“That they may be one, As I and the Father are one” expounded Jesus in John 17 before his ultimate crucifixion and death. We have woken up into a strange new normal in our world. We went from having plans, going places without thinking and smiling to the various people walking down our city streets to avoiding people, avoiding eye contact and unable to read the expressions on peoples faces. When we tell our children to be careful to remain 6 feet away from any oncoming strangers on sidewalks, our children make an obvious wide 6-foot round circle shuffle around oncoming strangers. I cannot but feel a feeling of sadness when I see children avoiding human contact like it is something normal. Even before the advent of COVID, many were already dealing with terrible loneliness, loss of community and a sense of purpose. In the July 2020 National Geographic magazine, an article states: “We are not made for this new normal. In times of peril, as humans our deepest human impulse is to draw closer to one another, however this new fight tells us we cannot.”  When God said in the Garden of Eden that it is not good for man to be alone, are we being one in purpose as a church community during this difficult time? There are many beliefs, identities and ways of viewing this world, however as a church community we must be able to boldly say that our identity is in Christ and nothing else.

We are called to be lights in a dark place; light is the opposite of dark – a city on a hill shining within the children of light not unlike fireflies roaming in the dark of night. Sometimes in the quite whispers of the night in a city full of lights, fireflies are hard to see because there is too much light. Nonetheless, if you watch carefully, even in the light of the city, you can see them shining in the bushes, reminding us of God’s light. A fight for true light when all you can see is dark light engulfing the firefly’s lovely light. But he resists peacefully. Can we imagine being like fireflies? There is so much information today. Much of it is good, but there is plenty that is not. As Christians, we are in the world but called to be separate which includes being able to critically analyze properly the vast information, recognize the politics and remain neutral while the world battles amongst themselves. Sometimes the fireflies lose their way, however they somehow manage to return to their original purpose and find other lights true to their peaceful cause.

The world is scary and the volatile environment of fear and anger bring out often the worst of humanity. When God declared man in His image, I wonder how far we have fallen from that image and God’s people also get caught up in the intensity of choosing sides and causing division, and our minds veer away from Christ. Our citizenship is in heaven and we must bear witness of that citizenship that glorifies God. As representatives of Christ in the world, we are called to be that city on a hill, blameless. When Paul writes as “Christ is ministered to the world,” (2 cor 6:3-10) he’s saying there’s another way other than hate or anger. Peace and non-jugdmental love towards others is possible, but sadly our own carnal desires unknowingly feed the god of this world (2 cor 4:1-4) who would rather keep us all in bondage rather than allow us to renounce our worldly desires in the hope a new heaven and new earth free of suffering and death. As Christians, we too often fall victim to theses desires in the way of getting caught up in the world’s politics in the hopes that it holds the solution to all suffering. When Paul says to do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind, let each esteem others better than himself (Phillippians 2:3), we must really pursue humility in our actions and speech, and search out the true meaning of empathy. When someone can truly feel the pain of another member in the community and beyond, I believe these are real signs that a person is genuine. If empathy and humility are not evidence amongst those who call themselves Christians, we might as well shoot ourselves in the foot when it comes to witnessing to those who are outside the church. Nonetheless, humility begins with the self and we must never forget to keep our eyes on Christ’s example. In this world of constant disinformation, twisting of words and those who tarnish Christ’s image, we must be able to look to Christ’s example in order to filter, analyze and ultimately forgive those who hurt us.

