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Isaiah 45:6 ^c – I am the Lord, and there is no other.

Psalm 96:3-5 –
³ Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous works among all the peoples.
⁴ For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
    he is to be revered above all gods.
⁵ For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.

1 Thessalonians 1:5 ^a – […] our message of the Gospel came to you not in word only, but also in Power, and in the Holy Spirit

Matthew 22:17-21  (GNT) [1] – ¹⁷ Tell us, then, what do you think? Is it against our Law to pay taxes to the Roman Emperor, or not?”

¹⁸ Jesus, however, was aware of their evil plan, and so he said, “You hypocrites! Why are you trying to trap me? ¹⁹ Show me the coin for paying the tax!”

They brought him the coin, ²⁰ and he asked them, “Whose face and name are these?”

²¹ “The Emperor's,” they answered.

So Jesus said to them, “Well, then, pay to the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor, and pay to God what belongs to God.”

Adelphoi – Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord. (← Music Link)

Shedding Light on the Word of God

In previous posts I have told you why I write these essays. It is because I want everyone to be comfortable with opening the Word of God, the Bible, and reading it, and then applying it to our lives. That is why I give you links to all the Bible passages that I cite, and in those links there are at least three versions of the Bible which you can look at and read. If you go to the website you’ll notice the avatar or icon for The Moon Beam Network is an open Bible with a light shining on it. That simply says to you that we are “shedding light on the word of God.” Now, most of what I put down there are things that come into my heart and mind so it’s “my point of view.” My point of view is of course guided by many commentaries and teachings of other people, and I make an extra effort to be sure not to plagiarize. That would be a pretty stupid trap to fall into for somebody who is writing about the Gospel!

So now that we have a grasp of the idea of why we’re looking at Scripture, why did I pick these 4 Key Verses? It is because when I read them it is my belief that those selections are guided by the Holy Spirit, and as I have said many times I am merely transcribing what I hear and feel. Our first key verse is something that is repeated often in the Old Testament. “I AM the Lord and there is no other.” In fact this goes back to Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (GNT)  – ⁴ “Israel, remember this! The Lord, our God, is the only God ⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. To do this, we must be able to see and know what we owe God who kindly opens our hearts to seeing that debt, and then we start singing Holy! Holy! Holy! (¬ Music Link)

The Perfect Integrity of The Lord

And remember, when we see God's name rendered as LORD, in all caps or Lord with small caps, it represents God's primordial, most ancient, and Holy name expressed in the “Tetragrammaton.” (←Very good information.) Another way of saying that first declaration is, “the Lord, our God, is One.” This is what I mean when I mention God's Perfect Integrity – He is ONE, completely substantive in himself, and there is no other Self like his. If, then, we want to serve God, we have to start at “in the beginning” and confess that God is ONE and there is no other. Why would we worship anyone or anything that is not the One, True, Only, and Eternal God? Why would we want anything less than that? (¬ Music Link)  And remember, this declaration by name was given in a Prophecy uttered 150 YEARS before Cyrus the Great (Cyrus II of Persia) – who was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire – was even born!. He conquered Media, Lydia, and Babylon. He brought Israel back out of bondage in Babylon and sent them home to rebuild Jerusalem! Now, who would want anything that was Not-God after hearing and seeing that?

Regrettably, the answer is, “Because we can get any DIY gods we want, anywhere, any time.” As you know, that’s another thing I rail about a lot. If watching sports, taking kids to soccer practice, going fishing, being hung over, sleeping in, washing the car, mowing the lawn, or whatever distraction takes us away from worshipping God in the ekklesia – the community of the Church – then those things are our gods. That is a very straightforward definition of idolatry – which the Lord often refers to as adultery because we are the Church, the Bride of Christ, and (in God's accusations) we go whoring after all that is Not-God in Scriptures, in catechesis, in teaching, and preaching. That is called a major, or grave, or mortal sin. Those adjectives all mean the same thing – they are enemies of our Love for God, because they conceal from us the sheer Love in which, and by which, God calls us to be part of his Creation which inevitably culminates in spending Eternity with, and in, him.

Worst plan EVER

Great Plan! Sign me up! but first, “God, let me try this my way for a little while – you know, just to see how it goes, OK?”

Uh-HUH. Idolator. Adulterer of God's Love. How do we keep doing that when we know we should follow the Psalmist’s lead in our Key Verse from the Responsorial Psalm:
³ Declare his glory among the nations,
    his marvelous works among all the peoples.
⁴ For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
    he is to be revered above all gods.
⁵ For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
    but the Lord made the heavens.

