Was Jesus talking to us now, from the past?

a reply to: Joecroft

The Kingdom of heaven is within…it’s discovered when you realize who you are and your spiritual connection to God…which is always present, even if people aren’t aware of it…

As I have already explained, that is a false statement. While the Holy Spirit has the ability to live inside of us and lead us, the Kingdom of Heaven is only "within" us until the second coming of Jesus. Jesus told his disciples before he ascended to heaven that he was going to go and prepare a place for them/us so that we could all be together again, for those who believed in him and his words. It is not this earth and it's not some cryptic meaning for something spiritual and not physical. While there will be a peaceful millennial period here on earth without interference from Satan and his fallen angels, it only lasts for 1,000 years until the earth is destroyed and is replaced with a new heaven and earth. This is why it is important to read, know, and understand the entire Bible without just pulling bits and pieces of it to fit each person's individual desires and wants. God already laid out the plan and gave it to us, all you have to do is read it.

While we have the ability to develop a spiritual connection with God, it is not automatic and we aren't naturally born with it. You must seek it and understand it for what it says it is, not for what everybody wants it to be.

a reply to: Deetermined

Originally posted by Deetermined
While it is true that everyone has access to the Holy Spirit, it doesn't mean that everyone will believe or accept that.

Didn’t you read anything I just wrote…

People are just not aware of it…They only become aware after they seek that truth out…Like I said in last post, Religion is just meant to be a guide to help people get there…Problem is, most get trapped in religion because they never truly sought real truth...

Originally posted by Deetermined
You can't take the Bible that introduces and explains who and what the Spirit is and highjack it to create your own faith or religion on what it is. At that point, you might as well go write your own book if you're not going to listen to what Jesus says about it in the Bible.

Again, didn’t you read anything in my last post…Jesus was warning against Religion…I even mentioned the verses (Matthew 23:15)…

What I outlined in my last post has nothing to do with Religion…and everything to do with Spiritual truth. To say I’m creating a Religion is to completely misunderstand my entire last post…last thing this world needs is another religion…

Spirit is universal because it’s what gives people life…Ever considered what your Soul is made of…?

Originally posted by Deetermined
To say that the Spirit is universal and that all have it, is untrue. The Spirit speaks truth and the Spirit says that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. So, to say that you don't have to be "Christian" or a follower of Christ to receive the Spirit is also wrong.

In John 17 Jesus prays, that “they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you.”

How can people become one with the Father in Spirit, if they don’t have a Spirit already themselves…?

Originally posted by Deetermined
As I have already explained, that is a false statement. While the Holy Spirit has the ability to live inside of us and lead us, the Kingdom of Heaven is only "within" us until the second coming of Jesus.

No…That’s just the Religion talking…The Spirit leads to the understanding of the Kingdom within…That’s why veres talking about becoming “born again” say that it’s necessary in order to see/understand the Kingdom within…

If you think the Kingdom within is only coming until Jesus supposed second coming… then perhaps you can try to explain away these verses …

Luke 9:27
27 “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

Mark 9:1
9 And he said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power.”

Are some of those gathered during Jesus speech…still alive and wandering the Earth for 2000+ years, waiting until the second coming of Jesus before they can know the Kingdom of Heaven is "within"…really…???

Or is it not more likely that it was a Spiritual Kingdom that they came to know and understand within themselves, before finally living out normal lives and then passing on etc…

I made This thread ages ago about how the word “see” can sometimes be interpreted as “understand”…as in knowing/understanding that the Kingdom is within now…as opposed to “seeing” the Kingdom at a later date…

Also no one can see the Entire infinite Kingdom of God…as in literally “see” all of it imo…but one could become to understand that one is a Spiritual being within it…

Originally posted by Deetermined
Jesus told his disciples before he ascended to heaven that he was going to go and prepare a place for them/us so that we could all be together again, for those who believed in him and his words.

