Eating Christ's Flesh and Drinking His Blood

Eating Christ's Flesh and Drinking His Blood or Giving Heed to His Words with a parable from Max Lucado. Rev 12/21/01

Kenneth Sublett, Piney.com, Hohenwald, Tennessee

Jesus: The Bread of Life (John 6:1-71)

Dr. Shelly tells the eating Christ's flesh parable but tapes the mouth of Jesus before He could explain it. We don't drink Jesus: we drink the water of the Word; we don't eat His Flesh but eat the bread of life: His word. To teach the parable without allowing Jesus to explain it is to despise the Word of Jesus by supplying another "ending" by "taking liberties" with the Word of Christ which has been "sieved" through the sifter of human philosophy and John's personal agenda.

We do not apologize for reviewing this material. The ongoing refusal to hear the association between SPIRITUAL FOOD AND DRINK and the Words of Christ in John chapter 7 is here.

If you agree that the church has moved beyond the total Bible as the message God wants taught to the church then here is a sermon which will make you feel secure in your new revelations which voids 2,000 years of Biblical understanding.

If you are still a Bible believer (required to be a Christian) then we hope that you will grasp the blanks which we have filled in and look for "the rest of the story."

If you consider honest review as somehow "disdainful" then you have fallen victim to Post Modernism which says "no one is right and if you teach and hold anything as permanent truth then you are a Pharisee."

Max Lucado's parable denies that bread needs a recipe.

Rubel Shelly: There's something very important about bread - not only physically but even emotionally and spiritually.

In a book titled God's Psychiatry, Charles Allen recounts the fate of European orphans at the end of World War II. As that awful conflict was winding down, thousands of hungry and malnourished children were gathered up and placed in secure camps. They were housed, given medical care, and fed all the nourishing food their stomachs could tolerate. Despite the best of attention and care, they slept only fitfully. They seemed anxious and afraid. Their eyes darted about with apparent suspicion and dread. Then a psychologist tried a therapy that solved the problem and was adopted at all the centers with war orphans.

Each child was put to bed at night with a roll or piece of bread in hand. It was just to be held, not eaten. Thus the children went to bed with the assurance that they would have food for the next day. They could close their eyes and believe that their new, safe circumstance was real and would still be available when they opened them. The guarantee that they would not be abandoned as unwanted and forced to fend for themselves on the coming day gave the children contented, restful, and therapeutic sleep.

How many people have been convinced that the Bread which is the Word of Christ, the Spirit of God has been "sifted" through the sieve of time and the personal agendas of the New Testament writers that almost nothing is left. However, we believe that the Bible is to be taught "as it has been taught" and we should not try to interpret it based on our own time and place.

The Core Gospel which feeds too many preachers and hungry souls has had all of the 'apple' pared off so that you will hunger and thirst if you keep on eating it.

The SOP Jesus prepared for Judas was ground into bits and is the base meaning of the word psallo or melody. By putting the Word of God through the sieve of time and culture you grind it into a fine powder. What if the psychologist had given these orphans a little handfull of the "powder of the Word" for the entire week? Get the point?

How about this one when you want to build a mega-church or a "venue for Rock and Roll" or as a theater for "holy entertainment" or spending 1/4 of a million dollars for a Jubilee to showcase talented theatrical speakers and musicians and sell their books promising for the books what God promised for the Bible! Here are some real needs:

"The most affected countries regarding the killings of children due to war or its consequences are Afghanistan and Iraq.

In both these countries thousands of children were killed during the war. In Afghanistan only, where a civil war has been continuing for the past 20 years, around 300,000 to 400,000 children have died out of total population of 20 million. In addition, the devastation has contributed to the deaths of thousands of children from hunger and disease. An American who visited Afghanistan on an official visit in September said that the recent draught has made the situation worse for children in Afghanistan along with the UN sanctions.

She said that she felt very uncomfortable while having her meals in Hazarajat area of Afghanistan because of the food situation there. More than 250,000 children are reported dying every year of malnutrition alone in Afghanistan. Every three hours or so, a child is blown up as a result of more than ten million landmines planted all over Afghanistan. One-third of Afghanistan's landmine victims are estimated to be children (UNOCHA 1999).

Starving to death is probably worse than going to bed worrying about the next meal! How about the 5 billion who will become 9 billion while some of those enjoing "holy entertainment" are still alive. I believe that God loves mega-churches because they are like the temple: convenient places to collect those who refuse to go out and preach and those who refuse to "go outside the camp" to find Jesus who, I am confident, does not enter into the holy entertainment. No, life is not fed by the ZOE concept of musical worship.

You are going to miss it in this sermon but jesus said that "MY Words are Spirit and Life." That fact got "narrated out" in making the point of some kind of daily relationship with Jesus.

You were just starved for the most important "bread" in this passage. Eating Christ's flesh was a parable!

I never thought that I ever saw Jesus in a pulpit or choir or musical worship team. I always seem to see Him in the old members being abused by the "spiritual anxiety created by religious ritual" Jesus died to remove. I can "see" Jesus in my wife always looking out for the "beyond useful" but once-proud members of the church wasting away with no "piece of bread" from religionists.

I cannot see Christ in the Theatrical Performers waiting for the old folk at Madison to die out:

According to Dostoyevsky, when Jesus visited a poor village He was sentenced again for crucifixion by the clergy who wanted Him to perform, but:

Christ Rejected the Ministry of Bread Offered by the Inquisition.

Christ Rejected the Ministry of Miracles by the Inquisition.

Christ Rejected the Ministry of Mysteries by the Inquisition.

