To the Struggling Monastics...

Remember this: Our GOD is a JEALOUS GOD.

HE+ did not call you to be monastic

in order to be with a group.

Rather,

HE+ called you to be monastic

in order to

be with HIM+.

HE+ has placed this call upon your life; you will not be happy until you embrace it. There is simply no way around it. And yes, you WILL feel alone in it... but you won't be because you have HIM+. Plus, many, many others have been called to a semi-hermetic, monastic life-style ... hidden from the eyes of the world... but you can't see them or find them. If you could, it wouldn't be monastic, would it ?

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Yes, you may attend a group from time to time or on Sundays for fellowship... but don't give them your heart. Meet them through JESUS. Keep in mind you are not going for you, but for them.

So, do what you can as a semi-hermetic Monastic.

If HE+ calls you to prayer stations throughout the day, DO THEM.

If HE+ calls you to get up in the middle of the night for time with HIM+, DO IT.

If HE+ calls you to read through the entire book of Psalms every week,

then DO IT.

How little these acts of obedience are

compared to what HE+ has done for us!

Furthermore, you don't need a group to do these

(or some such similar things.)

These are simply

individual acts of discipleship,

individual acts of worship,

individual acts of devotion

which HE+ has called you to do.

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And dear ones, reflect on the outside what HE+ is doing on the inside.

Search HIS+ will and don some kind of a habit.

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Sisters, cover your body in some kind of modest apparel: no cleavage, no thighs. Do what you can do to NOT APPEAR LIKE THE FASHIONABLE WORLD. No, you don't have to look frumpy; be dignified, as befitting an Ambassador of the KING+. Give NO WITNESS to the world and its capricious fashions. It won't kill you.

One way to do this is to dress in solids instead of prints or plaids or stripes. Solid colors give a more dignified, more somber appearance. In the hot summer, solid whites or solid beiges are fine, with tops and bottoms being the same or close to the same colors because that looks more monastic, more separated. Avoid colors which draw attention to your Self. It won't kill you.

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Sisters, seek HIS+ face and don a head-covering of some sort , coming into line with the Word in I Cor. ll. Be brave enough to wear it in public, also, so as to not deny HIM+ in public. It won't kill you. What it will do, though, is set you apart so that hungry, hurting hearts will make a bee-line for you when the coast is clear [i.e., when no-one is looking ] !

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Brothers should also dress in a separate way, covering their bodies with clothing that reflects modesty instead of today's fashions. Solid colors are simply more dignified. Vests are always good. Suspenders help. Shirts with collars (versus Tee's) lend more sobriety.

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The LORD does not want us to learn to cling to each other; that is something we must UN-learn. HE+ does not want us to cling branch to branch, but rather simply to the VINE+ HIMSELF+. Groups distract us; HE+ wants our UN-divided attention... at all times.

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Take heart, little flock. Be of good cheer.

Ye are of much more value than the little sparrows.

Do the Work I + have called you to do, without distress.

You will lack nothing meaningful.

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Resurrection Season - Day 13~ ~ Part 3, In the Heart of the Earth

Resurrection Season ~ ~ ~ Day 13
… In the Heart of the Earth, Part 3
for the Year of Our LORD, 4.4.2008

For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell;
neither wilt thou suffer
thine Holy One to see corruption.
Psalm 16:10


The LORD JESUS CHRIST was quite busy during those 3 days and 3 nights HE+ was in the heart of the earth. Both Scriptures and the ancient Christian writings tell us HE+ preached while HE+ was down there. To whom did HE+ bring the glad tidings?


For to this end also
the GOSPEL WAS PREACHED
TO THE DEAD ONES,
that they might truly be judged
according to men in the flesh,
but might live according to GOD in the Spirit.
(I Peter 4:6, Gk)

TO WHOM DID HE+ PREACH THE GOSPEL?