Too often, the world enjoys shamming methods of past sins and too often those of malicious character abuse the Christian ideal of love and forgiveness even among those who call themselves brethren. Can we call the church a safe place? Can we honestly voice our struggles openly without fear of judgment from others in our Christian community? In the world, the church should be that safe place, that “hiding place” (Psalm 32:7) and yet, I have yet to find a truly safe church free of judgment, and anger. I have often found fear and paranoia of the unknown. A sense of critical thinking and honest discussion seems next to impossible within many church circles. Sadly, I have often found secular circles more open and even showing greater love and empathy for fellow human beings than the church at times. How is this possible? As the western world becomes more and more secular, the innate human desire innate in all of us continues to desire community. When the church fails to be that “hiding place” of safety, humility and love, people will continue to search out a sense of belonging and purpose elsewhere. Obviously, there are lines that must not be crossed morally and doctrinally speaking which may require one to leave traditions and communities because Christ’s ways are not the ways of the world. And yet, when our reactions to the world’s criticisms of Christians are made in a peaceful and loving way, we make a stand as Christ’s ministers in the world proclaiming that there’s another way.

There is no perfect Christian community and there are many who make wrong choices, which sadly affect everyone who say they belong to Christ. Nonetheless, we must embrace those sins made by others in Christ’s name but never become humiliated. As Christ said, it is “by their fruits” you shall be made known (Matthew 7:16). Actions speak a thousand words. It’s not by good doctrine (although it is helpful) that leads people to Christ. It’s how we are a changed people individually which leads to a changed community. We must recognize we are all capable of making bad choices and that it’s more heroic to say, “I’m sorry” than to make the appearance that we have got everything under control. Can we wildly live every day embracing the unknown knowing that we have Jesus who knew no sin, but was tempted in every way like us? We are not defined by our past, however we must learn from our past in so far as how it positively influences the present and the future in order to find a solution. If there are not any solutions to past problems that do not include forgiveness of self and others, we must say good-bye to this sort of thinking, otherwise, we will become unequally yoked with the world (2 Corinthians 6:14). The world under Satan’s influence resists forgiveness and wants to continuously smear past sins endlessly. It is not useful and it is actually detrimental to everyone. Victimization leaves victims in an endless state of stagnation, with no hope in sight. Solution focused, future focused must be our goal, as Paul says “forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13).

Therefore, our identity, our citizenship is in Christ. No matter our past, our bad choices or even the choices of others that tarnish our image, can we honestly say that we follow Christ’s example of humility, love and peace? We must remember that the world will not change. The world’s politics has continuously swung on a pendulum from left to right since the beginning of civilization, and the Christian walk is one of getting oneself off of the pendulum completely. Jesus never told us to change the world, but he did say we must change ourselves first before we can ever hope to change or help those around us in the world. Our actions speak a thousand words – man’s politics will forever disappoint and yet in Christ, we can overcome these uncertain times. Be the firefly in the dark!

When we fear the LORD, we will have a longer life. Proverbs 9:11 says “For by me your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life. Nonetheless, do all the righteous have longer lives when they fear the LORD? I can count a number of righteous people I have heard about who for some reason or another did not have a longer life than many unrighteous person. What does this passage mean? Can God truly give those who fear Him longer life? And if that is the case, why are there some God-fearers who die early, not even making it to 35? Something doesn’t seem fair; God fearers should live longer than non-God fearers. What is the writer of Proverbs trying to say here? Does God actually have a say with regard to when and how someone will die? I am going to say that God doesn’t have anything to do with when and how someone will die. When I look at this passage, this passage confirms how God actively saves us from physical harm to ourselves today and an eternal life in the Kingdom to come. If I had continued down the path I was following, I would not be here writing this blog. I would have been physically or spiritually dead.

Our God is a god of the living, not the dead (Matt22:32). He doesn’t decided when and how someone will die, however, He does actively save today. And its not just a belief in God that gives us length of days. We also have to “keep my commandments” as it says in Proverbs 3:1-2 because we are given “length of days and years of life.” Deuteronomy 17:20 also talks about the commandments giving Israel “length of days.” In the case of Israel, it was very literal; when they followed God’s commands, all of Israel lived. However when Ancient Israel stopped following God’s commands, disaster would strike. It was God who either punished the Ancient Israelites directly or He withdrew His protecting presence from them. The church is currently in a spiritual desert as pilgrims on the earth (Heb11:13), much like when Ancient Israel walked in a physical desert for 40 years. God is calling those today who hear His call to build His church for the coming Kingdom. Christian believers are not the “new” Israel nor are we in the promised land; we are hoping for it in the new Kingdom and new Earth (Rev21:1-4) that God will reveal. God will not physically punish us for not following His commands, however he may withdraw His protecting presence and leave us to our own sinful self-indulgences. God Himself doesn’t need to punish us; we often punish ourselves with our own lust and pride.

