The Twenty-Fourth Epistle
Is There Perfection?
DATELINE: Sunday, April 15, 2001.
By Rev. James R. Bingham
Special to corndancer.com
Posted from Memphis, Tennessee
Exodus
3:13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
3:15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
I John
3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
The most famous of the proofs for God's existence is the "Ontological proof," developed by Saint Anselm (1033-1109), Archbishop of Canterbury. Anselm's Ontological proof follows three basic steps.
Step one, the major premise, gives a logical definition of God: God is the most perfect being.
Step two, the minor premise, states definitively that a perfect being exists.
The final step, or conclusion, reasons that because God is a perfect being (step one) and a perfect being exists (step two), therefore, God exists.
We realize there is always another step along the path of personal spiritual improvement, one that will take us beyond our present condition.
A Trinity of Perfection.
To reach the ultimate step of perfection means everything becomes known and understood. It means that every place is accessible, and that no stronghold is unbreakable. The ultimate step in improvement is ascendance to the trinity of omniscience, omnipresence and omnipotence — becoming all knowing, ever present, and all powerful. This is perfection, the circle completed.
God is perfection.
Perfection, however, does not exist on the physical plane. God, therefore, is not limited to physical existence. God is physical, but he is also ethereal. He is all and all.
Does God exist? Is there such a thing as perfection? Yes! God is all that is, was, and will be. He is the I that marks presence, and he is the Am that marks forever. God is I Am.
Easter's Roots Run Shallow
In American Religious Culture.
Every year most of Christendom celebrates Easter. Mostly out of tradition. In Memphis, and throughout America, Easter was not widely practiced until shortly after the Civil War.
Easter is a feast of festival of the Christian Church that commemorates the resurrection of Christ. It is celebrated on the first Sunday following the full moon that occurs on or after March 21, or one week later if the full moon falls on Sunday.
Easter was originally a pagan festival honoring Estore, or Estre, a Teutonic goddess of light and spring. At the time of the vernal equinox, sacrifices were offered in her honor. As early as the Eighth Century, the word Easter was used to designate the annual Christian celebration of the resurrection of Christ.
The only appearance of the word Easter in the Bible is a mistranslation of Pascha, the Greek word for "Passover." Acts 12:4 says, And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.
This was a translation error because at that time there was no celebration of Easter for the acknowledgement of Christ's resurrection as part of the Roman or Christian traditions. This tradition was to begin about six centuries later. The translator called this Easter because the reference was to the feast of the Passover.
Passover's Roots
Run Much Deeper.
Passover refers to the sacrifice of the lamb in Egypt when the people of Israel were slaves. They smeared the blood of the lamb on their doorpost as a signal to God that He should "pass over" their houses when He destroyed all the firstborn of Egypt. Exodus 12:13 says, And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
Passover was observed on the 14th day of the first month with the service beginning in the evening. Lev. 23:6 says, And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread unto the LORD: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread.
It was on the evening of the day Israel left Egypt. Passover commemorated their departure from Egypt in haste. Unleavened bread was used in celebration because this showed that the people had no time to put leaven in their bread as they ate their final meals as slaves in Egypt.
In New Testament times, large numbers gathered in Jerusalem to observe the annual Passover. Jesus was crucified in the city during one of these Passover celebrations. He and His disciples ate a Passover meal together on the eve of His death.
Redemption from the Power
Of Sin and Death.
Like the blood of the lamb that saved the Hebrew people from destruction in Egypt, His blood, as the ultimate Passover sacrifice, redeems us from the power of sin and death. Paul speaks to this in 1 Cor. 5:7: Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us.
The book of Matthew, chapter 26 verse 57, reads: And they that had laid hold on Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were assembled.
Jesus is nailed to a cross with nails driven through His hands, wrists, and feet. His was a slow and painful death. Jesus hung there, helplessly, for a long time while the hot sun beat down on His body. Gradually He weakened, His body tortured by muscle cramps, hunger and thirst.
Since the authorities who crucified Jesus were not sure that He was and is and always will be, they took extra precautionary steps to lock-in what should be a dead person. Matthew 27:66: So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.
Indeed, they set a watchman to guard the sealed entrance. The only thing they saw was what they didn't see with their physical eyes. They saw that he was not of the physical body, but something far greater.
He Is Risen! The Intent Is Clear.
He is Risen! On the third day God raised Jesus from the dead. The resurrection is the point at which God's intention for Jesus becomes clear. In Romans 1:4, scripture says, And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead: and believers are assured that Jesus is the Christ.
In Matthew 28:6-7 the perceived angels say to those who came to the tomb on Easter morning, He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you.
Now, I tell you. You and I have the same commission as Moses, whose mission inspired the Passover. He was sent with authority to tell the slave master to let the children of Israel go free. Who sent him? A power greater than all of existence. The ultimate presence has said, Go forth and tell the forces of evil to let my people go. I AM, which is forever, has sent us into the world to proclaim victory over the strongholds that keep us in bondage.
Though the ones we seek to set free cannot see who it is we serve, we should tell them to desire to be free, walk as we walk, circumspectly. Give love when love is in doubt. Trust and believe that the same man on the cross was I AM on earth. Know that the same man will return looking for his co-ruler, His bride, us.
We All Shall Have
Our Eyes Opened to See Him.
When He comes, every drunk shall have his eyes opened, every blind man shall have his eyes opened, the prostitutes shall have their eyes opened.
When he comes, the racists will have their eyes opened, the liar, the backbiter, the con-artist, and the preacher, teacher, as well as the downtrodden: We all shall have our eyes opened to see Him as He is.
O, What a Day! O, Happy Day! Our eyes will be washed clean.
We will see beyond the flesh! O, Bless His name! What we see as beauty today has no comparison to that day!
Hold on! Here is mystery. What have we been claiming when we claim the victory? We have been claiming perfection through Christ. We have claimed the day when we shall be as one. That day, that time is here.
Shout! Addiction has no authority.
Shout! Poverty has no hold.
Shout! Shout! Shout! For He is risen!!!
Give God Some Praise!!!
EDITOR'S NOTE: Rev. Bingham
can be reached by E-mail at
jamesrbingham@juno.com.
His phone number in Memphis is
901.785.5691.