Using the OGS Expanded Version from the Greek text, look at 1 Peter 3: 18, 19, and part of verse 20.

Because even CHRIST, one time, solely and uniquely, suffered concerning sins, the righteous on behalf of the unrighteous, that HE+ might bring us to GOD, having been put to death truly IN THE FLESH but having been made alive IN THE SPIRIT; by which also, going UNTO THE SPIRITS IN PRISON, HE+ proclaimed, heralded, announced, and PREACHED to the FORMERLY DISOBEYING ONES when one time, solely and uniquely, the long-suffering of GOD Himself was expectantly waiting in the days of Noah …

Scriptures tell us 1) The LORD JESUS in the spirit preached to the spirits in Hades/Sheol, the spirits of those who had died; 2) HE+ preached the GOSPEL; 3) HE+ preached to the disobedient ones who in the days of Noah died in the flood.

An Early Christian, Justin Martyr, found himself dialoguing with some Jewish men. He remonstrated with them as to why their rabbis had removed portions of the Prophetic Scriptures. Justin told them this was cut out from the writings of Jeremiah:

“The LORD GOD remembered His dead people of Israel who lay in the graves; and HE descended to preach to them His own salvation.” The serious group of Jewish men had no answer or excuse for Justin, as copies of the original Jeremiah were still available for anyone to read who cared to do so.

Another group to hear the GOSPEL would have been the Old Testament saints who died under the Patriarchal covenant (before Moses).

“Your father Abraham leaped for joy that he should see My+ day: and he saw and rejoiced,” The LORD said to the Pharisees and Jews. (Jay P. Green’s Interlinear Greek New Testament, recorded in John 8:56.).

The third group would have been all those who died righteously under the Mosaic Covenant. Included in this group would have been those in the Exodus and spoken of in the New Testament as “the church in the Wilderness,” Acts 7:38. Also included in this group would have been all the Old Testament saints during the time of the Judges and Kings of Israel and indeed, all the saints under the Old Covenant up through the death of the repentant thief on the cross.

Some may think that the souls and spirits of the dead were given a SECOND chance, a second opportunity to partake of Eternal Life, when The LORD JESUS preached to the dead. However, we hesitate to agree with that theory. Personally, we believe that HE+ preached to those “disobedient ones” who NEVER had the opportunity to hear about The GOD of Israel or who never had the opportunity to enter into the Old Covenant with Israel before they died. They would have gotten their first chance perhaps? The text is very clear that HE+ preached to a large group of “unrighteous/disobedient ones.”



“Your father Abraham leaped for joy that he should see My+ day: and he saw and rejoiced,” The LORD said to the Pharisees and Jews. (Jay P. Green’s Interlinear Greek New Testament, recorded in John 8:56.).

Whoever they were who were included in the count, could it be that the Old Covenant saints agreed with Abraham’s words in John 8:56 and were also glad to see His+ day?

What could have made them so glad?

(To be continued)


References from the Early Christian writings regarding the groups being preached to in Sheol / Hades (KJV “hell”):

· Irenaeus, AnteNicene Fathers (ANF), Vol. 1, Book IV (4), chapter 22, sections 1 and 2, pages 493-494; and also chapter 27, section 2, page 499. This was the Second Printing edition, June 1995.

· Recognitions of Clement, ANF, Vol. 8, Book I, chapter LII (52), page 91, “The Saints Before Christ’s Coming.”

· Clement of Alexandria, ANF, Vol. 2, Book VI (6), chapter 6, pages 490-492, “Stromata.”

· Epistle of the Apostles, New Testament Apocrypha, by M.R. Banks, sections 27 and 28, pages 494-495.

· Justin Martyr, ANF, Vol. 1, “Dialogue with Trypho,” chapter LXXII (72), page 235.




Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,
neither wilt thou suffer
thine Holy One to see corruption.
Acts 2: 22-27

The Resurrection of JESUS CHRIST
… the most life-changing event in human history.


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