Nonetheless, the fear of the LORD should give us the wisdom to learn more about God and in order to learn more, it’s in following His commandments. The commandments give life today and for the new life to come. Often, the acts of the wicked will not go unpunished and their evil acts will punish their future generations. It says in the proverbs 17:13 that “evil will not depart from the house of one who returns evil for good” and Jesus himself says that “all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matt26:52). The lives of the wicked are short; just look at the average age for someone who participates in gang life. I believe their average life span is 30 years! The wicked have no hope of eternal life either unless they truly repent of their deeds. As for those who are righteous and have always been following good doctrine, tragedy can strike anyone and at any time. Tragedy struck Job and it wasn’t his fault nor was it God’s. Death also comes to everyone; people are not better than animals (Ecc3:20-21). God does not control the death of every single life of this earth. God created life and allowed death to exist after Adam and Eve’s disobedience. I believe Adam and Eve were created neither mortal nor immortal in the beginning, because they had unlimited access to the tree of life. However, when they ate of the tree of knowledge, God had to banish them for their own good to keep them from being eternally in sin. Death is a form of God’s mercy for humans, and yet death is the reason we sin (Rom5:12). We sin because we know we will die and this sickness affects everyone, however children are not born sinful. Children sin because they are in a sinful world and pick up on the sinful behaviors of those around them. Sinful behaviors may not explain why children will begin to “sin” at an early age. When I think of my 17 month old son, he has no fear of anything. He doesn’t know that he can get hurt or die, and I will act very differently when he tries to climb out of our four story balcony or put his fingers in electric plug-ins or run out in front of a car. I may yell at him, spank him or get really upset with his “dangerous” exploits. I’m certain he sees that he can’t do everything but he just doesn’t understand right now why he cannot jump off of a building. (An excellent book, called Ancestral Sin counters the Western Church’s idea of “original sin.” The Eastern Orthodox Church prefers to call the sin in the garden “ancestral sin” rather than “original sin”).

Nonetheless, humans are mortal; we will all die one day. God’s angels do protect the righteous (Ps91:11-12), so the righteous do have greater chances than the non-righteous with regard to divine protection in an ungodly world. And yet, injustice often happens in this life that touch the righteous. When it is time for some to die because of old age, God doesn’t necessarily need to prove anything because there is the hope of the resurrection and a new earth. God can add years to one’s life as He did to Hezekiah (2Kg20:6), but it is for His own reasons and in His own time. In the meantime, the righteous have a greater chance at having a more satisfying, peaceful and possibly longer life through following the God of Israel and being obedient to His commandments. Unbiblical traditions and unhealthy doctrines must be thrown out of a believer’s life if a believer truly wants true peace and wisdom in their lives. In so doing, the God of Israel can amazingly change our lives for the better in the here and now.

I have been coming across the “fear of the LORD” often in my bible readings in the past few weeks predominantly because I have been reading the Proverbs. When I think of a “biblical fear”, it is not the type of fear that one experiences because they are afraid of the consequences. I believe “fear” in the bible goes much deeper. The NRSV Study bible describes the “fear of the LORD” as a “reverence and awe; a prerequisite for wisdom.” In order to become wise, we must possess a godly fear of reverence and awe; something that is capable of bringing us to our knees. I find it interesting that when we are in complete awe and reverence for God, we start to truly hate evil in all its forms. When we fear God, we should hate what God hates. The problem may arise, however for some, as to what is evil? Evil for one person may not be the same for the next person. How can we learn to find out what the definition of evil might be? If we do not know what evil looks like, the proverbs often explain some of the various forms of evil, such as pride, arrogance, and perverted speech.