Jesus also said that in His Fathers house there are many Mansions…which in my interpretation means many worlds…which all exist within the entire Kingdom of God…All of it together is collectively the Kingdom of God…including here on Earth…

Originally posted by Deetermined
While we have the ability to develop a spiritual connection with God, it is not automatic and we aren't naturally born with it. You must seek it and understand it for what it says it is, not for what everybody wants it to be.

Yes, you must seek it out; but a true seeker for truth doesn’t just accept things as being “true”…Knocking on the door is really about asking the right questions…and asking the right questions comes from a heart that is truly seeking…If you haven’t put your whole Heart, Soul and Mind into seeking, then you’ve never really searched for God in your entire life!

People are just taught to accept the text and that’s it. That was the same reason that Jesus was rebuking the Pharisees for in Matthew 23 i.e for making people follow a religion blindly. They just made people accept the scriptures, while the true understanding required was denied to the people.

Christianity is just a continuation of the Pharisees…Jesus said call no one Rabbi, for you have one Teacher etc…Names Like Rabbi, Pope, Bishop are just different names with the same function.

- JC

a reply to: Deetermined

"That's because God possesses foreknowledge."

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew YOU". Not everyone, not everything (aka foreknowledge). Consider Jesus warning to believers in Matthew 7:21-23 "I knew you not". I suspect Jeremiah 1:5 is really saying that Jeremiah knew God before he was born. That in previous life he was already spiritually awakened, He was reborn to help the masses find God. Similar to Matthew 11:7–14 in which Elijah is reborn as John the Baptist.

I am not suggesting reincarnation of mind and body (flesh). What is reincarnated are our unfulfilled egotistical desires (aka sins). We are reincarnated in the lake of fire until the only desire remaining is to unite with God.

a reply to: Smigg

But are we of the Father? I feel we have two natures. Our spiritual nature (lets call it Adam) is made in Gods image yes. But our material nature (lets call that Eve) is controlled by the serpent that being the reptilian part of our brain. Our free choice is to either exist as Adam or Eve. The vast majority of us including myself exist as Eve. To experience relative truths in the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Allowing us to ultimately experience enlightment through our sensations.

So when someone causes the greatest sin against your being. See that as a positive to learn the true meaning of forgiveness.

a reply to: Joecroft

While I understand your beef about certain "religions" not following the Bible, they don't make up Christianity as a whole. In my opinion, anyone who believes and understands the words of Christ are "Christians" whether they belong to any church or not, so you are labeling me as something I'm not. I don't practice religion blindly. I read the Bible so that I understand as much of what God wants us to know about him as has been told. That's it. I don't cherry pick certain verses and twist them to my own beliefs, because I've read the whole thing in order to be able to put all of it into context. I do so because I believe that anti-Christs will come and twist the message in order to try and lead us into false beliefs, just like the Bible says. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees because they mistreated people and were probably trying to twist the Bible to do it. (Which is why it's important to know what it says. If you don't, how will you know if you're lied to?) With that said...

You misunderstood what I was saying about the kingdom within. While the Holy Spirit has the ability to live within us while we are here on earth in order to guide us (without religion), it is only necessary until Jesus comes to reign a second time. After Armageddon, there will be a period of 1,000 years on earth in which Jesus will fulfill God's covenant with the Jews. Explaining what the millennial kingdom will be like and who all will be present in it makes for another thread, so I'll skip all that. When Jesus told some of them that they wouldn't taste death until they see the kingdom of God, he was talking about the second death. Those he was talking to are already dead in the human physical sense, but they won't die a spiritual death until after they've been judged. The Great White Throne Judgement doesn't take place until after the millennial period or "millennial kingdom" is over. After everyone has been judged, the heavens and earth will be destroyed and replaced with a new "Kingdom of God" that Jesus said he was going to prepare for us so that we could all live together with God in all of his glory and not just the Holy Spirit.

In John 17 where Jesus prayed to God in hopes that everyone would become one, like him and his father, the beginning of that chapter tells us who he was speaking about...

John 17:6-9

6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 8 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me. 9 “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.