Therefore, the pattern we see is to give each disciple a piece of the "Word of God" as bread to chew on and digest in the privacy of their own meditations or inward melody.

The Romans Pattern of Providing Night-Time Comfort by Speaking Christ's Words as food for thought:

Educating His Disciples

Rubel Shelly: John 6 may well be the watershed of Jesus' career in this Gospel. Up to this point, the crowds have been swelling around Jesus; yet because of what some of them called a "difficult" teaching here that "offended" them (6:60-61), "many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him" (6:66). The drop in crowd size was so dramatic that it led to this exchange:

So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go?

You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God" (6:67-69).

Jesus spoke to the multitudes in parables. Therefore, Dr. Shelly has defined the parable. However, Jesus spoke to the believers by explaining the parable. Amazingly left out of this process is the very solution to the problem.

Is it left out because the agenda is to "sift out" any connection between the Words of a pure Spirit God as Spirit? For those with the old "modern" version of the Bible and if you can say: "word spirit" in the same breath, Jesus opened their ears just by speaking:

What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? John 6:62

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63

Now, that wasn't too hard. However, it is important that you sift this out if your thesis is that the Spirit does not speak through Spirit Words but to me directly by some literal indwelling of a purely Spirit God.

Literally eating Chris't flesh derives from one of the common beliefs that one could "eat and drink the gods." This was what the people in Amos 5 and 6 were doing. This always involved music and singers to get the paying audience "up" and ready to move into the presence of the gods. Sexual intercourse (imagined today) was the goal of the female singers who were always know as the harem of the gods.

"In the New Kingdom women singers were found in large numbers in all the temples. Women and girls from the different ranks of society were proud to enter the service of the gods as singers and musicians.

The understanding of this service was singular:

these singers constituted the 'harem of the gods'." (Quasten, Johannes, Music and Worship in Pagan and Christian Antiquity, p. 77)

Drinking wine from new wineskins was "drinking the gods." Making the sacrifice to the gods but eating the meat yourselves was eating with the gods. The mass spectacle like holy entertainment in mega-churches which spend all of their resources on a theater were, in Dr. Shelly's words "to bring the worshipers into the presence of God." But, God is not lost: Paul said that He is not far from each of us without a priest or singer to make him appear.

And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; Acts 17:26

That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: Acts 17:27

Seek is to learn about God:

Zeto (g2212) dzay-teh'-o; of uncert. affin.; to seek (lit. or fig.); spec. (by Heb.) to worship (God), or (in a bad sense) to plot (against life): - be (go) about, desire, endeavour, enquire (for), require, (* will) seek (after, for, means). Comp. 4441.

Feel after:

Pselaphao (g5584) psay-laf-ah'-o; from the base of 5567 (comp. 5586); to manipulate, i.e. verify by contact; fig. to search for: - feel after, handle, touch.

The clergy piped hoping that Jesus would sing and dance the Dionysus shuffle as a way to fulfilly Psalm 41 of Judas and "triumph over Him." They hoped that John the Baptist wore the soft clothing of the king's catamite (male prostitute) which would be the common lot of charismatic prophets.

Therefore, Jesus spoke to the masses in a parable to keep them from understanding His words. This led the disciples to believe that they would literally eat Jesus like a cannibal in the Catholic mass.

However, Jesus let all of the ritualistic religionists down when he fully explained that this was something radically new: eat my WORDS just as I have spoken them and you will grow spiritual life and be fully spiritually satisfied of that hunger all religion strips out of rituals in time and place.

Rubel Shelly: First, spiritual matters must be of greater concern to us than the things that tend to occupy us most of the time.

"Do not work for the food that perishes,

but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you," Jesus told them. "For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal" (6:27).

Where is the bread? "Spiritual" means "of the mind." Jesus said that God only "seeks" those who are "seeking" Him in spirit or in their mind. The resource of their seeking is the truth which is the Words of Christ. Therefore, nothing which we can do "by the works of human hands" is spiritual.

Adults have jobs to do to earn a living and provide for their families. Kids have to go to school and do their homework. Golf or track or football can be great fun as well as good exercise. At the end of the day, however, the question is this: How have all these things affected my relationship with Christ? Have I kept my priorities clear today? The main quest of my life must be Jesus, not publications. Your primary concern must be Jesus, not promotions. Jesus, not money. Jesus, not romance. Jesus, not awards. Jesus, not a standard of living. Jesus is "the bread that came down from heaven" (6:58; cf. 33, 38, 41, 50, 51), and living by faith in him is the only thing that will endure into the life yet to come

Second, redemption and eternal life are found in Jesus alone and not in our theologies, our formulas for worship, or our good works. "Then they said to him, 'What must we do to perform the works of God?' Jesus answered them, 'This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent' " (6:28-29).

Jesus wasn't speaking of redemption or initial salvation.

But Jesus put the power in faithful obedience. One could hardly be redeemed while still in their sins; while still "rejecting the counsel fo their lives" in being baptized. It is true that "our" formulas do not work but that is not to deny God the power to define how we are redeemed and inherit eternal life.

This is not Paul's definition of "what must we do to be saved" but what kind of work does God want us to do.

Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life (g2222),

which the Son of man shall give unto you:

for him hath God the Father sealed. John 6:27

We can understand the meaning of the "meat" if we understand what the "meat" is supposed to produce. The Word gives one the power to believe and believing:

Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? John 6:28

Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work (energy) of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. John 6:29

Jesus continues to speak the PARABLE:

It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. John 6:45

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. John 6:47

I am that bread of life. John 6:48

I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. John 6:51

The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? John 6:52

Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. John 6:53

Then Jesus left the synagogue and his disciples grumbled. However, because they were looking for truth Jesus explained the parable.