I think for someone just beginning to “fear the LORD,” a person can understand what some examples of evil can be just through reading the proverbs. For example in this proverb, we see that God hates pride, arrogance, a way of evil and perverted speech. It is so easy to become proud or arrogant. There’s nothing wrong with being proud about a successful exam or overcoming a difficult challenge. The problem arises when one begins to believe that they are better than someone else because they have something “better” than the other person. This person may begin to gloat about it, either openly or to themselves. Believers in the true God of Israel can become proud without even realizing it because through worshipping God in the right way, we get blessed. Often, we can begin to think that we were the source of our own resourcefulness without giving honor to God, who is our source! This is the danger of pride. We would rather worship the creature rather than the Creator (Rom1:25). It is terribly easy to worship the work of our own hands (Jer1:16)! Depending on the job atmosphere, there can be much competition between co-workers. Where does our desire to do more and outdo the competition come from? Yes it can come from a desire to do your best work (as it should be), but sometimes, this desire is pushed by the fact that our colleagues are inadvertently pushing us to “outdo” them. This is very unchristian, however, we often do it without realizing.

As for perverted speech, I believe this one can easily slip past our tongues without any recognition. Our society/generation does not think of how our speech can be perverted nor does it even understand what non-perverted speech sounds like. Many people on the street will swear without the slightest hesitation, even amongst those who are well educated. Most Christians I have met don’t swear but I have met a few. Some even admit to swearing at a cashier because they were overcharged for groceries! Many people don’t think about the very common expression “Oh my G-d” as a cuss word. Nonetheless, it is taking the name of God in vain and sometimes I even wonder, which god? Should we be calling on the name of a god whether biblical or not? God never asked for his name to be used because someone got so many new things on sale. I used to have problems with this expression. I even had to be careful with using “Oh my gosh” because I felt it was still the same and it wasn’t truly getting me to stop. It took time to stop using this expression, however, in time and along with thinking before speaking, I stopped using this expression. I give God the glory for helping me.

As for another example about perverted speech, I remember I was listening to a conversation amongst apparent Christians who had just listened to how we must be aware of how the biblical world views stand in direct opposition to the world. One of these Christians made a comment of a sexual nature to another who responded with “You’ll have to pay for that” as if she were a prostitute. Everyone laughed at her comeback, but is it truly funny? Should we be joking about the possibility that she would do what the other was asking for money like a prostitute? Interestingly enough, the person who responded with “You’ll have to pay for that” realized that this was probably not the most proper way to respond. The other person was also equally to blame, although he did not admit to any wrongdoing. Nonetheless, what struck me the most is how easily our speech can become perverted in this society. These ways of thinking and speaking are not of God. In the bible, James says “the tongue stains the whole body!”…it cannot be tamed it is “a restless evil, full of deadly poison” (Ja3:6-8). Just as the “eye is the lamp to the body” (Luke 11:14) so also the tongue stains the body. Therefore, “the fear of the LORD is the hatred of evil,” comes in many sizes and shapes. Hatred for evil can be the pride, arrogance and perverted speech we may find in ourselves or our world. It can also be the world’s injustice. As for today, we must focus on our pride, arrogance and perverted speech. What kind of speech blesses our God the Father and our brothers and sisters in Christ? Once we have calmed our own pride and speech, we can hate the injustice rampart in our world, knowing that the Father too hates the evil ways of injustice. Help us to hate evil as we stand in fearful awe and reverence for our God. Gives us strength to condemn the evil we see in us and around us!