We are reminded of Romans 1:18-20 where The Apostle Paul instructs us that – ¹⁸ For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and wickedness of those who by their wickedness suppress the truth. ¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made. So they are without excuse – and so are we without excuse when we replace our love and worship of God with temporal, carnal, and ephemeral things. If we “buy” these things with our time and energy, what is our recompense? And also, how does that  recompense enable us to repay God for his Gift of Life? The answer to both questions is in Romans 6:23 (GNT) – ²³ For sin pays its wage—death; but God's free gift is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord. Those who choose to work for Death will not be able to Praise God in their YOLO-F. Here is a portion of Psalms 115 – and exceptional source for descriptions of idols! – and this selection tells us the wages of sin as well as the wages of righteousness. In righteousness we Sing The Mighty Powers of God  (¬ Music Link)

Psalm 115:16-18 –
¹⁶ The heavens are the Lord’s heavens,
    but the earth he has given to human beings.
¹⁷ The dead do not praise the Lord,
    nor do any that go down into silence.
¹⁸ But we will bless the Lord
    from this time on and forevermore.

Praise the Lord!

We earthlings often find living righteously to be tedious – mainly because we are becoming more and more hooked on instant gratification and (like that stupid TV commercial) "You know, technically, you don't have to post everything that happens online ... [laughter] Life is meaningless without affirmation, am I right?" How many earthlings using social media are seeking affirmation by secluding themselves from human – or especially Divine – interactions? That is making Death an idol. What should we suppose will be the moment of Particular Judgement for idolators such as these who will receive at the moment of death the eternity they have chosen through their life-choices? It’s pretty unlikely that such as these do not have access to the Gospel, have not heard the Gospel, and have been denied the opportunity to believe in and to serve the Gospel. The message of the Gospel came to you not in word only, but also in Power, and in the Holy Spirit, and whoever denies the Spirit also denies that Jesus Christ is Lord, thereby failing to Glorify Our Father in Heaven. NOT a good plan! DON’T sign me up!

Sign up here for YOLO-F with God

Instead, sign me up for this: “Well, then, pay to the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor, and pay to God what belongs to God.” All that other stuff that gets between us and God is “the Emperor’s,” i.e., it belongs to The World. Well then, what shall we make of “pay to God what belongs to God”? I've got a four-word answer today: ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING GOOD! That is because everything belongs to God as the Creator and ultimate owner of the universe, while God is "due" endless praise, complete worship, supreme love, faith, obedience, total allegiance, glory, power, honor, and us – BECAUSE he created us in, of, and for his sheer Perfect Love, a.k.a. the Holy Spirit, and, despite our adulterous idolatry, he redeemed us through The Blood of the Lamb that was Slain. We know that The Government shall be upon his shoulder. He is called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace! (¬ Music Link) El Shaddai-Olam

That is a good start on a down-payment to what belongs to God. Every moment of our every day is his, and we ought to remember to give him that in our Daily Offering (¬ a humble suggestion) and even our daily conversations. There is a tradition in Northern New Mexico (and I'm sure in other places as well) I want to share with you. It is a paired traditional greeting between two friends who are like family i.e., everybody:

Buenos días le dé Dios. ¿Como amanece hoy?
Muy bien, gracias a Dios, ¿Y tu?
¡Ay! qué bueno, gracias a Dios! Yo tambien.

This comes out as
A good day to you given by God. How are you waking up today?
Very well, thanks be to God! And you?
Ah! How good, thanks to God! Me too.

To me, that sounds a lot like 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (GNT) – ¹⁶ Be joyful always, ¹⁷ pray at all times, ¹⁸ be thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants from you in your life in union with Christ Jesus. If everything we think, or do, or say is done in, with, for, and through the Presence of God, then we are fulfilling what The Apostle Paul declared in Philippians 4:4-8 – ⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. ⁵ Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁸ Finally, beloved,  whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. çç That’s GI-GO to the hilt!

What do we know?

Remember this? If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Well, we know sin, and we know virtue. Church or not, we all pretty much know what is really wrong and what is probably right. That old heresy of situational ethics and moral relativism cleverly disguised as sympathy, empathy, and/or apathy provides a convenient slippery slope for those backsliders we keep hearing about (but of course, that’s never us, is it?). We know sin, we know Death, not just the end of biological life-signs, but real YOLO-F DEAD. We know the Contract we’ve lived through the choices we’ve made, and we all know someone who is a sinner, and may not yet have gotten “right with God.” That could even be us, huh? We all know someone who is a sinner, and daily lives the life of virtue, but secretly hides a duplicitous existence. That could even be us, huh? We all know someone who is a sinner, and the Light of the Holy Spirit in them lights up, and lightens up, their lives as well as the lives of everyone they touch. That could even be us, huh? No matter which of these lives we live, deep down in the quietness of our broken hearts, we actually know what we owe, by what God is asking us to do. That bothersome voice that won’t stay in one place in our mind or heart keeps repeating what God has done in Christ Jesus once for all because once should be enough. (¬ Music Link)

Paid in full – we own it, not owe it any longer!

Τετέλεσται, (Tetélestai) 

Paid in FULL!!

Once IS enough!

We know it.

We owe it to God

to show it!

Whatever, whenever, wherever, whoever, however, if ever, forever —
at your service, Belovéd!

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Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture passages are from the New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE) New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1989, 1993 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Biblical languages inserts from Bible Hub (Bible Hub: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages) Visit at http://biblehub.com

Aloha Friday Messages by Charles O. Todd, III is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License

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