would not dwell in the temple in Hezekiah's time until it was consecrated and purified according to the covenant in place at the time between God and His people. In the same way, God cannot, will not (doesn't have to so He won't), dwell in flesh that is corrupted by the presence of the modern gods of today—the things that the world loves. We can tell from the record that good things happened when the people sought God's favor instead of just doing what they wanted to do, which is the trait of the animal—to live for its self, indulging in whatever urge comes up in it, and getting stuff for its self and to take care of its self—to survive better. The self is what the animal holds up as its god and the animal can only serve its self, which is why it is the adversary of God even from the beginning—all hiding behind the token lip service of doing its own will for God's sake (hiding).

If we cannot visualize the temptation as Jesus' own thoughts, pulling on him to self-preserve and gratify its needs and desires over the Father's, then we will never be able to appreciate what the Lord did in denying himself the gratification of that nature and ultimately being the Lamb of God without blemish—good enough, pure enough, clean enough, not led by that nature (not at all) to actually be acceptable enough to God to be the perfect sacrifice that He required. We will also be beguiled by what we the sons of God must also do, after the manner of the firstborn. If we think he was a god then we'll never have to assume that we ever can deny the animal the right to rule us, because he will be in our minds so much different than we are.

The theory of the animal nature being the nature of man (the sinful nature), is perfectly viable, and it makes sense to the reality of what we experience and who we are (merely animals with the traits of animals, inherently unclean). It's not some abstract religious concept that we can't relate to, that which exists merely as concepts for us in our minds because of the total confusion that the mythological jesus, holy spirit, father and devil gods bring in to the equation. The absence of the understanding of the truth makes us slaves to the lie—and who is the great liar but the animal, the snake, the deceiver and adversary of the sons of God.

It's definitely not some external entity which tries to get us to do what the "bad people" do. Now the semi-correct (christadelphian) understanding of what the devil is has led to the absence of the identification of its nature, and the realization of the preponderance of its hold on us. Because it isn't what the liars have said it is when they teach, they have the notion that they are excluded from its grip, and that they are not in fact infected by its nature to be an adversary and a deceiver. The correction of this is only for the sons; it isn't in becoming superstitious, but in correctly seeing man, and therefore ourselves, as we are.

Perhaps the human animals have the ability to think better than the other animals, and the humans would say that means we are far above them, not like them at all. But if we are honest we will be able to see that we are very much like them, not in our intellect but in our nature, our constant need to self-preserve, which is arguably the definition of the character of the wild animal and its driving force—what leads and guides it, according to the naturally indwelling instincts in the humans, the sinful nature. For instance, a hungry lion would not debate whether or not it was the right thing to do in killing a gazelle to eat. It does that because it is driven to survive.

We have that same drive, under all our intellect and intentions we are still driven to take care of  ourselves; and to take care of another that is our own flesh and blood, or our actual selves, is also part of that drive. The example is the average mother, driven by an unseen, often irrational force, to protect, to "love" her own children. That is why we have all these false notions about "loving our brother" which just aren't true and cannot be, because of that indwelling nature that forces the humans to the otherwise. If we could be honest we would have to agree. Yet even being honest is impossible, because the animal hides, then pretends it's not hiding.

Jesus' disciples were commanded to love each other as a condition of the new covenant, the new law. It's the only command that is actually important, yet it's impossible to love our brother as much as we love ourselves, because of the curse. The erroneous teachings from the christian leaders is that they teach that one can just say a few magic words and then just detach themselves from the sinful nature, as long as they don't do what the "bad people" do. Because they teach that the devil is something altogether detached from themselves, then they can just divorce themselves from the idea of being led by evil, of being evil, when the very thing that makes them evil is tricking them into believing that, because the "experts" told them that was the case. So they think that as long as they don't give in to that external being, the devil, then they're being pleasing to God, and so they continue to not even understand what makes them unclean, by being human, not comprehending that they are the devil, because it is them, their nature they were born into, bound up with, as per the curse on the humans.

So the sons shouldn't expect everyone to come to an understanding of the truth, because we know that the truth is not for everyone, only for the chosen ones. Most will not ever know the truth because they cannot, and that's okay. That is the way it's always been with God and the real truth behind the truth behind the truth, etc. We have the ability to use retroactive foresight in seeing the plan and purpose of God by the historical record, to see what God did thousands of years ago and to understand His plan. Considering that most people who actually existed in those times were taken by surprise, why would we think it would be any different now?