I think as I reflect on this passage today, it reminds me of many other passages that focus on overall wholesome holiness for the physical and spiritual body. "Be holy for I am holy" (1 Pet.1:15) taken from Leviticus 11:44 just after God explains what foods are clean for consumption and unclean for consumption. Peter uses this passage in Leviticus to describe how believers should be holy in their conduct and to not conform to "former lusts." The eye is a very special and powerful organ; it can cause us to sin, however it is not the only organ of course involved in the various sins of this world. Jesus says that "if your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell" (Matt. 5:29). Jesus also talks of cutting off the right hand as well, which should make everyone sit up straight in their chairs. Why would Jesus suggest something so extreme? Jesus wouldn't in fact ask me to literally pluck out my eyes and cut off my hand? It is not the actual eye, but the thing that is causing my eye to sin. The cause is the thing that I must cut in order to have a more powerful and fulfilling relationship with God the Father.

The eye is powerful; we use it to see our world and the various things that are in our world either for good or for bad. It must be said that if we didn't have eyes, we wouldn't know what we would be missing, however, God gave us eyes to see our world. Could God have known that humans would use their eyes to lust, to greed, or to think evil thought? I believe that it would be harder to lust after something that we can't see, however, these thoughts begin with the heart whether we have eyes or not (Matt.15:19). I believe that in the beginning, God made Adam and Eve perfect. They didn't know that they were naked, therefore, they could not use their eyes to lust after each other. It was only until after they ate of the fruit of the tree of good and evil did they see that they were naked and felt ashamed. Why the shame unless it was not because of evil thoughts for one another? Therefore, we are capable of seeing with our eyes in a healthy manner because the first humans were capable before the fall. We can look at our world without desiring everything we see because God has given us His laws and Christ, the light of the world to help us overcome. We can use our eyes to say that something is evil or good, healthy spiritually or physically for our body. Our eye is the first organ to start an alarm system, such as "Hey, be careful." If our eyes are unhealthy or bad, our eyes won't give us that first warning before the sickness of sin moves onto another part of the body to make our body sicker and sicker. Our iniquities can separate us from God, so that He will not hear our prayers (Is.59:1-2). If our eyes are healthy, the whole body is healthy. It is the same for the body of Christ; if one member suffers, we all suffer (1 Cor.12:14-17). Every part of the body of Christ is important.

Therefore, are we using our first defence organ properly? Are we listening to what our eye has to tell us? Healthy eyes will make for a healthy body. The eye is the lamp of our body and it must "shine before men, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven" (Matt. 5:16). The health of our body is dependent on our eyes. How does our body reflect the health of our eye? Does our body have self-inflicted marks? If our body does have self-inflicted marks, reflect on why you decided to place marks on your body. Does our body partake of ungodly activities or pleasures? Does our body have addictions that we cannot cut? Reflection on God’s word and prayer can help us to truly see the spiritual health of our bodies and lives. If we are willingly, God will open doors in order to help us escape our addictions, but first, let us first examine our eyes in order to determine the overall health of our body!

If you’ve ever ventured to do any sort of Biblical research or so much as looked up a word in a concordance, you’ve more than likely stumbled upon the Hebrew word elohim (אלהים). There is a great deal of misinformation being spread about this word. The goal of this article is to clear up the confusion about elohim and reveal its origin, meaning, and usage in the Hebrew Scriptures.

For those who don’t have the slightest clue what elohim means, we will start by defining it according to the Strong’s Concordance:

Strong’s H430 – אֱלֹהִים

[1] (plural)

a)rulers, judges

b)divine ones

c)angels

d)gods

[2] (plural intensive – singular meaning)

a)god, goddess

b)godlike one

c)works or special possessions of God

d)the (true) God

e)God

As you can see, elohim is used of everything from false gods to mighty men, but most often it is used of YHWH, the God of Yisra’el. It is the plural form of eloah (אֱלוֹהַּ) and makes its debut in the Hebrew Bible in Genesis 1:1, which reads:

Literal English: In-beginning he-created God, the-heavens and the-earth.