In rejecting the idea of eating the real flesh of His body, Jesus defined the "meat" of Spirit life:

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life (g2222). John 6:63

Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter (Law), but of the spirit (New Testament): for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. 2 Co.3:6

Therefore, eating Christ's flesh was the parable and to stop too soon and take the passage out of context is a fatal mistake.

Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life. Ac.5:20

Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. Ac.13:46

And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Ac.13:48

Hearing and honoring the Word of God is the first test that one is heading for eternal life. According to Hebrews 6, those who then repudiate the Word have committed the unforgivable sin because the "words" came from the Spirit of Christ: to reject the Word is to reject Christ.

Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain. Ph.2:16

I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. 1Co.3:2

THAT which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; 1Jn.1:1

And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. Re.22:19

One of the things we must believe to do the work of God is to believe on Jesus. And we cannot believe on Jesus if we deny that He has the power to make THE WORDS which He spoke the meat and drink of eternal life.

This demands that whatever Jesus has said is a "command" which we must obey or we will starve to death for denying that Jesus has the power to put life and spirit into His Words and that He has the power to preserve them from being "sifted" of their meaning.

After the day of Pentecost, those who believed had done "God's work" by believing the words asked again:

Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Acts 2:37

Those who reject Christ by rejecting His direct command might answer: "you can do nothing." However, Peter knew better:

Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost Acts 2:38

Jesus said of John's baptism that to "reject the counsel of God for their lives" they had rejected Christ.

By believing Jesus they could understand that to be Christian and a Son one must speak like the Father.

Rubel Shelly: To the Jewish audience for whom these words were intended originally, securing eternal life was a matter of finding the right formula for their religion.

That is not the fact at all:

There seems to be little concern for spiritual or future things: all was centered on buildings and grounds, ceremonies and collection plates.

All of the Jewish clergy (whom Jesus fired) were Post-Modern. That is, they did not believe that the Word of God consisted of commands, examples and inferences although the Bible says that it is.

Therefore, they could make private interpretations of "fuller expound" the Mind of God to sow discord among brethren:

He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Mark 7: 6

Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Mark 7: 7

For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. Mark 7: 8

And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God,

that ye may keep your own tradition. Mark 7: 9

Jesus said that God had the "right formula" for their religion. However, they made fun of people who obeyed God's "formula" and therefore made up their own "traditions."

And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes (book writers), which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the market places, Mark 12:38

And the chief seats in the synagogues, and the uppermost rooms at feasts: Mark 12: 39

Which devour widows houses, and for a pretense make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation. Mark 12: 40

Therefore, rather than Jesus approving of the modern theatrical performers standing in the pulpit (when He sat down) and denouncing those who were finding the right formula for their religion, Jesus insisted that they were wrong for rejecting God's formula.

But Jesus wasn't REALLY speaking to the multitudes: He never reveals Himself to multitudes. Rather, Jesus was speaking in parables to deliberately hide the truth from those whose previous rituals had blinded eyes. Their theology was that God has no absolute rules and therefore they could, like modern preachers, just make up their songs and sermons and ignore the Word.

But, if one understood Jesus we would not hear Him condemning those who believe in God's "formulas." Rather, the preachers who ridicule people for obeying commands are really blind and deaf and CANNOT hear the Word because Christ refuses to even speak to them. Eating Christ's flesh needs the "further expounding" which only Jesus is qualified to do:

And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? Matthew 13:10

And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: Matthew 13:14

For this peoples heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. Matthew 13:15

But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. Matthew 13:16

Rubel Shelly: All this centered in being able to prove they were right and the Samaritans, Gentiles, and non-observant Jews wrong. Jesus tried to reorient their understanding from ritual to relationship, from their works (i.e., performance) to God's work (i.e., providing a redeemer to accomplish what their good works never could). John apparently thought that his Christian readers sixty years later needed this lesson reinforced to them (cf. Rom. 3:21-26). Perhaps we need it even more today. The key to salvation is not what we do but what God has done already.

The flocking multitudes are usually interested in a theatrical performance or free food and rarely in truth. For instance, the multitudes who came for the fish and loves did not want to hear the Word of God Incarnate among them. Jesus was directly referring to Ezekiel and Isaiah when He condemned "mouth religion" rather than mind or heart religion. Like the Vineyard lady, they sought out the prophets like the fornicator sought out male or female prostitutes:

Also, thou son of man, the children of thy people still are talking against thee by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak one to another, every one to his brother, saying, Come, I pray you, and hear what is the word that cometh forth from the Lord. Ezekiel 33:30

And they come unto thee as the people cometh,

and they sit before thee as my people,

and they hear thy words,

but they will not do them:

for with their mouth they shew much love,

but their heart goeth after their covetousness. Ezekiel 33: 31

 

And, lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song

of one that hath a pleasant voice,

and can play well on an instrument:

for they hear thy words,

but they do them not. Ezekiel 33: 32

And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them. Ezekiel 33: 33

When people hear God's Words and see His miracles and reject and ridicule Him they are lost and beyond redemption. Therefore, when preaching in the midst of a Genesis-like or Revelation-like hostile crowd Jesus used a coded, secret language:

All these things spake Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them: Matthew 13:34

Multitudes is: Ochlos (g3793) okh'-los; from a der. of 2192 (mean. a vehicle); a throng (as borne along); by impl. the rabble; by extens. a class of people; fig. a riot: - company, multitude, number (of people), people, press.

