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Many Ways or One Way?

Rosemarie Buxton of Episcopal Divinity School wrote in response to Professor Stephen Prothero’s book (God is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run the World–and Why Their Differences Matter) and his article (Separate Truths) in the Boston Globe on April 25, 2010:

According to Karen Armstrong, the difficulties arise when one religion sets itself apart as the one religion and chooses to do anything to defend itself, a sin that many religions have been guilty of throughout history.

Coming from the pen of a Christian Divinity school graduate, i am very disappointed at the above statement.

Mankind is but one-kind. And so is creation-kind. Can an offspring say that he has two fathers or two mothers? That is not only vulgar but also foolish. That there is but one God, the creator of heaven and earth transcends any sort of debate.

Now, there are a lot of injustices that are going unpunished by the government(s). The socio, economic, political, environmental crisis we are seeing today is testimony of that fact. Justice is not being meted out to all. That is why the Bible stresses on the Day of Judgment, when the Lord of lords and the King of kings will be seated on the throne and render justice to the nations.

Now for this justice to be rendered with equity, there needs to be one law that is self-evident and transcends all other laws. This Law is the Law of Agape Love that Jesus kept and “exceeded the righteousness of the Pharisees” of His time and went and sat at the right hand side of God to judge the world.

“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for His friends” ~ Lord Jesus Christ (John 15:13). How much more “self-evident” and transcendent can you get.

To say that there are other ways or back-doors to God is an affront to the living God who is Jehovah Jireh–the One who provided this Way–an excruciating death for His son the Lord Jesus Christ only in order to fulfill the transcendent AND self-evident truth in John 15:13 as stated above. If there were indeed other ways then God was a stupid fool to take His son through this excruciating death. So excruciating that the Lord’s sweat turned into blood well before He was going to be crucified because He knew what kind of pain He will have to suffer.

So, i believe, after the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bhagavad Gita’s reference namely:

“As the different streams having their sources in different places all mingle their water in the sea, so, O Lord, the different paths which men take, through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee!”

and

“Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths that in the end lead to Me.”

apply to the Lord Jesus Christ Himself–all streams have to end up with Him. In other words, at the Judgment Seat of Christ!

For more on these lines, please read this article especially tailored for an Agnostic or one who is secular: http://truthunleashed.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=20

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China’s methods of subverting USA and INDIA

China made Toy GunThere is an insidious attack by the Chinese–it appears–to subvert India and other non-communist states. A case in point is how the Chinese toy industry is used to sabotage Gun-Control that states like India enjoy today.

I was shocked when i saw this gun in my son’s possession. He bought it by himself in a nearby shop for INR 30 (USD 0.75). It turned out to be a toy gun. I had to explain to him at length how when someone sees this in his possession, they might act in self defense and hurt him. My blood brother Sudeep Motupalli Rao from San Francisco was also with us on a conference to tell him that it is a slippery slope to the real thing. Very soon he would want to use the real guns to get back at someone he does not like. He told him how guns are designed to not merely hurt a person but to kill a life which has survived fifty, seventy years through the world system.

In the United States, it is mandated now to make Toy Guns with a color to reveal that they are toys.  But China, he said, has other ways that are also “insidious.” For instance, jewelery used to contain Lead but when the government banned import of Lead based Jewelery, China is exporting Jewelery that contains Cadmium, which is more dangerous than Lead. Sudeep holds a Masters in Chemical Engineering with a PhD in Environmental Engineering.

Coupled with this insidious attack through the toy industry, China through the Olympic committee  gave India the only Gold medal. Now every kid should imitate Bindra–the sole model for them.

Whether China is deliberately doing this sort of thing is everyone’s guess. China could very well be a puppet in the hands of a much greater force, namely the MNCs. What remains however, is that we are battling against principalities in the heavenly realms to safeguard our neighborhoods.

The first world where most of the MNCs have their headquarters know very well that it is the Standard of Living that determines free flow of human capital back to its roots. They saw the devaluation of the American Dream in the World Trade Center attack. They now want to rub off the same thing on other countries as well especially on vulnerable countries like India where the person who has a voice at all, wears merely handloom clothing, which in their eyes lacks sophistication and therefore an easy target. Khadi served to make India self-reliant during freedom struggle. But in the global economy which is dominated by services, India has to show its clout. I recommend Sherwanis for the Indian political figures and IFS officers rather than the demoted handloom dress code.

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Architecting the New Heavens

(Article adapted from a letter written to all the Shepherds of the Church in St. Kitts and Nevis in the year 2005 of the Lord Yeshua.)