In this verse (and many others) elohim is modified by a singular verb (this case, bara). Due to this fact, a myriad of Trinitarian apologists have used this as an argument for their erroneous assumption that YHWH is “3 in 1″. Their all-time favorite “proof text” for this argument is Genesis 1:26which reads:

“Then God said, ‘Let usmake man in ourimage, after ourlikeness…’ “

Since elohim refers to himself in the plural “us” and “our”, Trinitarians jump to the conclusion that there must be a plurality in YHWH, thus proving the trinity to be true. This, however, shows how ignorant they are of the Hebrew language. No Hebrew grammarian would dare make such an asinine claim! YHWH is refered to over 20,000 times in the Tanakh with singular pronouns. Not to mention the hundreds of passages speaking of the uniqueness of YHWH (there are too many to quote here) and most importantly, the Sh’ma (Deuteronomy 6:4).

The passages which YHWH elohim speaks of himself in plural number a measly four. That’s right, only four. Those are: Genesis 1:26, 3:22, 11:7, and Isaiah 6:8. Although, YHWH is not the only singular being in Scripture to have been given a title of plurality. Here are a few examples among many:

1. Behemoth (plural of behemah, “beast”) is modified by the singular verb yokhal “he eats” in Job 40:15. Behemoth, though plural, is one creature and an extremely mighty creature at that (Job 40:16-24).

2. King Artaxerxes of Persia, in his follow-up letter to the Jews, said “the letter which you sent to us has been plainly read before me” (Ezra 4:18). Artaxerxes is one man, a mighty man, a king.

3. YHWH said to Mosheh, “I will make you a god to Pharaoh” in Exodus 7:1. The word for “god” is elohim. Mosheh was a man, not an army, yet he was given the title of elohim.

4. The father if the Hittites called Avraham his lord (adoni) and elohim (mighty one) in Genesis 23:6. Was Avraham more than one? No.

5. The pagan deities Ba’al, Dagon, and Chemosh are all called elohim (Judges 6:31, 1 Samuel 5:7, Judges 11:24), though we know they are individually only one god, not a pantheon or “Godhead”.

This concept of assigning a plural pronoun such as “we” to a single entity is the “Majestic Plural”. It is used to ascribe glory and honor to the one (or thing) to which it is mentioning. Not only is it used of mighty beasts, kings, and gods, but it’s also used of non-sentient nouns. One example is Genesis 4:10. When Cain slew Abel, the Hebrew literally says “your brother’s bloods cry up from the ground”. This is to show the severity of Cain’s actions. Likewise, in Ezekiel 25 YHWH says that because the Philistines took vengeance (verse 15) he will execute vengeance upon them (verse 17). However, YHWH’s vengeance in verse 17 is plural; denoting that the vengeances he inflicts will be much more severe and complete.

The renowned Hebraist, Wilhelm Gesenius remarked in page 399 of his work Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar concerning the Majestic Plural:

“That the language has entirely rejected the idea of numerical plurality in אֱלֹהִים(whenever it denotes one God), is proved especially by its being almost invariably joined with a singular attribute (cf. § I32 h), e.g. אֱלֹהִים צַדִּֽיק ψ 710, &c. Hence אֱלֹהִים may have been used originally not only as a numerical but also as an abstract plural (corresponding to the Latin numen, and our Godhead), and, like other abstracts of the same kind, have been transferred to a concrete single god (even of the heathen).”

There you have it. Whenever elohim is referring to a singular God (e.g. YHWH) it is abundantly clear that the idea of there being a plurality or a “uni-plurality” (as the Trinitarians put it) is totally foreign to the Hebrew language. Such claims are merely cheap tactics meant to circumvent and explain away the text rather than address it head on. So once again the central truth of Scripture stands firm:

Listen Yisra’el! YHWH your God, YHWH is ONE.

Isaiah 43:10 - You are My witnesses, declares יהוה, And My servant whom I have chosen, so that you know and believe Me, and understand that I am He. Before Me there was no El formed, nor after Me there is none.