We sons cannot worry about the miraculous things happening inside them being real, or from God, because they aren't being validated by the humans. Our only validation comes from the only true God, and the only Son of the one true God, who are spiritual and invisible to the humans because all they can know is the natural reality, the dying creation they are all an integral part of. What we do need to worry about is identifying the foreign idols and gods of today, the sacred stones and Asherah poles of our time, and understanding how our participation with them prevents us from being in fellowship with the God who is from the beginning, and the Son who is our example of how to be. The teacher will teach the sons individually and collectively what those things are.

I heard some christadelphians praying out loud that they could be "more like jesus." That produced the question in me about how that might happen and what it would look like. How could they be made like Jesus was, to look more like him, which is a good question and goes way beyond the conceptual problem of how to be "nicer" to each other, which is what they're thinking of when they think about loving their brother. In fact it's all just a theoretical thing they're doing because it's what they're taught makes God happy. They don't even know what they're saying, though, because they cannot know who Jesus is, so how could they be like him? It usually ends up as some affectations they try to employ, like winking or being sugary sweet as they assume Jesus was (another lie). It's always just a thin veneer which breaks apart at the slightest bending.

Although it may be some good intention to try to do this, to break out of even in a small way, the mode of self-preservation and isolation; there is another observation to be made. Why are the humans this way? Why do they want to consider their "things" something that needs to be possessed, e.g. my house, my car, my family, my stuff? It's because things give the humans a feeling of safety and security, what they're driven to love and run after, and the more they build up stuff around them, the safer they feel from what's coming—being stripped of everything they have, then getting tossed into the dirt, forgotten by those continuing to exist, also waiting for the inevitable.

If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, `What shall we eat?' or `What shall we drink?' or `What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

The real truth is that we love what we consider valuable; what we spend our time and efforts building and maintaining is what we love. What we slave for with the biggest and best part of our life—years days and hours—is obviously, truly what we love, or we wouldn't do it. Now we can say we don't love it, but the actual fact of the time we spend working for the things that perish overrides what we say with our mouth, or even think with our thoughts. Hiding behind intention and theory is what the animal does best. It's the first thing the first humans did after they were infected by the animal.

We know that the words of Jesus exist which say that if we want to follow him we must give up everything, that nothing is as important as finding God and getting the good gifts from Him. That, however, was something he said to a few specifically chosen humans. The ability to do that is only available to those who have been given the life and good gifts, which take over the body of that one, so it's his nature to be that way, as Jesus was.  We know that he said that the good gifts are intangible to the natural man, and what man considers valuable is actually detestable to God. We know he said that working for the things that perish is futile for the one who wants to find him, and that if we are unable to give up our love for the tangible things, we are not worthy to be called his. But the ability to do that isn't by something inside the man; even that comes from God, because the animal nature is just too strong and effective to keep him as he is. The part the man plays is protecting the gift by keeping the temple purified, unstained by the animals.

He doesn't mince words when he says that the pagans, those who resist and hate God, who are ignorant to even His existence, run after the things that man considers valuable, represented by the most basic things like food and clothing. So it follows that the sons of God should not do as they do, running after the things that mere men run after, worrying about their lives as the pagans do, wondering what they will eat or drink or wear—wondering where they will live or who will pay their bills, how they will get the kids to school or how they will get to work, how they will pay the mortgage payment, etc. That doesn't come immediately or with ease, but it the ongoing and ever-changing end result of the transformation from animal to son.

The reason this is so far removed from us is because of the prison of the animal nature that we are in. That nature's MO is to get, to possess, to build up around us with "things," to find safety and security in what is tangible e.g.. money and possessions and the building up of our selves. The nature of the animal is the opposite of love, according to God, which instead of getting for itself, wants to give—not forced, but willingly. The getting and possessing of "things," though, is only the surface of the issue. The real core is the animal itself, and deeper than that is the animal's heart where no other animal can see—only the Lord can. Even the animal itself, the owner of the heart in question, cannot see what is there because it is fooled by its own nature, itself, which is the deceiver from the beginning, the adversary of God, the Son, and the sons.

His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation. With flattery he will corrupt those who have violated the covenant, but the people who know their God will firmly resist him.

Those who are wise will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. When they fall, they will receive a little help, and many who are not sincere will join them. Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.