(12/25/2015) A Day For Forgiveness?

Because this is Christmas Day, 2015, and a time when we celebrate the spiritual gifts established through the Incarnation of GOD, the topic today is the forgiveness given by divinity.  Our offenses and transgressions appear to be greater to ourselves at certain times of the year, during holidays, and when the overall atmosphere becomes festive (e.g., anniversaries, birthdays, Easter, Hanukkah, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving).  Many become depressed and morbid as they feel more convicted regarding our continuing need for salvation.  Even so, receive the following from the Bible as your special gift from the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and see the discussion below:   Hebrews 1:  1-9, King James Version (KJV):  1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,  2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;  3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:  4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.  5 For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?  6 And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.  7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.  8 But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever:  a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.  9 Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.  May you be blessed in your acknowledgments of Christ this Christmas, in the Sabbath rest that will begin at sundown, and throughout the New Year that will be arriving soon.  A writer using the ID “maurice” (Level 1 with 62 points, December 23, 2015) posted the following at “Yahoo! Answers”:


I know it’s Christmas but can I be forgiven ?

The reason why I ask because I had a bad thought against Jesus and today his birthday and I’m worried idek why would I think this way


THE GOLDEN ARROW:  That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;  Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:  In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:  Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:  For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers:  all things were created by him, and for him:  And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.  For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;  And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.  (Colossians 1:  10-20, KJV)


THE DOUBLE DAGGER:  African American Christmas? (12/15/2015); The Scale of Salvation? (12/13/2015); The Process of Forgiveness? (10/21/2015); To Err is Human? (07/24/2015); A Christmas Message, 2014 (12/25/2014); Are Holidays Bad? (11/16/2013); Denying GOD by Eating Shrimp? (11/17/2013)


“maurice”, today, mature Christian believers around the world are acknowledging the gifts we have received for the cleansing, healing, and perfection of mankind by divinity appearing in the person of Jesus Christ.  The Creation of GOD (both heaven and earth) has become defiled and imperfect through the operations of sin.  Final judgment, mortality, and that humans all die, is a result of sin being among us.  Sin opposes the continued existence of divine law, of the divine Law Giver, and of the Creation that responds to divine law.  Sin is now a permanent condition for human expression, and can not be eliminated without divine intervention on a cosmic scale.  Through the life of Christ—his birth, suffering, death and resurrection—his disciples now receive special deposits of divine substance (we say, breath, life essence, spirit, word).  In water baptism (i.e., death and burial of ones inborn spirit; rebirth from divine DNA, so to speak) believers are “born again.”  All receive inseparable aspects of the divine makeup (such as faith, holiness, longsuffering, love, wisdom and wrath against sin).  Those  born again must gradually grow up, and mature again by meeting the same life challenges as all others upon the earth. Our “growing pains” are tolerable because we have assurances and promises from GOD that include praises, prayer, proclamation, and prophecy.  Consider again the following that you may have read in your Bible:

(1.)  Isaiah 9:  6, King James Version (KJV):  6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:  and the government shall be upon his shoulder:  and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

(2.)  John 18:  36-38, KJV:  36 Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world:  if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews:  but now is my kingdom not from hence.  37 Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.  38 Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all.

(3.)   John 16:  27-29, KJV:  27 For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.  28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world:  again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.  29 His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb.

There are many other ideas that should be carefully considered, correctly understood, and made a part of ones own spiritual development, here.  (For example, (4.)  1st Timothy 1:  15-17, KJV:  15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.  16 Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting.  17 Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.)  Even so, I trust this fragment will be useful.  Be it unto you according to your faith.

THE BLACK PHOENIX
Washington, DC

(08/21/2014) Poem—Ferguson, MO 2014

August 9th was my birthday, however, it also was a Sabbath.  I spent most of my celebration hours acknowledging the Creator, and being refreshed after his word, his will, and his way.  The difficult events in Ferguson, Missouri were not brought to my attention right away (my heart was being drawn to Hamas and Israel); and now that they are threatening greater ruin than men may manage without GOD, I’ve chosen to share some of my thoughts in a way that challenges a reader to stop, and think.  Those of us who carried out and endured the losses of earlier days are still willing to call for justice, only, not as a lynch mob, a street gang, suicidal thugs, or a pack of roaming marauders.  Having been taught by our being there, we understand, it is an unexplainable loss of all control.  Psychotic breaks (we say, nervous breakdowns) can be the sign of a broken heart and a broken spirit, and the beginning of a breakthrough from GOD.  For the broken all require what only GOD can do.  Because an unarmed teenager was shot in the back, and then gunned down while facing the police officer holding both hands up in surrender, many want to make this the longest and hottest summer of them all.  In memory of Michael Brown, we also say, let us do all we can to make it the very last of its kind in this our Nation.

THE LONG HOT SUMMER:  Ferguson, Missouri, 2014

The fireflies used to light up the night
Just like they’re spose to do come summer
The easy insect songs in darkness
Sparkling like rhinestones sprinkled
Cross the shirt of one of those
Country, western singers
The mosquitoes and the June bugs made no hollar
Yet, the katydids woke up and claimed
That all Creation now is theirs.

How can it be that those so long asleep
May now declare all season, wisdom
Life and blood at their own discretion
With alien sounds no longer outside
But spilling all over the house
Jubilee canceled, unfinished marches for rights
Or freedom, ignoring that justice and outrage
Are now aligned against themselves, the search for summer 
love, and they should be doused in ice water challenge.