As shown above, the people who become one with Jesus and God are believers who understand that Jesus came from God and that God sent him to save them. Jesus does not pray for "the world but for those whom" God has given him, which does not include everyone walking on the earth today. So, when someone uses the term "universal", which is meant to imply complete inclusion of mankind, it is a mistake.

originally posted by: glend
a reply to: Deetermined

"That's because God possesses foreknowledge."

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew YOU". Not everyone, not everything (aka foreknowledge). Consider Jesus warning to believers in Matthew 7:21-23 "I knew you not". I suspect Jeremiah 1:5 is really saying that Jeremiah knew God before he was born. That in previous life he was already spiritually awakened, He was reborn to help the masses find God. Similar to Matthew 11:7–14 in which Elijah is reborn as John the Baptist.

I am not suggesting reincarnation of mind and body (flesh). What is reincarnated are our unfulfilled egotistical desires (aka sins). We are reincarnated in the lake of fire until the only desire remaining is to unite with God.

Sorry, glend, none of that made any sense to me. The Bible tells us that the Lake of Fire is eternal separation from God, so there is no reuniting with God after that.

a reply to: Deetermined
Nothing is separate......

The wholeness is God.

The belief in something other than there actually is is caused by concepts words and symbols......idols that it says in the bible that should not be made.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers ...

Do you believe that you are something separate?

The one life is alive.... it's ever present.
But words and language are believed in.

a reply to: Itisnowagain

We already know that you live in your own little world where language is confusing and why you make no sense.

a reply to: Deetermined

We already know that you live in your own little world where language is confusing and why you make no sense.

We know do we?
It makes no sense to you......don't pretend there is more than one of you.

"Direct Experience & The Deeper Nonconceptual Knowing"

a reply to: Deetermined

Thats because you still believe you are flesh so you comprehend scripture from that viewpoint, Understand that the dust from which the flesh is made remains eternally in the lake of fire. If we desire to remain as flesh we will continually witness the death and rebirth of the flesh. So reincarnation is both true and untrue depending on our viewpoint. From the view point of the flesh its untrue (our body and mind only lives once). Yet we will still witness the death and rebirth of the flesh for the witness itself, is the holy spirit that resides in the temple that is within us.

a reply to: glend

You've been hanging around Itisnowagain too long and making less sense each day.

I am made of flesh and spirit. The Holy Spirit resides with me during this time while I am stuck here on this earth. A day will come when our bodies are returned to the dust of this earth and our spirits will reside with God where the guidance of the third trinity of God, the Holy Spirit, is no longer needed. We will no longer need God's advocate because we will be directly in the presence of God someday.

There is no such thing as death and rebirth of the flesh. It is not both true and untrue. There is no such thing as reincarnation, only resurrection. After our human death, we will be raised with a "heavenly body" that will no longer need blood, oxygen, food, sleep, etc., you name it. We will no longer be living on the earth. We will be residing in the place that Jesus said he prepared especially for us so that we can live together with the Father/Son in one holy place...and the earth is not it nor will it ever be it. The earth has been corrupted and it will be destroyed with fire.

a reply to: Deetermined

Originally posted by Deetermined
I don't practice religion blindly. I read the Bible so that I understand as much of what God wants us to know about him as has been told. That's it. I don't cherry pick certain verses and twist them to my own beliefs, because I've read the whole thing in order to be able to put all of it into context.

That’s exactly my point….you’ve never truly searched for God, you’ve just accepted what the Religon of Christianity has taught you about God…but that’s not true seeking!

Originally posted by Deetermined
I do so because I believe that anti-Christs will come and twist the message in order to try and lead us into false beliefs, just like the Bible says. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees because they mistreated people and were probably trying to twist the Bible to do it. (Which is why it's important to know what it says. If you don't, how will you know if you're lied to?) With that said...