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
…
THEY will build houses and inhabit them;
THEY will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
….”
(Isaiah 65:17a, 21 NASB emphasis mine)
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Heaven is better or worse based on the judgment pronounced on the nation of Israel—the body of believers—in accordance to their collective works. For, as i have always reasoned with you from scripture, it is by our deeds that we are judged. The work of believing in the work of Christ renders us as new born resurrected babes in Him with a minimum balance to our account, canceling our debt of sin. As we go through the process of sanctification we have to credit into our account good deeds/fruit/works so that we may fetch dividends in the age to come. In judging ourselves as i see it today, there is little for that Lazarus out there to quench and feed his spiritual, physical, social, mental, and emotional thirst and hunger. Remember the story of the old rich woman who passed away? When she was received in heaven her limousine was taking her to her quarters. She passed by many mansions which she approved for her living quarters but the chauffeur would not stop at any of those mansions. Finally he dropped her at the ghetto and said, “This is where you will spend the rest of your life because that reflects how much you invested in heaven.” Dear friends, tithing is not applicable to us today for Christ said, “By the standard that we measure unto others, it will be measured unto us.” Remember, we have to exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and the Pharisees who were scrupulous in paying their tithes (Matt. 5:20). Also remember the woman who put two coins into the offering box? Yeshua said of her, “She gave all she had. She is more righteous than all others who gave out of their abundance.” We are to give wholly to God. Everything must be geared in such a way so as to bring maximum glory to Him.

In a human body the mouth that receives the food and fluids, the eyes and ears that receive the word (spirit) and the nose that receives the air, are located in the head. Note that there is no hole in the ribcage for the stomach nor is there any direct access to food for any member to make its own supply. The central heart supplies the blood to the whole body. Therefore, in a one nation under God, Cesar is also God’s representative or the Vicar of Christ on earth. Now, just as we make provision to eat diet and read good books that are especially good for the brain, provision should be made in the democratic theocratic state to receive freewill offerings for the Teacher along with other taxes that the state receives.

Christ prayed for our unity and He does place servants in charge of His household (Jn. 17:23; Matt. 24:45). The Pope is a symbol of visible unity in the Church. God Himself acknowledges that when we are united, nothing will be impossible for us (Gen. 11:6). Properly elected by the body in Christ, it is through the Pope, Christ is lifted up macroscopically (even as we do it microscopically) for everyone to see so that whoever believes after seeing and hearing can have eternal life. He is the moral voice of restraint in the world. You might say theocracy has nothing to do with democracy. Have you not read it written, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all?” That is Democracy 101. As i see it today, each one wants to spread their own empire, not the empire of Christ. It began with Constantine appointing the Bishop of Rome as the head of the Roman Catholic church, and the Bishop of Rome in turn anointing Constantine as the king of Rome.

Dear brethren, those soldiers who died in Iraq in order to spread freedom and democracy have not died in vain. When democracy has had its full course, truth (Christ) will emerge as the victorious One, lifted up and exalted above everyone else.

This democratic spirit is found in Paul too who writes, “There must be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.”

Architecting heaven is Christ’s current business. Paul calls us God’s fellow-workers (1 Cor. 3:9); John calls us Christ’s bride (Rev. 19:7) and therefore we are His helpmate; Christ Himself calls us His friends who know what He is doing (Jn. 15:15); and the Bible is replete with the fact that we are not the children of darkness but of light. After telling us that He is going to the Father’s house where there are many dwelling places to prepare a place for us there, He says that we know the Way where He is going (Jn. 14:2-6 NASB). He is the Way and we can go there and help prepare a place for all of us there. The next crisis is in showing them the Father and in making them believe what He is saying is the truth. Then He says, “If you have known me, you would have known the Father also. From now on you have known Him and seen Him.” Likewise i say to you today, if you have known me, you would have known Christ also; from now on you know Him and have seen Him. Marvel not! But if you are a resurrected child of God, you too can say those very words yourself and mean it from the bottom of your heart. It is Christ who lives in you through the Holy Spirit and is one body with you (Jn. 14:16-18). However, we are all not alike, in that we are all not one member, then where would the body be? But now there is one body but many members (1 Cor. 12:19, 20). Even if you are that tiny toe, you can confidently say, “I am He!” The difference between then and now is: Christ was only one person then—Yeshua the Nazarene; today however, He is many persons according to the measure of each man’s faith. So heaven is what we in Him and He in us make it out to be.

Dear Yeshua, Ruler of our hearts, we pray that you be fully formed in us as the nervous system forms in the human body, so that we may correctly represent you. You who made all this possible by shedding your precious blood, we experience you. Yet we long to see you. Come! Come soon Lord Yeshua! Amen!

Thus says the Lord: Luke 17:12-19; Jn. 4:18; Matt. 23:37-39. Luke 13:18-21; Jn. 3:26-30; Luke 22:47-53 John 6:61-63 NIRV (… The body means nothing at all….); John 13:21 Help us Lord not to be hypocritical and thus betray you. Amen!

Thus says the Lord: Jn. 18:22-23; Matt. 17:1-5