That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which

have been kept secret from the foundation of the world. Matthew.13:35

The prophets were Spirit breathed upon by the Spirit of Christ in them:

Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow 1 Peter 1:11

Rubel Shelly: Worry less about what you don't know and haven't been able to do than about neglecting the daily presence of Jesus in your life. Nobody is going to be saved by figuring it out and doing it right, but by his or her faith in Jesus Christ. That is, Jesus is heaven's manna sent into our desert lives; we are not going to be saved by a recipe, cooking method, and shelving system for bread but by eating what we have been given by grace.

We don't have to figure it all out. However, those who minimize the importance of "seeking" God as the only true avenue of worship will never find Christ in little things because He will not speak to those who minimize "correckness" even when we fall short of it.

As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. John 6:57

But, this was spoken to the doctors of the law. For His Disciples Jesus declared that the "meat and drink" was His Words:

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. Jn 6:63

The Word as Test of Sonship: The Son Lived of the Father.

Jesus as man set the example of refusing to do or speak anything which He had not received from the Father. He said that "flesh counts for nothing" but that His Words were Spirit and Life:

Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. John 8:28

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. John 8:36

I know that ye are Abrahams seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word (logos) hath no place in you. John 8:37

Therefore, to teach that Jesus meant that we eat Him personally is proof that we have lost contact with the Head:

For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, Heb 6:4

And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, Heb 6: 5

If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. Heb 6: 6

For the earth which drinketh in the rain that cometh oft upon it, and bringeth forth herbs meet for them by whom it is dressed, receiveth blessing from God: Heb 6: 7

But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. Heb 6: 8

No, we are not about eating the flesh of Christ. No, Jesus GAVE the manna in the wilderness but He was NOT the manna:

Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. Ps.74:14

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it. Rev 2:17

The use of Narrative Theology has Dr. Shelly teaching that the horrors of the wilderness is really our "pattern" for worship and community. The exodus teaches us that we can "take liberties" with the Word of God according to this view. However, the starving in the wilderness was to teach us that every word ever recorded by God is our food.

Krupto (g2928) kroop'-to; a prim. verb; to conceal (prop. by covering): - hide (self), keep secret, secret [-ly].

According to Peter, baptism is the time and place that our bodies are washed with pure water and we request that God give us a clear conscience or consciousness: we become co-perceivers with SON of the FATHER'S WORDS.

This probably speaks more of spiritual food and spiritual wandering but God is not a consumable product: He provides:

Rubel Shelly: we are not going to be saved by a recipe, cooking method, and shelving system for bread but by eating what we have been given by grace.

Sermonizing and versifying is defacto proof that preachers and musicians reject the grace of God by NOT eating what He has given us without putting it through the Sifter of theology and violating Peter's command that the Word is inspired and therefore not subject to "private interpretation" which means "further expounding."

It is a fact that we are not saved by our own works when we "keep the Word" in commands, examples and inferences. However, God always has a recipe for rain, hail, growing fruit: everything is governed by Law. The book of Enoch and similar writings condemn mankind because they are not obedient to the recipe God gave them. In fact, God will come with ten thousand of His host to execute his wrath on those who refuse to follow the "recipes" of the Divine Will and specificially upon those who kill the Word as Meat by using instrumental music.

Jesus didn't say that the Pharisees were lost because they refused to be baptized.

But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against (for) themselves, being not baptized of him. Luke 7:30

The Israelites did not live by manna in the wilderness because they earned it by keeping the law about manna. Rather, He gave a RECIPE to TEST THEM:

Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day,

that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. Exod 16:4

And Jesus says of baptism that it is not the magic of water but baptism is a "recipe" to "prove them whether they will obey my counsel to them."

And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. Exod 16:5

And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even, then ye shall know that the Lord hath brought you out from the land of Egypt: Exod 16:6

Food is the free gift of God: all we have to do is plant, let God water and let God give the increase. Water is never a PERSONAL GOD but water is the Word of God because Truth brings life and refreshment because it is the Spirit of God or Mind of Christ.

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: Isaiah 55:10

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Isaiah 55:11

Not being perfect doesn't keep one from studying the Scriptures.

Indeed, the only definite spiritual 'worship' word in the New Testament is "giving heed to the Word." Or, as Paul told Timothy, "Give attendance to the public reading of the Word, to doctrine to exhortation." Just what is it that prevents this?

And how is it helpful to tell people that they should not seek Christ in His Word?

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. Ac.17:11

Anakrino (g350) an-ak-ree'-no; from 303 and 2919; prop. to scrutinize, i.e. (by impl.) investigate, interrogate, determine: - ask, question, discern, examine, judge, search.

Rubel Shelly: Third, be careful not to judge God by the latest thing you have seen. When faith is naïve and immature, it tends to demand of God what he has never promised. In other words, the person who could "believe" yesterday because he ate and had a full stomach will be tempted to "lose faith" today if he has an empty lunch box. "What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you?" they asked (6:30). What? Were those people suffering from short-term memory loss? Jesus had just fed the whole lot of them yesterday with a boy's sack lunch. Did they need another miracle - another free lunch today - to justify their continuation with him? The occasional miracle that certifies faith is not a God-in-the-box guarantee that you will get one whenever you have a crisis to face. Even Jesus himself wasn't spared from his crises - betrayal, flogging, humiliation, and death.

And don't forget musical mocking which was part of the prophecy of Psalm 41.

But his Father sustained him through those times and raised him up in triumph over them all. Vindication after the fact rather than deliverance in advance has been the far more common response of God to persecution, sickness, and trials. This is the way faith should and must work, for otherwise we would all "believe" for the sake of the free meals, guaranteed good health, and certified portfolios.

True: How do I know? Because the Bible tells me so! However, the prophecy was that Judas and the musical clergy would try to triumph over Jesus by treating Him as Beliar or the enemy. Therefore, they turned the musical Levites against Him to try to pollute or panic Him into giving up His mission.