How do you know that anything is true…For example…How do you know the Bible wasn’t corrupted by certain leaders from the past…

In order to seek truth, you must assume that everything is false until proven otherwise…and you can only “get there” by asking the right questions…

Originally posted by Deetermined
When Jesus told some of them that they wouldn't taste death until they see the kingdom of God, he was talking about the second death. Those he was talking to are already dead in the human physical sense, but they won't die a spiritual death until after they've been judged.

But the second death explanation doesn’t hold water…because surely they were already “saved” and wouldn’t be facing the second death anyway.

And it doesn’t get away from my other point, because they’d still have to be waiting in some spiritual limbo for 2020+ plus years, before they could get to see the Kingdom of God…which makes no sense whatsoever imo…

Originally posted by Deetermined
As shown above, the people who become one with Jesus and God are believers who understand that Jesus came from God and that God sent him to save them. Jesus does not pray for "the world but for those whom" God has given him, which does not include everyone walking on the earth today. So, when someone uses the term "universal", which is meant to imply complete inclusion of mankind, it is a mistake

But we all have a Spirit inside of us…otherwise we wouldn’t be able to come one with the Father in Spirit at all…

Like I said in my other replies…most people just aren’t aware…because it’s something that gets realized by the individual…That’s why John 14:20 uses that exact word i.e. realize…

John 14:20
20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

God is Spirit according to the Bible…

So how can anyone realize they are one with God in Spirit…if they themselves don’t have a Spirit already…

- JC

a reply to: Joecroft

That’s exactly my point….you’ve never truly searched for God, you’ve just accepted what the Religon of Christianity has taught you about God…but that’s not true seeking!

LOL! Stop projecting your own lame excuses for not searching for God's truth on me.

I've learned more about God from my own experiences and from studying the Bible on my own without the help of church or religion. The Bible isn't the only thing I've studied either. I seek the God of the Bible because he's proven himself to me, even though he didn't have to.

a reply to: Joecroft

In order to seek truth, you must assume that everything is false until proven otherwise…and you can only “get there” by asking the right questions…

I'm curious to hear what YOUR definition of the right questions are.

a reply to: Joecroft

But the second death explanation doesn’t hold water…because surely they were already “saved” and wouldn’t be facing the second death anyway.

Jesus was talking to his disciples. You must have forgotten that Judas betrayed him. No, not all of the disciples were saved.

Mark 14:17-21

17 In the evening He came with the twelve. 18 Now as they sat and ate, Jesus said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you who eats with Me will betray Me.”

19 And they began to be sorrowful, and to say to Him one by one, “Is it I?” And another said, “Is it I?”

20 He answered and said to them, “It is one of the twelve, who dips with Me in the dish. 21 The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had never been born.”

a reply to: Joecroft

But we all have a Spirit inside of us…otherwise we wouldn’t be able to come one with the Father in Spirit at all…

I never said we didn't have our own spirit. How do you think we express free will? However, we have the free will to accept or reject God with it. Not everyone will choose to accept him. Those who accept God's words for who he says he is, will become one in spirit with God. The angels have free will too and they will be judged accordingly also. The Bible says that one third of the angels will stray and choose to follow Satan over God.

a reply to: Joecroft

God is Spirit according to the Bible…

While God the Father is an "invisible Spirit", God the Son (Jesus) became flesh. This is how we are created in the image of God, in both a spiritual sense and a physical one.

John 1:1, 14

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God.

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

a reply to: Deetermined

There is no existence save His existence. ... This means that the existence of the beggar is His existence and the existence of the sick is His existence. Now, when this is admitted, it is acknowledged that all existence is His existence; and that the existence of all created things, both accidents and substances, is His existence; and when the secret of one particle of the atoms is clear, the secret of all created things, both outward and inward, is clear; and you do not see in this world or the next, anything except God. Ibn 'Arabi.

www.onelittleangel.com...

a reply to: glend
This is a fantastic audio book that you might relish.

❤️

a reply to: Itisnowagain

Thank you Itisnowagain. I only had 10 minutes available this morning to listen to the audio book. I will listen to the full audio book tomorrow. I certainly liked it so far.

Hope all is well.