The dead are not mourned as if loved or alive in their hearts
The living are not obeyed as if guides to a dream of safety
A jar of ice water, and a breeze from North to South
Unfiltered by the mesh screen, the TV by the window so’s you 
Can see and hear when you sit out on the porch
The steady sounds of rockin chair, or that old love seat
Swing from granddad’s day where, in spite of poverty
We grew up.  The memories of summer where the gas blown 
Up from down in the town now choke one with sorrow.

How can men be satisfied with no more than the knowledge
That their minds and hearts are right
That they have built their home without lies
Without murders, without failing and railing against GOD
How can a man believe himself of value without swearing
Against government, law, patience, and forgiveness
Or look into the face of those to whom his life is pledged
Having created nothing better than a Black Ku Klux Klan
Or a cesspool of godless and lawless liars?

The locust fill the night with plagues, and moans, and fear
Why is there judgment against our quiet days
Surely the burning past that now engulfs the concrete
And the blacktop will soon engulf our future fields
Like rockets launched by Hamas to alter GOD’s
Perpetual divine.  Sleepless, temporarily insane
The problem is some must embrace the problem
The long hot nightmare travels through the mind
The insomnia of riot follows rage.  Cherchez le femme

©Michael Andrew Williams, 2014.  All rights reserved.

There is far more to be said, correctly understood, and spiritually apprehended.  (For example, consider again Isaiah 3:  10-12, Isaiah 5:  13-24, Jeremiah 4:  13, Lamentations 5:  15-17, Luke 11:  52 and Luke 17:  1, KJV.)  Even so, I trust this fragment will be useful.  Be it unto you according to your faith.



THE BLACK PHOENIX
Washington, DC

(03/10/2013) Not Even Sorry?

My older brother Howard’s birthday is today, my older sister Barbara’s birthday, tomorrow, while my younger sister Cheryl celebrated another year toward the first part of March.  Forgiveness and grace are in view, today, along with more on accepting limits set by GOD.  A “Yahoo! Answers” writer using the ID “K” (Level 4 with 4,422 points, a member since June 12, 2010) posted the following:

How can you forgive someone who is not even sorry?
And not only that, but blames you for what they did?
I feel it is best just to separate myself from such people.
What is your view on this?

Additional Details
No actually, it's very right. The Bible talks a lot on forgiveness.

THE BATTLE AXE:  Wanting to Have Our Way (03/09/2013)—As children we often enjoy stories of heroes that have “super powers” allowing them to do fantastic deeds.  We wish that we ourselves could see through walls, run as fast as the speed of light, or fly without the aide of machinery.  Even so, most children accept that having such skills are not truly part of human reality; and we are not discouraged from doing the best we can to fulfill our own human potential for becoming a respected adult.  Similarly, Christian believers must acknowledge limitations of both divine and human reality whereby created beings and living creatures have a continuing place in the presence of Eternal GOD.  All human beings are not in the same peculiar relationship to the Creator as sons and daughters, and children of GOD.  Standing and status as those adopted, reborn, redeemed or saved is granted only to those containing and embracing Jesus Christ within their own awareness and spirit person.

THE GOLDEN ARROW:  But ye are they that forsake the LORD, that forget my holy mountain, that prepare a table for that troop, and that furnish the drink offering unto that number.  Therefore will I number you to the sword, and ye shall all bow down to the slaughter: because when I called, ye did not answer; when I spake, ye did not hear; but did evil before mine eyes, and did choose that wherein I delighted not.  Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty:  behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed:  Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.  And ye shall leave your name for a curse unto my chosen:  for the Lord GOD shall slay thee, and call his servants by another name:  That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.  (Isaiah 65:  11-16, King James Version)

THE DOUBLE DAGGER:  Unless You Repent (03/05/2013); The Childhood of Jesus? (03/06/2013); Does Everyone Go To Heaven? (10/28/2012); Magick and Prayer? (10/29/2012); Father Forgive (09/06/2012); By Grace (09/04/2012); Apostasy Forgiven? (08/15/2012); Scriptures To Reassure (03/05/2012); To Save Jesus? (03/12/2011); Having Life? (03/13/2011); Forgiveness? (12/07/2010); Conspiracy? (12/08/2010)

Mature Christians understand that bestowing and expressing forgiveness are operations from the Spirit of GOD, and are not motivated by (1) feelings of affection, compassion, fear and guilt; (2) close relationship with or detailed knowledge of another person’s motives, their past, or their future; (3) determinations and outcomes of truth-finding (i.e., judgment).  Forgiveness proceeds as an operation of grace through faith and may appear because one is in obedience, sympathy, or spiritual understanding.  Those who seek forgiveness must also practice forgiveness.  (See Ephesians 2:  8-9, Mark 11:  26, KJV.)

As a spirit substance that resides within Almighty GOD, forgiveness is inseparable from such aspects of Divine Person as faith, holiness, humility, joy, longsuffering, love, wisdom and wrath against sin.  Forgiveness does not itself eliminate sin; however, forgiveness can be regarded as a peculiar sacred seed that, once planted, encourages spiritual awareness, change, growth and learning in accordance with divinity and righteousness.  Forgiveness has power by operating along with such supports as rebirth, repentance, and sanctification that result from the presence of the Holy Spirit. 

There is far more to be said, correctly applied, and spiritually apprehended.  (For example, upon the cross—before anyone made apology, petitioned, or prayed for forgiveness—Jesus asked that forgiveness be shown to those who had opposed him calling for his death.  Following this example, Stephen (one of the first seven deacons of the early church) became the first Christian martyr, and further sealed this practice along with confession as an aspect of the last rites for believers, and the way Christians go to their deaths (see Luke 23:  34 and Acts 7:  60, KJV).  Even so, I trust this fragment will be useful.  Be it unto you according to your faith.

THE BLACK PHOENIX
Washington, DC