Claiming that the musical worship team can help "lead the worshipers into the presence of God" claims that they are mediators. This mocks the life and death of Jesus Who believed that HE was the one and only mediator.

Challenging His Disciples

Rubel Shelly: Jesus challenged his hearers that day to trust him. "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry," he promised, "and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty" (6:35). Then, in contrasting the manna their fathers ate in the Sinai with the bread he was offering them, he said:

"Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.

Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me.

Jesus proved his "Son" nature of the Godhead by listening to the very words He heard from the "Father." Then, He refused to "private interpret" them but spoke what He heard. This was Christ's command to the Apostles and the Apostle's command to the churches. When we try to cut up, cook, season and embelish the Words of God we prove that we do not have the Spirit of Sonship and we feed people "the poison of Sodom" rather than the true food of the vine.

For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. John 12:49

And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. John 12:50

Somehow the point has been left out by "taking liberties" with John's writings as modernists claim that John took liberties with what Jesus taught.

However, Jesus was speaking in parables to the Post-Moderns of His day to hide the truth from them. Jesus did not mean that they would literally "eat" Jesus Christ. This leaves room to ignore the Words of Jesus and "eat" Jesus in some mystical way. However, reaching this conclusion proves that the preachers have not been able to even hear Jesus speak.

For those "with ears" Jesus later spoke of spiritual food:

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63

Therefore, the Words of Jesus is the food which is prescribed to the elders who must "teach the Word as it has been taught." And it is what Jesus and Paul prescribed for the TEACHING passages which are not primarily singing passages.

Rubel Shelly: This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever" (6:53-58).

The sermon is billed as: Jesus: The Bread of Life (John 6:1-71). However, it actually ends at verse 58. From that, the bread is interpreted as Christ Himself.

However, this is the cut-off point for those to who Jesus refused to speak.

So far, Jesus has spoken in parables to hid His Spiritual meaning to those who could never hear Him because they have made some fatal, beyond redemption, blaspheming of the Spirit which is to belittle Jesus by belittling His Word.

The Apostles ask for an interpretation and Jesus gives them one.

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63

But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. John 6: 64

Not believing what Jesus has JUST REVEALED and refusing to teach it is a betrayal of Christ by betraying His Word and substituting another conclusion.

And in the words of Paul "fools love to be fooled."

Just what is it that came down from the Father to the Son? By sending the Living and Spoken Word, God did the only "work." He sent the key to the secret garden which the broad way does not lead to:

Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. John 14:10

Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? John 6:28

Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. John 6:29

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Titus 3:5

And be not conformed to this world: but ye transformed

by the renewing of your mind,

that

ye may prove (discern) what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2

Rubel Shelly: Although some would disagree, I am convinced these words are not about the Lord's Supper. The eating and drinking of this text is about the daily appropriation of Christ as one's life and nourishment. Eating and drinking in this passage constitute a powerful metaphor for the nature of faith.

No one will eat or drink what he cannot trust; no one will enter life who does not trust what God has done through Christ above material things, more than religious ritual, and beyond what the circumstance of the moment feels like.

Actually, Jesus was more specific: He said that it was a parable intended to hide the true meaning from those who do not trust Jesus because they do not trust His Word.

If you tell your "lambs" that John took liberties and filtered the original stories through philosophical sieves and his own personal agenda, they you just cannot drag yourself over the dead-end, eternally-black hurdle of ALLOWING JESUS TO FINISH HIS VERSION.

But where is the WORD? It is a fact that this is not related to the Lord's Supper. Rather, it is related--if we don't leave out the punch line-to the Word of God as the water and bread which God as the only source of Life has given.

The reason to "stretch out your ears" is that the message is not about physical food but spiritual food: the Words of Christ which He defined as "spirit" along with Isaiah 11:1-4

And to totally repudiate the Post-Modern or Narrative Theology listen to God tell you why:

HO, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Isaiah 55:1

Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Isaiah 55:2

Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Isaiah 55:3

To cut Jesus off with words still in His mouth presumes to "take liberties" and using Narrative Theology make the story end to give us glory.

However, this is dangerous:

For my thoughts (plans, plots and patterns) are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. Isaiah 55:8

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9

Again look at Isaiah who uses the word "as" to prove that if you have attentive ears God is speaking a parable:

For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: Isaiah 55:10

So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Isaiah 55:11

If you tell the parable of John 6, tape up the mouth of Lord Jesus, and make up your own ending you are confessing that you cannot speak for Jesus anymore. This makes the words vain and the preacher a "retailer of watered wine."

Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. Jeremiah 15:16

The gift of A holy spirit is a result of accepting the Words of Jesus and being baptized. We eat the words and our heart rejoices because we finally "catch on" to the Spiritual meaning of Jesus:

And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing. Ac.8:39

The gift of A holy spirit is just this:

Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; Acts 3:19

And thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear: for they are most rebellious. Eze 2:7

But thou, son of man,

hear what I say unto thee; Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house:

open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee. Ezekiel 2:8

MOREOVER he said unto me, Son of man, eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel. Ezekiel 3:1

The manna in the wilderness was a physical container for food: the Word of Christ is the physical container for Spirit power. Do you deny that? Then how could God abandon His majesty and Glory and contain it in a lowley Jew "despised and rejected of men?" Reject the Word and you reject the Spirit.

What Jesus Might Have said if not told to Shut Up.

