Peace to you. To those who have been following my blog and to those who are new. I would like to speak on the changes to my blog.
First, I want to take this time to apologize for the errors I have made over the past two years on this blog. While learning over the past two years I have run into many stumbling blocks, some I discerned right away some took longer. Either way I apologize.
Today, I would like to speak about those stumbling blocks. When I was led by the Holy Spirit to do this blog Joan the Baptist I was to speak on repentance (I am now repenting). I was to speak on love, forgiveness, mercy, grace and prayer.
I took a little side road and realized I was getting lost. I turned around and headed for home. Today, I was shown where home is. It comes without observation, it is within us.
Let me explain. I have been seeking answers in Spirit and Truth. Our Father has been so kind, patient and loving towards me, HE alone knows my heart. Today, I have HIS peace.
"The Cave" was written by a Greek philosopher, Plato.
Imagine yourself sitting in a cave bound hand and foot in chains. You look only in front of you staring at the dark gloomy walls. You see on the cave walls images which are objects. They are not real just shadows. Now, imagine you are one of the prisoners sitting in this cave, you were born there, you do not know anything different. This is all you have ever known. On the wall in front of you and the other prisoners, who you cannot see, but you know they are their because you speak to one another. You pass the day looking at the shapes appearing on the wall. You see objects passing by. You name them "cat" "girl" and so on. You and the other prisoners are okay with this life as this is all you have ever known to be truth. Then one day you are cut free from the chains, you look behind you, you see people walking by a fire carrying the objects on a stick. The fire illuminated them onto the wall, they were only shadows, but the prisoners thought they were real. Now, you walk out of the cave past the fire and see before you colors and shapes you are seeing the outside world for the first time. Realizing you have been living a lie you rush back to the cave to tell the other prisoners what it is you have discovered. The prisoners in the cave laugh at you. They don't understand what you are saying. They only know what was on the walls. They only know what they thought to be true. Then one day they seek truth. They find the answers they desired to know. The prisoners step out of the darkness and into the light.
I stepped out of the darkness and into the light. While reading "The Cave" I changed the objects on the wall in my mind to the image of a man. This man was nailed to a tree. He has big nails sticking out of his hands and feet. He had a crown upon his head. There was a substance running down his body. He was hanging on a tree with his head bowed. He had a hole in his right side, there was a substance oozing out. The image was a sad one even though I did not see his face. Then the man stopped moving.
I left the cave wanting to know who this man was. I was told by some His name is Jesus. I was told by others his name is Lord. Then others his name is the Messiah, the Christ. More bystanders came up to me telling me his name was Yahshua, others Yahushua. But I asked, who is this man? Who is he? Tell me what he has done.
The people said all in one voice, "HE IS THE SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD" I asked what is a saviour. In one voice they said, "ONE WHO CAME TO SAVE THE WORLD" I said to them , the man I saw on the wall, he had a crown of thorns. The people all in one voice said, "YES, HE IS A KING" I said there was a substance running down his body. In all one voice they said," HIS BLOOD" I asked why? " THEY SAID HIS BLOOD WASHED AWAY OUR SINS, HIS BLOOD GIVES US ETERNAL SALVATION, WHICH IS GRACE" What do we need salvation from? The people all said in one voice, " SIN" What is sin? " NOT OBEYING WHAT HAS BEEN COMMANDED" What are these commands? " TO LOVE THY GOD WITH ALL THY HEART, SOUL, BODY , MIND AND STRENGTH, AND SECOND TO LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THYSELF" Is this what saves us? In one voice they said, "NO, YOU CANNOT SAVE YOURSELF" Then what saves us? " GRACE SAVES US" What is grace? " IT IS A FREE GIFT, THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO EARN IT" Why then do we follow the commandments? In one voice they said, " BECAUSE WE'RE LOVED. WE WANT TO SHOW OUR LOVE IN RETURN BY NOT SINNING" The man on the tree, did he die because he loved us? In one voice the people said, "YES, HE LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE LAID DOWN HIS LIFE FOR US" How do we show we love him? They all spoke in one voice. "TO LOVE HIM IS TO KEEP HIS COMMANDS" Where is he? " HE IS IN HEAVEN, HE SITS AT THE RIGHT HAND OF THE FATHER" I thought he died? In one voice the people all said, "HE DID DIE, BUT HE ROSE AGAIN" If we die will we rise again? "YES, IF YOU HAVE FAITH AND BELIEVE THAT HE IS ALIVE" What can I do to show him I am sorry for sinning? In one voice they said, "REPENT"
My friends, I would like to share with you something my son wrote after our conversation today.
