Breaking Bad

I think the new popular word for syncretism is “ecumenism”, and it has taken the religious world by storm. If we think that it will not affect us, we could not be more wrong. Ecumenism is heading our way in the form of “tolerance”, and is being written into all the laws on the planet.

I think the world is trying once again to ‘get along’ without God – in the name of God, mind you – just as long as all the ‘names’ are ‘equal’. Don’t believe me: just go read the UN charter and others. The laws are called “hate laws” and they are crafted so that if we say that any god is NOT EQUAL to all the other ones, it will be labeled a hate crime and we will be “terrorists” heading straight for Guantanamo. I believe Islam and others are just being used to raise our fears (like 9-11) to the point that we will agree with these laws (classic dialectic tactic), little thinking that we are signing our own death warrants. The storm is about to break over the new plain of Dura. Are we ready? Are we really ready?

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2Chronicles 2;4 niv

Yeshua Messiah is our example. He is the way. So, any way that he is, we can be. And that should be our quest. That can be our reality! Not only in our conduct but also in our psychological and emotional well-being. It is possible!

Was Yeshua Messiah ever lonely because he didn’t compromise? I don’t think he was too much, if at all. He may have been relatively alone at times, or even somewhat all the time, in the sense that no one always understood him in every way or entirely agreed with him or exactly lived liked he did. But “lonely” generally implies being sad because one has no friends or company.

Yeshua was in the world, but he was not of the world. He did not compromise, and yet, somewhere it is written, he had “joy above all his brethren”. And so can we, too! Somehow, we can live a life without compromise and not be emotionally lonely. We may lose some degree of intimacy and connection with family and friends, or we may lose connection entirely with some, but we don’t have to feel sad for ourselves because we are somewhat alone, disconnected from others to some degree or another, or even entirely from some people with whom we’d like to be connected.

Oh, we should well feel sad about disconnection, but more so for others who choose to disconnect themselves from us, or from whom we must disconnect ourselves that we would not succumb to having fellowship with darkness.

Messiah was sad for Israel whom he tried to gather to himself, like a mother hen would gather her chicks under her wings, but they would not be gathered, and so he wept over them. Or sad for Mary and Martha who seemed to have lost trust in him because he didn’t do as they expected him to when he didn’t come to them right away as they requested when their brother and Messiah’s friend, Lazurus, became sick and ended up dying. They became angry with him, and so Yeshua wept for them because they did not realize he was more than they had thought, that he was the resurrection and the life.

First of all, Yeshua was not given to emotional loneliness, because he and the Father were always one. He always had the fullness of the Ruach HaKodesh dwelling in him and so he was never separated from the Father and the Father’s love for him as His very own son in whom He was well pleased (until maybe in a sense when he became sin on our behalf during his crucifixion, when Yeshua asked why the Father had been forsaken him, though even that might not have been entirely his reality, for we know scripture says that even if we make our bed in sheol, YHVH is with us).

But also, Yeshua not only had an unhindered fellowship with the Father, he also had his biological family, and many friends, disciples, and followers with whom he had some degree of connection (again, until the end when he was forsaken by many, but that was only such a brief time). There were many people who did, at least largely, understand him, agree with him, and progressively conform their lives to his ways of living, who liked him, loved him, supported him, and were in fellowship with him. Many already were receptive to him and of like soul when he came on the scene, and many others eventually became receptive to him because of his influence on them, and they eventually came into a common understanding, agreement, lifestyle, and fellowship with him.

Now, of course, he was one of a kind, and nobody shared all his understanding of things, knew all he knew, or even lived entirely the same as he lived, and he may have somewhat experienced that as a disconnection. So, there certainly was a good chance that he felt like he was walking this earth alone sometimes, and maybe had moments of feeling a little lonely.

However, my point is, he was able to be in the world, but not of it, to be uncompromising, all the while ALSO being able to have fellowship to some extent, as well, at least with the Father, if not with others. The difference for most of us as compared to Yeshua, however, is that he was able to be in the thick of things with those who were of the world, in the kingdom of darkness, as well as with his family, friends and followers who were not “as far along” in the faith and the ways of righteousness as he, without giving in to any inclination to compromise and be evil in any way to have more of a sense of connection with them, AND without having to become a recluse in order to not compromise himself in unrighteousness. He successfully dealt with temptation, without becoming lustful, whether “lust of the eye, the flesh, or the boastful pride of life”, without being enticed and drawn away into sin. He was able to be surrounded by people in the darkness or even just in compromise, without having fellowship with that darkness or compromise. He abided in the light even in the midst of sinners, even in the midst of the rebellious, the wayward, the weak, and the immature.

Again, he did not have to make himself a recluse in order to be uncompromising. He not only had a Comforter, so as to not be overtaken by sorrow and grief due to some level of disconnection or another from others, he had a Helper who empowered him to always be willing and to work for the good pleasure of the Father by abiding in the truth, in the love of the Father, and in the ways of righteousness, all the while aggressively advancing the kingdom of Elohim in the earth through his words and deeds, and that even with aggressive opposition at times..

So, yes, Yeshua Messiah is our example! He is the way! Any way that he is, we can be! And that should be our quest! That can be our reality! Not only in our conduct, but also in our psychological and emotional well-being! It is possible!

Good FEAST DAYS to one and all!