The problem with Narrative Theology is that we just "take liberties" with Christ because John "took liberties with Christ" and therefore we make a Jefferson's Bible by cutting out the most important point:

When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? John 6:61

What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? John 6:62

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. John 6:63

There is no personal contact with Jesus so how we walk with Jesus in some kind of mystical way is not clear. However, Jesus as "Spirit" means that His Mind is the Mind of God or Holy Spirit. In the "singing" passages the Word of Christ is Spirit or "what has been written" and is the only source of "food" which we can eat. Therefore, if we repudiate the Words of Christ and the inspired Apostles as having any 'recipe value' then we are out on a limb unless we have some kind of supernatural connection with God:

Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. John 6:68

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Ep.6:17

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Heb.4:12

The test of being Christ was that He as Son spoke the words He heard from the Father and did not cut N paste them. The command to the churches was to use the Word of God to teach and admonish. Therefore, if one can minimize the Word and ridicule or BE MOCKERS IN THE LATTER DAYS of those who depend on the Word then the PARABLES Jesus always used to speak to the multitudes (the mega-churches) do not get past the plugged ears and blinded eyes.

Jesus was more than water (of the Word) or Bread (of life): He is also LIGHT. And He has the power, contra Dr. Shelly, to put His Mind or Spirit into His inbreathed Words so that it is the ONLY COOK BOOK WE HAVE. And we have to bake our bread by Dr. Shelly's cook book out of the Post-Modern, Post-Biblical theology or we have to rely on the WORDS of Jesus along with the "seven facts ABOUT Jesus."

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. John 3:17

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:18

And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. John 3:19

Not only the recipe but the method of judging whatever we "cook up" to make our worship vain, will not be judged by PERSONAL NETWORKING WITH JESUS.

I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. John 12:46

And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. John 12:47

He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him:

the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. John 12:48

Jesus put the rejection of baptism as damning because it rejected the consel of God for their lives:

But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against (for) themselves, being not baptized of him. Luke 7:30

Therefore, believe in "faith only" if you wish but the faith which is the work of God is obeying the counsel of God.

Most of the "singing" passages which are really TEACHING passages demand that our public "ritual" must speak the Word as it has been taught because by Christ's power it is the Spirit and Life and Judge of our very lives. Shudder when people cut 'N paste the word and belittle it as a standard for our faith and practice. Why?

For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. John 12:49

And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. John 12:50

This is the Christian Patternism: the Recipe for us. Of the elders as the only Pastor-Teacher of the flock:

He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. Tit.1:9

The Words which we have is all that we have as the basis of Christian faith and practice. If one rejects that then time is very short to quit riding on the backs of widows claiming to be an "evangelist" which God has made into a "located traveling salesman."

Rubel Shelly: Think about it. Some people think twice now before opening their mail. Would you sit down for a conference with al Qaeda leaders and eat or drink whatever they offered? Will you even go to certain restaurants whose low health department scores and food-handling techniques have been plastered on TV last night? When you swallow something, you are accepting all the implications that go with your act.

Don't we use the verb "to swallow" in just that way? Don't you see the obvious metaphor for faith here? "Hey, Rubel, get me five thousand bucks in an hour, and I promise to turn it into fifty thousand in just three days!" says some huckster. And my response? "Do you really think I'm dumb enough to swallow that?"

Paul calls the hupers or super apostles hucksters: seeing godliness as a means of financial gain. That is, they could belittle the Word and mock those who follow the pattern of Jesus to listen to the Father see "ministry" as they might "plumber" and time is running out to get honest with God and themselves.

Conclusion

Rubel Shelly: "Hey, Rubel, you want to go to heaven?" someone asks. Assured that I do, he continues, "Then quit worrying so much about your house or your car or your brand-name clothes.

And don't get so hung up on your peculiar interpretations of the Bible or your church's way of doing things. By all means, don't equate your spiritual situation with your mood, your health, or your job.

Just trust me to make things work right at the end. Will you do that?"

"That's a lot for me to swallow!" I tell him.

"But that's the way it works," says Jesus. "Do you believe me? Can you swallow what I've offered you? I've never failed anyone who has, and I won't fail you."

I don't remember Jesus ever saying that! Isn't it dangerous to your spiritual health to actually open the mouth of Jesus and have Him endorse the theology that "your interpretation of the Bible" is just as good as mine! The church is the body of Christ and certainly 'your way' is as good as 'my way' but it is not as good as the way Jesus defined. He is the HEAD and His Word or Meat and Drink come out of HIS mouth and not ours.

If the entire Bible has put through the Shelly Sifter then it is possible to teach that we should not get hung up on our interpretation of the Bible. If not ours, then whose? Someone is claiming to speak for Jesus and getting paid for it: if it just doesn't matter then Paul is correct: "Fools love to be fooled."

He did not define "church" as a WORSHIP PLACE but as a synagogue or school by His attendance. He narrowly restricted the ONLY PLACE God even bothers to look for us as our own spirit PLACE or mind. The only thing He listens for is our SEEKING HIM through Truth or the Words He gave us.

That is what you get when you begin to hear voices: Jesus still says:

He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him:

the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. John 12:48

Preachers of all persuasions love to fight with one another about who is king billy goat of the hill: which one of US has the best interpretation of Scripture.

Be it known that this is the Heglian dialectic: fight out the extremes but slip in the compromise in the middle.

Be it also known that there is no "office of dominant pastor" in the church. There is no role for preaching which violates the direct command and DIRECT PATTERN of Lord Jesus Christ Who demonstrated listening to the Father and be a faithful Son by not saying: "but, but, but."

Here is how one Apostle put it:

For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 2 Peter 1: 16

For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 2 Peter 1: 17

This was Jesus' test of Sonship: do we speak what we hear from the Father?

