November 22nd.

Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and abhor those who rise up against you?
I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies.

We will not neglect the house of our God...all who separated themselves from the neighboring peoples for the sake of the Law of God...all these now join their brothers the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the LORD our Lord.

It's impossible to deny the animal's indulgences or feed its cravings and needs. It is our nature, our very identity so there's no other option than to be guided by it and indulge it without even thinking, because we don't know what it is and just think that's normal. It is the adversary, but to say no to it is impossible because "No" is so unappealing when faced with the other prospect of feeling the way we learned to comfort ourselves by for so many years, even in the most benign sorts of ways. And there is absolutely no reason to say no if we don't even know what it is.

So many reasons will surface in the moment of being tempted to indulge, because it's how to take care of and nurture ourselves, and there's no reason not to, because that's what animals automatically do—whatever their instinct commands them to do. It's in our best interest to, and we want to do what's best for us, which is the crux of the dilemma of the humans in this state of being evil and unclean before God, and therefore alienated from Him because we're driven by something wild and untamable. There aren't any reasons to say no, which is so unnatural, and it's saying no to that nature to take care of and nurture ourselves which we love to do more than anything.

Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

It's saying no to what just seems natural, and we know that there is no one else who will take care of us like we are able to. Even if we do have someone who "loves" us (who has a physical piece of themselves living in us—their own DNA—which compels them to "love" us via that animal command of instinct), we know that they also have a primary need to nurture themselves, which is why they love us (because they see themselves in us via that DNA). No matter what we say to each other, that need to be nurtured, and the ability to do it all happens within the same little self-contained bubble that is our human, animal nature.

Has not my inheritance become to me like a speckled bird of prey
that other birds of prey surround and attack?
Go and gather all the wild beasts; bring them to devour.

It may sound cynical but it's actually something that makes sense in an ironic kind of way. The way the humans and animals are is based on the way God is; He is the model for the humans in certain ways (like how they are compelled to love and take care of their own). His own sons must look like Him and not the unclean animal if they are to come close to Him and be one of His own. They must have a part of His own spirit DNA living in them in order to be called sons of God.

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.

Paul isn't writing against gnosticism in particular, but what was established, in the name of maintaining the good, according to the humans' conception of what they thought God wanted. That is, the orthodoxy of the holy roman church so as to try to contain and control what was "true," and destroy what was "false" in the name of the gods they felt commissioned to defend. That is the animal nature disguising itself as something good and noble, when in fact it's doing what it always does—looks after itself, the opposite of love.

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. 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.

The end of what will come? The end of what the kingdom would be for the few hundred years it lasted, before it left. And what will be the sign of it leaving? It's what Jesus says next:

So when you see standing in the holy place `the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand.

It was the setting up of the animal nature in the holy temple, not the building in Jerusalem but the bodies/hearts of His own sons, where He lived first in Jesus', and then the other NT sons before the abomination was fully established.

So if anyone tells you, `There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, `Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.

Now he backs up a bit and explains how the actual kingdom of God is different from what the humans thought the kingdoms of God would be, or look like. The latter was a kingdom of humans, of dead animals that vultures gather upon, a resurrection of David's earthly kingdom where the Jews who are actually just a group of dead animals would rule the earth—not accidentally what Jesus was tempted by, what he denied so that he would be the ruler of the actual kingdom of God, which is the kingdom of living sons, the kingdom of the spirit; God is the spirit.

Jesus is telling them that when he comes back, he won't be like he was at the time of his telling them all this. He won't be like a human who could be seen in the desert, or in the upper room. He would be like the lightening that comes from nowhere, which is in the east one second then in the west, unable to be seen or contained, held onto or controlled. He will be part of the Father's body, the spirit who isn't limited by any physical, natural, earthly limitations. He will not be there one second and then all of a sudden he will be there, according to God's desire and timing, not man's ability or will, which is always evil because it comes from below, of the natural, from the world of humans. That is what consolidated its power and established itself as the bride of Christ, when it is the whore who was predicted to come, as per God's will.

Like Adam, they have broken the covenant—they were unfaithful to me there.

It is necessary for the sons to understand that that is man's dilemma; that is the result of Adam's unfaithfulness in breaking the covenant he had with God; and that is the sinful nature. It is the adversary of God, and exactly the condition which will keep the sons from God's love and nurturing, because it keeps them in the natural sphere and condition, which is alienation from God. It keeps them defined as human animals, running after what humans consider valuable, merely another dying piece of the natural creation. The natural creation is all about death, whereas God is about life, the giver of life. If He doesn't give life, then that just remains part of the natural creation, dead to Him, without His name and seal which will save it on the last day.

When we think of the "sinful nature," we think of 'evil' things that people do, according to humans, which might put them in that category. Murderers, child molesters, pornographers, the dark and seedy, drug dealers, armed robbers, torturers, violent gang members, thieves, etc. Because we have this idea, we are able to separate ourselves from the "sinful nature," or think that it somehow doesn't apply to us. Most of us aren't apt to consider our more benign proclivities to be the actual sinful nature. We rather just consider them flaws in our nature, and easily forgiven for them. We don't consider God to be as He is, but a god we've made up, who is fair and democratic and loves everyone the same. So of course it won't hold us accountable for these rather "mild" things that we all engage in in secret, because we consider it to be a merciful god, forgiving everything—generic, banal and without any personality.

The humans aren't responsible for their condition, because they're just born into it. The sons do have a responsibility to consider it, in light of our desire to be pleasing to God and follow the Lord. Seeing as how we make a great deal about it in many of these postings,  we do believe that the message is being proclaimed, and there is an explanation as to why, when we desire to do right, we still cannot seem to be who we want to be, what is commanded of us. That is to love our "brother" even more than our own selves, which is impossible for the animals to do because they're driven by the opposite of that nature of love, what Jesus was driven by.

Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

If we say we do, then we lie to ourselves, and we also lie to God, like so many of those who went before us, who may have desired to please God but remained smug and stiff-necked instead of contrite and broken hearted, because they were driven by the adversary. No one who is being honest can truthfully say, in his heart, that our paltry attempts at "loving" each other is what the Lord had in mind when he issued this command. We know that the Lord and Paul were both very clear about the importance of love.

"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments, "Do not commit adultery," "Do not murder," "Do not steal," "Do not covet," and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

The only way to love is to come away from the condition that prohibits us from doing it. That is, our previous nature, what we had before God came to us, that of the animal, the sinful nature, the power and force of the ruler of this world to keep us in this place of alienation from God's love. Until and unless that happens, there is no love. There is only the erroneous assumption that we can just do it somehow, out of something good that lives in us. However, the only thing that is inherently living in us is the nature of the serpent, the adversary, the one who keeps the humans in the servitude of only being able to love themselves (those who come out of their body are themselves).

We believe the animal nature to be the central theme of our message, what Jesus came to destroy (for those who were chosen), and that it addresses many problems about man's condition—why we are the way we are in many respects, why there are so many instances of fear, mental and emotional trauma, different forms of functional psychosis, etc. Therefore it's not some useless, abstract religious concept which has no connection to the way we can observe we actually are with all our psychosis, fear and alienation from each other.

An important reason for the sons to understand the animal nature as Adam's affliction, termed the "sinful nature" by Paul, is because that is why there is a wall between God and those who are chosen to know His love, not in concept but in reality, in the here and now, while in these bodies of corruption, of natural dying flesh—even in the tiny bit that we're able to. That is how the apostles understood it, and we can gather from their writings and other accounts, that they were driven in the most extreme ways by this love that came from God—by a desire to want to take care of God's possession as Jesus had, even by the buffering of their own body toward those sheep, those they knew had been called by the same voice that called them.

Even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.

Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"
He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."

The overriding assumption is that we have these conditions and we are just stuck with them, and we will be this way, only "knowing" God's love in concept while we are here in these bodies. We believe that we will "know" the love of God incrementally, as we are gradually set free from the constraints of this tyrannical nature. What we are proposing, for those who have been called, is that we cannot wait until a resurrection to know the love that comes from God, because that might be too late.

They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Now is the time to prove our faithfulness to God. We have to have His mark on us now, His seal, His name—the deposit and guarantee of the things that are to come. We can't have this life, and also the life of God, because having this life means being an animal, and animals aren't able to come near to God.

If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self? If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.

Here is the reaffirmation that the kingdom of God was not a kingdom of humans. In fact, it was opposite of that. A kingdom of humans is them acting like humans act, saving and preserving their lives, being great amongst the other humans. It's what they always do, and why the words of Jesus speak more to psychology and anthropology than to religion. Love for God and His true family of sons is the opposite of what the humans are naturally prone and programmed to be able to do. They're bound like animals to only loving/caring for themselves.

I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

If we truly want to follow the Christ, then we have to be honest in our hearts with regards to our condition before God, because God loves honesty. The sons present themselves before the Father, while the animals always hide (the first thing the human animals did once they were bound up to that animal nature). The confession of our heart that we truly are unable to love as Jesus commanded, that we want more than what we have, that we want "to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge," and therefore "be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God," is a good confession. But we know that the confession of the mouth without the true willingness of the heart to give up what we love in order to find the love that will not fade away, the treasure spoken of by the Lord; is no confession at all; just another way of hiding behind our mouth babble. God sees into all the recesses of the heart and knows the intentions behind the motivations.

He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

A small child is willing, actually desirous, to just lift up its hands and let his daddy take care of him. Unfortunately, he has to grow up, and when he does he is going to "grow into" the animal nature. As he becomes mature according to the humans, he becomes fully dead to God, fully entrenched in that animal nature as his defining identity, fully embracing it as himself. He will become like everyone, clothed with the nature that rules the world. He won't look to his daddy anymore to take care of him, but will instead be dominated by the need, the drive, the ability to take care of and nurture himself. An ironically brilliant tragedy is that when he fully grows into his nature (what the world wants most from and for him), when he "becomes a man," is when he actually dies to God.

"You must change and become like a little child" sounds a lot like, "You must be born from above, of the spirit." Both the disciples and Nicodemus were perplexed by this statement. Although it does seem like we can only do this in concept, it actually is a real process that takes place, yet not in the natural. It cannot even be noticed by the humans. Being baptized by the spirit is being born into it, by it—not for the purpose of speaking gibberish or pretending to fall over, but only for to know the Father. The Father exists as spirit, not as flesh, so to know Him we have to be born into Him, born unto God, via the spirit of truth and holiness. That is the only thing which can pierce the membrane of the animal consciousness so that we can get to God.

When this happens, we literally are born as spiritual children, like a small child, and we begin to actually understand that our Father is there, and that we can know His love in a real way, so that we can be pleasing to Him, just as Jesus was—who did not know that animal nature because he didn't go through that process of becoming dead. As we grow up, we grow into God's way, and slowly become spiritually mature (eventually—hopefully). The things that once seemed so important to us slowly become as they are to God. The things of the animal are rubbish to God, and the things of the son are rubbish to the animal.

Although intentions are good, we will keep falling on our face in this regard if we cannot identify the enemy, which is at hand. Closer than our hands, it lives in our heart where God wants to live instead. But He cannot dwell together with the uncleanness of the animal. So if we aren't willing to let it go and become purified by the living water then we will merely continue to be animal, and animal cannot be son.