Tag Archives: John

I Wish To Speak To The Entire World

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Super Bowl Ad Clydesdale Puppy I wish to speak to the entire worldIn the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” Judas Iscariot offered marketing advice to the master he betrayed:

If you’d come today
You could have reached the whole nation
Israel in 4 BC had no mass communication

I wish to speak to the entire world

On the other hand, Jesus seemed to be fully aware as to how he wished to speak for himself. The gospel of Luke reports that Jesus had an “advance team” of seventy-two disciples, who went ahead of Jesus to every town and place where Jesus was about to go. Jesus clearly had no problem with requesting people’s attention. The gospel of John reports that Jesus stood up and cried out to the crowd on the last and greatest day of a religious festival of his nation. It’s possible that word about Jesus reached other nations during his lifetime. Perhaps Jesus had more marketing savvy than Judas thought.

I wish to speak to the entire world. I am pondering these things because I have a confession to make. I confess to wanting a Super Bowl ad for the New Message from God. I have already produced the ad in my imagination. It would involve some bits from the revelation “The Proclamation”, with our golden diamond logo and URL showing for the last 3 seconds or so.

I wish to speak to the entire world. Part of my confession is a confession of the deadly sin of Super Bowl ad envy. I have thought “If so-and-so can have a Super Bowl ad, why can’t we?” There are a lot of good answers to that question.

I wish to speak to the entire world. It’s possible that a Super Bowl ad isn’t the right vehicle for the New Message from God. Perhaps it would attract the ambitious and the self-serving. But what is the 2015 equivalent of Jesus standing up and crying out on the last and greatest day of the festival? Marshall Vian Summers said “I will call forth as far as I can.”. A YouTube channel, or a website, is the equivalent of setting up one’s stall in the marketplace of commitments. Is that good enough? I don’t think so. What am I doing about it? Writing another blog post. Is that good enough? I don’t think so.

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Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.

Sir, We Would Like To See Jesus

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we-would-see-jesus-tissot Sir, we would like to see JesusMost of the people in my world are in agreement with the Old Testament prohibition against image-making and image-worshipping (Exodus 20:4-5). One doesn’t have to be particularly clever to notice that using an image to portray God makes God much smaller than God really is. One doesn’t have to be clever to notice that making God smaller than God really is, is telling a lie.

Sir, we would like to see Jesus

As I ponder the Christmas season, I recall the Greeks in attendance at the Passover festival in John 12. They told Philip, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” It is unclear whether these Greeks were “Jews of the dispersion,” Jews living in Greece, or “proselytes of the gate,” Greeks who wished to participate in Jewish worship. At this point, it doesn’t matter to me. What I admire is their proactive attitude in their desire to meet Jesus. I admire their unwillingness to settle for someone else’s belief or testimony. I consider their attitude worthy of emulation.

The New Message from God has some significant issues with historical Christianity, and one of the big ones is the nature of Jesus. The revelation The Meaning of Christmas teaches:

“Though Jesus has been idealized, though his life has been made to be unique and un-matched by any other life, though he has been placed on a pedestal above and beyond every other person, in truth, his life represents the emergence of Knowledge within the individual.”

To idealize someone is to portray them as perfect or better than in reality. In my mind, to idealize someone is an untruth, just as image-making and image-worshipping is an untruth.

I realize that this is challenging to the beliefs and worldviews of many people. However, I’m not asking anyone to accept anything that isn’t confirmed in their own experience. Therefore, it is my hope, it is my wish, it is my prayer, that everyone who names the name of Jesus pray this prayer:

“Dear God, I would like to see Jesus. I would like to see Jesus as he is. I am unwilling to let anyone else’s belief or testimony overrule my own experience. I declare my willingness to do my part for this to happen. Amen.”

It is my hope, it is my wish, it is my prayer that you will follow the noble example of the Greeks who said “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.”

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Welcome to Mystery of Ascension! We are students and advocates of the the New Message from God. We are members of a worldwide community. We seek to assist the world in successfully navigating difficult times ahead. We seek to assist the world in successfully emerging into a greater community of intelligent life. You will also find some poetry. Find out more about us here. Contact us here.