And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. 2 Peter 1: 18

We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed (worship word), as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 2 Peter 1: 19

Therefore, Oh presumptious further expounder for wages, hear ye Peter:

Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 2 Peter 1:20

Interpretation is:

Epilusis (g1955) ep-il'-oo-sis; from 1956; explanation, i.e. application: - interpretation.

Epiluo (g1956) ep-ee-loo'-o; from 1909 and 3089; to solve further, i.e. (fig.) to explain, decide: - determine, expound.

Jesus and the inspired Apostles did the Narrative Theology once for all times when they explained the prophecies and gave a death sentence to anyone who would tamper with that inspired interpretation.

But without a parable spake he not unto them: and when they were alone, he expounded all things to his disciples. Mk.4:34

Now, why do we doubt that Jesus just expounded "Christ and Him crucified?"

Why do none of the competing fighters have any authority to further interpret:

For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 2 Peter 1:21

That Holy Spirit was the Spirit of Christ:

Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. 1 Peter 1:11

Therefore, there is no "preaching" to the saved in the sense that this sermon has been made up:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching (preaching) and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Col 3:16

* * * * * * *

Max Lucado: Behold, a beggar went into a bakery and said, "Sir, I'm starving - along with my family. Would you take pity on me and give me some of your bread?"[1]

Moved with compassion, the baker asked the man to sit down with him at a tiny corner table. He came to the table with arms loaded with books and manuals - and proceeded to explain the fine points of winter wheat, the process of milling, and the calorie and carbohydrate values of bread. He insisted on taking the beggar behind the counter and showing him his ovens - explaining that they were the best money could buy. He then explained in great detail the role of yeast to baking. And he became animated to the extreme in warning the man against the dangers of eating bread from certain shops along the same street as his, for their recipes were corrupt

and their bread far less nourishing - if not utterly dangerous by virtue of unauthorized chemicals and preservatives they used. He warned again and again that the bread from those shops wasn't made "by the book" - a phrase that seemed very important to him.

[1] The conclusion to this sermon is an abbreviated and adapted version of a parable by Max Lucado in A Gentle Thunder (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1995), pp.41-42.

Remember that the thesis behind this sermon is that John constructed his own narrative based on old documents and the philosophical sifter to invent such terms as the LOGOS and apply it to Christ. However, we showed that John claimed to be an eyewitness and that the Hebrew DABAR first appears in Genesis.

Therefore, real life, Rubel Shelly actually explains Amos 5, 6 and 8 where they didn't follow the book but "colored" the S.U.N. and STARRY host in the colors of true religion. They even "baptized" the red hot arms of Molech with the blood of "children roasting on an open arm" while the musicians praised the S.U.N. god and the Sister Singers sang and the child's screaming was "colored" into the voice of Molech eating the food and relishing the joyful screams of the dying children. These screams and music also kept the priest and "congregation" from hearing the horrorable noises now baptized as "praise songs."

My Parable of Max Lucado's Parable

Now, here is my parable which defines CHURCH as holy entertainment rather than synagogue: the School of the Bible with the worship left in the individual spirits or minds so that we don't let Sister Levitical Singers intrude into the Most Holy Place with me and God alone and get run through with the Sword of the Spirit:

Behold, a member went into a church and said, "Sir, I'm starving for the Word - along with my family. Would you take pity on me and give me some of MY OWN bread you have been stealing from the Lord?"

HEAR this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink. Am. 4:1

Moved without compassion, the preacher asked the man to sit down in his audience on a tiny pew. He had already, at his wife's instigation, come to the begger's table and took up a forced collection (tithe) so that the man was hungry for loss of stolen bread but dying because of another holy hunger.

Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, Amos 8: 4

Saying, When will the new moon (or Jubilee) be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat,

making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? Amos 8: 5

That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat? Amos 8: 6

You cannot buy the seekers without making the ephah small and the shekel great. You are restrained from feeding them healthy food because that will not attract the masses: Jesus knew that and therefore did and probably still makes it absolutely certain that where the masses flock he will inspire the "feeder" to with hold the true water of the word.

In this way, he can BUY THE POOR of spirit just by having an Apollo-like (Abaddon, Apollyon) Seeker Center to feed them some "holy entertainment." Isaiah warned about getting pregnant on chaff and giving birth to straw:

You conceive chaff, you give birth to straw; your breath is a fire that consumes you. Isaiah 33:11

The peoples will be burned as if to lime; like cut thornbushes they will be set ablaze." Isaiah 33:12

With his mind loaded with the latest books and manuals and Cosmic Parables about a new style worship he had learned at the "rising up to play workshop at Mount Nashville," he proceeded to preach about the fine points of Canaanite "goddess" worship, the process of grinding (grinders were concubines) and the calorie-stripped but sweet Sister Singer Elder Bakers just oozing female sexual authority: Authentiia both erotic and murderous.

And he said, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the Lord unto me,

The end is come upon my people of Israel;

I will not again pass by them any more. Amos 8:2

And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, saith the Lord God: there shall be many dead bodies in every place;

they shall cast them forth with silence. Amos 8:3

He insisted on taking the hungry member to a fertility festival (Jubilee) and showing him how to "raise holy hands" - explaining that these were best facilitators (manipulators) money could buy. He then explained in great detail the role of yeast in making new wine from the begger's stolen grapes. Just ignore the hunger and come to this PLACE (contra Jesus' statement) and we can get you so exhilarated that you can live on hot air. Perhaps our sister singers can even "move you into the presence of God" where you surely won't need the food and drink of the Word.