The Mountain:
It has come to be something which is conquered, climbed for the sport of climbing and sometimes to the bloody defeat of its challenger. Ancient cultures understood the mountain as something much different – and the word often carried with it multiple connotations, in spelling and meaning. The Jews have (more accurately, had) Mt. Sinai. Mountains where were the Law of God was delivered to Man. It is the clear vantage point of all the knowable world (sight has its limits), and the great opposite of the den, or cave (or if you’re Jonas, the Belly of the Whale). It is also what was referred to as a symbol of man’s uprightness. Uprightness understands that thought is generally perceived to be occurring in the head, not the feet. The mountain is the symbol then, of thought, the peak of the mountain, knowledge. However, when we, in Western Society, say mountain, we are limited mostly to imagining the physical formation which is called a mountain. The definition provided by science. Our relationship to the mountain has thusly also changed. We are no longer connected to the mystical experience, which is to say, we are no longer connected to the revelation of a Quality of Him in the mountain.
Likewise, by not orienting ourselves to the mountain, as Moses did when he brought down the Laws, we become lost. For example, why does God have so many names? Like Yaweh and Yeshewa, and Jehova, and the Alpha and the Omega that have been boiled down through modern translation to just mean (read!) God. But they all had their own connotations, and each referred to a specific Quality of Him, such as the Alpha and the Omega, referring to our origins from Him, and our return back to Him. The Qualities are the many “I am” statements, and He is those many “I am” statements. The ancient Jews understood.
But the many Qualities of Him, were seen by early Christian sects, as “too pagan.” As if One, multi-faceted God would be too tricky a ploy to pull people away from their pagan practices of worshipping many gods. But the difference remains implied; that ancient pagans worshipped each Quality of Him as being separate from Each Other, whereas the Jewish people worshipped God as the one source of God the Word, and God the Father, and God the Redeemer, etc; All are just the one God.
But why do we not connect with this understanding of God as made of many, who is the One? Because we don’t have access to scripture reflecting the many names of God in some of the most widely practiced forms of Christianity. Because we have put a veil on God, confounded His many names and our understanding of Him. We no longer are able to connect the name, just like the symbol, with its true meaning. We see the shadow on the cave wall, not the object which casts the shadow, and wrongly, we say the shadow is the object. Does your shadow have eyes and a nose and a freckle on that nose? The shadow is not you. The shadow is not the object. The object is the object. Names and titles, like those once practiced, gave meaning to one’s life, to what it meant to be a human being, to understanding more soundly their life as it relates to the Maker. Language hadn’t yet disintegrated, and the symbol/name referred to the ‘idea’, the ‘truth’, the practiced meaning which provided understanding to the individual. I want to refer back to my usage of the word ‘practiced’, because therein lies the key to understanding meaning, that meaning is ‘practiced’ (experienced), not spoken. Our modern society, full of disconnects, full of emptiness and numbness, can be attributed to the fact that we have no clue as to who we are and what we’re doing here. We don’t understand our connection to the mountain, to what the mountain means, so instead we call it a heap of rocks and try to dominate it. The End.
I have kept the songs and some images on the blog as they all refrence the one who deserves praise, love and worship. Our creator, Our Father, Our Saviour.
In HIM with love,
Cassie
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