And he became animated to the extreme in warning the man against the dangers of eating bread from certain shops along the same street as his, for their recipes were corrupt and their bread far less nourishing - if not utterly dangerous by virtue of being made from barley which contained ergot which could make you 'exhilarated' to make you feel full but fall down drunk or dead. But you do, according to God, have to be minimally smart enough to know that not all BREAD or WINE is equal just because you "baptize" it with the name:

For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges. Deut 32:31

For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter: Deut 32:32

Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps. Deut 32:33

So, do be careful what you get when you reach out your hand--especially if he has colored the serpent as bread:

If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Lu.11:11

He warned again and again that the bread from those shops wasn't made "by the book" - a phrase that seemed very important to him.

To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. Is.8:20

And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day: Amos 8:9

And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. Amos 8: 10

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,

but of hearing the words of the Lord: Amos 8: 11

"By the Book" Seemed very important to God through Amos."

During this rather lengthy process, the member dared to interrupt more than once to say, "But, sir, I'm so very hungry. Perhaps I could hear a few words as they were written to eat and we could pursue the topics of YOUR drinking my wine from my new wineskins, having sex with the holy sisters, taking up too many collections from those passing in the streets, playing musical instruments, worshiping the S.U.N. god when you know that people are singing praise songs in the temple but starving in the streets?"

But the preacher droned on about his passion - getting particularly excited when discussing New Wine made from Sour Grapes, it seemed.

After a while, the member rose, turned for the door, and started to walk onto the street. "But I thought you were hungry!" shouted the preacher. "Didn't you come here and tell me you wanted some Truth from God?"

Sure, they always wander from church to church. They don't know that they are hungering and thirsting for the Word of God as Spirit and Life but they know that theatrical preaching and singing is just causing them to wither and die:

And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it. Amos 8:12

Baqash (h1245) baw-kash'; a prim. root; to search out (by any method, spec. in worship or prayer); by impl. to strive after: - ask, beg, beseech, desire, enquire, get, make inquisition, procure, (make) request, require, seek (for).

It needs no proof that you are not seeking the Lord when you are "giving heed to" and admiring the performance preaching out of context, admiring the Sister Singers and little brother singers and Cowboy Dan. You worship whatever you GIVE HEED TO. That is why the Word says to give attention or heed to the Word without the theology down the street.

The pagan idolaters were at Mount Gerezim, one of the PLACES which Jesus made useless as a PLACE of worship. He put worship totally in the spirit or mind of the individual. Worship is devoted to or seeking the Mind of Christ which is the Spirit of God. Singing idle praise songs and "making long prayers" or sermons to "steal the house of widows" was pagan superstition.

SHALL NOT FIND IT. Once the false preacher has made the mental connect between "feelings" and "worship" as in the exhilaration from new wine from new wineskins, it is virtually impossible to ever find the Word again. Indeed, Hebrews six makes this move away from the Word and "religion baked by the Book" the unforgivable sins.

In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. Amos 8: 13

They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beer-sheba liveth;

even they shall fall, and never rise up again. Amos 8: 14

The most ancient connections between "music and worship" such as the Book of Enoch, Book of Jubilees and others makes it certain: once you crawl down from holy ground to enjoy holy entertainment "you have fallen and you will never get up." Therefore, God sends you strong delusions through strong deluders and the "new wineskin" is the place where God Stores Up His Wrath.

He didn't even turn to reply, but the preacher short-order cook heard him say, "I think I've lost my appetite. I didn't think that the RECIPE for bread called only for the husk and bran and dust."

"Harrumph," said the preacher-baker. Didn't you hear about "narrative theology." That means that we can take anything we like and "baptize" it or "color" it as food and sell it because Amos said that SOME people believe there are no recipes for ephahs:

Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? Amos 8:5

buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat. Am.8:6

So, you see, as Post-Modern Preacher-Baker this is my proof-text to filter Amos through my No Recipe Formula and just turn it upside down. To bad, sucker, but my recipe is not your recipe.

So the preacher turned back to his donuts and coffee, but only after a throat-clearing and heart-exposing "Harrumph!" and muttered something to himself about how sad it is that the world just doesn't seem to be hungry for the bread of death anymore.

I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. Amos 9:1

Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down: Amos 9:2

And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them: Amos 9: 3

Harrumph!! Perhaps the world has no holy hunger for Christ because it has no holy hunger for His Words which He defined as the Food and Drink for the Christian.

Perhaps there are too many preachers in the pulpit when they should be bakers in the kitchen. If a baker does not follow the recipe then he will not make bread: if we do not give heed to the prophetic words of Jesus we will never be made in the image of Christ.

I can tell you first hand: if you don't follow the book what you get will not be bread. If you do not follow the Word of Christ then you are not a Christian because "walking in the steps of Christ" is a military term: we put our feet where He has already marked out the trail.

It is dangerous to minimize that.

Hear Peter say it again: one does not have to go to MY bakeshop or the one a few blocks down the street we need to keep YOU away from.

We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed (worship word), as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 2 Peter 1: 19

Too bad about Max Lucado and Rubel Shelly having to deal with the not too sure words which have been put through the sieve of time and lost so totally that the only core is seven facts ABOUT Jesus.

He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. John 6:56

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Fathers commandments, and abide in his love. John 15:10

But Paul said that if you seek Christ, you will have to go "outside the camp" or city or temple. It was prophesied that Jesus would not call out huge assemblies and He never did call such an assembly: we went out where the people were. He promised to be among two or three gathered (synagoguing) in His Name (His name isn't "Community.") but I just don't know about two or three thousand.

Eating Christ's Fles is living from the Word as both food and drink. If we deny the value of the Word we have no manna from heaven and we will die in the wilderness.

Rubel Shelly Sermon Reviews

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